Who Discovered America? (short story)

Who Discovered America?
Doctor:	First Doctor
Companion(s):	Susan, Barbara, Ian
Main setting:	Greenland, Newfoundland, 1002
Key crew
Writer:	John Lucarotti
Release details
Printed in:	DWM 184
Release date:	20 February 1992
Cover date:	18 March 1992
DWM short stories
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Next →	Rennigan's Record

Who Discovered America? was a short story published in Doctor Who Magazine. It was written by John Lucarotti.

Summary

The TARDIS lands in Greenland in the year 1002 AD due to a leak in its plutonium battery. As the nearest plutonic rocks are in Labrador and Newfoundland, the Doctor enlists the aid of reluctant Viking Eric the Red to take them to the still-undiscovered America.

Finding the rocks he needs in Newfoundland, and food for the return in what will later be Nova Scotia, the Doctor and his companions are dismayed to learn the Vikings plan to leave them behind as their first colonists in the new world. However, the Doctor convinces Eric the Red to take them back by claiming that he can command the tides and so force the Vikings to stay behind with him — and demonstrates his "power" on the incredibly high tides of the Bay of Fundy.

Plot

to be added

Characters

• First Doctor
• Susan Foreman
• Barbara Wright
• Ian Chesterton
• Eric the Red

References

to be added

Notes

• This story is sometimes mistakenly identified as a part of DWM's Brief Encounter series. In fact, it was just a standalone short story, far too long to be a Brief Encounter vignette. The issue in which this story appeared, in fact, had another story clearly identified as a "Brief Encounter".
• John Lucarotti originally intended to write a similar plot to this for Season 3 of Doctor Who. However, it was rejected by Donald Tosh, and was replaced by The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve. (DOC: The End of the Line?)

Continuity

to be added

External links

• Who Discovered America? at the Doctor Who Reference Guide