Lungbarrow (novel)
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Lungbarrow is an original novel written by Marc Platt and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Published in Virgin Books' New Adventures range, it was the last of that range to feature the Seventh Doctor.
It was the final novel, under any banner, which featured the Seventh Doctor as the "current" Doctor, although McGann's Eighth Doctor had already made his televised appearance by the time the novel was published.
Publisher's Summary
'Nonsense, child,' retorted the Doctor. 'Grandfather indeed! I've never seen you before in my life!'
All is not well on Gallifrey. Chris Cwej is having someone else's nightmares. Ace is talking to herself. So is K-9. Leela has stumbled on a murderous family conspiracy. And the beleaguered Lord President, Romanadvoratrelundar, foresees one of the most tumultuous events in her planet history.
At the roof of all is an ancient and terrible place, the House of Lungbarrow in the southern mountains of Gallifrey. Something momentous is happening there. But the House has inexplicably gone missing.
673 years ago the Doctor left his family in that forgotten House. Abandoned, disgraced and resentful, they have waited. And now he's home at last.
In this, the seventh Doctor's final New Adventure, he faces a threat that could uncover the greatest secret of them all.
Characters
- The Doctor
- Has the nickname 'Snail' and 'Wormhole' by his cousins (because he has a bellybutton).
- Ace
- The CIA kill Ace for 20 minutes and upload her memories to the Matrix.
- Leelandredloomsagwinaechegesima (aka Leela)
- Is pair bonded to Andred.
- Is pregnant.
- Castellan Andred
- Belongs to House of the Redlooms.
- President Romana
- Is negotiating with the Tharils.
- K-9 Mark I
- Learns Andred's security codes.
- K-9 Mark II
- Has recently returned from E-Space.
- Is Leela's friend.
- Has been sent on a cross-cultural liaison course.
- Is part of the CIA.
- Kept a book called An Alternative History of Skaro: The Daleks without Davros.
Flashback / In-Memory Character
Susan (appears in flashback-like sequence)
- Her mother died as Pythia cursed Gallifrey.
- Susan's nanny was called Mamlaurea.
- Along with Rassilon and Omega was part of the Trimuvate that ruled Gallifrey.
- Susan was The Other's granddaughter.
- Threw himself into the original Loom.
The Doctor's Cousins
- Loved the Doctor.
- Has telekinisis and telepathy.
Quencessetianobayolocaturgrathageyyilunbarrowmas (aka Quenses)
- Lived for 7,000 years.
- The 422nd Kithriach of Lungbarrow.
- Served as Ordinal-General of the Brotherhood of Kithriarchs (head of the Houses of Gallifrey).
Glospinninymortheras (aka Glospin)
- In his fourth regeneration, is 1,711 years old.
- Housekeeper to the house of Lungbarrow.
- 302 years old.
- Dismissed the hermit as he was too expensive.
- Old and senile.
- Was Epicurla Overseer to the Dromeian Chapterhouse.
- Dead.
- Died 200 years ago.
- Multi-chinned.
- Got stuck in the East chimney of the House of Lungbarrow.
- Is 675 years old.
- Was loomed to replace the Doctor.
- Is quite stupid.
- He killed Cousin Arkew.
References
- The Doctor returns to Gallifrey and his house Lungbarrow.
- Before leaving Gallifrey the Doctor worked in the Bureau of Possible Events as a Scrutationary Archivist.
- Leela still carried janis thorns.
- Sepulchasm is a Time Lord game (and quite possibly a swear word).
- Karn is in conjunction with Polarfrey.
- Gallifreyan forests have striped pig bears in them.
- Gallifreyan Looms create new Gallfreyans.
- The books: The Triumphs of Rassilon, The Book of Rassilon and The Record of Rassilon are books that contain interpretations of; Rassilon, Omega and The Other.
- Pythia threw herself into the Crevice of Memories That Will Be.
- Omega was lost in the constellation of Ao.
- The Hand of Omega befriended the Doctor because it sensed The Other's essence in him.
- The Doctor departs for a final mission to Skaro.
Notes
- Lungbarrow wrapped up the last of the continuity of the New Adventures and put the Doctor on course to gather the Master's remains from Skaro, as depicted in the 1996 Doctor Who television movie. It is also one of a number of the New Adventures which is hard to obtain and is often seen on auction websites such as eBay at prices many times the original cover price.
