Beautiful Chaos (novel)
Beautiful Chaos was the twenty-ninth novel in the BBC New Series Adventures series. It was written by Gary Russell and featured the Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble.
Publisher's summary
2008 BBC Books edition
Donna Noble is back home in London, catching up with her family and generally giving them all the gossip about her journeys. Her grandfather is especially overjoyed — he's discovered a new star and had it named after him. He takes the Tenth Doctor, as his special guest, to the naming ceremony.
But the Doctor is suspicious about some of the other changes he can see in Earth's heavens. Particularly that bright star, right there. No, not that one, that one, there, on the left...
The world's population is slowly being converted to a new path, a new way of thinking. Something is coming to Earth, an ancient force from the Dark Times. Something powerful, angry, and all-consuming...
2013 BBC Books edition
Wilfred Mott is very happy: his granddaughter, Donna, is back home, catching up with family and gossiping about her journeys, and he has just discovered a new star and had it named after him. He takes the Tenth Doctor with him to the naming ceremony. But the Doctor soon discovers something else new, and worryingly bright, in the heavens – something that is heading for Earth. It's an ancient force from the Dark Times. And it is very, very angry...
Plot
to be added
Characters
- Mrs Baldrey
- Johnnie Bates
- Ben
- Keith Brownlow
- Caitlin
- Joe Carnes
- Lukas Samuel Carnes
- Melissa Carson
- Cedric Crossland
- Donnie DiCotta
- Portia DiCotta
- Tenth Doctor
- Steve Douglas
- Gianni
- Henrietta "Netty" Goodheart
- Jayne Greene
- Ariadne Holt
- Minnie Hooper
- Terry Lockworth
- Lyttle
- Mandragora Helix (as Madam Delphi)
- Brian "Ahab" Melville
- Dara Morgan
- Wilfred Mott
- Murakami
- Donna Noble
- Sylvia Noble
- Miss Oladini
- Alison Pearce
- Professor Rossi
- Sean
- Shakiri
- Spencer
- Katarina Spiros
- Babis Takis
- Nikos Takis
- Tonio
Worldbuilding
Individuals
- Geoff Noble, Martha Jones and UNIT are mentioned.
- The Doctor says that Aubrey Fairchild "clearly makes no impression on history".
- The Doctor mentions having once been invited to the Royal Planetary Society by "Bernard and Paula".
Locations
- Lukas Samuel Carnes goes to Park Vale Comprehensive School, the same school as Luke Smith and his friends do.
- Places mentioned include: Tilbury, Brentwood, South Woodham Ferrers, Bounds Green, Earl's Court, Ruislip Woods, and RAF Hillingdon.
- Roads mentioned include: Chiswick High Road, M4, A13, A127, M25, Meadow Lane, Gorsten Road, Tributary Road, B8932, and Allcombe Lane.
Clothing
- The Doctor mentions that he hates bow ties.
Film and television
- The Doctor used to like Countdown.
- Children of the Damned is mentioned.
Food and beverages
- Wilf used to put a nip of Jack Daniel's in his flask until Sylvia found out.
Notes
- This is the last novel to feature Donna Noble. Indeed, the preface and epilogue are set post-Journey's End, suggesting a "goodbye" to Donna.
- Discounting the special case of the anthology The Story of Martha, this was the last announced Tenth Doctor Adventures release to feature the Doctor with a regular companion. All novel releases for 2009 featured the Tenth Doctor travelling alone.
- This story was also released as an ebook available from the Amazon Kindle store.
- The novel was reprinted with a new cover in 2013 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, as well as a new introduction by Gary Russell.
- The introduction notes that Russell T Davies enjoyed the novel and included a mention to Netty in The End of Time as a nod to it. When reading the audio version, Bernard Cribbins also apparently thought the story was written by Davies using his first name as a pseudonym.
- This story is a sequel to the Fourth Doctor story TV: The Masque of Mandragora.
Continuity
- The Tycho satellite from TV: The Last Sontaran is mentioned.
- The Prime Minister is called Aubrey Fairchild. This is also the name of the deceased reverend in TV: The Next Doctor. This is most likely because an early draft of TV: The Stolen Earth included a Prime Minister of the same name before his scenes were removed.
- There are also references to splinters at the Sacred Mountain of Xi'an and the Mandrake nightclub, referring to the First Doctor novel PROSE: The Eleventh Tiger and the Seventh Doctor comic strip COMIC: The Mark of Mandragora.
- Netty is referenced in TV: The End of Time as a part of the Silver Cloak.
- While pondering how Sylvia does not like him, the Doctor remembers Jackie Tyler and Francine Jones - particularly the occasions when they slapped him. (TV: Aliens of London, The Lazarus Experiment)
- The Doctor, trying to explain why London is deserted, suggests that it's Sunday. The Third Doctor had once remarked that London seemed to close on Sunday. (TV: Invasion of the Dinosaurs) The Tenth Doctor and his immediate successor had both stated that they did not like Sundays, finding them boring. (TV: Silence in the Library, The Impossible Astronaut)
- Donna mentions that the Doctor has faced Pyroviles, (TV: The Fires of Pompeii) Sontarans, (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem) and the Fishmen of Kandalinga. (PROSE: The Fishmen of Kandalinga)
- Donna mentions that she recently visited the Garazone Bazaar with the Doctor. (AUDIO: Sword of Orion et al)
Additional cover images
2013 edition. Cover by Two Associates.
Editions published outside Britain
- Published in Germany by Cross Cult in 2013 as a paperback edition.
- Published in China by New Star Press in 2018 as a hardback edition.
German edition
Chinese edition
Audiobook
- This novel was released as an audiobook on 9 April 2009 by BBC Audio and read by Bernard Cribbins.
Audiobook cover
External links
- Official Beautiful Chaos page at Penguin Books
- Beautiful Chaos at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- The Discontinuity Guide to: Beautiful Chaos at The Whoniverse
- The Cloister Library: Beautiful Chaos
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