Ruby Red (novel): Difference between revisions
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As they finally reach the shore, Ran stops them from going further, claiming they must change their outfits. Ran then pulls out a perception filter and with a press of a button, Ruby and the Doctor's clothes are changed to a more modest, fur coat ensemble, closely resembling Ran's own. She claims the perception filter won't work under close scrutiny. Together they walk through the woods and into camp, where the young sentry Onfim asks who the newcomers are. Ran tells him that they are scouts from Pskov. The Doctor explains to Ruby that in a few days, there will be a big "bust up" called the Battle on the Ice, between the Duchy of Estonia and the republic of Novgorod. | As they finally reach the shore, Ran stops them from going further, claiming they must change their outfits. Ran then pulls out a perception filter and with a press of a button, Ruby and the Doctor's clothes are changed to a more modest, fur coat ensemble, closely resembling Ran's own. She claims the perception filter won't work under close scrutiny. Together they walk through the woods and into camp, where the young sentry Onfim asks who the newcomers are. Ran tells him that they are scouts from Pskov. The Doctor explains to Ruby that in a few days, there will be a big "bust up" called the Battle on the Ice, between the Duchy of Estonia and the republic of Novgorod. | ||
Ran takes them through the spiralling city of tents to her own on the outskirts, barely big enough for three people. She reveals to them that her full name is Ranavere Rentara. The Doctor explains that the Rentaras are group of interplanetary mercenaries and guesses that Ran has just turned sixteen. He further explains to Ruby that upon turning sixteen, a Rentara is sent by their family to a random battle on a random planet and told to survive on their own. Ran explains the structure of her family. Mother-Commander decides upon the time and place of your ritual, and only Sister-Generals have access to the time portals. | |||
Ran explains that she sent the distress signal because she doesn't want to fight, and that her sisters had picked up on it too. She further explains that should she refuse the ritual, she would be cast out. | |||
''To be completed'' | ''To be completed'' | ||
| Line 48: | Line 52: | ||
* [[Fifteenth Doctor]] | * [[Fifteenth Doctor]] | ||
* [[Ruby Sunday]] | * [[Ruby Sunday]] | ||
* [[Ranavere]] | * [[Ranavere Rentara]] | ||
* [[Onfim]] | * [[Onfim]] | ||
| Line 59: | Line 63: | ||
*Ruby claims that her green coat makes her look like a "furry [[sprout]]". | *Ruby claims that her green coat makes her look like a "furry [[sprout]]". | ||
*The Doctor tells Ruby that Pskov is a city in the south recently taken by the Novgorodian army. | *The Doctor tells Ruby that Pskov is a city in the south recently taken by the Novgorodian army. | ||
*The Doctor tells Ruby that they are days away from the Battle on the Ice, a huge fight between the Duchy of Estonia and the republic of Novgorod, which marks the end of the Northern Crusades in the region, cementing Prince Alexander Nemsky as a national hero. | |||
*Ran says five thousand people live in the camp. | |||
*The Rentaras are a family of intergalactic mercenaries. At the age of sixteen, a child of the Rentara's are sent to a random war on a random planet and told to survive. | |||
== Notes == | == Notes == | ||
| Line 71: | Line 78: | ||
* Ran uses a [[perception filter]] to change Ruby and the Doctor's clothes into something more modest. The TARDIS used similar technology to aid it blend into the surroundings. When the Tenth Doctor, [[Martha Jones]] and Jack Harkness had to blend in during the reign of [[Saxon Master|Harold Saxon]], the Doctor fashioned wearable TARDIS keys that placed a perception filter over them. It made passersby aware of them but disinterested in their existence, as long as the three of them didn't bring too much attention to themselves, as seen in {{cs|Last of the Time Lords (TV story)}}. | * Ran uses a [[perception filter]] to change Ruby and the Doctor's clothes into something more modest. The TARDIS used similar technology to aid it blend into the surroundings. When the Tenth Doctor, [[Martha Jones]] and Jack Harkness had to blend in during the reign of [[Saxon Master|Harold Saxon]], the Doctor fashioned wearable TARDIS keys that placed a perception filter over them. It made passersby aware of them but disinterested in their existence, as long as the three of them didn't bring too much attention to themselves, as seen in {{cs|Last of the Time Lords (TV story)}}. | ||
