Valentine's Day was a proposed BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures novel by Lawrence Miles that would have continued the "fractured biodata" plotline that began in Interference [+]Loading...["Interference - Book Two (novel)","Interference"]. After Justin Richards became editor of the range, Miles tried adapting it to work as a conclusion to the Eighth Doctor's "Earth arc" that began in The Burning [+]Loading...["The Burning (novel)"], but the rights with the Daleks fell through, so the proposal was never officially submitted. Instead, the arc was concluded by Escape Velocity [+]Loading...["Escape Velocity (novel)"].
In 2000 and 2001, Lawrence Miles said that he regarded Valentine's Day as "without question, the strongest plotline I've ever come up with"[1] and "the best thing I've ever done in Doctor Who" that "would've said everything I've ever wanted to say in a Doctor Who novel."[2] He suggested that he could turn it into an ongoing Doctor Who Magazine comic.[1]
Summary[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Doctor realises that due to the damage done to his timeline in Interference [+]Loading...["Interference - Book Two (novel)","Interference"], if he were to regenerate again he would become something "so completely horrible that even Faction Paradox weren't ready for the consequences." To avoid the risk of regeneration, he goes into self-imposed exile.
However, with the Doctor gone, the balance of the universe is disturbed and the Daleks arise as the major power the Time Lords have always feared. This prompts the Doctor to come out of his exile to train a replacement under the combined guidance of the Time Lords, Faction Paradox, and anyone else who wanted to be involved. Their training ground is Earth's 21st century, beginning on 14 February 2000 and ending exactly 100 years later.[1]
Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Miles planned for Valentine's Day to begin an arc that would end in a life-or-death struggle between the Doctor and his replacement.[1] He would later reuse some elements of this pitch, such as the Doctor's conflict with a potential successor, in The Adventuress of Henrietta Street [+]Loading...["The Adventuress of Henrietta Street (novel)"][3] and his later proposal 333 [+]Loading...["333 (unproduced novel)"].
- The story would have featured the Daleks, following on rumours that BBC Books might attain usage rights to the Daleks. As Big Finish had recently received these rights, Miles called Gary Russell and offered to synchronize with Big Finish's Dalek Empire.[4] Lance Parkin's proposal Enemy of the Daleks also would have explored the Daleks' involvement in the War in Heaven.