Doctor Who: The Eight Doctors
by Terrance Dicks
- UK
- Paperback
- BBC Books
- June 1997
Back Cover Blurb
'Trust the TARDIS...'
Recuperating after the trauma of his recent regeneration, the Doctor falls foul of a final booby-trap set by his arch-enemy, the Master.
When he recovers, the disorientated Doctor looks in a mirror and sees the face of a stranger. He knows only that he is called "the Doctor" — nothing more. But something deep inside tells him to trust the TARDIS, and his hands move over the controls of their own accord.
The TARDIS takes him to a strangely familiar junkyard in late-nineties London, where he is flung into a confrontation between local drug-dealers and Samantha Jones, a rebellious teenager from Coal Hill School.
But the Doctor soon finds the TARDIS transporting him to various other places in order in order to recover all his memories — and that involves seeing seven strangely-familiar faces...
'Trust the TARDIS...'
Recuperating after the trauma of his recent regeneration, the Doctor falls foul of a final booby-trap set by his arch-enemy, the Master.
When he recovers, the disorientated Doctor looks in a mirror and sees the face of a stranger. He knows only that he is called "the Doctor" — nothing more. But something deep inside tells him to trust the TARDIS, and his hands move over the controls of their own accord.
The TARDIS takes him to a strangely familiar junkyard in late-nineties London, where he is flung into a confrontation between local drug-dealers and Samantha Jones, a rebellious teenager from Coal Hill School.
But the Doctor soon finds the TARDIS transporting him to various other places in order in order to recover all his memories — and that involves seeing seven strangely-familiar faces...
Regular Characters
Eighth Doctor / Samantha Jones
Eighth Doctor / Samantha Jones
Notes
- The Eight Doctors was the first in the series of Eighth Doctor Adventures from BBC Books, but although it was the first in an ongoing series featuring the character, Virgin Publishing had just pipped them to the post by having the Eighth Doctor appear in The Dying Days, the very final book in their New Adventures range of Doctor Who books which had come to an end in April 1997. After the company lost their license to publish Doctor Who fiction, they kept the New Adventures series going by changing the lead character to Professor Bernice Summerfield.
- The Eight Doctors was the first book to feature Samantha Jones, although she would normally be known as Sam. The character would remain part of the series until the end of Lawrence Miles' two-part novel Interference, in August 1999.
- Rather oddly for a book that was launching a series, The Eight Doctors is overloaded with references to previous stories to the extent that listing them would probably require a page to itself.
In brief, the story is set immediately after the Doctor Who TV movie, and sees the Doctor falling foul of a trap left by the Master and losing his memory. In order to regain it he finds himself being taken by the TARDIS to events in his past where he meets each of his previous seven incarnations. Along the way he gets involved with characters from 100,00 BC, The War Games, The Daemons, The State of Decay, The Five Doctors, The Trial of a Time Lord and a previously unknown situation involving the Seventh Doctor on Metebelis 3 (Planet of the Spiders) shortly before he travels to Skaro to collect the Mater's remains (Doctor Who TV movie.
Needless to say, it's not a very good book...
Doctor Who: Vampire Science
by Jonathan Blum & Kate Orman
- UK
- Paperback
- BBC Books
- July 1997
Back Cover Blurb
In the days when the Time Lords were young, their war with the Vampires cost trillions of lives on countless worlds. Now the Vampires have been sighted again, in San Francisco.
Some want to coexist with humans, using genetic engineering in a macabre experiment to find a new source of blood. But some would rather go out in a blaze of glory — and UNIT's attempts to contain them could provoke another devastating war.
The Doctor strikes a dangerous bargain, but even he might not be able to keep the city from getting caught in the crossfire. While he finds himself caught in a web of old feuds and high-tech schemes, his new companion Sam finds out just how deadly travelling with the Doctor can be.
In the days when the Time Lords were young, their war with the Vampires cost trillions of lives on countless worlds. Now the Vampires have been sighted again, in San Francisco.
Some want to coexist with humans, using genetic engineering in a macabre experiment to find a new source of blood. But some would rather go out in a blaze of glory — and UNIT's attempts to contain them could provoke another devastating war.
