Business Unusual (novel): Difference between revisions

{{Infobox Story

|image= Business Unusual.jpg

|series=[[BBC Past Doctor Adventures]]

|number= 4

|doctor=Sixth Doctor

|companions= [[Melanie Bush|Mel]], [[Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart|the Brig]]

|enemy= [[SenéNet]], [[Nestene Consciousness]]

|setting= [[England]], [[1989]]

|writer= [[Gary Russell]]

|publisher= BBC Books

|release date= [[1 September (releases)|1 September]] [[1997 (releases)|1997]]

|format= Paperback Book; 5 Chapters, 277 Pages

|isbn= ISBN 0-563-40575-9

|prev= The Ultimate Treasure (novel)

|next=Illegal Alien (novel)}}

'''''Business Unusual''''' was the fourth [[BBC Past Doctor Adventures]]. It was author [[Gary Russell]]'s attempt at depicting [[Melanie Bush]]'s first adventure with the [[Sixth Doctor]] and also the Sixth Doctor's first meeting with [[Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart]].  

''A security force with no official identity... a managing director with no name... a sinister creature on guard patrol resembling some kind of hellhound... SenéNet is no ordinary multinational company.''

The Doctor arrives in Brighton, 1989, travelling alone. He soon discovers his old friend, the Brigadier, has gone missing investigating SenéNet, whose new interactive games console is soon to be released at an absurdly reasonable price. He was last seen at their headquarters — based in the picturesque Ashdown Forest...

Investigating further, the Doctor becomes more and more entangled in a deadly web of intrigue. Together with Mel, a plucky computer programmer from Pease Pottage, the Doctor must overcome the conspiracy of silence, rescue the Brigadier and save the world once again — something that would be a lot easier if he just knew where to start...

''to be added''

* The [[Sixth Doctor]]

* [[Irish Twins]]

* [[Ashley Moby]]

* [[Christine Bush]]

* [[Ryuichi Futayomoto]]

* [[Ingrid Krafchin]]

* [[Jones (Business Unusual)|Jones]]

* [[Lawson (Business Unusual)|Lawson]]

* [[Luke Aspinall]]

* [[Trey Korte]]

== References ==

[[File:The Chain of Commands.jpg|thumb|Alternate cover]]

* This novel was also known as ''The Chain of Commands''.

* This serves as [[the Brigadier]]'s introduction to this incarnation of the Doctor and functioned as the middle chapter of a trilogy which included the [[Third Doctor]] novel, ''[[The Scales of Injustice]]'', and [[Evelyn Smythe]]'s print introduction, ''[[Instruments of Darkness]]''.

* The novel revolves around a "problem" depicted in [[TV]]: ''[[The Ultimate Foe]]''. There, the Doctor meets [[Mel]] for the first time. But ''that'' Mel is from the Doctor's personal future. Yet she departs the Time Lord trial room with him, despite the risk of meeting her younger self. [[PROSE]]: ''[[Time of Your Life]]'' had already explained that the Doctor took the Mel of ''The Ultimate Foe'' immediately back to her proper place in time (An event that is later chronicled in depth in [[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Wrong Doctors (audio story)|The Wrong Doctors]]''). In ''Business Unusual'', writer [[Gary Russell]] gave us the obverse of ''The Ultimate Foe'' — namely the young Mel's first encounter with the Sixth Doctor. However, now it is the Doctor who's out of synch with Mel.

* Much as [[Gary Russell]]'s follow-up novel, ''Instruments of Darkness'', contradicted the Big Finish audio history of [[Evelyn Smythe]], this novel treads heavily over the Big Finish history of [[the Brigadier]]. Both this novel and [[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Spectre of Lanyon Moor]]'' chronicle the first encounter between the Sixth Doctor and the Brigadier (However, since ''Spectre'' sees the Sixth Doctor explicitly express his surprise that the Brigadier recognises him, it may be that the Brigadier in ''Spectre'' deduced that this was a younger version of the Sixth Doctor to the one he had encountered in the past, with the Brigadier in ''Spectre'' and the Sixth Doctor in ''Business'' each acting as though they have not met the other 'before' in this incarnation to preserve the timeline and/or avoid awkward discussions).

[[Category:Pseudo-historical stories]]