The Time Travellers (novel)

The Time Travellers
Doctor:	First Doctor
Companion(s):	Susan, Ian, Barbara
Main enemy:	General Louise Bamford
Main setting:	London, 24 June 2006 and 15-18 October 1972
Key crew
Publisher:	BBC Books
Writer:	Simon Guerrier
Cover by:	Black Sheep
Release details
Release number:	73
Release date:	10 November 2005
Format:	Paperback Book, 15 Chapters, 284 Pages
ISBN:	ISBN 0-563-48633-3
BBC Past Doctor Adventures
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The Time Travellers was the seventy-third novel in the BBC Past Doctor Adventures series. It was written by Simon Guerrier, released 10 November 2005 and featured the First Doctor, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright and Susan Foreman.

The novel is notable for featuring a unique take on the effects which the Doctor's adventures have on history. In the version of 2006 which the characters visit in the story, it is stated that WOTAN, the Cyberman, and the Daleks have accomplished somewhat successful invasions of Earth, implying that because the Doctor has yet to intervene in those events (seen in TV: The War Machines, The Tenth Planet and Remembrance of the Daleks respectively) that different outcomes came into being. This could also be seen as a clever way to explain stories set in futures which never came to pass, such as TV: The Enemy of the World being set in 2018.

Publisher's summary

"Have you ever thought what it's like to be wanderers in the fourth dimension, to be exiles?"

24 June, 2006. The TARDIS has landed in London. Ian and Barbara are almost back home. But this isn't the city they knew. This city is a ruin, torn apart by war. A war that the British are losing.

With his friends mistaken for vagrants and sentenced to death, the Doctor is press-ganged into helping perfect a weapon that might just turn the tables in the war. The British Army has discovered time travel. And the consequences are already devastating.

What has happened to the world that Ian and Barbara once knew? How much of the experiment do the Doctor and Susan really understand?

And, despite all the Doctor has said to the contrary, is it actually possible to change history?

Plot

to be added

Characters

• First Doctor
• Susan Foreman
• Ian Chesterton
• Barbara Wright
• Colonel Andrews
• General Louise Bamford
• Richie Roberts
• Belcher
• Abigail Ali
• Professor Kelly
• Griffiths
• Joan Wright
• Karen Baldwin
• Sharrock
• Skinner
• Wu

Worldbuilding

Individuals

• Ian Chesterton's national service number was 15110404. He was a private.
• In one timeline, Louise Bamford's mother, Karen Baldwin, originally met her husband in 1975 and died in 1981. In another timeline, she was murdered by vagrants in 1972.
• When Ian and Barbara are returned to London on 26 June 1965, the Doctor gives them an envelope of British notes and coins, including a twenty pence coin which was minted in 1982.

Technology

• After the WOTAN (successful) invasion, Britain outlawed radio communications devices, as WOTAN had used them to take over peoples' minds.
• The South Africans have weapons and technology supplied to them by the Cybermen occupying the Arctic.
• Dalek technology from the Shoreditch Incident helped the British create their time machine.

Notes

• Unlike most novels in the BBC Past Doctor Adventures (and Virgin Missing Adventures), the back cover does not specify what television stories it is set between. However, it clearly takes place right after Planet of Giants. Chapter One opens with the Doctor saying his closing lines from that story: "I think we're beginning to materialise. Perhaps I shall know now where we are." The main characters are also described as wearing the same clothes, such as the Doctor's cloak and Susan's dungarees, and their previous adventure is also said to have been rough on Barbara.
• The epilogue of this novel follows the last scenes of the television story The Chase with Ian and Barbara on the bus.
• The dystopian future of this story is the result of the events of the television story The War Machines — here, WOTAN was successful in temporarily conquering the planet. It is strongly suggested, though not outright said, that this is in fact what was meant to happen to Earth and that the Doctor's involvement changed history.
• On the cover of this novel, the real world sculpture Traffic Light Tree, located in London, England, is featured.

Continuity

• Joan Wright, Barbara's mother, reappears. (PROSE: A Long Night)
• Barbara claims to have learned her lesson about changing history in Mexico in the 15th century. (TV: The Aztecs)
• Barbara remembers her travels in the TARDIS to 1289, (TV: Marco Polo) 1794, (TV: The Reign of Terror) 1692, (PROSE: The Witch Hunters) the 28th century, (TV: The Sensorites) and the 30th century. (PROSE: The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Room for Improvement) She also knows of the significance of 1066. (TV: The Time Meddler)
• The Doctor (inexplicitly) refers to Susan and himself as being more sensitive than others to the motions of planets and galaxies. (TV: Rose)
• A successful WOTAN, referred to as "the Machine", was indirectly responsible for the outbreak of World War III. (TV: The War Machines)
• In the alternative timeline in 1972, British scientists use the Dalek technology which they salvaged from Coal Hill School in the aftermath of the Shoreditch Incident in November 1963 to build a time machine. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
• The Cybermen now live permanently at the South Pole following an alternate version of events at Snowcap. (TV: The Tenth Planet)
• The Doctor states that the time-warping events will draw the attention of the Time Lords, and it's now more likely they'll find him. (TV: The War Games) The Doctor now wants to find a safe place to leave Susan so she will not be found. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth)

External links

• The Time Travellers at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• The Discontinuity Guide to: The Time Travellers at The Whoniverse
• The Cloister Library: The Time Travellers