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{{Infobox Novel|
{{title dab away}}
novel name= The Bodysnatchers |
{{real world}}
image=[[Image:body_snatchers_cover.jpg|250px]] |
{{Infobox Story SMW
series=[[Doctor Who]] -<br/>[[BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures]] |
|image         = Body snatchers cover.jpg
number= 3 |
|series         = [[BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures]]
doctor=[[Eighth Doctor]] |
|range= BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures
companions= [[Sam Jones]] |
|number in range = 3
enemy= [[Zygon]]s |
|number         = 3
year= [[London]], [[11th January]] [[1894]]|
|doctor         = Eighth Doctor
writer= [[Mark Morris]] |
|companions     = [[Sam Jones|Sam]]
publisher= [[BBC Books]] |
|enemy         = [[Zygon]]s
release date= [[August]] [[1997]] |
|setting        = [[London]], [[11 January|11]]–[[13 January]] [[1894]]
format= Paperback Book, ? Pages |
|writer         = Mark Morris
isbn= ISBN 0-563-40568-6|
|publisher     = BBC Books
previous story= [[Vampire Science]]|
|release date   = 18 August 1997
next story= [[Genocide (novel)|Genocide]]
|cover          = [[Black Sheep]]
}}
|format         = Paperback Book;<br/>11 Chapters, 280 Pages
|isbn           = ISBN 0-563-40568-6
|prev          = Vampire Science (novel)
|next          = Genocide (novel)
|featuring = [[Professor George Litefoot|Litefoot]]
}}{{prose stub}}
{{you may|The Body Snatcher (comic story)|n1=the comic story}}
'''''{{StoryTitle}}''''' was the third novel in the [[BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures]] series. It was written by [[Mark Morris]], released [[18 August (releases)|18 August]] [[1997 (releases)|1997]] and featured the [[Eighth Doctor]] and [[Sam Jones]].


== Publisher's Summary ==
It was the first novel to feature the [[Zygon]]s, who had previously appeared in the 1975 ''[[Doctor Who]]'' television story ''[[Terror of the Zygons (TV story)|Terror of the Zygons]]''. It also featured an appearance of [[George Litefoot|Professor George Litefoot]], whom the [[The Doctor|Doctor]] had first met in the 1977 TV story ''[[The Talons of Weng-Chiang (TV story)|The Talons of Weng-Chiang]]''.


It is [[London]], [[1894]]. Amid the fog, cold and degradation, a gruesome business is being conducted. The bodies of the dead are being stolen from their graves - men, women and children alike - for the sinister purpose of a very mysterious gentleman.
== Publisher's summary ==
It is [[London]], [[1894]]. Amid the fog, cold and degradation, a gruesome business is being conducted. The bodies of the dead are being stolen from their graves — men, women and children alike — for the sinister purpose of a very mysterious gentleman.


When [[Eighth Doctor|the Doctor]] and [[Sam Jones|Sam]] arrive, they are witness to a horrifying scene in the evil-smelling fog: something rises up from the filthy waters of the [[Thames]] and devours a man - a man terrified for his life and on the run from the devil himself...
When the [[Eighth Doctor]] and [[Sam Jones|Sam]] arrive, they are witness to a horrifying scene in the evil-smelling fog: something rises up from the filthy waters of the [[River Thames|Thames]] and devours a man — a man terrified for his life and on the run from the devil himself...


Teaming up with an old friend, pathologist [[George Litefoot|Professor George Litefoot]], the Doctor is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. Together with Sam, they discover there is a far graver threat facing London then just earthly grave robbers. Deadly alien beings the Doctor has encountered before are at work, and they bring a whole new twist to the word bodysnatchers...
Teaming up with an old friend, pathologist [[George Litefoot|Professor George Litefoot]], the Doctor is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. Together with Sam, they discover there is a far graver threat facing London then just earthly grave robbers. [[Zygon|Deadly alien beings]] the Doctor has encountered before are at work, and they bring a whole new twist to the word bodysnatchers...


