System Shock (novel)

System Shock
Doctor:	Fourth Doctor
Companion(s):	Sarah, Harry
Main enemy:	The Voracians
Main setting:	London, 1998
Key crew
Publisher:	Virgin Books
Writer:	Justin Richards
Cover by:	Martin Rawle
Release details
Release number:	11
Release date:	15 June 1995
Format:	Paperback Book; 24 Chapters, 286 Pages
ISBN:	ISBN 0-426-20445-X
Virgin Missing Adventures
← Previous	The Menagerie
Next →	The Sorcerer's Apprentice

System Shock was the eleventh novel in the Virgin Missing Adventures series. It was written by Justin Richards and featured the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan. This novel was one of two novels in the series to feature Harry, the other being A Device of Death.

Publisher's summary

"We're dicing with death on the information superhighway to hell."

A rebellion on another planet. A kidnapping in central London. The head of MI5 assassinated. A hostage siege suddenly and violently ended by the SAS. A computer CD slipped into the Fourth Doctor's pocket by a dead man...

It's 1998, and the global information superhighway is about to come on line. OffNet controls everything digital from cars to sliding doors, from interactive television to military command and control systems.

The Doctor and Sarah must join forces with an old friend in a race against time: to prevent the breakdown of technological society and foil an unconventional alien takeover bid.

Plot

to be added

Characters

• Fourth Doctor
• Sarah Jane Smith
• Harry Sullivan
• Veronica Halliwell
• Kevin Sutcliffe
• Johanna Slake
• Robert Gibson
• Lionel Stabfield
• Marc Lewis
• Eleanor Jenkins
• Clive Peterson
• Martin Carlson
• Michael Hanson
• Voractyll/Voractyll-2

Worldbuilding

The Doctor

• The Doctor claims that 1998 is "not one of [his] favourites."

Foods and beverages

• 1997 was a bad year for ginger beer.

Literature

• A guard at Hubway reads the latest Stephen King novel.

TARDIS

• The Doctor blames the helmic regulators for the TARDIS missing the year that he was aiming for.
• The Doctor tells Sarah that the TARDIS is too advanced to be able to read a CD ROM.

Television

• Gibson watches Coronation Street while recovering in a hospital.

Notes

• In a foreword, the author Justin Richards thanks Peter Anghelides, Craig Hinton and Andy Lane for their comments and help with writing the book.
• After the BBC Past Doctor Adventures replaced the Virgin Missing Adventures, Millennium Shock was released as a direct sequel to this novel. This is the only such occurrence between the ranges.
• The image of Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor is a drawing of a flipped publicity photo.
• This story is set between The Seeds of Doom and The Masque of Mandragora.

Continuity

• After leaving both the TARDIS and UNIT, Harry was posted to Porton Down where he became involved in highly classified work. (TV: Mawdryn Undead, PROSE: Harry Sullivan's War)
• Brigadier Winifred Bambera is in command of the British division of UNIT in 1998. (TV: Battlefield)
• Sarah has written articles for Metropolitan about "the dangers of meditation" (TV: Planet of the Spiders) and "the sudden evacuation of London all those years ago". (TV: Invasion of the Dinosaurs)
• The Doctor's CV states that he has obtained degrees from the Prydonian Academy (TV: The Hand of Fear, The Deadly Assassin) and "Lister, 1888". (TV: The Moonbase)
• In her personal timeline, Sarah's last meeting with Harry took place only a month earlier. (TV: The Android Invasion)
• The 1950s BBC science fiction television series Nightshade is mentioned. The Seventh Doctor and Ace would later meet its star Edmund Trevithick in Crook Marsham in December 1968. (PROSE: Nightshade)

External links

• System Shock at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• The Discontinuity Guide to: System Shock at The Whoniverse
• The Cloister Library: System Shock