Line #97 Literature/PastDoctorAdventures


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2022_06_25_233229.png]]
2
3	''Series/DoctorWho'' spin-off novels published from 1997 by [[Creator/TheBBC BBC Books]]. Where the Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures featured the new Doctor introduced in [[Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie the 1996 TV movie]], the Past Doctor Adventures told new adventures featuring the first seven Doctors. (In other words, much like Virgin Publishing's Literature/DoctorWhoMissingAdventures, except that the Seventh Doctor was now Past instead of being [[Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures New]].)
4
5	This series was seemingly abandoned after the revival of the TV series, but from 2012 BBC Books started intermittently publishing novels featuring pre-1989 Doctors. Although not officially branded Past Doctor Adventures, these further books were again aimed at an older audience than the Literature/NewSeriesAdventures. They were also unusual in being written by "name" writers well known for works outside the ''Doctor Who'' universe.
6
7	[[folder:Novels in this series]]
8	* ''The Devil Goblins from Neptune'' (June, 1997) by Martin Day and Keith Topping. Features the Third Doctor, and Dr. Elizabeth "Liz" Shaw.
9	* ''The Murder Game'' (July, 1997) by Steve Lyons. Features the Second Doctor, Ben Jackson, and Polly.
10	* ''The Ultimate Treasure'' (August, 1997) by Christopher Bulis. Features the Fifth Doctor, and Perpugilliam "Peri" Brown.
11	* ''Business Unusual'' (September, 1997) by Gary Russell. Features the Sixth Doctor, Melanie "Mel" Bush, and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.
12	* ''Illegal Alien'' (October, 1997) by Mike Tucker and Robert Perry. Features the Seventh Doctor, and Ace.
13	* ''The Roundheads'' (November, 1997) by Creator/MarkGatiss. Features the Second Doctor, Ben Jackson, Polly, and Jamie [=McCrimmon=].
14	* ''The Face of the Enemy'' (January, 1998) by David A. [=McIntee=]. Features the Third Doctor, the Master, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, and Harry Sullivan.
15	* ''Eye of Heaven'' (February, 1998) by Jim Mortimore. Features the Fourth Doctor, and Leela of the Sevateem.
16	* ''The Witch Hunters'' (March, 1998) by Steve Lyons. Features the First Doctor, Susan Foreman, Ian Chesterton, and Barbara Wright.
17	* ''The Hollow Men'' (April, 1998) by Martin Day and Keith Topping. Features the Seventh Doctor, and Ace.
18	* ''Catastrophea'' (May, 1998) by Creator/TerranceDicks. Features the Third Doctor, and Jo Grant.
19	* ''Mission: Impractical'' (June, 1998) by David A. [=McIntee=]. Features the Sixth Doctor, and ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'' companion Frobisher.
20	* ''Zeta Major'' (July, 1998) by Simon Messingham. Features the Fifth Doctor, Tegan Jovanka, and Nyssa of Traken.
21	* ''Dreams of Empire'' (August, 1998) by Justin Richards. Features the Second Doctor, Jamie [=McCrimmon=], and Victoria Waterfield.
22	* ''Last Man Running'' (September, 1998) by Creator/ChrisBoucher. Features the Fourth Doctor, and Leela of the Sevateem.
23	* ''Matrix'' (October, 1998) by Mike Tucker and Robert Perry. Features the Seventh Doctor, and Ace. AlternateUniverse versions of the other Doctor incarnations and a few of their companions also figure into the plot.
24	* ''The Infinity Doctors'' (November, 1998) by Lance Parkin. Features an unspecified incarnation of the Doctor.
25	* ''Salvation'' (January, 1999) by Steve Lyons. Features the First Doctor, Steven Taylor, and Dorothea "Dodo" Chaplet.
26	* ''The Wages of Sin'' (February, 1999) by David A. [=McIntee=]. Features the Third Doctor, Jo Grant, and Dr. Elizabeth "Liz" Shaw.
27	* ''Deep Blue'' (March, 1999) by Mark Morris. Features the Fifth Doctor, Tegan Jovanka, and Vislor Turlough.
28	* ''Players'' (April, 1999) by Terrance Dicks. Features the Sixth Doctor, and Perpugilliam "Peri" Brown.
29	* ''Millennium Shock'' (May, 1999) by Justin Richards. Features the Fourth Doctor, and Harry Sullivan.
30	* ''Storm Harvest'' (June, 1999) by Mike Tucker and Robert Perry. Features the Seventh Doctor, and Ace.
31	* ''The Final Sanction'' (July, 1999) by Steve Lyons. Features the Second Doctor, Jamie [=McCrimmon=], and Zoe Heriot.