==Plot==
== Plot ==
''to be added''


== Characters ==
* [[Eighth Doctor]]
* [[Sam Jones]]
* Professor [[George Litefoot]]
* [[Albert Rudge]]
* [[Jack Howe]]
* [[Harry Fish]]
* [[Emmeline Seers]]
* [[Nathaniel Seers]]
* [[Florence Seers]]
* [[Tom Donahue]]
* [[Butler (The Bodysnatchers)|Butler]]
* [[Abigail Butler]]
* [[Tompkins (The Bodysnatchers)|Tompkins]]
* [[Mary Dobbs]]
* [[Lottie (The Bodysnatchers)|Lottie]]
* Mrs [[Hudson (The Talons of Weng-Chiang)|Hudson]]
* [[Whitney (The Bodysnatchers)|Whitney]]
* [[Beech (The Bodysnatchers)|Beech]]
* [[Stoker (The Bodysnatchers)|Stoker]]
* [[Hetherington]]
* [[Ned Cockles]]
* [[Tuval]]
* [[Balaak]]
* [[Veidra]]
* [[Zorva]]
* [[Schivaal]]
* [[Chumaak]]
* [[Mowgra]]
* [[Henry Peterson]]
* [[Harry Bowman]]
* [[Hollis (The Bodysnatchers)|Hollis]]
* [[Daisy (The Bodysnatchers)|Daisy]]
* [[Daisy's mother (The Bodysnatchers)|Daisy's mother]]


London, 1894. Factory owner Nathaniel Seers, formerly one of the kindest of men, has recently changed for the worse. When his loyal employee Tom Donahue’s hand is crushed in an accident, Seers accuses him of carelessness and fires him. Seers’ family has fared little better, and when his daughter Emmaline finds her mother in tears after a confrontation with her father, she vows to confront him and discover what has changed him so. Seers, meanwhile, is involved in shady dealings with criminals Jack Howe and Albert Rudge, who are supplying him with fresh corpses for reasons he does not choose to reveal to them; Howe, however, intends to follow his mysterious employer one night, find out what he is really doing and use the information to blackmail him. Meanwhile, Donahue is unable to find work and is suffering from gangrene in his crushed hand. Desperate to avoid the workhouse, he returns to the factory after hours to beg Seers to take him back -- only to find Seers chopping up body parts in a disused shed as his eyes glow bright orange.
== Worldbuilding ==
=== The Doctor's items ===
* The Zygons destroy [[the Doctor's sonic screwdriver]].


The Doctor accidentally destroys one of his collected back issues of the ''Strand'' magazine, and takes Sam to Victorian London to buy another copy. The TARDIS materializes on a towpath on the Thames in the middle of the night, and as the Doctor and Sam attempt to get their bearings they run into Donahue, who is fleeing in terror from the devil he saw at the factory. Donahue flees into the mist, and moments later the Doctor and Sam hear a terrible scream -- and see a dinosaur-like figure retreating into the Thames. They report the incident to the police -- as much as they feel will be believed -- and when pressed to give his address, the Doctor claims to be staying with his old friend, pathologist George Litefoot. When the Doctor shows up in his eighth instead of his fourth body, Litefoot has no idea who he is at first, but the Doctor claims to be an associate of the “other Doctor”, and enlists Litefoot’s aid in his investigation. Litefoot is only too glad to assist him, especially when the body of Tom Donahue is pulled out of the Thames, having been bitten in half by an enormous creature.
=== Fashion and clothing ===
* Emmeline wears one of [[Leela]]'s outfits that Litefoot kept from her visit.


The Doctor sets off to investigate the dead man’s former place of employment, but Seers is obstructive and unhelpful, and seems to be hiding something about the factory cellar. Emmaline attempts to confront her father about his behaviour but is also sent away frustrated; the Doctor, however, observes her demeanour and asks her to contact him should she learn anything further about her father’s changed behaviour. Seers’ suspicions have been aroused, however, and he determines to investigate this strange Doctor who seems to know more than he should. Later that night, with the reluctant assistance of Professor Litefoot, the Doctor and Sam break into the factory to learn more. They discover a hidden door in the cellar, protected by an organic lock -- and are then attacked by a monstrous beast which has been augmented with cybernetic implants. The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to drive off the beast while they make their escape, but he has confirmed that the forces at work here are alien.
=== Foods and beverages ===
* The Doctor eats some [[gumblejack]] fish fritters.
* The Doctor and Litefoot eat [[kedgeree]], grilled [[sheep]]'s [[kidney]]s, [[toast]], [[marmalade]] and [[tea]] for breakfast.


