Newbies Guide to Doctor Who

Doctor:

The First The first Doctor looks like a human in his sixties. He is physically quite frail, but has a keen intellect. He is paternalistic towards his companions, and has a degree of arrogance towards others. He sometimes forgets his companions' names.

Companions:

Steven Taylor Steven Taylor was a space pilot, probably from the late 22nd Century, who crashed on the planet Mechanus. Steven was held captive by the Mechanoids for three years, his only companion being a stuffed panda. When the Doctor arrived on the planet in The Chase (Classic Series Season 2), he stowed away on the TARDIS.

Vicki Pallister Vicki was a teenager who was on board a spaceship which crashed on the planet Dido. The other survivors were killed off by one of the survivors called Bennett, who was posing as an alien called Koquillion. She was rescued by the Doctor in The Chase (Classic Series Season 2), who offered her a place onboard the TARDIS. He treated her like a replacement for his granddaughter Susan.

Recurring Characters:

Irving Braxiatel Irving is a Time Lord who has a long history with the Doctor. He first appeared in Theatre of War (Virgin New Adventure), where his Braxiatel Collection was one of the biggest stores of information and artefacts in the galaxy. For Irving, that story takes place long after this one.

William Shakespeare England's (and probably the world's) most famous playwright, Shakespeare wrote a number of very well-known plays in the Elizabethan and Jacobian eras. The Doctor has met him on a number of occasions, though all of those are later in the Doctor's timeline than this story.

Gallileo Gallilei Gallileo was one of the key figures in the birth of science. He is most famous for his theory that the Earth revolves around the Sun, rather than the Sun revolving around the Earth, as well as being credited as the inventor of the telescope.

Christopher Marlowe A playwright and contemporary of William Shakespeare, Marlowe was (supposedly) killed in a pub duel.

Cardinal Bellarmine A real church official of the time. You don't really need to know anything about him.

Recommended Viewing:

In The Chase (Classic Series Season 2), Vicki saw Shakespeare on the Time-Space Visualiser, a machine in the TARDIS that shows real events. In City of Death (Classic Series Season 17) it is revealed that the fourth Doctor helped Shakespeare write the play Hamlet.

In The Three Doctors (Classic Series Season 10), the first Doctor was taken out of his timestream by Time Lords from the future. He met his second and third selves, whom he desribed as "a dandy and a clown".

In Revenge of the Cybermen (Classic Series Season 12), we first come across the Armageddon Convention, a treaty that banned the use of more powerful weapons. The Cybermen didn't adhere to its provisions.

Recommended Reading:

The Author's Notes, available with the BBC's e-book version of the story provide lots of background information.

Irving Braxiatel previously appeared in Theatre of War (Virgin New Adventure), and appears in a lot of the Bernice Summerfield books. All of those stories are later in Braxiatel's timeline than this story.

Recommended Listening:

None.