The Gallifrey Chronicles was published on 2 June 2005. It was the final novel in the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures line of books, which had started in 1997. It was written by Lance Parkin. It featured the Eighth Doctor, Fitz Kreiner and Trix MacMillan.
Publisher's summary[]
The Doctor 's home planet of Gallifrey has been destroyed. The Time Lords are dead, their TARDISes annihilated. The man responsible has been tracked down and lured to Earth in the year 2005, where there will be no escape. But Earth has other problems — a mysterious signal is being received, a second moon appears in the sky, and a primordial alien menace waits to be unleashed...
The stage is set for the ultimate confrontation — for justice to be done. The Doctor and his companions Fitz and Trix will meet their destiny. And this time, the Doctor isn't going to be able to save everyone.
Plot[]
to be added
Characters[]
- Eighth Doctor
- Fitz Kreiner
- Trix
- K9 Mark I
- Marnal
- Rachel Rowley
- Mondova
- Crallan
- Thorgan
- Greg
- Jackie Winfield
- Des Winfield
- Ulysses
- Penelope Gate
- Saldaamir
- Romana III
- Mali
References[]
- The TARDIS materialises in a graveyard containing Samantha Lynn Jones's gravestone in 2002.
- The Eye of Harmony opens briefly and a voice comes from it.
- Marnal was placed in the care of a Mrs Gate in 1883.
- K9 is revealed to be the scratching thing behind the TARDIS walls.
- The Doctor sends K9 to the planet Espero.
- Gallifrey was said to be attacked by Omega, the Sontarans, Tannis, the Faction Paradox, Varnax, Catavolcus and the Timewyrm.
- There is a flashback to Marnal's time on Gallifrey with Ulysses, Penelope Gate and Mr Saldaamir.
- The Klade, Centro, Tractites and the Ongoing are all races Marnal believes could have destroyed Gallifrey.
- Fitz knows at least three Beatles songs from a parallel universe: "Little Girl", "Back Home" and an alternate "Jealous Guy".
- Among the components in the Doctor's TARDIS not working are the absence detectors, all of the aesthetics gauges, the ahistorical contextualiser, the ambiguous resolver, the animal-language translation circuits, the aprioritron, the art device, the assimilation contrastor, and the axiomator.
- GM-TV lists the celebrities believed to have been killed during the Vore invasion, including cast members from both Coronation Street and EastEnders as well as Ant from Ant & Dec.
Notes[]
- The events of The Ancestor Cell are re-interpreted, making more sense than that original book.
- The Doctor's final line in the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures series is; "Shall we?"
- Marnal lists the Eighth Doctor's companions as Lorenzo, Delilah, Frank, Claudia, Deborah, Jemima-Katy, Miranda, Nina, Anji, and Beatrice. Jemima-Katy was the name of the applicant for the position of assistant to the Third Doctor when Jon Pertwee made a guest appearance on the BBC Radio 4 comedy series The Skivers.
- A reference to the Harry Potter novels is made, indicating that the Doctor possesses a set of ten books.
- The book ends on a cliffhanger, leaving how the Doctor stops the Vore and returns Gallifrey open ended. However, Gallifrey and the Time Lords are restored in a vision of the Doctor's future in The Tomorrow Windows.
- The four surviving Time Lords are shown: “A man with a sallow face and small, pointed black beard, who wore a blue rosette; a young woman with long blonde hair in an extraordinary piece of haute couture; a tall man with a bent nose wearing a cravat and holding a pair of dice; the Doctor himself with close-cropped hair, sitting on an ornate throne, a new-born baby girl in his arms”. The author Lance Parkin stated in AHistory that they are intended but not explicitly stated to respectively be the Master; Iris Wildthyme or possibly Romana; the Minister of Chance; and the Doctor or the Emperor, father of Miranda.
Continuity[]
- The Doctor's battle with the Master in San Francisco in December 1999 is referenced. (TV: Doctor Who)
- The events of PROSE: The Ancestor Cell are revisited and analysed.
- The Klade first appeared in PROSE: Father Time (and were last mentioned in PROSE: Trading Futures).
- The grave of Samantha Lynn Jones seen here might contradict events in Interference - Book Two where it's implied that Sam Jones will lead a long life (beyond twenty-two). However Samantha Lynn Jones was Sam's original timeline (aka Dark Sam), seen last in PROSE: Unnatural History.
- Gallifrey was attacked by Omega in TV: The Three Doctors and TV: Arc of Infinity, the Sontarans in TV: The Invasion of Time, the Faction Paradox in PROSE: The Ancestor Cell, Catavolcus in COMIC: The Neutron Knights, the Timewyrm in PROSE: Timewyrm: Revelation.
- During the events of The Ancestor Cell the Doctor compressed the entire Matrix into his mind, causing the amnesia he had since The Burning. This allows the Doctor to restore the Time Lords and Gallifrey to the universe, which is next seen in Shada.
- The Time Lords were seen, restored and on Gallifrey in the Doctor's future. (PROSE: The Tomorrow Windows)
- The Doctor mentions Sabbath as a human time-traveller who fancied himself a lord of time. (PROSE: The Adventuress of Henrietta Street) He also mentions watching for months as universes die. (PROSE: Time Zero, Sometime Never...)
- K9 describes Romana as "President of the High Council of Time Lords, keeper of the legacy of Rassilon, defender of the laws of time, protector of Gallifrey." The Doctor gave these titles to himself in TV: Remembrance of the Daleks.
Reprint[]
BBC Books has announced that a "print on demand" reprint edition of this novel will be made available as of 31st August 2011 as the imprint revisits adventures featuring the first eight Doctors.
This book is also available as an ebook from the Amazon Kindle store.
External links[]
- The Gallifrey Chronicles at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- The Discontinuity Guide to: The Gallifrey Chronicles at The Whoniverse
- The Cloister Library: The Gallifrey Chronicles
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