First Frontier (novel)

First Frontier
Doctor:	[[doctor::Seventh Doctor]]
Companion(s):	Ace, Benny
Main enemy:	Tzun, the Master
Main setting:	Earth, USA, New Mexico, White Sands Proving Ground, Holloman Air Force Base, 1957
Key crew
Publisher:	[[publisher::Virgin Books]]
Writer:	David A. McIntee
Release details
Release number:	30
Release date:	September, 1994
Format:	Paperback Book, 294 Pages
ISBN:	ISBN 0426204212

Publisher's summary

Ace raised her blaster. 'You've already killed me once, girl,' Kreer said. 'Didn't you learn anything from that?'

When Bernice asks to see the dawn of the space age, the Doctor takes the TARDIS to the United States of America in 1957 - and into the midst of distrust and paranoia. The Cold War is raging, bringing the world to the brink of atomic destruction.

But the threat facing America is far more deadly than Communist Russia. The militaristic Tzun Confederacy have made Earth their next target for conquest - and the aliens are already among us.

Two nuclear warheads have been stolen; there are traitors to the human species in the highest ranks of the army; and alien infiltrators have assumed human form. Only one person seems to know what’s going on: the army’s mysterious scientific advisor, the enigmatic Major Kreer.

Characters

• The Doctor
  • Has Majestic clearance with the US government.
• Ace
  • Will be 27 in a few months.
  • Can fly a Hercules miltary plane, thanks to what the Doctor refers to as the 'narrow minded military'. keeping things similar in all airborne craft.
  • She used to fly a spacehopper in the Spacefleet.
• Bernice Summerfield
  • Thinks of the Doctor and Ace as her only family.
  • Is immune to the Master's hypnotism.
  • Imagines the Doctor marrying the TARDIS.
• Major Kreer
  • Was able to recover enough following his fight with the Doctor on the Cheetah Planet to teleport back to Earth, however the explosion of the planet transported him back 32 years.
  • Used Tzun genetic engineering to remove the Trakenite DNA from his body to restore him to a full Time Lord.
  • The Master regenerates after Ace shoots him in the back.
  • He respects Bernice for her paper on Martian Feudalism.
  • Claims to be a Time Lord of the First Rank.
• Shadow
  • Kitling named by the Master, it took him to 1950's America from the Cheetah World.

References

• The Nestene Consciousness controls a section of the Tau Quadrant.
• The Seventh Doctor claims that Dimensions in Time was a dream.
• Bandraginus Five was a shipyard for the Vegans.
• Before being trapped on the Cheetah World the Master tried to start a war between Antari Two and Antari Three.
• The Cheetah World had an atmosphere rich in artron energy.
• The Master has read Bernice's paper on Martian Feudalism.
• The Master regenerates into someone a little bit taller than his previous body (which had been infected with the Cheetah Virus). The body has a high forehead, glossy moustache, neat beard, aristocratic nose and a lean face, and was intended to resemble actor Basil Rathbone.
• The Master uses his Tissue Compression Eliminator once more.
• The Master and Ace can detect each other due to them both being infected with the Cheetah Virus.
• The Master constructs a Stattenheim remote control to retrieve his TARDIS.
• The Tzun are from the planet S'Arl.
• There is some discussion of dimensional transcendence, which in turn leads to discussions of Gallifreyan warp matrix engineering and Block Transfer Computations.
• It is best (supposedly) to have five arms and five legs when using Venusian Aikido.
• The Sidhe are mentioned.

Notes

• The Master regenerates from the 'Anthony Ainley' body into a new body, which places Destiny of the Doctors sometime before this novel  
• Sophie Aldred later posed for photographs wearing an outfit based upon that worn by Ace on the cover of this novel, for her memoir, Ace! The Inside Story of the End of an Era.
• A prelude was published for this novel in DWM Issue 216.

Continuity

• The Master aquired the Trakenite DNA after stealing Tremas's body in DW: The Keeper of Traken.
• The Master last appeared in DW: Survival.
• The Sidhe (mentioned in this novel) appear in EDA: Autumn Mist.
• The Tzun appear in PDA: Mission: Impractical.
• A single Tzun appears in NA: Return of the Living Dad.
• Bandraginus Five was mined and squashed to a ball in DW: The Pirate Planet.
• The Master reappears to cause havoc for Benny in NA: Happy Endings.
• A Kitling last appeared in DW: Survival.

Timeline

• This story takes place after NA: Strange England
• This story takes place before NA: St Anthony's Fire

External links

• The Doctor Who Reference Guide detailed synopsis of First Frontier
• The Discontinuity Guide to: First Frontier at The Whoniverse
• Prelude to First Frontier as published in DWM #216