The Devil Goblins from Neptune (novel)

The Devil Goblins from Neptune
Doctor:	Third Doctor
Companion(s):	The Brigadier, Liz, Benton, Yates
Featuring:	Bell, Munro
Main enemy:	The CIA, The Waro
Main setting:	Gorkiy, Soviet Union, Nevada and Manhattan, 1970
Key crew
Publisher:	BBC Books
Writers:	Martin Day, Keith Topping
Release details
Release number:	1
Release date:	2 June 1997
Format:	Paperback Book; 30 Chapters, 288 Pages
ISBN:	ISBN 0-563-40564-3
BBC Past Doctor Adventures
Next →	The Murder Game

The Devil Goblins from Neptune was the first novel in the BBC Past Doctor Adventures series. It was written by Keith Topping and Martin Day, released 2 June 1997 and featured the Third Doctor and Liz Shaw.

Publisher's summary

From the outer reaches of the Solar System, alien eyes are surveying the Earth. Eyes as cold and cruel as the methane ice that shrouds their distant world...

The Doctor is perturbed when a spate of deaths follows the break-up of an alien mass in the atmosphere. But this is merely the latest incident in a sinister conspiracy that threatens the entire planet, and the Doctor himself is embroiled in the plans of all the players.

The Brigadier's concern is heightened by the possibility of traitors at the very heart of UNIT. Leaving for Geneva to discover the truth, he little realises the deadly motives of an enemy agent on his own doorstep. The Doctor and Liz, meanwhile, discover that London doesn't have a monopoly on alien invasions.

What are the gargoyle-like creatures that kill without mercy? What do they want from our planet — and how do they figure in top-secret governmental plans?

As the lines between allies and enemies begin to blur, the Doctor finds himself fighting to save Earth once again. But who will he be saving it for?

Plot

to be added

Characters

• Third Doctor
• Liz Shaw
• Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
• Sergeant Benton
• Captain Mike Yates
• Corporal Bell
• Captain Munroe
• Control
• Viscount Rose
• Bob Franklin
• Julia Franklin
• Major-General Hayes
• Thomas Bruce
• Arlo
• Mick Houghton
• Valentina Shuskin
• Brendan Trainor
• Sam
• Zak Wigmore
• Mac
• Private Harrison
• Bertram
• Boggs
• Gavin Hyde
• Fay Hardy
• John Gallagher
• Chris Hughes
• Dr French
• Billy Donald
• Jill
• Lieutenant David Carson
• Claire
• Scouse
• Saddest Moon
• Starchild
• Miller

Worldbuilding

• Yates and Benton visit a pub called the Rat and Parrot.

The Doctor

• The Doctor says he was a prisoner of the French at Salamanca in 1812. He also claims to have met Puccini at Milan.
• The Doctor drinks champagne at the Progressive Club.
• The Doctor can speak Russian. He also says he met Lenin in Petrograd.
• The Doctor can perform a Time Lord rite called Soul Catching; however, he is not very good at it.
• The Doctor mentions Saturnian kung-fu.
• The Doctor notes that the Time Lords have erased at least some of his knowledge of Earth's future history, as well as his knowledge of how to repair the TARDIS.

Individuals

• Thomas Bruce infiltrates UNIT HQ, claiming to be an American UNIT soldier named Bruce Davis.
• The Brigadier can speak French.
• Bernard Trainor is acquainted with Rachel Jensen and Ian Chesterton.
• Gavin Hyde is Mark Wilson's housemate.

Television

• Julia Franklin mentions Thirty Minute Theatre.
• French references Dixon of Dock Green.
• While in hospital, Benton remembers a scene from Steptoe and Son.

United Nations Intelligence Taskforce

• UNIT has branches in Russia and the United States of America
• UNIT US discovered a second Silurian base in Oregon.

Notes

• This novel was originally conceived as a Virgin Missing Adventures novel.
• David Arthurs and Bob Decker talk about who will win the Republican primaries. Decker considered Nixon to be dead in the water, had a "funny feeling" about Rockefeller, and thought "Mad Ronnie" Reagan would do well with Californian geeks but an actor will never be elected. They both agree None of them will be able to beat Kennedy.
  • While the date is not specified, these individuals all ran in the real world 1968 primaries; Robert Kennedy was assassinated in June of that year. Despite this, Arthurs is reading a report about the Cyber invasion of London in spring 1969. See UNIT dating controversy.
• Despite the novel's title, the Waro are not from Neptune — they're from Triton, one of Neptune's moons.

Continuity

• The Doctor tells Benton that he has met the Duke of Wellington and Napoléon Bonaparte. (PROSE: World Game; AUDIO: Mother Russia)
• The Doctor refers to Quinnis in the fourth universe, where he trained as a ninja. Quinnis was the final planet visited by the First Doctor and his granddaughter Susan Foreman before the TARDIS materialised in London in 1963. (TV: The Edge of Destruction; AUDIO: Quinnis)
• The Doctor, the Brigadier and Control all refer to International Electromatics. (TV: The Invasion)
• Brendan Trainor mentions Rachel Jensen. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) The Doctor talks to Trainor at a party about the Cyber invasion, (TV: The Invasion) the Eocene crisis (TV: Doctor Who and the Silurians) and the aborted Inferno Project. (TV: Inferno) Ian Chesterton tells Trainor to ask the Doctor about Vortis. (TV: The Web Planet)
• The Doctor mentions seeing Ian Chesterton at the Wedding of Petra Williams and Greg Sutton, but not having the chance to talk to him. He also asks Brendan Trainor about Ian's son, Johnny Chess. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Revelation)
• Control mentions Sir Reginald Styles (TV: Day of the Daleks) and Senator Alcott. (TV: The Mind of Evil)
• The Brigadier mentions Major Jimmy Turner (TV: The Invasion) and Major Cosworth. (TV: The Mind of Evil)
• The Doctor refers to his disagreement, that what Russia did with the Romanovs "struck as a frightfully bad show". (AUDIO: Last of the Romanovs)

External links

• The Devil Goblins from Neptune at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• The Discontinuity Guide to: The Devil Goblins from Neptune at The Whoniverse
• The Cloister Library: The Devil Goblins from Neptune
• Interview: Devil Goblins from Neptune