The Doctor strikes a dangerous bargain, but even he might not be able to keep the city from getting caught in the crossfire. While he finds himself caught in a web of old feuds and high-tech schemes, his new companion Sam finds out just how deadly travelling with the Doctor can be.
Regular Characters
Eighth Doctor / Samantha Jones
Eighth Doctor / Samantha Jones
Notes
- Vampire Science was the first of three Eighth Doctor Adventures to be co-written by Jonathan Blum and Kate Orman, although Orman had previously written six books for Virgin's New Adventures series: The Left-Handed Hummingbird, Set Piece, Sleepy, Return of the Living Dad, So Vile a Sin and The Room with No Doors.
- Vampire Science was far from the first Doctor Who story to feature vampirism, as it had first been introduced in Terrance Dicks' 1981 television story The State of Decay. Dicks' own Blood Harvest for the New Adventures in 1994 had carried on the story, leading into Paul Cornell's Goth Opera which launched The Missing Adventures range of Doctor Who books. Back on television, The Curse of Fenric in 1989 had featured the Haemovores, while the more recent David Tennant episode Smith and Jones, in April 2007, saw the first appearance of a Plasmavore.
- San Francisco was also the setting for the Doctor Who TV movie which had marked the first appearance of the Eighth Doctor. Blum and Orman's Unnatural History in 1999 would also be set in the city.
Doctor Who: The Bodysnatchers
by Mark Morris
- UK
- Paperback
- BBC Books
- August 1997
Back Cover Blurb
It is London, 1894. Amid the fog, cold and degradation, a gruesome business is being conducted. The bodies of the dead are being stolen from their graves — men, women and children alike — for the sinister purpose of a very mysterious gentleman.
When the Doctor and Sam arrive, they are witness to a horrifying scene in the evil-smelling fog: something rises up from the filthy waters of the Thames and devours a man — a man terrified for his life and on the run from the devil himself...
Teaming with an old friend, pathologist Professor George Litefoot, the Doctor is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. Together with Sam, they discover there is a far graver threat facing London than just earthly grave robbers. Deadly alien beings the Doctor has encountered before are at work, and they bring a whole new twist to the word 'bodysnatchers'...
It is London, 1894. Amid the fog, cold and degradation, a gruesome business is being conducted. The bodies of the dead are being stolen from their graves — men, women and children alike — for the sinister purpose of a very mysterious gentleman.
When the Doctor and Sam arrive, they are witness to a horrifying scene in the evil-smelling fog: something rises up from the filthy waters of the Thames and devours a man — a man terrified for his life and on the run from the devil himself...
Teaming with an old friend, pathologist Professor George Litefoot, the Doctor is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. Together with Sam, they discover there is a far graver threat facing London than just earthly grave robbers. Deadly alien beings the Doctor has encountered before are at work, and they bring a whole new twist to the word 'bodysnatchers'...
Regular Characters
Eighth Doctor / Samantha Jones
Eighth Doctor / Samantha Jones
Notes
- The Bodysnatchers the very first Doctor Who novel by Mark Morris, who would later go on write Deep Blue for BBC Books' range of Previous Doctor Adventures. In 2007 he wrote Forever Autumn for the New Series Adventures range.
- The Bodysnatchers was notable for being only the second appearance (outside of the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip) of the Zygons, who had appeared in television in the Season Thirteen story Terror of the Zygons, novelised by Terrance Dicks in 1976 as Doctor Who and the Loch Ness Monster. They later starred in several original audio dramas from BBV before making another return to the Doctor Who novels in Stephen Cole's 2007 New Series Adventure Sting of the Zygons.
And it wasn't just the Zygons who were making a second appearance in The Bodysnatchers. Bearing in mind the Victorian setting, what could have been more appropriate than an encore performance from police pathologist Professor Litefoot, who appeared in the 1977 television story The Talons of Weng-Chiang?
Doctor Who: Genocide
by Paul Leonard
- UK
- Paperback
- BBC Books
- September 1997
Back Cover Blurb
Years after leaving UNIT, Jo Grant receives a plea for help from an old acquaintance. A palaeontological study of the earliest known humans is apparently under threat from a UNIT force led by a captain who does not officially exist. Investigating further, she begins to find herself out of her depth — and out of the twentieth century altogether...
