Venusian Lullaby (novel)

Venusian Lullaby
Doctor:	First Doctor
Companion(s):	Ian, Barbara
Main enemy:	Sou(ou)shi
Main setting:	Venus, circa 3,000,000,000 BC
Key crew
Publisher:	Virgin Books
Writer:	Paul Leonard
Cover by:	Alister Pearson
Release details
Release number:	3
Release date:	20 October 1994
Format:	Paperback Book, 20 Chapters, 312 Pages
ISBN:	ISBN 0-426-20424-7
Virgin Missing Adventures
← Previous	Evolution
Next →	The Crystal Bucephalus

You may be looking for the lullaby itself.

Venusian Lullaby was the third novel in the Virgin Missing Adventures series. It was written by Paul Leonard. Featuring the First Doctor, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, it was set between The Dalek Invasion of Earth and The Rescue, after Susan Foreman left but before Vicki joined the crew.

Publisher's summary

"You want me to help you eat your children?" Ian said.

Jellenhut's eye-stalks twitched. "How else would we remember them?"

Venus is dying. When the Doctor, Barbara and Ian arrive they find an ancient and utterly alien civilization on the verge of oblivion. War is brewing between those who are determined to accept death, and those desperate for salvation whatever the cost.

Then a spacefaring race arrives, offering to rescue the Venusians by moving them all to Earth — three billion years before mankind is due to evolve. Are the newcomers' motives as pure as they appear? And will the Doctor allow them to save his oldest friends by sacrificing the future of humanity?

Chapter titles

Prologue

Dying

Book One - The Purple Cloud Hour

1. Remembering
2. Requests For Assistance
3. Further Requests
4. Battering Ram

Book Two - The Green Leaf Hour

1. Searches, Escapes, Predictions
2. Deaths, Voluntary and Otherwise

Book Three - The Yellow Moss Hour

1. Differences and Decisions
2. Battles for Survival
3. Remembering the Children

Book Four - The Grey Water Hour

1. News
2. Orders to Kill
3. Venusian Underground
4. Trials of Conscience

Book Five

1. Boarding
2. Losses
3. Deceptions
4. Detonations
5. Victory and Defeat

Epilogue

Dawning

Plot

to be added

Characters

• First Doctor
• Ian Chesterton
• Barbara Wright
• Pown(ow)ri
• Jikugihi Dharkhig
• Fefirhi Trikhobu
• Efhil Jellenhut
• Anaghil
• Vivojkhil
• Podsighil
• Jilet Mrak-ecado
• Kintibi Jofghil
• Afhighid Kontojij
• Kantihif Havteg
• Kinjiju Jignivi
• Bismar Mrodtikdhil
• Alitihi Nefkhil
• Ruribeg
• Soneghil
• Lighibu
• Legdhitreb Brignontojij
• Taven Frinallenegu
• Hakih Gwebdhallut
• Henefenhut
• Efin Kallenhu

Worldbuilding

The Doctor

• The Doctor is still adapting to life without his granddaughter Susan.

The Doctor's items

• The Doctor carries everlasting matches.
• The Doctor cracks the code for the launch sequence of a Sou(ou)shi shuttle using an "unknown sonic device".

Culture

• Ian knows of a Venusian lullaby.
• There were various factions, known as anti-Acceptancers, who tried to find alternatives to their civilisation's fate. These included the Below the Sun Believers, the Rocketeers, the Water-breathers, the Volcano People, the Magnetologists and the Cave-makers.

Individuals

• Ian has a young cousin called John.

TARDIS

• Trikhobu works out a method for piloting the TARDIS based on tracking individuals.

Notes

• The remark by Ian that Christmas has passed recently appears to be a rather sly reference to the broadcast date of the television story The Dalek Invasion of Earth, which aired during the Christmas week. The novel takes place immediately after that story.
• This book, Paul Leonard's first, was intended to lead into Jim Mortimore's short story The Book of Shadows. Mortimore had convinced Leonard to pitch to Virgin Books, and Leonard chose the First Doctor TARDIS team so he could use Mortimore's "ready-made characterisations".
• Barbara thinks about her father at the time she got her teaching job at Coal Hill School. However, a later short story claims that her father was killed in the early stages of World War II when Barbara was only a child. (PROSE: Tell Me You Love Me)

Continuity

• Susan Foreman's departure from the TARDIS weighs heavily on the Doctor's mind. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth)
• A Venusian lullaby was later mentioned by the Third Doctor at Devil's End, the beginning of which went "Close your eyes, my darling, or three of them at least." (TV: The Dæmons)
• Ian notes the dissimilarity between Bikugih and other alien cities, including Morphoton, (TV: The Keys of Marinus) the Sense Sphere (TV: The Sensorites and the Dalek City. (TV: The Daleks, AUDIO: Return to Skaro)
• The Doctor uses his everlasting matches. (PROSE: Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks, The Book of Shadows, et al.)
• Nightfish are used to power Venusian boats and are also used as a source of food. (PROSE: Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks)
• The Doctor asks Pown(ow)ri whether the Sou(ou)shi are related to the Great Vampires. (TV: State of Decay)
• At the end, the Doctor expresses his intention to travel to the time of Aristea in order to collect some gold to make a wedding ring for Susan's wedding. (PROSE: The Book of Shadows)
• After getting caught in a rainstorm, the Doctor remarks that he "really must remember to carry an umbrella... at all times." It would not be until his sixth regeneration that he would do so regularly. (TV: The Two Doctors, et al.)

External links

• Venusian Lullaby at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• The Discontinuity Guide to: Venusian Lullaby at The Whoniverse
• The Cloister Library: Venusian Lullaby
• Doctor Who Bewildering Reference Guide to Venusian Lullaby
• Beyond the Book: Venusian Lullaby by Paul Scoones (Article) - TSV 43