:*A similar technology was used by the Eleventh Doctor and [[Clara Oswald]] to change their clothes so they could visit [[Tasha Lem]] in {{cs|The Name of the Doctor (TV story)}} whilst being simultaneously [[naked]], as per the rules of [[The Church]]. | :*A similar technology was used by the Eleventh Doctor and [[Clara Oswald]] to change their clothes so they could visit [[Tasha Lem]] in {{cs|The Name of the Doctor (TV story)}} whilst being simultaneously [[naked]], as per the rules of [[The Church]]. | ||
* A similar city of tents by the name of [[Hooverville]] was visited by the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones. It was located in [[Central Park]], [[New York City]], and was where the broke, poor and destitute went to support one-another, as seen in {{cs|Daleks in Manhattan (TV story)}}. | |||
* The Rentaras and their traditions are not too dissimilar to that of the [[Slitheen family]], a known criminal family from [[Raxacoricofallapatorius]]. The Ninth Doctor stopped them from turning the Earth into molten slag in [[2006]], as seen in {{cs|World War Three (TV story)}}. [[Blon Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen]] would later explain to the Doctor in {{cs|Boom Town (TV story)}} that she was made to take part in her first hunt at the age of thirteen. Had she not, she would fed to the [[venom grub]]s. | |||
== Audiobook == | == Audiobook == | ||
Revision as of 00:08, 17 June 2024
Ruby Red is the seventy-first novel in the BBC New Series Adventures. It was written by Georgia Cook and published by BBC Books in hardback and audiobook formats on 13 June 2024.
An original Fifteenth Doctor novel, it sees him and Ruby Sunday visit medieval Russia.[1][2]
Publisher's summary
April, 1242: the Doctor and Ruby answer a distress call sent from medieval Russia. The signal’s sender? Ranavere, an alien girl forced to take part in a barbaric conflict between the armies of Estonia and Novgorod on the frozen surface of Lake Peipus. Ranavere wants to escape, but her distress call has summoned her warmongering sisters, intent on preserving family tradition whatever the cost. And as human battle begins, the Doctor and Ruby must face a more devastating threat – a monstrous entity with plans of conquest, growing stronger beneath the icy lake…
Plot
A girl finds herself in a snowy woods and on the run. In the forest, she notes something in the ground. Getting to her knees, she digs around it. It's a metallic object the size of a helmet, with pulsating red lights inlaid. At the moment, two Valkyries approach, their glowing yellow swords lighting the woods. She sets off, not familiar with the direction in which she is running before she stumbles across something emanating a bright white light. She seems to think they've answered her call.
Inside the TARDIS, Ruby Sunday is disappointed by the coffee made for her by the coffee machine, claiming it to taste like roast potatoes. The Doctor admits that he's quite pleased with it, but states that in order to fix it, he'd have to repair the flavour gauges, which would involve a long climb to the sub-engines. He decides to put it off, claiming he doesn't want to dirty his clothes. Ruby spots a flashing yellow light on the console, which a now very concerned Doctor claims to be a distress call. The two of them decide to answer it.
The Doctor explains that they are in Estonia in the twelve-hundreds, and that outside will be very cold. For this reason, he his getting a coat. At first, Ruby claims she doesn't want one but upon opening the doors, and feeling the deadly wind, the Doctor assumes she'd like one. Ruby braves the cold once more to find that the TARDIS has landed them on a lake. She braves the ice, surprised that it takes her weight. In the distance, she notices the girl running towards her. Following close behind are the Valkyries. The Doctor arrives just in time and tells the girl that, once in the TARDIS, she has to explain everything. However, the doors are neither opening inwards or outwards. He tries snapping his fingers but nothing happens. The ice beneath them is starting to crack.