32	* ''City at World's End'' (September, 1999) by Christopher Bulis. Features the First Doctor, Susan Foreman, Ian Chesterton, and Barbara Wright.
33	* ''Divided Loyalties'' (October, 1999) by Gary Russell. Features the Fifth Doctor, Adric, Nyssa of Traken, and Tegan Jovanka.
34	* ''Corpse Marker'' (November, 1999) by Chris Boucher. Features the Fourth Doctor, and Leela of the Sevateem.
35	* ''Last of the Gaderene'' (January, 2000) by Mark Gatiss. Features the Third Doctor, Jo Grant, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Sergeant Benton, and Captain Yates.
36	* ''Tomb of Valdemar'' (February, 2000) by Simon Messingham. Features the Fourth Doctor, Romana I, and K-9.
37	* ''Verdigris'' (April, 2000) by Paul Magrs. Features the Third Doctor, Jo Grant, and Iris Wildthyme.
38	* ''Grave Matter'' (May, 2000) by Justin Richards. Features the Sixth Doctor, and Perpugilliam "Peri" Brown.
39	* ''Heart of TARDIS'' (June, 2000) by Dave Stone. Features the Second Doctor, the Fourth Doctor, Jamie [=McCrimmon=], Victoria Waterfield, and Romana I. Two versions of the Doctor work the same case.
40	* ''Prime Time'' (July, 2000) by Mike Tucker. Features the Seventh Doctor, and Ace.
41	* ''Imperial Moon'' (August, 2000) by Christopher Bulis. Features the Fifth Doctor, Vislor Turlough, and Kamelion.
42	* ''Festival of Death'' (September, 2000) by Jonathan Morris. Features the Fourth Doctor, Romana II, and K-9.
43	* ''Independence Day'' (October, 2000) by Peter Darvill-Evans. Features the Seventh Doctor and Ace. The Second Doctor and Jamie [=McCrimmon=] appear in the introduction.
44	* ''The King of Terror'' (November, 2000) by Keith Topping. Features the Fifth Doctor, Tegan Jovanka, Vislor Turlough, and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.
45	* ''The Quantum Archangel'' (January, 2001) by Craig Hinton. Features The Sixth Doctor, Melanie "Mel" Bush, and the Master. An AlternateUniverse version of the Third Doctor also appears. There are cameos of Katarina, Sara Kingdom, Adric, and Kamelion.
46	* ''Bunker Soldiers'' (February, 2001) by Martin Day. Features the First Doctor, Steven Taylor, and Dorothea "Dodo" Chaplet.
47	* ''Rags'' (March, 2001) by Mick Lewis. Features the Third Doctor, and Jo Grant.
48	* ''The Shadow in the Glass'' (April, 2001) by Justin Richards and Stephen Cole. Features the Sixth Doctor, and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.
49	* ''Asylum'' (May, 2001) by Peter Darvill-Evans. Features the Fourth Doctor, and Nyssa of Traken.
50	* ''Superior Beings'' (June, 2001) by Nick Walters. Features the Fifth Doctor, and Perpugilliam "Peri" Brown.
51	* ''Byzantium!'' (July, 2001) by Keith Topping. Features the First Doctor, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, and Vicki.
52	* ''Bullet Time'' (August, 2001) by David A. [=McIntee=]. Features the Seventh Doctor, and Sarah Jane Smith.
53	* ''Psi-ence Fiction'' (September, 2001) by Chris Boucher. Features the Fourth Doctor, and Leela of the Sevateem.
54	* ''Dying in the Sun'' (October, 2001) by Jon de Burgh Miller. Features the Second Doctor, Ben Jackson, and Polly.
55	* ''Instruments of Darkness'' (November, 2001) by Gary Russell. Features the Sixth Doctor, Melanie "Mel" Bush, and [[AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho Big Finish]] companion Dr. Evelyn Smythe.
56	* ''Relative Dementias'' (January, 2002) by Mark Michalowski. Features the Seventh Doctor, and Ace.
57	* ''Drift'' (February, 2002) by Simon A. Forward. Features the Fourth Doctor, and Leela of the Sevateem.
58	* ''Palace of the Red Sun'' (March, 2002) by Christopher Bulis. Features the Sixth Doctor, and Perpugilliam "Peri" Brown.
59	* ''Amorality Tale'' (April, 2002) by David Bishop. Features the Third Doctor, and Sarah Jane Smith.
60	* ''Warmonger'' (May, 2002) by Terrance Dicks. Features the Fifth Doctor, and Perpugilliam "Peri" Brown.
61	* ''Ten Little Aliens'' (June, 2002) by Stephen Cole. Features the First Doctor, Ben Jackson, and Polly.