Meanwhile, the Doctor and Sam visit Earth in 2109 — but there is no trace of the human race. Earth is the home of the Tractites, a peaceful race who have been living there for hundreds and thousands of years. Astonished and appalled, the Doctor travels back in time to see just what went wrong in earth's pre-history.
Why have Jo and the expedition been taken back in time? Are the Tractites all they seem? Finally, separated from the TARDIS, the Doctor's last chance to put things right rests with Sam — but has even she turned against him?
Years after leaving UNIT, Jo Grant receives a plea for help from an old acquaintance. A palaeontological study of the earliest known humans is apparently under threat from a UNIT force led by a captain who does not officially exist. Investigating further, she begins to find herself out of her depth — and out of the twentieth century altogether...
Meanwhile, the Doctor and Sam visit Earth in 2109 — but there is no trace of the human race. Earth is the home of the Tractites, a peaceful race who have been living there for hundreds and thousands of years. Astonished and appalled, the Doctor travels back in time to see just what went wrong in earth's pre-history.
Why have Jo and the expedition been taken back in time? Are the Tractites all they seem? Finally, separated from the TARDIS, the Doctor's last chance to put things right rests with Sam — but has even she turned against him?
Regular Characters
Eighth Doctor / Samantha Jones
Familiar Faces
Jo Grant
Eighth Doctor / Samantha Jones
Familiar Faces
Jo Grant
Notes
- Genocide was the first of five Eighth Doctor Adventures to be written by Paul Leonard, although he had previously written four Doctor Who novels for Virgin Publishing — one for the New Adventures (Toy Soldiers) and three for the Missing Adventures (Venusian Lullaby / Dancing the Code / Speed of Flight).
- Jo Grant appeared in the television series between 1971 and 1973, from Terror of the Autons through to The Green Death, in which she left UNIT to marry Professor Clifford Jones.
Doctor Who: War of the Daleks
by John Peel
- UK
- Paperback
- BBC Books
- October 1997
Back Cover Blurb
The Doctor is repairing the TARDIS systems once again when it is swept up by a garbage ship roving through space, the Quetzel.
When another ship approaches and takes the Quetzel by force, the Doctor discovers that he and Sam are not the only unwitting travellers on board — there is a strangely familiar survival pod in the hold. Delani, the captain of the second ship, orders the pod to be opened. The Doctor is powerless to intervene as Davros is awakened once again.
But this is no out-and-out rescue of Davros. Delani and his crew are Thals, the sworn enemies of the Daleks. They intend to use Davros as a means to wipe out the Daleks, finally ridding the universe of the most aggressive, deadly race ever to exist. But the Doctor is still worried. For there is a signal beacon inside the pod, and even now a Dalek ship is closing in...
The Doctor is repairing the TARDIS systems once again when it is swept up by a garbage ship roving through space, the Quetzel.
When another ship approaches and takes the Quetzel by force, the Doctor discovers that he and Sam are not the only unwitting travellers on board — there is a strangely familiar survival pod in the hold. Delani, the captain of the second ship, orders the pod to be opened. The Doctor is powerless to intervene as Davros is awakened once again.
But this is no out-and-out rescue of Davros. Delani and his crew are Thals, the sworn enemies of the Daleks. They intend to use Davros as a means to wipe out the Daleks, finally ridding the universe of the most aggressive, deadly race ever to exist. But the Doctor is still worried. For there is a signal beacon inside the pod, and even now a Dalek ship is closing in...
Regular Characters
Eighth Doctor / Samantha Jones
Familiar Faces
The Daleks / Davros
Eighth Doctor / Samantha Jones
Familiar Faces
The Daleks / Davros
Notes
- War of the Daleks was the first of two novels for the Eighth Doctor Adventures by John Peel, although he had previously written two Doctor Who novels for Virgin Publishing (Timewyrm: Genesys / Evolution) as well as five novelisations based on 1960s television Dalek stories. It was his work on the latter that led to him being commissioned to write War of the Daleks and 1998's Legacy of the Daleks.
- Ignoring the Doctor Who and the Vortex Crystal game book from FASA in 1986, War of the Daleks was the very first original novel to be published which featured the Daleks.
