Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Grew Up… on the planet Gallifrey as a member of the powerful and wise species of Time Lords. The Doctor’s childhood is shrouded with mystery – almost none know his real name. Legends warn that the oldest and most dangerous question in the universe is to ask “Doctor Who?” The Doctor, however, prefers to run away from such ominous legends, just as he fled Gallifrey in a “borrowed” time machine known as the TARDIS.
Living... as the last Time Lord. While the Doctor is normally a pacifist, preferring to solve problems by cleverness or fleetness of foot, he was forced to wipe out his own people in order to prevent the destruction of the universe. Now he wanders the universe in his TARDIS trying to cope with his loneliness and regret by seeking companions and helping others.
Visiting… anywhere and anywhen, but Earth is his favorite planet. This might be due to his fondness of humans, whom he frequently brings along with him on his travels. The Doctor is also frequently “visiting” new physical forms, as whenever a Time Lord is fatally wounded, they “cheat death” and regenerate into a new body.
Profession... “madman with a box.” Despite his title, the Doctor has relatively little medical knowledge compared to the vast wealth of information in his mind, but instead is more of a figurative doctor who cures the universe of its ailments. These ailments vary drastically in magnitude, from minor extraterrestrial invasions to the entire universe exploding, but the Doctor always solves them in his own “mad” and “fantastic” fashion.
Interests... Earth’s beauty, traveling throughout all the wonders of the space-time continuum, saving billions of lives, and a nice cup of tea. Or maybe fish-sticks with custard, depending on his mood.
Relationship Status… single, mostly. (And as long as we are avoiding spoilers.) The Doctor tries to keep a healthy emotional distance from his traveling companions, especially humans who lack his lifespan and will eventually leave him alone again. But it’s said love will find a way, though if it does it will almost certainly lead to tears.
Challenge... saving Earth, usually. Our planet seems to find itself in peril almost weekly – especially around Christmas time. But perhaps the Doctor’s greatest challenge is to overcome his inner turmoil of regrets, loneliness, and having the fate of the universe always on his mind. Fortunately, he often has the best companions in the universe to help deal with these pressures.
Personality... witty, wise, compassionate, loyal, and nonviolent when possible. The Doctor never underestimates the power of diplomacy and knowledge. He once exclaims, “You want weapons? We're in a library! Books! The best weapons in the world!” But when pushed to the brink, the Doctor can become truly terrifying, and it is this he runs from, not any “danger” that pursues him.
Get to Know him in...
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The Doctor fled Gallifrey in a "borrowed" time machine known as the TARDIS. Now he wanders the the space-time continuum trying to cope with his regret by seeking companions and saving billions of lives.
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From award-winning author A.L. Kennedy, an original Doctor Who novel featuring the beloved Fourth Doctor. Something distinctly odd is going on in Arbroath. It could be to do with golfers being dragged down into the bunkers at the Fetch Brothers' Golf Spa Hotel, never to be seen again. It might be related to the strange twin grandchildren of the equally strange Mrs Fetch—owner of the hotel and fascinated with octopuses. It could be the fact that people in the surrounding area suddenly know what others are thinking, without anyone saying a word. Whatever it is, the Doctor is most at home when faced with the distinctly odd. With the help of Fetch Brothers' Junior Receptionist Bryony, he'll get to the bottom of things. Just so long as he does so in time to save Bryony from quite literally losing her mind, and the entire world from destruction. Because something huge, ancient and alien lies hidden beneath the ground and it's starting to wake up.
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From award-winning science-fiction writer Alastair Reynolds, a spellbinding new adventure featuring the Third Doctor. After billions of years of imprisonment, the vicious Sild have broken out of confinement. From a ruined world at the end of time, they make preparations to conquer the past, with the ultimate goal of rewriting history. But to achieve their aims, they will need to enslave an intellect greater than their own. On Earth, UNIT is called in to investigate a mysterious incident on a North Sea drilling platform. The Doctor believes something is afoot, and no sooner has the investigation begun when something even stranger takes hold: the Brigadier is starting to forget about UNIT's highest-profile prisoner. And he is not alone in his amnesia. As the Sild invasions begins, the Doctor faces a terrible dilemma. To save the universe, he must save his arch-nemesis: the Master.