62	* ''Combat Rock'' (July, 2002) by Mick Lewis. Features the Second Doctor, Jamie [=McCrimmon=], and Victoria Waterfield.
63	* ''The Suns of Caresh'' (August, 2002) by Paul Saint. Features the Third Doctor, and Jo Grant.
64	* ''Heritage'' (October, 2002) by Dale Smith. Features the Seventh Doctor, and Ace. A daughter of Mel is a major character.
65	* ''Fear of the Dark'' (January, 2003) by Trevor Baxendale. Features the Fifth Doctor, Tegan Jovanka, and Nyssa of Traken.
66	* ''Blue Box'' (March, 2003) by Kate Orman. Features the Sixth Doctor, and Perpugilliam "Peri" Brown.
67	* ''Loving the Alien'' (May, 2003) by Mike Tucker and Robert Perry. Features the Seventh Doctor, and Ace.
68	* ''The Colony of Lies'' (July, 2003) by Colin Brake. Features the Second Doctor, Jamie [=McCrimmon=], and Zoe Heriot. The Seventh Doctor and Ace appear in a number of chapters.
69	* ''Wolfsbane'' (September, 2003) by Jacqueline Rayner. Features the Fourth Doctor, the Eighth Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith, and Harry Sullivan. Two versions of the Doctor work the same case.
70	* ''Deadly Reunion'' (November, 2003) by Creator/TerranceDicks and Creator/BarryLetts. Features the Third Doctor, Jo Grant, and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.
71	* ''Scream of the Shalka'' (February, 2004) by Creator/PaulCornell. Novelization of the animated series. Features its own version of the Ninth Doctor, along with Alison Cheney, and the Master.
72	* ''Empire of Death'' (March, 2004) by David Bishop. Features the Fifth Doctor, and Nyssa of Traken. A "ghost" version of Adric figures into the plot.
73	* ''The Eleventh Tiger'' (May, 2004) by David A. [=McIntee=]. Features the First Doctor, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, and Vicki.
74	* ''Synthespians™'' (July, 2004) by Craig Hinton. Features the Sixth Doctor, and Perpugilliam "Peri" Brown.
75	* ''The Algebra of Ice'' (September, 2004) by Lloyd Rose. Features the Seventh Doctor, Ace, and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.
76	* ''The Indestructible Man'' (November, 2004) by Simon Messingham. Features the Second Doctor, Jamie [=McCrimmon=], and Zoe Heriot. The novel includes Dystopian versions of the characters and organizations from ''Series/Stingray1964'', ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}'', ''Series/CaptainScarletAndTheMysterons'', and ''Series/UFO1970''.
77	* ''Match of the Day'' (January, 2005) by Chris Boucher. Features the Fourth Doctor, and Leela of the Sevateem.
78	* ''Island of Death'' (July, 2005) by Creator/BarryLetts. Features the Third Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith, and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.
79	* ''Spiral Scratch'' (August, 2005) by Gary Russell. Features the Sixth Doctor, and Melanie "Mel" Bush. AlternateUniverse versions of the other Doctor incarnations and a few of their companions also figure into the plot.
80	* ''Fear Itself'' (September, 2005) by Nick Wallace. Features the Eighth Doctor, Fitzgerald "Fitz" Kreiner, and Anji Kapoor.[[note]]Published as a Past Doctor Adventure rather than an Eighth Doctor Adventure as the book had been delayed and was published after the "official" last Eighth Doctor Adventure and the TV debut of the Ninth.[[/note]]
81	* ''World Game'' (October, 2005) by Terrance Dicks. Features the Second Doctor, and original companion Lady Serena.
82	* ''The Time Travellers'' (November, 2005) by Simon Guerrier. Features the First Doctor, Susan Foreman, Ian Chesterton, and Barbara Wright.
83	* ''Atom Bomb Blues'' (December, 2005) by Creator/AndrewCartmel. Features the Seventh Doctor, and Ace. Last novel in this series.
84
85	Later unbranded novels:
86
87	* ''The Wheel of Ice'' (August 2012) by Creator/StephenBaxter. Features the Second Doctor, Jamie [=McCrimmon=], and Zoe Heriot.
88	* ''Harvest of Time'' (June 2013) by Creator/AlastairReynolds. Features the Third Doctor, Jo Grant, and UNIT.
89	* ''The Drosten's Curse'' (July 2015) by A L Kennedy. Features the Fourth Doctor.
