Father Time (novel)

Father Time
Doctor:	Eighth Doctor
Companion(s):	Debbie Castle, Miranda Dawkins
Main enemy:	Ferran
Main setting:	1980s: Greyfrith London India Berlin Florida Space shuttle Atlantis
Key crew
Publisher:	BBC Books
Writer:	Lance Parkin
Release details
Release number:	41
Release date:	8 January 2001
Format:	Paperback Book; 29 Chapters, 283 Pages
ISBN:	ISBN 0-563-53810-4
BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures
← Previous	Endgame
Next →	Escape Velocity

You may wish to consult Father Time (disambiguation) for other, similarly-named pages.

Father Time was the forty-first novel in the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures series. It was written by Lance Parkin. It featured the Eighth Doctor and introduced his adoptive daughter Miranda Dawkins.

Publisher's summary

"I love her," the Doctor said.

"Of course you do, she's your daughter."

Earth in the nineteen-eighties is a battleground. Rival alien factions have travelled from the far future to pursue their vendetta.

With UFOs filling the skies, a giant robot stalking the Derbyshire hills, and alien hunters searching for the mysterious Last One, the Doctor is the only man who can protect the innocents caught in the crossfire.

But old scores are being settled, the fate of a Galactic Empire is at stake, and, against his will, the Doctor is drawn into a decade-long war that will strike at those he holds most dear.

The Doctor has lost his memory, his friends, his past and his TARDIS.

All he has now is the love of his daughter.

But will even that be taken from him?

Plot

to be added

Characters

• Eighth Doctor
• Miranda Dawkins
• Ferran
• Prefect Zevron
• Deputy Sallak
• Debbie Castle
• Alex
• Arnold Knight
• Barry Castle
• Bob
• Cate
• Dinah
• Gibson
• Graltor
• Joel
• Kim Dawkins
• Kirst
• Felix Mather
• Rum
• Tarvin
• Thélash
• German man

References

• Debbie and the Doctor saw Bill and Ted.

The Doctor

• The Doctor sees Mr Saldaamir and Daleks in a vision of his future.
• The Doctor remembers waking up in a train carriage over a century ago.
• The Doctor has an eidetic memory.
• He plays chess and beats all the members of the school chess club.
• The Klade worry that the Doctor is from before Last Contact.

The Doctor's items

• The Doctor has built a sonic suitcase that can (amongst other things) open doors with sonic vibrations.
• The TARDIS outer shell is fully regenerated, including the writing and the light on top. He keeps it in his garden.
• The Doctor drives a Trabant, which he obtained in East Germany.

History

• In the far future, the universe is ruled by the Emperor.
• Ferran reads the Doctor's memories, and sees — among other things — multiple wars, rape, flooding mines, stock market crashes, AIDS, concentration camps, anthrax and Agent Orange as examples of evil on Earth.

Individuals

• Iris Wildthyme visited the Doctor during the 1980s.
• Klade historical footage reveals that the Doctor was accompanied by "a tall man and a dark skinned woman" when he encountered the species on Falkus. This could be Fitz Kreiner and Anji Kapoor, or possibly Chris Cwej and Roz Forrester.

Planets

• Neo-phobus (aka Voga) is mentioned.
• Falkus, one of Skaro's moons, is mentioned several times.

Species

• The Klade are implied to have been created by the Daleks.
• The Hunters are humanoid with elongated bodies.
• Faction Klade are members of an alliance from the far future.

Vehicles

• The Doctor steals a space shuttle to rescue Miranda.

Notes

File:DWM 301 FATHER TIME.jpg

Art by Roger Langridge from DWM 301

• This is the fifth story in the "Earth Arc".
• A "What If" set visit was published on the BBC website at the time of this novel's publication. The BBC has subsequently removed the page which was located at (http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/books/telepress/fathertime_feature.shtml), but the page can be accessed via the Internet Archive 'Wayback Machine' at BBC.co.uk Father Time: "Set Visit" at the Internet Archive.
• Miranda appears in later novels, and is also featured in a spin-off comic series, Miranda, published during 2003.

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.

Continuity

• The Doctor uses a Martian greeting first used in PROSE: Legacy. Bernice Summerfield also uses it in PROSE: The Dying Days.
• The Doctor revisits Betty Stobbold, Reverend Stobbold's daughter from PROSE: The Burning.
• Debbie sees a picture of the Doctor in Stalingrad from 1951. (PROSE: Endgame)
• The Doctor tells Miranda various stories when she is a child, including tales of a planet where the moths and the ants are at war, (TV: The Web Planet) a man made of liquorice, (TV: The Happiness Patrol) and an empress in a jar. (PROSE: The Scarlet Empress)
• Ferran mentions several records of the Doctor's activities during the late 20th century. These include:

• Baghdad (PROSE: Interference - Book One and Interference - Book Two)
• Lloyds building (PROSE: Bullet Time)
• The Martian Invasion (PROSE: The Dying Days)
• The Kulan Invasion (PROSE: Escape Velocity)

• The Doctor sees several visions of his future while he's at the heart of the Supremacy. These include:
• Violin music at the heart of a storm. (PROSE: The Year of Intelligent Tigers)

• "The Doctor ducked as a large robot arm swung a silver fist at his head", a sentence which is copied in PROSE: Hope.
• A swarm of wasps. (PROSE: Eater of Wasps)
• A man with a bowler hat an a clipboard walking through mud. (PROSE: Anachrophobia)
• Felix Mather as an old grey-haired man. (PROSE: Trading Futures)
• A young woman in a scarlet tunic smiling at him. (PROSE: The Adventuress of Henrietta Street)
• A crowd of people in renaissance clothing. (PROSE: EarthWorld)
• A planet named Albert. (PROSE: Grimm Reality)

Behind the scenes

• Lance Parkin has written two stories set between events in the novel that expand
• "Iris Explains," published in the charity publication Missing Pieces, shows Iris visiting the Doctor and Miranda, expanding on Miranda's throwaway line in the novel. The story claims Miranda's full name is "Miranda Who."
• "The School of Doom," published in Myth Makers #12, features the Doctor and Miranda facing the Headmaster on the first day of school. This story provides more information about the four elementals.

External links

• Father Time at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• The Discontinuity Guide to: Father Time at The Whoniverse
• The Cloister Library: Father Time
• BBC.co.uk Father Time: "Set Visit" at the Internet Archive