Asylum (novel)
- You may wish to consult
Asylum (disambiguation)for other, similarly-named pages.
Asylum was the forty-first novel in the BBC Past Doctor Adventures series. It was written by Peter Darvill-Evans, released 7 May 2001 and featured the Fourth Doctor and Nyssa.
Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]
"My view," said the Doctor, "is that you can run — in fact it's often by far the best option — but you can't hide. I'll see myself out."
Nyssa felt a pang of disappointment. He had gone. She would probably never see him again.
The town of Oxford in AD 1278 seems a haven of tranquillity. Under the summer sun, merchants, students and clerics go about their daily, unhurried tasks. Alfric, the proctor of the Franciscan friary, has only two minor problems: one of the friars has gone missing, and there's a travelling showman, calling himself the Doctor, with a pretty young noblewoman by his side, attracting crowds in the narrow streets.
When the missing friar is found dead, the Doctor is convinced he has been murdered. There is a ruthless killer at large, and Alfric reluctantly teams up with the Doctor to track him down.
Their investigation leads towards the most celebrated of the Franciscan brotherhood: Roger Bacon, famed throughout Christendom as a scholar — and, in the far future, the subject of a revolutionary thesis by technographer Nyssa of Traken.
Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]
to be added
Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Fourth Doctor
- Nyssa
- Brother Alfric
- Guy de Marenne
- Richard of Hockley
- Roger Bacon
- Brother Oswald
- Lady Matilda
- Brother Thomas
- Brother Hubert
- Chancellor Philip of Seaby
- Brother Godwin
Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The Doctor passes himself as a monk of the house of Prydon and swears on the sash of Rassilon.
Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The Doctor is travelling alone in this story.
- Like Melanie Bush after her, the Doctor meets Nyssa for the first time, who is the companion from his personal future. From her perspective, she would meet him for the first time in TV: The Keeper of Traken.
- This is by far the shortest novel in the range as the Story itself ends on page 226, as the rest are the Author's essay about the book.
Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Later in the Doctor's personal timeline, towards the end of his fourth incarnation, he would meet Nyssa for the first time from her perspective on Traken in 1981. (TV: The Keeper of Traken) In Nyssa's personal timeline, the events of this story take place many years after she parted company with the Fifth Doctor on Terminus. (TV: Terminus)
- Nyssa had previously been reunited with the Doctor, then in his fifth incarnation, on Gallifrey after being transported to an alternative Death Zone by Borusa. (AUDIO: The Five Companions) She would subsequently meet the Fifth Doctor in his mindscape during his regeneration into his sixth incarnation. (AUDIO: Winter) Later still in her personal timeline but earlier in his, she would re-join him as one of his companions. (AUDIO: Cobwebs)
- Nyssa recalls the Doctor's regeneration into his fifth incarnation, (TV: Logopolis) visiting England in September 1666 (TV: The Visitation) and June 1925 (TV: Black Orchid) and killing several Cybermen in 2526. (TV: Earthshock)
External links[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Asylum at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- The Discontinuity Guide to: Asylum at The Whoniverse
- The Cloister Library: Asylum