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Based on the beloved Doctor Who episode of the same name by Douglas Adams, the hilarious and brilliant author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, comes City of Death…
The Doctor takes Romana for a holiday in Paris—a city which, like a fine wine, has a bouquet all of its own. Especially if you visit during one of the vintage years. But the TARDIS takes them to 1979, a year whose vintage is soured by cracks in the very fabric of time itself.
Soon they are embroiled in an alien scheme which encompasses home-made time machines, the theft of the Mona Lisa, the resurrection of the much-feared Jagaroth race, and the beginning (and quite possibly the end) of all life on Earth.
It’s up to the Doctor and Romana to thwart the machinations of the suave, mysterious Count Scarlioni—all twelve of him—if the human race has any chance of survival.
But then, the Doctor’s holidays tend to turn out a bit like this. -
From the unique mind of Douglas Adams, legendary author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, comes Shada, a story scripted for the television series Doctor Who but never produced—and now transformed into an original novel...
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Imagine how dangerous a LOT of knowledge is...
The Doctor’s old friend and fellow Time Lord, Professor Chronotis, has retired to Cambridge University, where among the other doddering old professors nobody will notice if he lives for centuries. He took with him a few little souvenirs—harmless things really. But among them, carelessly, he took The Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey. Even more carelessly, he has loaned this immensely powerful book to clueless graduate student Chris Parsons, who intends to use it to impress girls. The Worshipful and Ancient Law is among the most dangerous artifacts in the universe; it cannot be allowed to fall into the wrong hands.
The hands of the sinister Skagra are unquestionably the wrongest ones possible. Skagra is a sadist and an egomaniac bent on universal domination. Having misguessed the state of fashion on Earth, he also wears terrible platform shoes. He is on his way to Cambridge. He wants the book. And he wants the Doctor... -
An original adventure tying in to the ninth season of Doctor Who, the spectacular hit series from BBC Television, featuring the new 12th Doctor as played by Peter Capaldi.
“I'm an archaeologist, but probably not the one you were expecting.”
Christmas 2015, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Imagine everyone's surprise when a time portal opens up in Sydney Cove. Imagine their shock as a massive pyramid now sits beside the Harbour Bridge, inconveniently blocking Port Jackson and glowing with energy. Imagine their fear as Cyrrus "the mobster" Globb, Professor Horace Jaanson and an alien assassin called Kik arrive to claim the glowing pyramid. Finally imagine everyone's dismay when they are followed by a bunch of con artists out to spring their greatest grift yet.
This gang consists of Legs (the sexy comedian), Dog Boy (providing protection and firepower), Shortie (handling logistics), Da Trowel (in charge of excavation and history) and their leader, Doc (busy making sure the universe isn't destroyed in an explosion that makes the Big Bang look like a damp squib).
And when someone accidentally reawakens The Ancients of the Universe - which, Doc reckons, wasn't the wisest or best-judged of actions – things get a whole lot more complicated…
From the Trade Paperback edition. -
"I've had many faces. Many lives. I don't admit to all of them. There's one life I've tried very hard to forget-the Doctor who fought in the Time War."
The Great Time War has raged for centuries, ravaging the universe. The Daleks and the Time Lords deploy ever more dangerous weapons in desperate attempts at victory, but there is no end in sight.
On the outer rim of the Tantalus Eye, scores of human colony planets are now overrun by Dalek occupation forces. A weary, angry Doctor leads a flotilla of Battle TARDISes against the Dalek stronghold but in the midst of the carnage, the Doctor's TARDIS crashes to a planet below: Moldox.
As the Doctor is trapped in an apocalyptic landscape, Dalek patrols roam amongst the wreckage, rounding up the remaining civilians. But why haven't the Daleks simply killed the humans?