Emmaline is woken by the sounds of a struggle, and when she investigates she finds her mother dead and her father standing over the body, his eyes glowing orange and venomous stings protruding from his hands. The Doctor, Sam, and Litefoot are discussing their next move at Litefoot’s home when Emmaline arrives, having fled from her house in terror. The Doctor, theorizing that the creature in the factory will now have been let loose to roam the grounds, decides to break back in through the sewers, and Emmaline insists upon accompanying them to find out what manner of being has possessed her father. The Doctor leads the party through the sewers into the cellar, where he uses his sonic screwdriver to open the organic lock and thus reveals a passageway which appears unpleasantly like an enormous living creature’s feeding tube. He and his companions pass through the tube to find themselves in a living spacecraft, and when they finally spot the occupants the Doctor recognizes them as Zygons. The smell of putrefaction is explained when the Doctor finds a chamber of Skarasen feeding on human remains, and when he also finds a set of incubator tanks he concludes that the Zygons are preparing for invasion.
=== Individuals ===
* [[George Litefoot|Professor George Litefoot]] is almost sixty years old. He's still good friends with [[Henry Gordon Jago]]. He still lives at [[4 Ranskill Gardens]].
* Sam thinks her room looks like a ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]'' set.


Before the Doctor can investigate further, Emmaline transforms into a Zygon and turns them in; the real Emmaline never escaped from her parents’ house. Sam and Litefoot are placed in the body-print machinery and duplicated, but the Doctor is able to resist the process. Enough of his memories are analysed, however, to reveal to the Zygon warlord Balaak that the Doctor possesses a time machine. The Doctor is placed in the custody of the scientist Tuval, and is ordered to take her to the TARDIS; if he attempts to harm her in any way, the disruption to her neural patterns will be detected, and Sam and Litefoot will be killed at once. Tuval takes on Sam’s form, and as the Doctor takes her to the TARDIS, Tuval explains that the Zygon ship was damaged in a battle with their enemies the Xaranthi and crashed on this planet some years ago. Balaak has been breeding an army of Skarasen in order to wipe out the human race and create a new home for the Zygons. The Doctor offers to take the Zygons to an uninhabited world, but as much as Tuval would prefer to avoid bloodshed, she knows that once Balaak has set a plan in motion he will not abandon it; the human race is as good as doomed. The Doctor lets Tuval into the TARDIS and starts to show her how to operate the control console, but while doing so he traps her in a temporal loop, causing her to repeat the same ten seconds of time over and over again -- thus keeping her imprisoned without disrupting her neural patterns.
=== Objects ===
* The Doctor and Sam use [[Daxmoil suit]]s to protect themselves in the Thames as they escape from the Zygon ship.


While Balaak is otherwise occupied, another Zygon takes the form of Litefoot and meets Howe and Rudge to collect the bodies with which the Zygons have been feeding their Skarasen army. However, this time Howe and the reluctant Rudge to follow their mysterious benefactor, and once he arrives at Seers’ factory they confront and attempt to blackmail him. The infuriated Zygon drops his disguise and stings Rudge to death, and the terrified Howe stabs the alien creature to death and flees while the Skarasen “watchdog” is consuming Rudge’s body. Litefoot is released by the body-print machinery at the moment of his duplicate’s death, and he manages to escape before the Zygons realize what has happened; however, he emerges from the ship underwater, and the effort of reaching the bank of the river causes him to lose consciousness. A passing constable recognizes him and takes him to the nearest hospital to recover. Meanwhile, Howe flees to a nearby gin palace, where he tells his story and cuts out the tongue of a man who was foolish enough to dispute him. Convinced that the devil has made his home in the factory, Howe whips up the patrons of the gin palace into an angry mob and takes them to torch the factory. The Zygons, realizing that their cover has been exposed, decide to move their spaceship.
=== Species ===
* The [[Xaranti]] are the enemies that wiped out the [[Zygon]]s.
* Zygons are from the planet [[Zygor]].
* [[Skarasen]]s provide [[milk]] for the Zygons; baby Skarasens are thirty or forty feet long.


The Doctor, trying to swim back to the ship, is nearly crushed when it begins to move, but he manages to avoid the moving legs and re-enter the ship. Inside, he finds the vats of Skarasen lactic fluid, which the Zygons need to consume at regular intervals, and slips an anesthetic into the supply. He then rescues Sam from the body-print machinery and takes her back to the TARDIS, where he frees Tuval and explains what he has done. Once the Zygons are all asleep he will programme their ship’s autopilot to take them to an unhabited world, and delete all record of Earth’s location from its databanks to ensure that Balaak will never be able to return. Tuval accepts the Doctor’s plan as suitable -- but when the Doctor takes the TARDIS back to the Zygon ship, he discovers to his horror that he has miscalculated and that the anaesthetic has killed every Zygon aboard the ship. The dying Balaak stings the Doctor, operates the ship’s self-destruct unit, and, in a final act of spite, releases the Skarasen to wreak havoc in the world above. He then enters the TARDIS with Tuval and orders her to pilot them to a place of safety, but the Doctor has pre-programmed it to take them to the riverbank. Litefoot has returned in search of the Doctor and Sam, and when Balaak emerges from the TARDIS and attacks him Litefoot shoots him dead. Tuval refrains from attacking Litefoot in turn, however, telling him that there has been too much death already -- and that there will be more to come.
=== TARDIS ===
* [[Susan Foreman's TARDIS bedroom|Sam's room]] in [[the Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]] used to be [[Nyssa]]'s.
* The [[Hostile Action Displacement System|HADS]] is mentioned, and is used to prevent some Zygons from stealing the TARDIS.


