The French Revolution (short story)
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The French Revolution was a prose adaptation of the Doctor Who serial The Reign of Terror and the eighth instalment in a series of such adaptations by Doctor Who Magazine. It was published in the tenth issue.
With the release of this story, all of season 1 had received the short story treatment in Doctor Who Weekly.
Summary[[edit] | [edit source]]
to be added
Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]
- First Doctor
- Susan Foreman
- Ian Chesterton
- Barbara Wright
- James Stirling
- Jules Renan
- Leon Colbert
- Paul Barrass
- Napoleon Bonaparte
- Jean
- Jean-Pierre
- D'Argenson
- Rouvray
- Webster
- Robespierre
- Danielle
- Judge
- Jailer
- Shopkeeper
Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Barbara and Susan find forged release papers for the "dreaded" Conciergerie Prison in the farmhouse as well as lists of forthcoming executions couter-signed by Citizen Robespierre.
- The French Revolution is one of the bloodiest times in history. Individuals considered to be of noble birth were condemned to death.
- The Doctor tells the shopkeeper that he has recently been promoted to the post of a Senior Citizen.
- The Doctor forges some papers identifying him as a Citizen from the Southern Provinces.
- Barrass tells Napoleon that Robespierre is to be deposed after the General Assembly meets.
Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- This adaptation predated the full-length novelisation of The Reign of Terror from Target Books by almost eight years.
- The Doctor's animosity towards Ian and Barbara from the start of the televised version of this story is omitted. The cliffhanger from the original version of The Sensorites in which the Doctor threatened to evict the duo at their next landing spot had similarly been left out of its adaptation the week prior. Instead, when it appears as if they have landed in 20th century England Ian suggests the four of them celebrate the end of their travels together by having a drink in the nearest village pub.
- The travellers land in France fifty miles outside Paris instead of the twelve kilometres, or about seven miles, in the television story.
- Danielle is stated to be the wife of Jules Renan instead of his sister as in the televised story.
- At the end of the story it is Barbara who asks the Doctor about their next destination rather than Ian as in the original version.
- Once again, this story incorrectly credits "Mervyn Pinfold" as a producer instead of Mervyn Pinfield.
- Within the story, the name of historical character Paul Barras is mispelled "Paul Barrass". Also, Jules Renan's surname is rendered once as "Rensan" and no accent is present in Léon Colbert's first name.
Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The travellers initially believe they have returned to 20th century England which has been their stated goal in multiple previous stories including PROSE: Beyond the Sun [+]Loading...["Beyond the Sun (short story)"] and PROSE: The Keys of Marinus [+]Loading...["The Keys of Marinus (short story)"].
