The Gallifrey Chronicles (novel)

The Gallifrey Chronicles
Doctor:	[[doctor::Eighth Doctor]]
Companion(s):	Fitz Kreiner, Trix
Main enemy:	The Vore
Main setting:	Earth, 2005
Key crew
Publisher:	[[publisher::BBC Books]]
Writer:	Lance Parkin
Release details
Release number:	73
Release date:	June, 2005
Format:	Paperback Book, --- Pages
ISBN:	ISBN 0-563-48624-4

For the history of Gallifrey by John Peel, see The Gallifrey Chronicles (illustrated guide)

Published in June 2005, The Gallifrey Chronicles was the final novel in the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures line of books, which had started in 1997.

Publisher’s Summary

The Doctor’s home planet of Gallifrey has been destroyed. The Time Lords are dead, their TARDISes annihilated. The man responsible has been tracked down and lured to Earth in the year 2005, where there will be no escape. But Earth has other problems -- a mysterious signal is being received, a second moon appears in the sky, and a primordial alien menace waits to be unleashed...

The stage is set for the ultimate confrontation -- for justice to be done. The Doctor and his companions Fitz and Trix will meet their destiny. And this time, the Doctor isn’t going to be able to save everyone.

Characters

• The Doctor
• Fitz Kreiner
• K-9
• Trix
• Marnal
• Rachel
• Miranda (flashback)

References

• Faction Paradox and their attack on Gallifrey.

• The TARDIS materialises in a graveyard showing Samantha Lynn Jones’s gravestone in 2002.

• The Eye of Harmony opens briefly and a voice comes from it, (possibly the Master, who was swallowed by it at the conclusion of DW: Doctor Who).

• Marnal makes reference to many events, characters, and places from previous novels:

• Tractites
• Klade

• Marnal was placed in the care of a Mrs. Gate in 1883, (the only Mrs. Gate mentioned previously is Penelope Gate).

• K-9 is revealed to be the scratching thing behind the TARDIS walls.
• The Doctor sends K-9 to the planet Espero.
• Gallifrey was said to be attacked by Omega, the Sontarans, Tannis, the Faction Paradox, Varnax, Catavolcus, and the Timewyrm.

• The reference to the Timewyrm is significant as it was featured in the first original Doctor Who novel, published under the Virgin New Adventures line, Timewyrm: Genesys.

Notes

• The events of The Ancestor Cell are re-interpreted to take on a slightly different meaning, which in turn makes more sense than that original book.
• Marnal lists the Eighth Doctor's companions as; Lorenzo, Delilah, Frank, Claudia, Deborah, Jemima-Katy, Miranda, Nina, Anji, and Beatrice. Of the list only Miranda (Miranda Dawkins) and Anji Kapoor can be positively identified as having previously appeared. One could assume "Beatrice" to be a reference to Trix, especially considering it's a pseudonym that she herself uses later on in the book, (Page 215) but even this is not entirely clear. Missing from this list are Grace Holloway (often identified as a companion of the Eighth Doctor, and Bernice Summerfield, who served as companion in NA: The Dying Days. As both only shared one known adventure with the Eighth Doctor, they may have been overlooked in deference to companions he travelled with for longer. The list also omits the companions he travelled with in the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip (i.e. Izzy Sinclair and Destrii and the Big Finish audio productions, particularly Charley Pollard and Lucie Miller (although the latter wouldn't be introduced until nearly two years after this book as published. Jemima-Katy was the name of the applicant for the position of assistant to the Third Doctor when Jon Pertwee made a guest appearance on the BBC Radio 4 comedy series The Skivers.
• A reference to the Harry Potter novels is made, indicating that the Doctor possesses a set of 11 books. In the real world this would appear to be an error as only seven were published. However, see the article on Harry Potter for a possible explanation.
• The Doctor refers to the events of the novel The West End Horror by Nicholas Meyer, which describes an investigation by Sherlock Holmes and George Bernard Shaw. The Doctor claims to have also looked into the same murder.

Continuity

• The Doctor's battle with the Master in DW: Doctor Who is referenced.
• The events of EDA: The Ancestor Cell are revisited and analysed.
• The Klade first appeared in EDA: Father Time (and were last mentioned in EDA: Trading Futures).
• The grave for Samantha Lynn Jones seen here might contradict events in Interference - Book Two where it's implied that Sam Jones will lead a long life (beyond 22), however Samantha Lynn Jones, was Sam's original timeline (aka Dark Sam) seen last in EDA: Unnatural History.
• At one point, Marnal says of the Doctor, "As for his future — he has three ninth incarnations". Fans have widely interpreted this as a nod to Richard E. Grant's Ninth Doctor (WC: Scream of the Shalka), Rowan Atkinson's Ninth Doctor (DW: The Curse of Fatal Death) and Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor (DW: Rose). However, Marnal's statements end there, without giving even a vague physical description of the future Ninth Doctors. The statement is thus open to multiple interpretations.
• Gallifrey was attacked by: Omega in DW: The Three Doctors and DW: Arc of Infinity, the Sontarans in DW: The Invasion of Time, Tannis in WC: Death Comes to Time, the Faction Paradox in EDA: The Ancestor Cell, Catavolcus in DWM: The Neutron Knights, the Timewyrm in NA: Timewyrm: Revelation and Varnax in an unmade movie from the 1990s (detailed in REF: The Nth Doctor).

Timeline

• This story takes place after EDA: To the Slaughter
• This story takes place before WC/BFA: Shada

External links

• Doctor Who Reference Guide - Detailed Synopsis: The Gallifrey Chronicles

• The Whoniverse Discontinuity Guide entry for The Gallifrey Chronicles