The Doctor recovers, as Balaak was too weak to apply a fatal sting; however, despite Sam’s insistence, he is unable to go back in time to undo the wrong he has done, as it is impossible to change an event which has already occurred. He releases the Zygons’ prisoners, including Nathaniel and Emmaline Seers, and explains the situation; despite their terror at their unfamiliar surroundings, the captives accept the need for urgency and agree to follow the Doctor’s instructions. The Doctor is thus able to slow down the ship’s self-destruct sequence long enough to pilot the ship to the riverbank, and he and the others escape moments before the ship explodes. The Skarasen are already loose in London, however, spreading terror and destruction, and killing and eating everyone they encounter, including Jack Howe. The Doctor urges the others to find a safe place to hide, while Sam and the Seers accompany him back to the TARDIS, which he realizes will have materialized back where he left it. After a dangerous journey through the Skarasen-infested streets, they reach the TARDIS, where the Doctor and Tuval programme the TARDIS console to genreate a signal that will lure the Skarasen to it. The Skarasen are thus drawn back to the TARDIS, lulled back into dormancy. The Doctor then sends Litefoot and the Seers to safety and uses the TARDIS to pilot Tuval and the dormant Skarasen to an uninhabited world, where they can start a new life.
== Notes ==
* To date, this is the only appearance of Litefoot without [[Henry Gordon Jago]].


==Characters==
== Continuity ==
*[[Eighth Doctor|The Doctor]]
* Litefoot first appeared in [[TV]]: ''[[The Talons of Weng-Chiang (TV story)|The Talons of Weng-Chiang]]''.
*[[Samantha Jones]]
* The Zygons first appeared in [[TV]]: ''[[Terror of the Zygons (TV story)|Terror of the Zygons]]''.
**Is still 17.
* [[Zygor]], the Zygon homeworld, is said to have been destroyed in their war with the Xaranti. Later accounts cite the destruction as collateral of the "first days" of the [[Last Great Time War]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'')
**Sees a baby with only its spine attached (the rest chewed away by a Skarasesn) and goes and throws up down an alley.
* The Xaranti appear in [[PROSE]]: ''[[Deep Blue (novel)|Deep Blue]]''.
*[[George Litefoot|Professor George Litefoot]]
* The Doctor tells Litefoot that Leela is married with children. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Lungbarrow (novel)|Lungbarrow]]'')
**Is almost 60 years old.
* At the beginning of the story, the Doctor morosely evades Sam's enquiry into [[Jack the Ripper]]'s [[The Valeyard|true identity]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Matrix (novel)|Matrix]]'')
**Is still good friends with [[Henry Gordon Jago]].
* The Doctor remembers being romantically involved with [[Grace Holloway]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Doctor Who (TV story)|Doctor Who]]'')
**Lives at 4 Ranskill Gardens
* The Doctor uses a [[Venusian lullaby]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Curse of Peladon (TV story)|The Curse of Peladon]]'')
* The Doctor mentions his encounter with his fourth incarnation. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Eight Doctors (novel)|The Eight Doctors]]'')
* The Doctor visits Litefoot several hours after the events of this story, noting that a great deal of time has passed and looking sombre when asked about Sam, most likely setting this during the period when the Doctor lost her. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Longest Day (novel)|Longest Day]]'', ''[[Legacy of the Daleks (novel)|Legacy of the Daleks]]'', ''[[Dreamstone Moon (novel)|Dreamstone Moon]]'', ''[[Seeing I (novel)|Seeing I]]'')
* Litefoot [[dream]]s about his [[George Litefoot's father|father]], a [[Brigadier]] [[General]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Talons of Weng-Chiang (TV story)|The Talons of Weng-Chiang]]'')


==References==
== External links ==
*Sam's room in the [[the Doctor's TARDIS|TARDIS]] used to be [[Nyssa]]'s.
{{dwrefguide|whobbc03.htm|The Bodysnatchers}}
*The [[Xaranti]] are the enemies that wiped out the [[Zygon]]s.
* {{whoniverse|ed03|The Bodysnatchers}}
*Zygons are from the planet [[Zygor]].
* [http://mysite.science.uottawa.ca/rsmith43/cloister/body.htm The Cloister Library: '''The Bodysnatchers''']
*The Doctor eats some [[gumblejack]] fish fritters.
*Emmeline wears one of [[Leela]]'s outfits that Lightfoot kept from her visit.
*[[Skarasen]]s provide milk for the Zygons, baby Skarasens are about 30 - 40 feet long.
*The Zygons destroy the [[sonic screwdriver]].
*The Doctor and Sam use [[Daxmoil suit]]s to protect themselves in the Thames as they escape from the Zygon ship.


