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Imperial Moon was the thirty-fourth novel in the BBC Past Doctor Adventures series. It was written by Christopher Bulis, released 7 August 2000 and featured the Fifth Doctor, Vislor Turlough and Kamelion.
This was the only novel to feature this line up of Doctor and companions. This novel was one of three novels in which Kamelion has appeared.
Publisher's summary
The year is 1878. Three ships of the British Imperial Spacefleet have just set course for the Moon.
The discovery of a mysterious diary, recalling a seemingly impossible journey, takes the Fifth Doctor and his companions back to a crucial moment in history — and into certain danger. For the moon of 1878 is far from deserted.
Trapped in a crater teeming with hostile animal and plant life, the Doctor and Turlough must join the British explorers on a hazardous journey to battle for their freedom before the long lunar night descends. For, lurking in the shadows, are the Vrall — cunning and utterly ruthless killers.
With the loss of one of their ships — and their captain — the British team become embroiled in a struggle to survive that tests duty and honour to their limits. Meanwhile, Turlough finds himself with time in his hands and the Doctor must make a choice that will determine the future of an empire — and Earth itself.
Plot
to be added
Characters
- Fifth Doctor
- Vislor Turlough
- Kamelion
- Captain Richard Haliwell
- Professor Boyes-Dennison
- Emily Boyes-Dennison
- Captain Sinclair
- Henry Stanton
- Captain Green
- Lytalia
- Nareena
- The Warden
- Lieutenant Forrester
- Granby
- Tom Broady
- The Bosun
- Maitland
- The Vrall
- Pat
- Sumpter
- Draycott
- Davis
- John Brown
References
Time
- The Doctor uses a time safe to send his earlier self Haliwell's diary. He considers it an acceptable temporal paradox if used sparingly.
- Parallel universes exist separated by a millisecond of time and a nanometre of space. If they don't diverge cleanly, it becomes an alternate timeline that destroys the original.
Time Lords
- Time Lords have the responsibility to choose "the fate of untold millions yet unborn" when faced with a point where history might diverge if events aren't stopped or become public knowledge.
- The Doctor notes that regeneration on the surface of the Moon in a vacuum "would not be an option"; this idea was also acknowledged in The Taking of Planet 5, where the Eighth Doctor recalls stories of Time Lords regenerating in oxygenless environments and becoming increasingly twisted as they exhaust their lives trying to become something that can survive in space.
Technology
- Reading about the impeller engine in Haliwell's diary, the Doctor compares it to a form of reactionless drive, which he states humanity will develop for real two centuries after the events described here.
- Turlough argues the human technology was not advanced at this point to develop spaceships, but the Doctor argues that Victorian engineering had reached the level to build a sound, airtight hull. They also had the chemical means of producing air.
Individuals
- Kamelion impersonates Prince Albert and tells Queen Victoria to end the British Space Programme and to look to domestic concerns.
- Captain Richard Haliwell is captain of the ship Cygnus, Captain Sinclair is captain of the ship Lynx and Captain Green is captain of the ship Draco.
Notes
to be added
Continuity
- The Doctor refers to his granddaughter Susan Foreman (TV: An Unearthly Child) and his former companion Leela. (TV: The Face of Evil)