Virgin Missing Adventures

Virgin Books' variant of the Doctor Who logo used for the MAs

The Missing Adventures series of novels by Virgin Books, was launched in 1994 following the success of its New Adventures line. Much as the NA series featured Seventh Doctor adventures with more detail and mature content than previously seen on TV and in the Target Books novelisations, the MA series focused on the first six Doctors. There were occasional multi-Doctor stories and crossovers with the NA line. One book, Downtime, didn't feature the Doctor but was an adaptation of an independent film production featuring several former companions. Another MA release, The Ghosts of N-Space, was an adaptation of a Third Doctor radio play.

One release, Who Killed Kennedy, is generally considered a Missing Adventures release as it features several past Doctors, but it was in fact published as a standalone work.

The Missing Adventures line was discontinued in 1997 after BBC Books took back the franchise licence from Virgin (it is speculated that had Virgin kept the licence it would have begun publishing Seventh Doctor adventures under the MA line, and indeed that incarnation does appear in one post-TV movie release, Cold Fusion); BBC subsequently launched its own version, the BBC Past Doctor Adventures line.

Related to the MA line, but considered separate, was the Virgin Decalogs series of books.

Doctor Who: The Missing Adventures

#	Title	Author	Doctor	Companions	Published
1	Goth Opera	Paul Cornell	5th	Nyssa and Tegan	July 1994
2	Evolution	John Peel	4th	Sarah Jane	September 1994
3	Venusian Lullaby	Paul Leonard	1st	Ian and Barbara	October 1994
4	The Crystal Bucephalus	Craig Hinton	5th	Tegan, Turlough and Kamelion	November 1994
5	State of Change	Christopher Bulis	6th	Peri	December 1994
6	The Romance of Crime	Gareth Roberts	4th	Romana II and K-9	January 1995
7	The Ghosts of N-Space	Barry Letts	3rd	Sarah Jane, Jeremy Fitzoliver and the Brigadier	February 1995
8	Time of Your Life	Steve Lyons	6th	Grant Markham	March 1995
9	Dancing the Code	Paul Leonard	3rd	Jo and UNIT	April 1995
10	The Menagerie	Martin Day	2nd	Jamie and Zoe	May 1995
11	System Shock	Justin Richards	4th	Sarah Jane and Harry Sullivan	June 1995
12	The Sorcerer's Apprentice	Christopher Bulis	1st	Susan, Ian and Barbara	July 1995
13	Invasion of the Cat-People	Gary Russell	2nd	Ben and Polly	August 1995
14	Managra	Stephen Marley	4th	Sarah Jane Smith	September 1995
15	Millennial Rites	Craig Hinton	6th	Mel	October 1995
16	The Empire of Glass	Andy Lane	1st	Vicki and Steven	November 1995
17	Lords of the Storm	David A. McIntee	5th	Turlough	December 1995
18	Downtime	Marc Platt	none	The Brigadier, Victoria and Sarah Jane	January 1996
19	The Man in the Velvet Mask	Daniel O'Mahony	1st	Dodo	February 1996
20	The English Way of Death	Gareth Roberts	4th	Romana II and K-9 Mark II	March 1996
21	The Eye of the Giant	Christopher Bulis	3rd	Liz and UNIT	April 1996
22	The Sands of Time	Justin Richards	5th	Nyssa and Tegan	May 1996
23	Killing Ground	Steve Lyons	6th	Grant Markham	June 1996
24	The Scales of Injustice	Gary Russell	3rd	Liz and UNIT	July 1996
25	The Shadow of Weng-Chiang	David A. McIntee	4th	Romana I and K-9 Mark II	August 1996
26	Twilight of the Gods	Christopher Bulis	2nd	Jamie and Victoria	September 1996
27	Speed of Flight	Paul Leonard	3rd	Jo and Mike Yates	October 1996
28	The Plotters	Gareth Roberts	1st	Ian, Barbara and Vicki	November 1996
29	Cold Fusion	Lance Parkin	5th 7th	Adric, Nyssa, and Tegan Chris and Roz	December 1996
30	Burning Heart	Dave Stone	6th	Peri	January 1997
31	A Device of Death	Christopher Bulis	4th	Sarah Jane Smith and Harry	February 1997
32	The Dark Path	David A. McIntee	2nd	Jamie and Victoria	March 1997
33	The Well-Mannered War	Gareth Roberts	4th	Romana II and K-9	April 1997
	Who Killed Kennedy	David Bishop (as David Bishop and James Stevens)	3rd 7th 2nd	Dodo Sarah Jane Smith	April 1996

Notes

• The first Missing Adventure Goth Opera was a sequel (and also prequel, from the Doctor's point of view) to the New Adventure novel Blood Harvest. This was an obvious ploy to get readers of the New Adventures books to buy both books.

• The books introduced a new companion for the Sixth Doctor, Grant Markham. He never had a departure scene.

• Lords of the Storm tied in with the New Adventure novel Shakedown. Both novels featured the Sontarans and the Rutans and they came out in the same month.

• Downtime novelised the direct-to-video story of the same name. It did not featured the Doctor prominently but did feature a cameo by one of his future incarnations.
• Who Killed Kennedy, although it focuses on the Third Doctor, was published as a standalone novel, not a Missing Adventure, but is listed here for the sake of convenience. Co-credited with its fictional protagonist, James Stevens, the book took the form of a mock "nonfiction exposé" of UNIT and its activities. It re-visited the events of the Third Doctor's time with UNIT from Stevens' perspective and gave an Earth-bound view of events, with the Doctor put in short appearances in various incarnations. It came out in the same month as The Eye of the Giant.
• Cold Fusion featured both the Fifth and Seventh Doctors in the same novel together. The Seventh Doctor's companions Roz Forrester and Chris Cwej also appeared.
• Three novels were sequels to classic serials, they were:
  • The Sands of Time is a sequel of DW: Pyramids of Mars.
  • The Shadow of Weng-Chiang is a sequel of DW: The Talons of Weng-Chiang.
  • Twilight of the Gods is a sequel of DW: The Web Planet.
  • Speed of Flight is a prequel of DW: Timelash
• Many novels of the Virgin Missing Adventures featured old foes of the TV series, including:
  • Twilight of the Gods - Animus and Zarbi.
  • The Shadow of Weng-Chiang - Mr. Sin
  • Downtime - Great Intelligence and Robot Yeti.
  • Lords of the Storm - Sontarans and Rutans
  • Millennial Rites - The Valeyard (but only in mental manifestation)
  • The Well-Mannered War - The Black Guardian
  • Killing Ground - Cybermen
  • State of Change - The Rani
  • The Romance of Crime - Ogrons
  • The Scales of Injustice - The Silurians and Myrka
  • The Dark Path - The Master

External links

• The Doctor Who Online Merchandise Guide - Virgin Books - The Missing Adventures