- Before losing their license to BBC Books, it had been announced that the Seventh Doctor's adventures would have continued in periodic Missing Adventures releases, with the Eighth Doctor taking over the NA line. Ultimately, only one Eighth Doctor novel was published and the MA line came to an end before any Seventh Doctor releases could occur (although future Seventh Doctor novels would be released under the BBC Past Doctor Adventures line as late as 2005).
- The novel which followed Lungbarrow, Lance Parkin's The Dying Days, featured the Eighth Doctor. When Virgin subsequently lost their license to print original Doctor Who fiction, they chose to focus on a character from the New Adventures which the BBC did not own, former companion Bernice Summerfield. Lungbarrow serves, in concert with Dying Days, to gradually increase the standing of Summerfield's character, laying the groundwork for the later appearance of the Seventh Doctor's then-companion, Chris Cwej, in Summerfield's own novels.
- Platt's novel, though, is largely concerned with concluding what was known as the "Cartmel Masterplan". In the final two seasons of the original 1963-1989 run of Doctor Who, the then script editor Andrew Cartmel introduced new elements of mystery into the character of the Doctor. Suggestions of dark secrets that the Doctor might be more than just a Time Lord were inserted into scripts of stories such as Ben Aaronovitch's Remembrance of the Daleks and Kevin Clarke's Silver Nemesis. Had the series not been effectively cancelled in 1989, the following season would have made some of these revelations. Elements of Platt's planned Lungbarrow instead became part of the Season 26 serial Ghost Light.
- Along the way to this resolution, Lungbarrow ultimately reveals much new information about the Doctor's home world and race, some of which had been hinted at ever since the first New Adventures novel. Many of the New Adventures authors migrated to the BBC Books Doctor Who line and elements of this backstory also made their way into subsequent novels. However, there have also been elements in those novels that contradict it.
- The novel's revelations about the odd way in which Time Lords reproduce through Looms — and the related suggestion that Susan may not have in fact been his biological granddaughter — have proven divisive in fandom. It has also been roundly rejected by the BBC Wales production of Doctor Who, which has on diverse occasions depicted the Doctor as having had familial relationships close to what a Human would experience (DW: Fear Her, Smith and Jones, The Sound of Drums). Nowhere is it more clearly contradicted, perhaps, than in The Doctor's Daughter in which the Doctor must compare one method of reproduction to what he understands to be "true", conceived parenting using two parents.
- A new version of Lungbarrow, with both additions and subtractions to the original text, author's notes and an artwork gallery, was presented as an e-book on the BBC website on August 22, 2003.
- The Houses that Platt gives Gallifrey are similar to the household featured in Peake's Gormenghast trilogy. Badger, a character who makes his first appearance in Lungbarrow, has much in common with a character in Peake's Gormenghast novella, Boy in Darkness, which originally appeared in the collected work Sometime, Never by Golding, Wyndham and Peake. [1]
- Lance Parkin on an Outpost Gallifrey forum thread [2] stated in 2005 that the reason the last three books in the Virgin New Adventures range, including Lungbarrow, were so expensive on the secondary market was excessive demand, rather than an unusually low initial print run. However, he also noted that reprints of these books were not allowed, because Virgin's license expired before a second printing might otherwise have been made.
- The numbering of this book (60 of 61) refers to the publisher's intended order, not the actual order of publication. Because of chronic delays troubling Ben Aaronovitch's So Vile a Sin (which was eventually finished by Kate Orman), it was actually the 59th New Adventure published.
Continuity
- The hermit that lived on the mountain near the Doctor's home was mentioned in DW: The Time Monster (and more details given in:) Planet of the Spiders.
- The Sisterhood of Karn debuted in DW: The Brain of Morbius.
- Leela met Andred in DW: The Invasion of Time.
- Romana returned from E-space in NA: Blood Harvest, and became president in Happy Endings.
- A lot of Gallifreyan history revisited in this novel first appeared in NA: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible.
- Romana gives the Doctor her sonic screwdriver which she built in DW: The Horns of Nimon.
- The Doctor used the Hand of Omega in NA: Remembrance of the Daleks.
- The Doctor goes on one final mission to pick up the Master's remains leading into DW: Doctor Who: The TV Movie.
See also
External Links
- Doctor Who Reference Guide detailed synopsis of Lungbarrow
- Whoniverse Discontinuity Guide entry for Lungbarrow