90	* ''Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen'' (January 2018) by James Goss. Features the Fourth Doctor, Romana II and K-9.[[note]]A novel based on Creator/DouglasAdams' unmade TV story pitch and later film treatment of the same name, previously developed by Adams into the ''Hitch-Hiker's Guide'' novel ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything''[[/note]]
91	* ''[[Literature/DoctorWhoMeetsScratchman Scratchman]]'' (January 2019) by Creator/TomBaker and James Goss. Features the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan.[[note]]A novel based on Tom Baker's and Creator/IanMarter's unproduced 1970s ''Doctor Who'' film script ''Doctor Who Meets Scratchman''[[/note]]
92	[[/folder]]
93
94	!!This series provides examples of:
95	* AdventurerArchaeologist: In ''The Ultimate Treasure'', the Fifth Doctor is forced to join one of a group of expeditions competing against each other for a mythical treasure; many of the traps encountered in this case are justified as part of a series of tests left by the treasure’s original owner and maintained by its current guardians as part of their research into the human condition.
96	* AirborneAircraftCarrier: Deconstructed (along with various other Creator/GerryAnderson tropes) in ''The Indestructible Man''. SKYHOME is derided as a pollution-spewing technological white elephant that uses the power of a small country just to remain stable (it has a tendency to lurch at unpredictable moments, sending equipment everywhere) and is too expensive to break up, yet can't be allowed to degrade for fear it'll crash on everyone's head.
97	* AliensStealCable: In ''Synthespians™'', human colonists in the future do this with broadcasts from Earth. It's pointed out that until they had the help of the [[spoiler:Nestene Consciousness]], the shows were so degraded it was like watching it through a snow storm.
98	* AlternateLandmarkHistory: ''Eye of Heaven'' reveals that, like most things in the Whoniverse, the moai were put there by AncientAstronauts. They're alien computers that run a [[TeleportersAndTransporters Transmat]] network.
99	* AMFMCharacterization:
100	** ''Business Unusual'' reveals that the Sixth Doctor likes Music/PinkFloyd (especially ''Music/ThePiperAtTheGatesOfDawn''), while Mel was a fan of Music/{{ABBA}} and Music/TheBeeGees in her childhood.
101	** In ''The Algebra of Ice'', the Seventh Doctor names Music/JohannSebastianBach as one of his favourite composers.
102	* AnachronicOrder:
103	** ''Eye of Heaven'' is told in the form of various 'diary extracts' written by various major characters, but not presented in chronological order
104	** ''Festival Of Death'' starts with the Doctor and Romana arriving on a space station after the main crisis has been resolved by their future selves, requiring them to go back in time three more times to create the situation they discovered upon arrival and ensure that everyone who met them this time around knows who they are.
105	* AndIMustScream: ''Festival of Death'' ends with [[spoiler:Doctor Kole Paddox being trapped as this; he has spent most of his life researching the Arboreteans, a race with the unique ability to relive their lives over and over again every time they die, with the goal of allowing himself to recreate their ability so that he can go back and relive his life to prevent the death of his parents in a shuttle accident when he was six years old. However, while he succeeds in sending himself back after his experiments have driven the Arboreteans to extinction, Paddox only learns at the moment of his parents' deaths that he can't actually exert any influence on his past self, condemning him to ''witness his crimes over and over and over without ever being able to change a single thing'']].
106	* ApocalypseHitler: In ''The Shadow in the Glass'', [[spoiler:the Sixth Doctor and the Brigadier discover a Fourth Reich led by Hitler's son using alien technology (albeit alien technology that the Nazis have mistaken for a supernatural artefact), but this trope is defied as the Doctor proclaims that even Hitler Junior knows that there is no place in the modern world for his father's philosophy, justifying why he continues to hide away rather than mount his new campaign even though he is now the same age as his father was when Hitler committed suicide]].
107	* AtLeastIAdmitIt: The Master tells the Brigadier such in ''The Face of the Enemy'':
108	-->Ask yourself, have I ever denied anything I've done? Have I ever lied about anything? No. I'm proud of my so-called crimes, Brigadier. I think you'll find that in many ways I am the most honest man you've ever met.
109	* BatmanGrabsAGun: In ''Imperial Moon'', [[spoiler:the threat of the Vrall being unleashed on Victorian England is so serious that the Doctor, Turlough and Kamelion retrieve advanced weaponry specifically designed to eliminate the Vrall, as the Doctor doesn't have time to try and find a more peaceful way to contain the Vrall and take them somewhere else]].
110	* BeenThereShapedHistory:
111	** In ''Byzantium!'', the First Doctor assists in the original translation of the Book of Mark, and in ''The Witch Hunters'', his presence unwittingly helps instigate the Salem Witch Trials.
112	** In ''The Wages of Sin'', the Doctor, Jo and Liz accidentally travel to Russia in 1916 and witness the events leading up to Rasputin’s death; the novel even concludes with [[spoiler:the Doctor watching Rasputin drown, even though he has learned that Rasputin isn’t the monster he’s portrayed as by history, because he has to preserve the timeline]].