Searching for answers, the Doctor meets 'Cinder', a young Dalek hunter. Their struggles to discover the Dalek plan take them from the ruins of Moldox to the halls of Gallifrey and set in chain events that will change everything. And everyone. -
"Release the Doctor - or the killing will start."
An asteroid in the furthest reaches of space - the most secure prison for the most dangerous of criminals. The Governor is responsible for the worst fraudsters and the cruellest murderers. So he's certainly not impressed by the arrival of the man they're calling the most dangerous criminal in the quadrant. Or, as he prefers to be known, the Doctor.
What does impress the Governor is the way the new prisoner immediately sets about trying to escape. And keeps trying. Finally, he sends for the Doctor and asks him why? But the answer surprises even the Governor. And then there's the threat - unless the Governor listens to the Doctor, a lot of people will die.
Who is the Doctor and what's he really doing here? Why does he want to help the Governor? And who is the young woman who comes every day to visit him, only to be turned away by the guards?
When the killing finally starts, the Governor begins to get his answers... -
A thrilling, all-new adventure featuring the Doctor as played by Matt Smith
in the spectacular hit series from BBC Television.
‘They like the Shadows. You know them as Plague Warriors…’
When the Doctor arrives in the 19th-century village of Klimtenburg, he discovers the residents suffering from some kind of plague – a ‘wasting disease’. The victims face a horrible death – but what’s worse, the dead seem to be leaving their graves. The Plague Warriors have returned…
The Doctor is confident he knows what’s really happening; he understands where the dead go, and he’s sure the Plague Warriors are just a myth. But as some of the Doctor’s oldest and most terrible enemies start to awaken he realises that maybe – just maybe – he’s misjudged the situation. -
Marlowe Hapworth is found dead in his locked study, killed by an unknown assailant. This is a case for the Great Detective, Madame Vastra. Rick Bellamy, bare-knuckle boxer, has the life drawn out of him by a figure dressed as an undertaker. This angers Strax the Sontaran. The Carnival of Curiosities, a collection of bizarre and fascinating sideshows and performers. This is where Jenny Flint looks for answers. How are these things connected? And what does Orestes Milton, rich industrialist, have to do with it all? This is where the Doctor and Clara come in. The Doctor and his friends find themselves thrust into a world where nothing and no one are what they seem. Can they unravel the truth before the most dangerous weapon ever developed is unleashed on London?
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"Well, I doubt you'll ever see a bigger insect."
Gabby Nichols is putting her son to bed when she hears her daughter cry out. 'Mummy there's a daddy longlegs in my room!' Then the screaming starts... Alan Travers is heading home from the pub when something rushes his face - a spider's web. Then something huge and deadly lumbers from the shadows... Kevin Alperton is on his way to school when he is attacked by a mosquito. A big one. Then things get dangerous.
But it isn't the dead man cocooned inside a huge mass of web that worries the Doctor. It isn't the swarming, mutated insects that make him nervous. It isn't an old man's garbled memories of past dangers that intrigue him.
With the village cut off from the outside world, and the insects becoming more and more dangerous, the Doctor knows that no one is safe. Not unless he can decode the strange symbols engraved on an ancient stone circle, and unravel a mystery dating back to the Second World War. -
Sunlight 349 is one of countless Dalek Foundation worlds, planets created to house billions suffering from economic hardship. The Doctor arrives at Sunlight 349, suspicious of any world where the Daleks are apparently a force for good—and determined to find out the truth. The Doctor knows they have a far more sinister plan—but how can he convince those who have lived under the benevolence of the Daleks for a generation? But convince them he must, and soon. For on another Foundation planet, archaeologists have unearthed the most dangerous technology in the universe.
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The Wheel. A ring of ice and metal turning around a moon of Saturn, home to a mining colony supplying a resource-hungry Earth—a colony plagued by problems. Equipment failures and thefts are on the rise. Children tell stories of mysterious creatures glimpsed aboard the Wheel. And some of the younger workers refuse to go down into the warren-like mines.
And then one of them, surfing Saturn’s rings, saves an enigmatic blue box from destruction.
