Newbies Guide to Doctor Who

Doctor:

The Seventh The seventh Doctor is short, dark-haired, and speaks with a slight scottish accent. He thinks of himself as "Time's Champion", deliberately seeking out situations to "put right". He usually has a plan, and is willing to manipulate everyone - including his companions - to achieve it.

The Fourth The fourth Doctor is tall, has curly brown hair, a distinctive smile, a floppy hat, and a ridiculously long scarf. He comes across as otherworldly and bohemian.

The Third The third Doctor has white hair, a large nose, and tends to dress as a society dandy. He has a love of technology, historical name-dropping, and vehicles.

Companions:

Ace: Ace was a teenaged delinquent in 1980s Perivale. She invented her own homemade explosive called nitro-nine, and prefers her nickname of Ace to her real name of Dorothy. She she was swept away from Perivale by a timestorm, ending up on Iceworld in the far future. Ace met the Seventh Doctor in Dragonfire (Classic Series Season 24) and became his companion. During her travels with the Doctor she has grown up considerably. However, she has been hurt by the way the Doctor has manipulated her. In particular, she was hurt by the way he tricked her in The Curse of Fenric (Classic Series Season 26) and the way he forced her to face the evil she sensed in a house her 13 year old self had burnt down in Ghost Light (Classic Series Season 26). She calls the Doctor "Professor".

Recurring Characters:

The Timewyrm: The Timewyrm is a character introduced in this novel who will play a major part in the next three novels.

Recommended Viewing:

In The Invasion of Time (Classic Series Season 15), the fourth Doctor spent some time inside the Matrix on Gallifrey. The Matrix is a large computer system and virtual world which holds many Time Lord secrets.

In The Time Monster (Classic Series Season 9), we saw a Time Ram - a catastrophic event caused by two TARDISes trying to occupy the same space. In that story we also met the Chronovores, creatures that live and feed in the Time Vortex.

In Ghost Light (Classic Series Season 26), the Doctor met a Neanderthal called Nimrod, who had been preserved by an alien being called Light, and so survived into at least the 19th Century.

Recommended Reading:

The book leads into the rest of the Timewyrm series. So read Timewyrm: Exodus (Virgin New Adventure), Timewyrm: Apocalypse (Virgin New Adventure), and Timewyrm: Revelation (Virgin New Adventure) after this book to discover the fate of the Timewyrm.

Recommended Listening:

None.