113	** ''Players'' in particular sees the Sixth Doctor assist in Winston Churchill’s escape from a Boer prison in 1899 and then work with Churchill in thwarting a complex Nazi conspiracy that would have seen Edward VIII dismiss the government and officially ally with Hitler in 1936; ''The Shadow in the Glass'' also sees the Doctor present in the Berlin bunker on the date of Hitler’s suicide.
114	* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: In ''Matrix'', the Seventh Doctor learns the true identity of Jack the Ripper; [[spoiler:the Valeyard, his own dark future self]].
115	* BewareTheNiceOnes: While normally a pacifist, the events of ''Warmonger'' force the Fifth Doctor to become a military leader of a vast alliance that includes some of his more regular enemies- the Sontarans, the Ice Warriors and the Cybermen in particular- against an army led by the renegade Time Lord Morbius, mounting a successful year-long campaign that earns him the respect of all of his normal foes (and he does this while using an alias so that he doesn’t have his usual reputation as the Doctor as "evidence" that he knows what he’s doing).
116	* BigEater:
117	** In ''The Indestructible Man'', the Second Doctor cheerfully consumes tea, biscuits, sandwiches and a full roast dinner while recovering from being shot in hospital.
118	** In ''Synthespians (TM)'', the Sixth Doctor visits a cinema and orders popcorn, chocolates, a hot dog, nachos and dips, and a super-size fizzy drink.
119	* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Not full-on brainwashed, but while in VictorianLondon in ''Matrix'', the Seventh Doctor almost succumbs to the influence of a dark force that drives him to try and kill Ace.
120	* BrokenTears: In ''Empire of Death'', the Doctor drives Nyssa to let herself cry about her recent losses as he's worried she's repressing everything.
121	* BusmansHoliday: The Doctor brings his companions to a pleasure beach in the 1970s in ''Deep Blue'' to give them a well-deserved holiday to recover from the horrific events at [[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E1WarriorsOfTheDeep Sea Base Four]]. What follows makes that story seem light and fluffy in comparison.
122	* CallForward:
123	** ''Blue Box'' by Kate Orman features the Bainbridge Hospital and the Doctor's Platform/AppleII computer, both of which were previously seen in the EDA novel ''[[Recap/EighthDoctorAdventuresSeeingI Seeing I]]'' by Orman and Jonathan Blum.
124	** ''World Game'', being one of the first novels in the series to be published after ''Doctor Who'' returned to TV in 2005, took the opportunity to introduce the psychic paper as an invention of the Gallifreyan CIA they gave to the Second Doctor.
125	* ChangedMyJumper: Averted in ''Players'', ''The Shadow in the Glass'' and ''Blue Box'', when the Sixth Doctor changes into more conventional attire as part of a long-term investigation into current events (although in ''Blue Box'' he returns to his regular attire as soon as the situation escalates).
126	* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve:
127	** In ''Salvation'', faced with beings who gain power based on the belief others have in them, the First Doctor not only [[spoiler:survives being hit by a fireball in front of a crowd of believers because his belief that he can’t be hurt outweighs the crowd’s belief in his attacker, but later drives these beings away by dropping a dud bomb on the park and making everyone present think it can hurt their ‘gods’]].
128	** In ''Deep Blue'', after determining that the nature of the Xaranthi infection is psychic, the Fifth Doctor is [[spoiler:able to use ordinary tap water and his own willpower to "convince" the Xaranthi that he has a cure for their transformation and force them to withdraw from Earth]].
129	* ContinuityNod: ''The Infinity Doctors'' sees an interesting use of this trope, as it incorporates elements from every official version of Gallifrey up to its publication in November 1998. ''Every'' version, including the contradictory ones.
130	* ContinuitySnarl: ''The Infinity Doctors'' is a [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools deliberate]] use of this trope. WordOfGod says it's situated somewhere in ''Doctor Who'' continuity... the trouble is, it doesn't seem to fit anywhere, because there's always one piece of continuity that seems to contradict a specific placing. Even [[TheNthDoctor the incarnation of the Doctor]] it features is left unspecified. All of which is [[RiddleForTheAges entirely intentional]].
131	* CrapsackWorld: In ''Matrix'', the Seventh Doctor witnesses an alternate version of 1963 where the Ripper murders led to a heightened period of civil unrest, atrocities in the First World War contributed to something evil following them back to England. Since then, London has been under siege from the walking dead, social order has broken down, and gangs of youths who worship Jack as the new Messiah roam the streets. America basically took control after the war with Hitler and put London under quarantine, but at best they've contained the problem, and shortly before the Doctor arrived in this timeline, President Kennedy was torn apart by zombies while making what was intended to be a morale-boosting appearance in London.