Deciding this the best time to run, the girl tells them to run to the western bank but the Doctor thinks better and confronts the Valkyries, who Ruby now realises are women. They stop for him and he demands to know what they are doing. Without responding, one of them uses their glowing weapons to crack the ice beneath the TARDIS, causing it to sink beneath the water. Understanding that he is perhaps out of his depth, the Doctor advises them to continue their evasive movements. Noticing Ruby struggling, he tells her not to run but to shuffle. He tells her to shift the centre of mavity to her feet.
The Doctor offers Ruby his green fur coat as they continue to escape. He reassures her that if he's unable to enter the TARDIS, then the Valkyries most definitely can't, claiming must bigger blasters have tried. The girl points to the distance where her camp is situated. She states that they're too close to camp for the Valkyries to follow, yet still they persist. The Doctor gets fed up and presses his sonic screwdriver towards the Valkyries, causing the ice in front of them to shatter into a hole the size of a car. With the Valkyries giving up and heading back, the Doctor, Ruby and the girl, who now introduces herself as Ranavere (or Ran for short), continue to head to camp. Ranavere explains that the two Valkyrie are her sisters. The Doctor ponders why a thirteenth century girl doesn't question the word blasters but saves that discussion for another time.
Ran explains that it was her distress signal they picked up, revealing the metallic orb that she had previously dug up. She explains that he had built it from scraps, which was easier since the portal mechanism hadn't disintegrated properly upon arrival. The Doctor tells her he can help her, explaining that he's from "everywhere", and that they travel through time and space. The Doctor remains worried about the frequent earthquakes, which had not been helping with their current battle against the cracking ice.
As they finally reach the shore, Ran stops them from going further, claiming they must change their outfits. Ran then pulls out a perception filter and with a press of a button, Ruby and the Doctor's clothes are changed to a more modest, fur coat ensemble, closely resembling Ran's own. She claims the perception filter won't work under close scrutiny. Together they walk through the woods and into camp, where the young sentry Onfim asks who the newcomers are. Ran tells him that they are scouts from Pskov. The Doctor explains to Ruby that in a few days, there will be a big "bust up" called the Battle on the Ice, between the Duchy of Estonia and the republic of Novgorod.
Ran takes them through the spiralling city of tents to her own on the outskirts, barely big enough for three people. She reveals to them that her full name is Ranavere Rentara. The Doctor explains that the Rentaras are group of interplanetary mercenaries and guesses that Ran has just turned sixteen. He further explains to Ruby that upon turning sixteen, a Rentara is sent by their family to a random battle on a random planet and told to survive on their own. Ran explains the structure of her family. Mother-Commander decides upon the time and place of your ritual, and only Sister-Generals have access to the time portals.
Ran explains that she sent the distress signal because she doesn't want to fight, and that her sisters had picked up on it too. She further explains that should she refuse the ritual, she would be cast out.
To be completed
Characters
Referenced only
to be added
Worldbuilding
- The TARDIS lands on Lake Peipus in the twelve-hundreds. The Doctor claims it to be the fifth largest lake in Europe with its deepest point being fifteen metres.
- Ranavere explains that the Valkyries are in fact her sisters.
- Ruby claims that her green coat makes her look like a "furry sprout".
- The Doctor tells Ruby that Pskov is a city in the south recently taken by the Novgorodian army.
- The Doctor tells Ruby that they are days away from the Battle on the Ice, a huge fight between the Duchy of Estonia and the republic of Novgorod, which marks the end of the Northern Crusades in the region, cementing Prince Alexander Nemsky as a national hero.
- Ran says five thousand people live in the camp.
- The Rentaras are a family of intergalactic mercenaries. At the age of sixteen, a child of the Rentara's are sent to a random war on a random planet and told to survive.
Notes
To be added
Continuity
- Ruby is offered a coffee from the TARDIS coffee machine but claims that it tastes like roast potatoes. The TARDIS coffee machine was previously mentioned in Orphan 55 [+]Loading...["Orphan 55 (TV story)"] and was introduced as part of the main console unit in The Star Beast [+]Loading...["The Star Beast (TV story)"] where the Fourteenth Doctor offered Donna Noble a coffee.