Once on the Wheel, the Doctor and his companions, Jamie and Zoe, face a critical situation when they become suspected by some as the source of the ongoing sabotage. They soon find themselves caught in a mystery that reaches back to the creation of the solar system. A mystery that could destroy the Wheel—and kill them all... -
A thrilling new adventure from the spectacular BBC series, starring Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman.
23 November, 1963
It is the day after John F. Kennedy’s assassination – and the faces of the dead are everywhere. PC Reg Cranfield sees his late father in the mists along Totter’s Lane. Reporter Mae Callon sees her grandmother in a coffee stain on her desk. FBI Special Agent Warren Skeet finds his long-dead partner staring back at him from raindrops on a window pane.
Then the faces begin to talk, and scream... and push through into our world.
As the alien Shroud begins to feast on the grief of a world in mourning, can the Doctor dig deep enough into his own sorrow to save mankind? -
An original adventure tying in to the ninth season of Doctor Who, the spectacular hit series from BBC Television, featuring the new 12th Doctor as played by Peter Capaldi.
"I do hope you’re all ready to be terrified!"
The Phaeron disappeared from the universe over a million years ago. They travelled among the stars using roads made from time and space, but left only relics behind. But what actually happened to the Phaeron? Some believe they were they eradicated by a superior force… Others claim they destroyed themselves.
Or were they in fact the victims of an even more hideous fate?
In the far future, humans discover the location of the last Phaeron road – and the Doctor and Clara join the mission to see where the road leads.
Each member of the research team knows exactly what they’re looking for – but only the Doctor knows exactly what they’ll find.
Because only the Doctor knows the true secret of the Phaeron: a monstrous secret so terrible and powerful that it must be buried in the deepest grave imaginable…
From the Trade Paperback edition. -
An original adventure tying in to the ninth season of Doctor Who, the spectacular hit series from BBC Television, featuring the new 12th Doctor as played by Peter Capaldi.
“The Grail is a story, a myth! It didn’t exist on your world! It can’t exist here!”
The city-state of Varuz is failing. Duke Aurelian is the last of his line, his capital is crumbling, and the armies of his enemy, Duke Conrad, are poised beyond the mountains to invade. Aurelian is preparing to gamble everything on one last battle. So when a holy man, the Doctor, comes to Varuz from beyond the mountains, Aurelian asks for his blessing in the war.
But all is not what it seems in Varuz. The city-guard have lasers for swords, and the halls are lit by electric candlelight. Aurelian’s beloved wife, Guena, and his most trusted knight, Bernhardt, seem to be plotting to overthrow their Duke, and Clara finds herself drawn into their intrigue...
Will the Doctor stop Aurelian from going to war? Will Clara’s involvement in the plot against the Duke be discovered? Why is Conrad’s ambassador so nervous? And who are the ancient and weary knights who arrive in Varuz claiming to be on a quest for the Holy Grail…? -
Intercepted while travelling between Earth and the Ark, the Fourth Doctor and his companions are transported to the planet Skaro, thousands of years in the past, on a mission for the Time Lords — to prevent the creation of the Daleks.
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Collects stories featuring each incarnation of the Doctor in all new adventures by such authors as Eoin Colfer, Richelle Mead, and Neil Gaiman.
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Eleven Doctors, eleven months, eleven stories: a year-long celebration of Doctor Who! The most exciting names in children's fiction each create their own unique adventure about the time-travelling Time Lord. Thousands of years ago, Time Lords built a Prison for the Kin. They made it utterly impregnable and unreachable. As long as Time Lords existed, the Kin would be trapped forever and the universe would be safe. They had planned for everything . . . everything, that is, other than the Time War and the fall of Gallifrey. Now the Kin are free again and there's only one Time Lord left in the universe who can stop them! Author Neil Gaiman puts his own unique spin on the Doctor's amazing adventures through time and space in the eleventh and final story in the bestselling 50th anniversary series!
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The Doctor finally faces his destiny as both his home planet and old foe reappears.