132	* CreatingLifeIsBad:
133	** Explored in ''Heritage'', in which a scientist who has become obsessed with becoming the first to produce a perfect human clone has resorted to murder to further his ends. When the Doctor confronts the scientist, he reveals that the scientist actually ''isn't'' the first to discover human cloning -- but the secret has always been forgotten. ''Not'', interestingly enough, because cloning is somehow 'unnatural', but because in trying to create life artificially the people involved forget how precious life is, no matter how it is created, and end up treating it as a disposable commodity -- just as the scientist has done. Upon being confronted with both the futility of his life's work and precisely what a monster he's ultimately let himself become, [[VillainousBreakdown the scientist doesn't react well]].
134	** Also the Savant in ''Blue Box''. While the Doctor seems pretty horrified by its creation, he reluctantly concludes that its creators are better suited to looking after it than anyone else.
135	* CrossThrough: A StoryArc in which the companions of various Doctors were seemingly killed in TimeyWimeyBall situations (Sarah Jane is apparently shot in ''Bullet Time'', Ace is 'killed' and replaced by an alternate version of herself in ''Loving the Alien'', Mel seemingly dies on a distant colony that she had no real 'right' to be on in ''Heritage'', and Harry Sullivan may or may not have become a werewolf in ''Wolfsbane''). This tied into the "Sabbath" arc in the Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures. One of these [=PDAs=], ''Wolfsbane'', also featured the Eighth Doctor during the [=EDAs=]' "amnesiac on Earth" arc.
136	* DarkAndTroubledPast: Flashbacks in ''Divided Loyalties'' reveals that the Doctor’s first trip off Gallifrey saw one of his oldest friends being possessed by an ancient entity and another was kept as a permanent prisoner by that same entity despite the Doctor’s efforts to save them.
137	* ADayInTheLimelight: For Ian, Barbara, UNIT and [[VillainEpisode the Master]] in ''Face of the Enemy'', as the Doctor was involved in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E2TheCurseOfPeladon The Curse of Peladon]]" at the time.
138	** From a certain perspective, Harry Sullivan gets this in ''Wolfsbane'', as he is technically the most experienced time traveller dealing with the biggest problem in 1936 for most of the novel, as the Eighth Doctor is currently suffering from amnesia and doesn't know anything about his past and the Fourth Doctor and Sarah are tying up loose ends in December after Harry stopped the main threat in November.
139	* DeadlyDodging: In ''The Eleventh Tiger'', the Doctor does this to the Gung Fu School bully who challenges him to a duel.
140	* {{Deconstruction}}: ''The Indestructible Man'' by Simon Messingham is a deconstruction of all Creator/GerryAnderson's work, asking ''why'' Jeff Tracy founded the Series/{{Thunderbirds}}, what SHADO personnel would ''really'' be like -- yes, ''Series/UFO1970'' was DarkerAndEdgier to begin with, but Messingham takes it further -- and how the ordinary people of the {{UsefulNotes/Supermarionation}} world might feel about so much money being channeled into AwesomeButImpractical vehicles. Most notably, the title Indestructible Man is a CaptainErsatz Series/{{Captain Scarlet\|AndTheMysterons}} who feels [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul detached from humanity]] and [[WhoWantsToLiveForever wishes he was able to die]].
141	* DefaceOfTheMoon: "Moon Grafitti" in ''More Short Trips''.
142	* DiscontinuityNod: ''Business Unusual'' demotes "[[Recap/DoctorWho1985JFIGSAFixWithSontarans A Fix With Sontarans]]" to AllJustADream.
143	* DreadfulDragonfly: In ''Island of Death'', the Doctor mentions the Sclaponian Dragonflies. Not much is known about them, but since he nearly lost an entire leg to the creature, one can imagine how humongous those insects are.
144	* DueToTheDead: Trakenite beliefs about death are discussed in ''Empire of Death''; most specifically, their belief in a connection between body and soul means that Nyssa cannot feel her father is truly at peace while the Master is using his body.
145	* EveryManHasHisPrice: A variation of this features in ''Mission: Impractical'', when bounty hunters Sha'ol and Karthakh make it clear more than once that their honour prevents them accepting bribes from their targets to abandon their current contract. However, when Niccolo Mandell offers them double their current fee to not go after the Doctor until he's finished the job Mandell has asked him to help with, Karthakh accepts that "bribe" as they're essentially getting paid to do nothing as it's more practical to let the Doctor finish his current job and move somewhere where it's easier for them to get at him.