Sadly, it was also complete rubbish — something which wasn't helped by John Peel's obvious distaste for the later television Dalek stories. In the most ridiculously unbelievable and convoluted way, he proceeded to re-write the events of the Seventh Doctor tale Remembrance of the Daleks by explaining that the Daleks' home planet of Skaro had not in actual fact been destroyed by the Hand of Omega as they had already foreseen that the planet would be blown up and had conveniently terraformed another planet, which served as a decoy. Not forgetting the re-writing of Destiny of the Daleks when it was explained that the robotic Movellans had actually been created by the Daleks themselves in order for Davros to be convincingly unearthed on the newly created Skaro.
Yeah, right...
Doctor Who: Alien Bodies
by Lawrence Miles
- UK
- Paperback
- BBC Books
- November 1997
Back Cover Blurb
On an island in the East Indies, in a lost city buried deep in the heart of the rainforest, agents of the most formidable powers in the galaxy are gathering. They have been invited there to bid for what could turn out to be the deadliest weapon ever created.
When the Doctor and Sam arrive in the city, the Time Lord soon realises they've walked into the middle of the strangest auction in history — and what's on sale to the highest bidder is something more horrifying than even the Doctor could have imagined, something that could change his life forever.
And just when it seems things can't get any worse, the Doctor finds out who else is on the guest list.
On an island in the East Indies, in a lost city buried deep in the heart of the rainforest, agents of the most formidable powers in the galaxy are gathering. They have been invited there to bid for what could turn out to be the deadliest weapon ever created.
When the Doctor and Sam arrive in the city, the Time Lord soon realises they've walked into the middle of the strangest auction in history — and what's on sale to the highest bidder is something more horrifying than even the Doctor could have imagined, something that could change his life forever.
And just when it seems things can't get any worse, the Doctor finds out who else is on the guest list.
Regular Characters
Eighth Doctor / Samantha Jones
Familiar Faces
The Krotons
Eighth Doctor / Samantha Jones
Familiar Faces
The Krotons
Notes
- Alien Bodies was the first of three novels written by Lawrence Miles for the BBC Books range of Eighth Doctor Adventures — assuming you count the two-volume Interference as one book. Like the other titles by Miles, Alien Bodies gave the series of ongoing novels a major kick up the backside, and in this particular case it was a much-needed one.
The less than flattering reviews for the likes of The Eight Doctors and War of the Daleks, which were relatively high profile due to their links to Doctor Who's past, were perhaps unsurprising as readers of the New Adventures published by Virgin between 1991 and 1997 had become used to rather more involving and original fare.
Alien Bodies proved something of a turning point, not only introducing Faction Paradox, a Time Lord voodoo cult who would eventually precipitate one of the most controversial events in the range of books, but also by having the Eighth Doctor face his own mortality, as the "Relic" in the auction was actually his own dead body from some point in the future at the end of all his regenerations.
The book also introduced the idea that something had previously happened to Sam's own personal timeline.
Events would be picked up in 1999 with Orman and Blum's Unnatural History, before a major twist occurred in Lawrence Miles two-part Interference, where the Doctor's own timeline would be tampered with in a continuity-shaking way that alienated many ultra-conservative Doctor Who fans. And if Interference was controversial, The Ancestor Cell, which brought the Faction Paradox saga to a conclusion in 2000, had them baying for blood... - Faction Paradox proved popular enough that a series of spin-off audio dramas written by Lawrence Miles began in late 2001. Six titles were eventually released by BBV, while the series was later picked up by Magic Bullet in 2005 and continues to this day. Mad Norwegian published a series of six Faction Paradox books beginning in 2002, which included five original novels and The Book of War which somehow manages to defy all attempts at description. That range ended in 2006, with Random Static announcing in 2007 that they would be picking up the baton later in the year. 2002 saw the announcement of a Faction Paradox comic, although in the event poor sales meant that the proposed six-issue series was cut short after Issue 2 went on sale in November 2003.
- The Krotons, somewhat unsurprisingly, had first appeared in the television series in the 1968/9 television story The Krotons. Alien Bodies was the first time that had been used since then.
