Matrix (novel)

Matrix
Doctor:	Seventh Doctor
Companion(s):	Ace
Main enemy:	The Valeyard
Main setting:	London, 1888
Key crew
Publisher:	BBC Books
Writers:	Robert Perry, Mike Tucker
Release details
Release number:	16
Release date:	5 October 1998
Format:	Paperback Book; 41 Chapters, 288 Pages
ISBN:	ISBN 0-563-40596-1
BBC Past Doctor Adventures
← Previous	Last Man Running
Next →	Salvation

You may wish to consult Matrix (disambiguation) for other, similarly-named pages.

Matrix was the sixteenth novel in the BBC Past Doctor Adventures series. It was written by Robert Perry and Mike Tucker, released 5 October 1998 and featured the Seventh Doctor, Ace and the Valeyard. It also features alternate versions of Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright.

The novel is notable for depicting what could be the demise of the Valeyard.

Publisher's summary

"I won't fight you."

"Oh, but you will." The voice twisted and cracked. Fury and madness tore through it. "You will fight me, Doctor!"

The Doctor is on the run from a faceless enemy that knows his every thought and move. He flees to his past, planning to leave Ace in safe hands in order to fight on alone. But his enemy has other plans, and the Doctor's history no longer exists.

The TARDIS is finally drawn to London in the winter of 1888, where the Doctor and Ace discover a dark secret from Gallifrey's past, and the name of their unseen opponent. It is Jack the Ripper.

Plot

to be added

Characters

• Seventh Doctor
• Ace
• Ian Chesterton
• Barbara Wright
• The Valeyard
• Barney Slipman
• de Vries
• Jane Treddle
• Jed Barrow
• Samuel Jefford
• Jacques Malacroix
• Peter Ackroyd
• Tiny Ron
• Joseph Liebermann
• Eighth Doctor

Worldbuilding

Foods and beverages

• The amnesiac Doctor drinks beer but gets little effect from it.

The Doctor

• The Doctor recalls watching a Gallifreyan dawn with his father.
• The Valeyard's schemes bring the Seventh Doctor face-to-face with dark alternate versions of his other selves who have been corrupted by him. These include:
  • The First Doctor, who murdered other Time Lords to depart Gallifrey in the first place.
  • The Fourth Doctor, who destroyed the Daleks at their beginning.
  • The Fifth Doctor, who allowed Peri to die while taking the antitoxin for himself.

Technology

• The Valeyard has mastery over the Dark Matrix.

Story notes

• Perry and Tucker originally pitched this novel for the Virgin New Adventures.
• This story is a sequel to the television story The Trial of a Time Lord.
• The comic story Ripper's Curse and TV episode A Good Man Goes to War provide different accounts for Jack the Ripper (although these can be reconciled as Ripper's Curse takes place after the universe was reset on two separate occasions and Good Man Goes to War may feature Vastra killing the wrong suspect).
• Numerous clues to the identity of Joseph Liebermann strongly imply that he is the Wandering Jew, an immortal with Biblical connections. These include his statement that he is 1900 years old, his presence in Rome at the time of Jesus' crucifixion, and his use of the alias 'John Buttadeus'. However this is never confirmed, nor is any in-universe explanation for his immortality given.

Continuity

• The Dark Matrix is remarkably similar to the Garvond. (PROSE: The Dimension Riders)
• The Doctor and Ace have just left the Blitz. (PROSE: Illegal Alien)
• The Doctor mentions Susan Foreman and that she left him a long time ago. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth)
• Ace remembers Gabriel Chase. (TV: Ghost Light)
• For Ace the events on the Cheetah World was months ago. (TV: Survival)
• The Doctor recalls his trial. (TV: The Mysterious Planet)
• The Valeyard mentions the Sixth Doctor's regeneration and the schemes of the First Rani. (TV: Time and the Rani) He also mentions Mordred and the Doctor being called Merlin. (TV: Battlefield)
• Through the TARDIS' telepathic circuits the Doctor sees himself get shot multiple times. (TV: Doctor Who)

External links

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