146	* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: ''Divided Loyalties'' reveals that every other Time Lord we've seen in the series (the Master, the Rani, etc) were part of the Doctor's gang at the academy.
147	* EverythingIsOnline: In ''Millennium Shock'', the Big Bad has spent years planting alien microchips in all kinds of things, precisely so they can do this.
148	* EverythingTryingToKillYou: Poor Peri really gets put through hell in ''Grave Matter'' while trying to escape the island and phone for help. The microscopic aliens of the story have taken over all life in the area, and Peri is attacked by possessed owls, foxes, ''sharks'' and many of the human townsfolk. Just when she thinks she's safe in an attic, she is beset by a flock of seagulls that got in through a hole in the roof and they force her to fall [[DestinationDefenestration out of a window]] onto the ground below.
149	* EvilCannotComprehendGood: In ''Bullet Time'', the head of the Cortez Project- a branch of UNIT who regard any alien presence on Earth as a threat- thinks that she can persuade Sarah Jane Smith to join the Project as she's seen the dangers of alien activity and believes that the Doctor's recent actions (acting as head of a Triad branch as [[spoiler:part of a complex plan to help a crashed alien ship complete repairs and leave]]) prove that even he can't be trusted, not realising that Sarah just isn't that ruthless.
150	* EvilOnlyHasToWinOnce: In ''Festival of Death'', the Doctor and his allies prevent an EldritchAbomination from eating the universe. So far, just another day in the office for the Doctor. But there are several time loops involved, so there's a sense in which the adventure is happening over and over again forever -- and if the Doctor and his allies slip up even once, it's goodbye universe.
151	-->"Yes," said [[spoiler:the baby, opening its eyes]]. "The Doctor succeeded. This time."
152	* ExpendableAlternateUniverse: Essentially comes up in the novel ''Psi-Ence Fiction'', as the resolution of the plot [[spoiler:involves the destruction of the timeline that the Doctor was visiting; technically everyone lives because the chain of events the Doctor witnessed was erased to protect the wider multiverse, but they never experienced that specific version of history, and the Doctor and Leela will forget what happened the next time they step out of the TARDIS]].
153	* FaceDeathWithDignity: The Sixth Doctor accepts his fate in ''Spiral Scratch'':
154	-->Don't cry, Mel. It was my time. Well, maybe not, but it was my time to give. To donate. I've had a good innings you know, seen and done a lot. Can't complain this time. Don't feel cheated.
155	* FantasticRacism: ''Bullet Time'' introduces the Cortez Project, a division of UNIT who believe that ''any'' alien presence on Earth is dangerous and all aliens are a threat to the human race even if they come in peace and just want to leave.
156	* FateWorseThanDeath: ''Palace of the Red Sun'' gives this to [[spoiler:Glavis Judd and Dexel Dynes when the Doctor sets things up so that they are sent over five centuries into the future; Dynes is relegated to making documentaries when he considers himself an active news reporter, and Judd is sent to an insane asylum filled people who think they're him, last shown starting to doubt his own identity]].
157	* FixFic:
158	** ''Salvation'' smooths over the lumps in the introduction of Dodo, who was added to the series at short notice and written inconsistently for her first few episodes, and lays groundwork for the departure of Steven, which on-screen seemed abrupt and unmotivated.
159	** ''Spiral Scratch'' turns the Doctor's Bridge Drop in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS24E1TimeAndTheRani Time and the Rani]]" into a HeroicSacrifice.
160	* {{Foil}}: ''The Suns of Caresh'' features the Third Doctor confronting the Time Lord Roche, who also has an interest in interfering with other planets to save them from imminent threats. However, Roche decides to prioritise saving certain lives or civilisations at the cost of endangering other, ‘lesser’ lives, where the Doctor would always try to save everyone.
161	* ForTheEvulz: Obviously comes up for a few of the Doctor’s villains, but a particular example occurs in the Doctor’s encounters with the Players. The Second and Sixth Doctors each denouncing the Players’ claims to be ‘masters of Time’ by calling them spoiled children who manipulate history for nothing more than their own amusement. By contrast, the Players see nothing wrong with turning all of Earth into their own personal battlefield to liven up their dull immortality.
162	* FriendToAllChildren: Par for the course with the Doctor. ''Grave Matter'' has a scene where the Sixth Doctor entertains some local schoolchildren with card tricks.
163	* FromBadToWorse: ''Deep Blue'' comes right off the back of ''Warriors of the Deep'', notoriously one of the classic series' most violent and depressing stories, and the Doctor brings Tegan and Turlough to the seaside for some rest and relaxation. Naturally, they are caught up in an alien invasion plot that utilizes an incredibly gory ViralTransformation and MoreThanMindControl that traumatises all three of the TARDIS crew even worse than the previous adventure.