==Continuity==
{{EDA}}
*Litefoot first appeared in [[DW]]: ''[[The Talons of Weng-Chiang]]''.
{{Zygon stories}}
*The Zygons first appeared in [[DW]]: ''[[Terror of the Zygons]]''
{{TitleSort}}
*The Xaranti appear in [[PDA]]: ''[[Deep Blue]]''.
[[es:The Bodysnatchers]]
*The Doctor tells Litefoot that Leela is married with children ([[NA]]: ''[[Lungbarrow]]'').
*In [[EDA]]: ''[[The Scarlet Empress]]'' Sam has a telepathic flashback to a scene that occurs just after the end of this novel (though before the Doctor re-meets Litefoot), it is possible that the scene never occured.


==External Links==
[[Category:Stories set in London]]
* [http://www.drwhoguide.com/whobbc03.htm The Doctor Who Reference Guide detailed synopsis of '''The Bodysnatchers''']
[[Category:Stories set in 1894]]
* [http://www.whoniverse.org/discontinuity/ED03.php The Whoniverse Discontinuity Guide - '''The Bodysnatchers''']
[[Category:EDA novels]]
 
[[Category:1997 novels]]
{{BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures Series Box | before = [[Vampire Science]] | after = [[Genocide (novel)|Genocide]]}}
[[Category:Zygon novels]]
[[Category:Stories set in London|Bodysnatchers]]
[[Category:Stories set in 1894|Bodysnatchers]]
[[Category:BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures|Bodysnatchers]]
[[Category:1997 novels|Bodysnatchers]]

Latest revision as of 20:13, 3 November 2024

RealWorld.png

prose stub
You may be looking for the comic story.

The Bodysnatchers was the third novel in the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures series. It was written by Mark Morris, released 18 August 1997 and featured the Eighth Doctor and Sam Jones.

It was the first novel to feature the Zygons, who had previously appeared in the 1975 Doctor Who television story Terror of the Zygons. It also featured an appearance of Professor George Litefoot, whom the Doctor had first met in the 1977 TV story The Talons of Weng-Chiang.

Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]

It is London, 1894. Amid the fog, cold and degradation, a gruesome business is being conducted. The bodies of the dead are being stolen from their graves — men, women and children alike — for the sinister purpose of a very mysterious gentleman.

When the Eighth Doctor and Sam arrive, they are witness to a horrifying scene in the evil-smelling fog: something rises up from the filthy waters of the Thames and devours a man — a man terrified for his life and on the run from the devil himself...

Teaming up with an old friend, pathologist Professor George Litefoot, the Doctor is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. Together with Sam, they discover there is a far graver threat facing London then just earthly grave robbers. Deadly alien beings the Doctor has encountered before are at work, and they bring a whole new twist to the word bodysnatchers...

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

to be added

Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor's items[[edit] | [edit source]]

Fashion and clothing[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Emmeline wears one of Leela's outfits that Litefoot kept from her visit.

Foods and beverages[[edit] | [edit source]]

Individuals[[edit] | [edit source]]

Objects[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The Doctor and Sam use Daxmoil suits to protect themselves in the Thames as they escape from the Zygon ship.

Species[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The Xaranti are the enemies that wiped out the Zygons.
  • Zygons are from the planet Zygor.
  • Skarasens provide milk for the Zygons; baby Skarasens are thirty or forty feet long.

TARDIS[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

v • e
BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures
Sam
Susan
Sam
Fitz, Sam
Sam, Fitz, Compassion
Third Doctor, Sarah
Fitz, Compassion
Solo travels
Anji, Fitz
Anji, Fitz, Trix
Fitz, Trix
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Zygon stories
For the purposes of this list, a "Zygon story" is one in which one living, authentic Zygon plays a confirmed part within the confines of the story, outside of flashbacks to previous stories and cliffhangers that lead into the following story. For this reason, Death in Heaven is absent due to the ambiguity of a Zygons' presence.
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