Doctor Who Target Novelisations

So glad you’re enjoying the journey! :grin:

P.S. Ran out of hearts again, so no one gets any for at least 15 hours…

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Hi all,

Just finished the “Unearthly Child” and enjoyed it!

Wow is this the same doctor as the Eighth Doctor? Yikes, they are QUITE different and in some ways the Doctor is kind of dreary in this one and the companions and Susan kind of steal the show. :roll_eyes:

But all in all, it was fun, today I’ll start on “Doctor Who and the Daleks”. :grinning:

Hopefully this Doctor grows on me more! :thinking:

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Which I am currently reading!

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Well, yes and no :wink:

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Well, they are the same time lord but seven regenerations apart. That’s a long time even considering the Doctor gets through their regenerations rather quickly

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There’s even a Time Lord myth regarding this. Quite fascinating. Since @JohnnyRockets only read books, and this is told by a Time Lord in the War Doctor Rises audio Unknown Soldiers, I transcribed it

PARS: You’d have heard the myth of Strayvan Vox Minor, or perhaps you haven’t, especially if you’re not from Gallifrey and you haven’t been brought up through the Academy and then the Capital Guard and so on as I was. Strayvan was an official of the High Council, a kind of scribe, a clerk. But one of the ability to speak up should he feel there was something of importance to say. And during sessions of the council, the Vox Minor sits in shadow, but they have a vote. Although it only becomes a crucial vote, indeed it is only ever cast in the incredibly rare event the council is completely divided with no chance of a majority.
The legend goes that the High Council were trying to define once and for all whether a Time Lord is the same person from one regeneration to the next in the eyes of the law, because for centuries the issue had been undecided. Yes, a Time Lord most often carries their memories between incarnations, but not every facet of their personality, their morality or motivations. Far from it. On almost every level, when the Artron energy consumes a Time Lord body, one person dies and another is born. Gallifrey had once been able to rely upon a shared code of honour, but times had become darker. Strayvan and his kin lived in an age of renegades and scoundrels and time lords keen to make their mark upon the universe. Too many criminals were committing atrocities and forcing their own regeneration to escape the consequences. But as it transpired, in the face of this crisis, the council remained utterly divided on laying down any new laws. Half of those present voted that a Time Lord should be considered a new person when transmuting to a new body. The other half voted with equal conviction that no Time Lord could change so much as to escape their past. Strayvan had held the position of Vox minor over five incarnations for many thousands of years, perfectly happy at the margins, never once called upon to cast his vote. His current body was ageing considerably, and as he was summoned to stand, everyone could see the immense strain he was under. It was clear his decision would impact upon Gallifrey and then upon the course of universal history for millennia to come. And Strayvan, shaking almost uncontrollably, raised his voice and said, “Yes,” to mean “Yes, a Time Lord is the same soul no matter what body they inhabit.” And almost immediately, from the weight of that task, his flesh failed, his heart stammered and stopped, and he began to regenerate where he stood. All eyes present had to be averted from Strayvan’s aurora, such was its intensity on account of his years. Following which a much younger incarnation of Strayvan gasped her first breath, looked around the high council, and voted “No.” “How ridiculous,” she said, “No, see, I am a completely new woman, and I have literally changed my mind.” Myth has it, this is why, to this day, Gallifrey has never decided whether a Time Lord is one of the same person throughout their lives or different people who share a memory. Why our laws on the matter are inconsistent at best. And of course, we are far from the only planet in the universe with these legends, or this problem, or these doubts.
The rumour within the legend of Strayvan Voxmyna is that following their highly confusing vote, they were relieved of their position. And rumour continues to unfold even beyond that. It claims Strayvan faked their own death and initiated a regeneration in the form of a child, a child with a new name. It says Strayvan, under that different name, enlisted in the Time Lord Academy and then in the Capital Guard. It says that eventually, and quite naturally, given the pattern of their life, Strayvan became a spy. A spy in the field, their subsequent regenerations surgically removed, and then beyond this point, the legend ceases to say anything at all.

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Very interesting read, thank you for sharing! :smiley:

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The First Doctor also probably has a biggest character arc of the Classic Doctors.

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I loved that bit. A lovely snapshot of Time Lord legend!

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And which I just finished a few days ago! :grin:

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Suffering through 2 eps I don’t like getting target novels back to back :sob:

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Very interesting! I’ll watch for the changes for sure! :smiley:

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Reading “Doctor Who and the Daleks”… What a trip…!!! (pun intended!)

It’s like they wrote “Unearthly Child”, then said, “Wait, rewind… let’s write it differently!” – And you got “DW and the Daleks”. :rofl: :flushed_face:

Pretty crazy! I’m not very far in DW & the Daleks —> They’re just stepping out of the ship onto the “mystery planet”! :scream:

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It’s actually because Doctor Who and the Daleks was the very first novelisation ever published so David Whitaker chose to rewrite the beginning to introduce the story better (the TV version follows on directly from the end of An Unearthly Child). The novelisation for An Unearthly Child wasn’t published until many, many years later.

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Ahhh! That makes sense now! Thanks for clarifying! :+1:

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I did say it was confusing!

Do you have the illustrations in your version of the book?

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Yeah, Doctor Who and the Daleks was originally published in 1964 under the title Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks whereas An Unearthly Child was published in 1981 partially as an accompaniment to the Five Faces of Doctor Who repeat season that aired around the start of the Fifth Doctor era. The 1981 release date is why Terrence Dicks includes such asides as the explaination of the police box and Britain’s pre-decimal currency system (a decimal currency system was adopted in February 1971).

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Man, you guys all know SO much about DW!

You always impress me! :sunglasses:

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That is such a good book! I rated this a 9/10, while the tv version sits at 8.5/10.

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Yes I do, but I’m not a fan of them. :-1:

I like everything to be left to the imagination… :star_struck:

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