Time and Relative (novel)
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Time and Relative was the first Telos Doctor Who novella. It featured the First Doctor and Susan Foreman. This is author Kim Newman's only contribution to prose-based Doctor Who. This novella is one of several stories set prior to An Unearthly Child.
Publisher's summary
The harsh British winter of 1963 brings a big freeze that extends into April with no sign of letting up. And with it comes a new, far greater menace: terrifying icy creatures are stalking the streets, bringing death and destruction.
The First Doctor and Susan, trapped on Earth until the faulty TARDIS can be repaired, are caught up in the crisis. The Doctor seems to know what is going on, but is uncharacteristically detached and furtive, almost as if he is losing his memory...
Susan, isolated from her grandfather and finding it hard to fit in with the human teenagers at Coal Hill School, tries to cope by recording her thoughts in a diary. But she too feels her memory slipping away and her past unravelling. Is she even sure who she is any more...?
Plot
to be added
Characters
- First Doctor
- Susan Foreman
- Gillian Roberts
- John Brent
- Francis Minto
- Wendy Coburn
- Sadie Lederer
- Malcolm
- Zack Henderson
- Grange
- Okehurst
- Basil James Carker
- Captain Brent
- Dolly
- Henry Haigh
- Mrs Haigh
References
Culture
- Susan is a fan of the Beatles and tells her friends that "Love Me Do" is the best and most important single of the past five years. She also enjoys playing Snakes & Ladders. Conversely, she dislikes the music of Cliff Richard and his band, The Shadows. Also mentioned are Chris Waites and the Carrollers, which Ian mentions in "An Unearthly Child" as a predecessor to John Smith and the Common Men.
- The Coal Hill students sing "To Be a Pilgrim" and "There Is a Green Hill Far Away".
The Doctor's items
- The Doctor has everlasting matches.
Individuals
- Susan mentions that the Doctor "has this strange idea that educators are the sharpest, most dangerous intellects on the planet." She attributes this to the fact that he has "never been to a parents' evening" at Coal Hill School.
- It was Susan's idea to attend Coal Hill School (so she wouldn't stand out whilst they were trapped on Earth).
- Susan mentions in her diary that she finds John Lennon, Peter O'Toole and Patrick McGoohan attractive but not Albert Finney.
- John Brent is nicknamed "the Martian" by Gillian Roberts as a result of his alleged resemblance to the Mekon, the main villain of the comic strip Dan Dare. As John points out, however, the Mekon is actually a Venusian. Furthermore, Gillian has nicknamed Susan "Forehead" based on her apparent surname.
- There are several references by Susan, John and Gillian to their science and history teachers Mr Chesteron and Miss Wright.
- The Doctor and Susan both have sizable gaps in their memories. Neither can recall the proper name for the TARDIS and therefore refer to it simply as "the Box." For the same reason, Susan refers to the Time Lords as "the Masters."
- The Doctor claims to have never broken the Time Lords' non-interference policy.
- Susan likes the writer and political activist Lawrence of Arabia, particularly as portrayed by Peter O'Toole.
- Susan wonders if Jean-Paul Sartre is a renegade Time Lord.
- Susan compares herself to Pinocchio.
Television series
- Susan enjoys watching Danger Man.
Books
- John shows Susan the book How to Be Topp.
Notes
- The characters John Brent and Gillian Roberts are named after John and Gillian, who accompanied the First and Second Doctors in early comic strip stories in which they were his grandchildren.
- The illustration from the deluxe edition is by Bryan Talbot.
- The book was published on the thirty-eighth anniversary of Doctor Who, which coincided with the death of the series' long time critic Mary Whitehouse.
Continuity
- This story occurs before TV: An Unearthly Child and sets up a few of the events in that story.
- The Doctor mentions meeting the Mongol military leader Genghis Khan. During his seventh incarnation, he claimed to have delivered him, describing him as as "a sweet baby." (PROSE: Tragedy Day) The Sixth and Ninth Doctors both claimed that the TARDIS once withstood an attack from the assembled hordes of Genghis Khan, though it is unclear if this occurred during the First Doctor's encounter with him. (AUDIO: City of Spires, TV: Rose) The Doctor, Susan, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright would later encounter Genghis' grandson Kublai in 1289. (TV: Marco Polo)
- Coal Hill School students have seen Ian and Barbara attending the cinema together, suggesting that they had gone out on at least one date prior to meeting the Doctor in 76 Totter's Lane in November 1963. (TV: An Unearthly Child) They would eventually marry. (PROSE: The Face of the Enemy, TV: Death to the Doctor, COMIC: Hunters of the Burning Stone) and have a son named John Alydon Ganatus Chesterton, who became the 1980s pop star Johnny Chess (PROSE: Byzantium!, PROSE: Timewyrm: Revelation).
- Before the Doctor and Susan settled down in Shoreditch in 1963, they took a brief trip to St Albans on 17 December 1997 to ensure that the United Kingdom would remain safe during and after the 1960s. Unbeknownst to either of them, the Fourth Doctor and his companions Romana and K9 were in the vicinity on the same day. (PROSE: The Little Things)
- Susan's best friends were named John and Gillian. This is a likely reference to Susan's comic book cousins, John and Gillian. (COMIC: The Klepton Parasites - Invasion of the Quarks)
- Little Titch Critchley is named after Little Tich, whom the Fourth Doctor later hoped to see perform in 1889. (TV: The Talons of Weng-Chiang)
External links
- Time and Relative at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- The Discontinuity Guide to: Time and Relative at The Whoniverse
- The Cloister Library: Time and Relative
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