The Murder Game (novel)

The Murder Game
Doctor:	[[doctor::Second Doctor]]
Companion(s):	Ben Jackson Polly
Main enemy:	The Selachians
Main setting:	The Hotel Galaxian and the Selachian warcraft in orbit of Earth, 2136 An unnamed volcanic planet
Key crew
Publisher:	[[publisher::BBC Books]]
Writer:	Steve Lyons
Release details
Release number:	2
Release date:	July 1997
Format:	Paperback Book, ? Pages
ISBN:	ISBN 0-563-40565-1

Publisher's summary

The faded glamour of a hotel in space, spinning in an all-but-forgotten orbit round the Earth, is host to some unusual visitors this weekend - including a party that claim to travel in a battered blue police box...

It is the year 2146. Answering a distress call from the dilapidated Hotel Galaxian, the TARDIS crew discover a games enthusiast is using the hotel to host a murder-mystery weekend. But it seems someone from his motley group of guests is taking things a little too seriously.

While the Doctor, Ben and Polly find themselves joining in the shadowplay, it becomes clear that a real-life murderer is stalking the dark, disused corridors of the Galaxian. But worse than this: there's a sinister force waiting silently in space for events to unfold. A terrible secret is hidden on board the Galaxian, and if it is discovered nothing - least of all murder - will ever be the same again. If this is a game, the stakes just got higher.

Plot

to be added

Characters

• The Doctor
• Ben Jackson
• Polly

References

The Doctor

• The Doctor had previously seen an entire world devastated by the Selachians, although he had not yet met them.
• In a rarely seen gesture, the Doctor offers a silent prayer to 'the gods of his own people'.

Objects

• Clockwork frogs are used as currency in the Alpha Mardis systems.

Notes

to be added

Continuity

• The Selachians also appear in PDA: The Final Sanction and BFA: The Architects of History.
• T-Mat equipment is mentioned. (DW: The Seeds of Death)
• The Doctor, Ben and Polly encountered Venusians, Draconians and Alpha Centaurans at a spaceport bar in an unchronicled adventure preceding this one.
• In the Doctor's pockets are (amongst other things) a bag of jelly babies and a yo-yo, both used frequently by the Fourth Doctor.
• UNIT - and the Doctor's mentions in the organisation's files - are mentioned, however the Doctor says he knows nothing of such an organisation (not having heard of it until DW: The Invasion).
• The Doctor refers to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as an 'old friend'. In MA: Evolution, the Fourth Doctor suspects they may have met before.
• The Doctor can feel the space station moving, even though no one else can. This is similar to his ability to feel the movement of the Earth. (DW: Rose)
• Among the alien menaces the Doctor has fought, Ben mentions the War Machines (DW: The War Machines), the Daleks (DW: The Power of the Daleks) and the Cybermen (DW: The Tenth Planet), and is about to mention more (but is interrupted), implying that additional adventures have taken place since he met the First Doctor (which likely include: ST: Pluto and MA: Invasion of the Cat-People among others).
• Professor X is mentioned. (NA: No Future)
• The Doctor creates a temporary sonic device, used to unlock a door, and resolves to begin work on a permanent version when he got back to the TARDIS. The resulting sonic screwdriver is later seen in PDA: Dreams of Empire (and onscreen in DW: Fury from the Deep), and possibly even earlier - in TN: Wonderland. (What happened to his previous sonic device used in MA: Venusian Lullaby is unknown.)
• Ben states that in his experience, computers do as they please. (DW: The War Machines)
• When seeing an outfit found in the TARDIS wardrobe consisting of a colourful patchwork shirt clashing with yellow trowsers, the Doctor thinks to himself that he would never wear such a thing, a notion obviously forgotten by the time his sixth incarnation came around. (DW: The Twin Dilemma)

Timeline

• This story occurs after MA: Invasion of the Cat-People
• This story occurs before PDA: Dying in the Sun

External links

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