- When the Doctor gets locked out of the TARDIS, he tries clicking his fingers. To his disappointment, it doesn't work. River Song taught the Tenth Doctor this trick in Silence in the Library [+]Loading...["Silence in the Library (TV story)"]. The Eleventh Doctor's companion Valarie Lockwood would refuse a TARDIS key and would use snapping as her method of entering the TARDIS, as seen in Broken Hearts [+]Loading...["Broken Hearts (audio story)"]
- Upon explaining how to navigate across the ice, the Doctor tells Ruby to "move [her] centre of mavity to her feet". After mishearing the Fourteenth Doctor and Donna's usage of "gravity", Isaac Newton had accidentally coined the term "mavity" in Wild Blue Yonder [+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"], which had caused a ripple in the timeline, in which everyone bar the Doctor had always called it "mavity".
- The Doctor claims that bigger blasters have tried to get into the TARDIS and have failed. The Ninth Doctor, Rose Tyler and Jack Harkness once watched behind the TARDIS forcefield as a group of Daleks failed to blast them in The Parting of the Ways [+]Loading...["The Parting of the Ways (TV story)"]. Later, the Twelfth Doctor revelled at how the Daleks' attempt to destroy the TARDIS with a blasting weapon had only resulting in the TARDIS using the Hostile Action Displacement System to relocate itself safely in The Witch's Familiar [+]Loading...["The Witch's Familiar (TV story)"].
- Ruby remarks on how the Doctor's sonic screwdriver doesn't look like a screwdriver. Previous sonic screwdrivers have been tube shaped devices that resemble screwdrivers from Earth, such as the one used by the Second Doctor in Fury from the Deep [+]Loading...["Fury from the Deep (TV story)"], whereas the one used by the Fifteenth Doctor is described by Ruby as "curved", as first seen in The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"].
- Ran uses a perception filter to change Ruby and the Doctor's clothes into something more modest. The TARDIS used similar technology to aid it blend into the surroundings. When the Tenth Doctor, Martha Jones and Jack Harkness had to blend in during the reign of Harold Saxon, the Doctor fashioned wearable TARDIS keys that placed a perception filter over them. It made passersby aware of them but disinterested in their existence, as long as the three of them didn't bring too much attention to themselves, as seen in Last of the Time Lords [+]Loading...["Last of the Time Lords (TV story)"].
- A similar technology was used by the Eleventh Doctor and Clara Oswald to change their clothes so they could visit Tasha Lem in The Name of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Name of the Doctor (TV story)"] whilst being simultaneously naked, as per the rules of The Church.
- A similar city of tents by the name of Hooverville was visited by the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones. It was located in Central Park, New York City, and was where the broke, poor and destitute went to support one-another, as seen in Daleks in Manhattan [+]Loading...["Daleks in Manhattan (TV story)"].
- The Rentaras and their traditions are not too dissimilar to that of the Slitheen family, a known criminal family from Raxacoricofallapatorius. The Ninth Doctor stopped them from turning the Earth into molten slag in 2006, as seen in World War Three [+]Loading...["World War Three (TV story)"]. Blon Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen would later explain to the Doctor in Boom Town [+]Loading...["Boom Town (TV story)"] that she was made to take part in her first hunt at the age of thirteen. Had she not, she would fed to the venom grubs.
Audiobook
An audiobook is set to be released by BBC Audio on 27 June, read by Millie Gibson. The reading is produced by Audio Always with sound design by Oliver Denman.[3]
Gallery
Ruby Red promo image
Promotional image for all three novels
Promotional wallpaper
Audiobook cover
Footnotes
- ↑ Coming soon - three original Fifteenth Doctor novels. Doctor Who (2024-04-18). Archived from the original on 2024-04-18.
- ↑ DW Original 1. Penguin.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2024-04-18.
- ↑ https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/464679/doctor-who-ruby-red-by-cook-georgia/9781529942279
