Timewyrm: Genesys (novel)
Timewyrm: Genesys was the first novel in the New Adventures series. It was written by John Peel. It was the first book in the Timewyrm story arc, and featured the Seventh Doctor and Ace.
Publisher's summary
Mesopotamia — the cradle of civilisation. In the fertile crescent of land on the banks of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, mankind is turning from hunter gatherer into farmer, and from farmer into city-dweller.
Gilgamesh, the first hero-king, rules the city of Uruk. An equally legendary figure arrives, in a police telephone box: the TARDIS has brought the Doctor and his companion Ace to witness the first steps of mankind's long progress to the stars.
And from somewhere amid those distant points of light an evil sentience has tumbled. To her followers in the city of Kish she is known as Ishtar the goddess; to the Doctor's forebears on ancient Gallifrey she was a mythical terror — the Timewyrm.
Plot
Preface
A spacecraft, holding the mysterious Timewyrm, drifts into Mutter's Spiral. The Timewyrm is possessing the crew, but kills them all when they frustrate her. She plans to set up a slave world on Earth, but soon realises the ship is falling apart. As she meets her apparent death, she can only see the irony in this.
Characters
- The Seventh Doctor
- Ace
- Ishtar (aka Qataka)
- Gilgamesh
- Ninani
- Utnapishtim
- Agga
- Avram
- Belkeli
- Dumuzi
- En-Gula
- Enkidu
- Ennatum
- Gudea
- Lagash
- Puabi
- Ta-Nin
- Urshanabi
- Fourth Doctor (projection)
- Third Doctor (persona inhabiting the seventh incarnation)
References
- Ace mentions Watership Down.
- Avram mentions Shulpae.
- En-gula mentions Nisaba.
Foods and beverages
- Ace drinks beer that tastes not quite unlike pig vomit.
- Rice and barley are grown using irrigation ditches.
Galaxies
- The Timewyrm refers to the galaxy containing Earth as Mutter's Spiral.
Species
- The Chronovores name the reborn Ishtar the Timewyrm.
- Enkidu is a Neanderthal.
- Ace is aware that Time Lords can regenerate.
Songs
- Ace sings Irish folk songs.
Notes
- This is the first novel in the Timewyrm four-novel series.
- Although there had been several original novels and novellas published based upon the Whoniverse but not featuring the Doctor, and also several novelisations of unproduced Doctor Who stories, this was the first long-form original publication to feature the Doctor himself since the publication of the novella Doctor Who and the Invasion from Space in 1966.
- The Doctor's first line in the Virgin New Adventures series is; "Didn't I tell you not to do that?"
- This is also the first officially licensed novel featuring the Doctor to ever exceed 200 pages in length. The only official Doctor Who-related novel to exceed this milestone before this point was Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma, in which the Doctor did not appear.
- The book's adult content in terms of language and sexuality was initially controversial with fans.
- Andrew Skilleter created the cover art.
- John Peel sets up an explanation for future writers to use, regarding continuity errors, by having the Doctor erase his less important memories.
Continuity
- The Doctor erases the parts of his memory he considers no longer important to make room for new memories. As a result, he hopes he never encounters the Chronovores again (TV: The Time Monster) even though he already had in his last incarnation. (PROSE: The Quantum Archangel) He later says he never met Hitler (PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus) even though he did in his last incarnation, (PROSE: The Shadow in the Glass) and that he has never been to Alaska (AUDIO: Lurkers at Sunlight's Edge) even though the Fifth Doctor had. (AUDIO: The Land of the Dead)
- The Fourth Doctor gained knowledge of the Timewyrm when he was in the Matrix; (TV: The Invasion of Time) he left a time-delayed message in the TARDIS for himself.
- The Doctor claims that the Cloister Bell has not sounded since the events of Logopolis. (TV: Logopolis) However this is not true as it sounded briefly after the TARDIS started to travel to Event One (TV: Castrovalva), during the collapse of a Time Corridor (AUDIO: The Mutant Phase) and when the TARDIS got trapped in a Dalek time corridor. (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks)
- Enkidu reminds Ace of Nimrod, this in turn leads her to remember the events of Gabriel Chase. (TV: Ghost Light)
- The Doctor remembers the deaths of Katarina, Sara Kingdom (TV: The Daleks' Master Plan) and Adric. (TV: Earthshock) These memories are painful to the Doctor and he wishes to keep the same fate from happening to Ace.
- Ace still feels some of the after effects of the Cheetah Virus she became infected with in Survival.
- The Doctor consoles Enkidu (who believes he is the last of his kind) by telling him that another Neanderthal survives to the 19th century. (TV: Ghost Light)
External links
- Timewyrm: Genesys at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- The Discontinuity Guide to: Timewyrm: Genesys at The Whoniverse
- The Cloister Library: Timewyrm: Genesys
- Bewildering References Guide to Timewyrm: Genesys
