Verdigris (novel)

Verdigris (novel)

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Verdigris
Doctor:	[[doctor::Third Doctor]]
Companion(s):	Jo Grant
Main enemy:	Verdigris
Main setting:	Earth, London, Thisis, 1973
Key crew
Publisher:	[[publisher::BBC Books]]
Writer:	Paul Magrs
Release details
Release number:	30
Release date:	April 2000
Format:	Paperback Book, ? Pages
ISBN:	ISBN 0-563-55592-0

Publisher's summary

Jo Grant had no inkling of the ship that revolved in orbit like a discreet, preposterous thought in the mind of someone serene but bonkers.

High above London and its crust of smog, stretched tall above the soapy atmosphere of the Earth, is a ship the size and exact shape of St Pancra railway station.

On board, the Doctor and that mysterious lady adventurer, Iris Wildthyme, are bargaining for their lives with creatures determined to infiltrate the 1970s in the guise of characters from nineteenth-century novels.

Without the help of UNIT, the Doctor and his friends face the daunting task of defeating aliens, marauding robot sheep, the mysterious Children of Destiny and... the being who calls himself Verdigris.

Characters

• The Doctor
  • Wants to steal Iris' TARDIS so that he can escape his exile on Earth.

• Jo Grant
  • Is trained in lock picking and escapology.

• Iris Wildthyme
  • Mentions Jenny her companion the "butch dyke traffic warden".

• Tom
  • Has been travelling with Iris for about a month.
  • Tom has a paranoid moment when he meets his mother and thinks he's destined to impregnate her.
  • Tom is gay.

• Verdigris (individual)
  • Kisses Jo whilst wearing a mask which makes him look like the Master.

• The Children of Destiny

References

• Iris mentions the time that the Doctor's TARDIS fell off a cliff on Peladon.
• The Master makes a cameo at the end, intending to head for Skaro.
• The Doctor takes Jo to his country house which is 30 miles from Thisis.
• He had also taken Jo to his house in Kent, his flat in London and a caravan he has in the highlands of Scotland.
• Verdigris travels to the anti-matter universe and makes Omega aware of the Doctor (there by leading to the Doctor being freed from his exile).
• The Saldisians are hand-bag shaped aliens.
• Iris refers to the Doctor travelling with a blonde woman and a metal dog which has not happened yet for the Doctor.
• Iris was once a member of the Sisterhood of Karn.
• Following her impersonation in the Sisterhood Iris was time scooped to Gallifrey where she and her other incarnations battled the Zarbi, Voord and Mechanoids in the Death Zone.
• Iris met the Brigadier during a conflict in Venice involving the Celaphopods.
• In the future Iris and Jenny help (a future incarnation of) the Doctor to defeat the Dalek Supreme in the Crystal Mines of Marlion.
• Iris has met the Terrible Zodin on Mars.

Planets

• Iris summoned Verdigris from the planet Makorna.
• The Doctor and Iris agree that the Nurses of Ionicaiy Six would go to the trouble of kidnapping humans simply to play doctors and nurses.
• In Tom's first trip with Iris she took him to the planet Calgoria.

Alcohol

• The Doctor, Jo, Tom (and others), drink Chardonay, whiskey, and multiple gin and tonics
• The Doctor prefers lime rather than lemon in his Bombay Sapphire Gin.

Notes

• Paul Magrs crafts Iris Wildthyme as a sort of 'anti-Doctor', she drinks, smokes, generally kidnaps her companions. Also her companions are more or less opposite to the Doctor's; Jenny the lesbian traffic warden who "got the runs" as they went through the vortex, then there's Tom the black gay guy whom she also kidnapped.

• Then there's the adventures she had which are similar...but not to the Doctor's.

Continuity

• Iris mentions the occasion when the TARDIS fell off a cliff on Peladon. DW: The Curse of Peladon. The Doctor says that that hasn't happened yet.
• Iris was on Karn when the Doctor was there. (DW: The Brain of Morbius)
• Iris has an adventure in the Death Zone remarkably similar to DW: The Five Doctors.
• The Master leaves Earth at the end of this story having escaped from prison in DW: The Sea Devils and aims for Skaro, which leads to his next appearance in DW: Frontier in Space.
• At the end of the novel Verdigris travels to the anti-matter universe to assist Omega against the Doctor (setting up events for DW: The Three Doctors).

Timeline

Placement of this story is complicated given the various references throughout the book.

• Iris mentions when the Doctor's TARDIS fell off the cliff, see continuity), which means in theory this occurs before DW: The Curse of Peladon.
• However, the Master is free and not in prison, so this story must take place after DW: The Sea Devils.

• Verdigris occurs after DWM: Target Practice
• Verdigris occurs before: DW: The Three Doctors

External links

• Verdigris at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• The Discontinuity Guide to: Verdigris at The Whoniverse