Byzantium! (novel)
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Byzantium! was the forty-third novel in the BBC Past Doctor Adventures series. It was written by Keith Topping, released 2 July 2001 and featured the First Doctor, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright and Vicki Pallister.
Set at the beginning of The Romans as the TARDIS falls off the cliff, this is the earliest full length story chronologically to feature Vicki as a companion.
Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]
"Life is cheap in Byzantium. Life is cheap everywhere that the Romans are."
Byzantium. The imperial city — rising dramatically, as if by a trick of the light, from the peninsula of the Bosphorus and the Black Sea. Its domes and towers and minarets overlook a place of intrigue, lust, power, oppression, resistance and murder.
Romans, Greeks, Zealots, Pharisees ... all meet in the market squares of the great city, but mutual loathing and suspicion are rife.
Into this cauldron, the Doctor and his companions arrive, expecting to view the splendour and civilisation of the Roman Empire. But events cast them into a deadly maelstrom of social and political upheaval. In the eye of the hurricane they must each face the possibility of being stranded, alone and far from their own times, in an alien culture bunker.
Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]
to be added
Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]
- First Doctor
- Ian Chesterton
- Barbara Wright
- Vicki Pallister
- Gaius Calaphilus
- Thalius Maximus
- Gemellus
- Hieronymous
- Amos
- Daniel
- James
- Reuben
- Ruth
- Bob Franklin
- Julia Franklin
- Fabulous
- Georgiadis
- Evangeline
- Iola
- Gabrielle
- Agrinella Lanilla
- Marcus Lanilla
- Antonia Vinicius
- Cressida
- Crispianus Dolavia
- Damien
- Dorcas
- Dorothea
- Drusus Felinistius
- Edius Flavia
- Erastus
- Fabius Actium
- Felicia
- Germanicus Vinicius
- Hebron
- Jocelyn
- Luke Panathaikos
- Matthew Basellas
- Papavasilliou
- Phasaei
- Rebecca
- Simeon
- Tobias
- Titus
- Yewhe
- Nikos
Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Doctor[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The Doctor has been travelling in the TARDIS for sixty years, making him two hundred and ninety-six during this story.
- The Doctor has visited Rome, Jerusalem and Antioch and witnessed both the debut performance of King Lear and the assassination of US President William McKinley.
- The Doctor was on the field of battle in the Battle of Passchendaele during World War I.
- "Trois Gymnopédies" is being played in a tavern on a musical instrument the Doctor has not seen before.
Individuals[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Barbara compares Vicki to Susan Foreman.
- The ship which transported Vicki to Dido left Earth in 2493.
- Vicki has never heard of Plato, Socrates or Archimedes, though she is vaguely aware of Charles Dickens.
- Maximus tells Ian that Shalmaneser II failed in battle because his army had wicker shields.
- Caesar Tiberius succeeded Augustus in AD 14.
Locations[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Dalmatia and Macedonia are part of the Roman Empire.
Planets and stars[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The Doctor has visited Mondas.
- Ian Chesterton shows Vicki several celestial bodies in the Earth sky: Pegasus, Andromeda, the Seven Sisters, Orion, Betelgeuse, Rigel, the Horsehead Nebula, Orionis Zeta, Orionis Epsilon, Orionis Delta, Polaris (the pole star), the Ursa Minor, Castor and Pollux, Gemini, Venus and Jupiter.
Television series[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Ian mentions The Morecambe & Wise Show.
- Yewhe quotes the Monty Python film Life of Brian during the meeting of the Zealots when he asks, "What have the Romans ever done for us?"
Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- This book is also available as an ebook and from the Amazon Kindle store.
- The novel reveals that Vicki's last name is Pallister. It was never mentioned in any televised episode.
- Vicki states that her mother wanted to call her Tanni, but her father preferred Vicki. This is a sly reference to the fact that the new companion's name in TV: The Rescue was originally going to be Tanni.
- There is a flash-forward scene which reveals Ian and Barbara will have a son, John Alydon Ganatus Chesterton, by 1973. TV: Death of the Doctor and COMIC: Hunters of the Burning Stone would later confirm that Ian and Barbara will someday marry.
- The details of the story conflict with the earlier short story Romans Cutaway from More Short Trips, which also takes place immediately after the TARDIS falls of the cliff. Byzantium! references Romans Cutaway through Ian's dream about crashing a Ford Anglia and hurting his head, and meeting a lion tamer. In Romans Cutaway, Ian dreams about the death of a girl he used to love at the hands of a Ford Anglia, having been out cold following the TARDIS's crash, and he meets a a lion. The implication is that the events of Romans Cutaway were just a dream had by Ian on his way to Rome.
- This story is a "pure historical" featuring no science fiction elements apart from the presence of the Doctor, Ian, Barbara, Vicki and the TARDIS.
Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Vicki refers to her recent rescue from Dido. (TV: The Rescue)
- Ian adapts the story of the Daleks and the Thals to entertain an audience. (TV: The Daleks)
- The Doctor seems to be aware that Vicki will eventually become Cressida in circa 1200 BC. (TV: The Myth Makers)
- Barbara mentions that she learned her lesson about trying to change history in Mexico. (TV: The Aztecs)
- The Doctor thinks back to when he fled his home, (AUDIO: The Beginning) as well as the numerous times he stared death in the face, including France, (TV: The Reign of Terror) Mexico, (TV: The Aztecs) Skaro. (TV: The Daleks, AUDIO: Return to Skaro) He also thinks of undepicted adventures on Mondas (TV: The Tenth Planet) and Cassuragi. (PROSE: Ghost Ship)
- The Doctor thinks of his encounter with the Mountain Mauler of Montana. (TV: The Romans)
- By 1973, Ian has befriended Greg Sutton. (TV: Inferno)
- Gaius Calaphilus fought "Boudica's wretched Iceni" in Roman Britain in 60. During his fourth incarnation, the Doctor and his companion Leela would encounter Boudica during her revolt against the occupying Roman forces in Britain. (AUDIO: The Wrath of the Iceni) The renegade Time Lady Iris Wildthyme claimed that she had also been present during the revolt. (AUDIO: The Elixir of Doom)
- Ian dreams about a crash involving a Ford Anglia. (PROSE: Romans Cutaway)
External links[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Official Byzantium! page at Penguin Books
- Byzantium! at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- The Discontinuity Guide to: Byzantium! at The Whoniverse
- The Cloister Library: Byzantium!