164	* {{Gaslighting}}: ''Palace of the Red Sun'' [[spoiler:essentially ends with Glavis Judd experiencing this fate; having been sent five hundred years into his own future, he's dismissed as a lunatic who just ''thinks'' he's Glavis Judd and is sent to an asylum with others who share that delusion, last shown no longer sure of his own identity]].
165	* AGodIAmNot: ''The Quantum Archangel'' [[spoiler:sees the Sixth Doctor temporarily ascend to a god-like state using the last dregs of a source of cosmic energy, but he rejects the idea that he is worthy of this power and only uses it long enough to convince the titular Quantum Archangel to abandon her own power]].
166	* GoneHorriblyRight: Basically applies in ''The Colony of Lies''; the colony was founded on a "Back to Basics" approach where they would live a simpler life and reject most modern technology, settling on a level comparable to the Wild West. However, when they release the daughter of the colony's founder from suspended animation, she explains that the colonists have taken the concept too far, as "Back to Basics" was just intended as an idea rather than an absolute; the idea wasn't to avoid modern technology such as medicines at all costs, but just to seek simpler solutions where possible.
167	* TheGreys: The Nedenah in ''The Devil Goblins From Neptune''. Sha'ol the Tzun in ''Mission: Impractical''.
168	* GroundhogDayLoop: ''Festival of Death'' features a race with this as their [[PlanetOfHats hat]]; after they die, they [[spoiler:loop around back to the start and remember exactly how they screwed up]]. Because everybody has it, they're not limited to fixing the errors of a single day, or a single lifetime: they can adjust the course of their entire history. (If fixing a screw-up requires action more than one lifetime ago, [[spoiler:a message can be passed back by a newborn child telling an adult, who waits to be reborn then passes the message on in the same way.]]) Fortunately for everyone else they're not interested in using their abilities to conquer other planets, or anything petty like that; the messages that have been passed back from the end of their history have given them something far more important to worry about.
169	* GunsAkimbo: The Master, during a Creator/JohnWoo-esque fight scene in ''Face of the Enemy''.
170	* HaveWeMetYet:
171	** A minor version in ''The Murder Game''; the Second Doctor (from a point shortly after his regeneration) is drawn to a space station in 2136 by a message from an organisation that is tentatively identified as a descendant of UNIT, which the Doctor makes clear he is unware of at this point in his life.
172	** In ''Deep Blue'', Tegan and Turlough meet the Brigadier in the 1970s, nearly a decade before their first meeting in ''Mawdryn Undead''. Thanks to some convenient EasyAmnesia at the end, this isn't as much of a threat to the timelines as it could have been.
173	** In ''The Colony of Lies'', the Second Doctor meets a woman who greets him as an old friend even though he's never met her himself; she explains that she met a future version of him in her relative past (later identified as the Seventh Doctor), as the older Doctor reasoned that she needed to be able to trust his past self quickly.
174	* HeistEpisode: ''Mission: Impractical'' sees the Sixth Doctor take part in a heist of a precious national treasure from the planet Veltroch along with Frobisher, Glitz and Dibber.
175	* HistoricalDomainCharacter:
176	** Various people associated with the Salem witch trials in ''The Witch Hunters''.
177	** Various people associated with the UsefulNotes/EnglishCivilWar in ''The Roundheads''.
178	** UsefulNotes/RasputinTheMadMonk et al. in ''Wages of Sin''.
179	** Queen Victoria in ''Empire of Death'' (and a briefer appearance in ''Imperial Moon'').
180	** Winston Churchill in ''Players'' and Adolf Hitler in ''The Shadow in the Glass''
181	* IdenticalGrandson: ''The Eleventh Tiger'' teases the idea [[spoiler:that Ian Chesterton has crossed his own time stream as the amnesiac Major Chesterton, before revealing the Major is actually Ian's Identical Great-Great-Grandfather]].
182	* IgnorantOfTheirOwnIgnorance: Essentially the reason the Vrall are exposed in ''Imperial Moon''; [[spoiler:they claimed to take knowledge of English via a telepathic download from Turlough, but they use terms such as 'mechanical servants' that would actually be used by an educated man from the Victorian era, allowing the Doctor to deduce that they actually took knowledge of English from eating the brains of Sub-Lieutenant Granby and were far more dangerous than they appeared]].
183	** Suggested in the novels ''Heart of TARDIS'' and ''Wolfsbane'', where the younger Doctors are apparently ignorant of their future selves' involvement in the current crisis, and the Eighth Doctor is even more ignorant than the Fourth in ''Wolfsbane'' due to his current amnesia.
184	* ImmuneToMindControl: A minor character whose car the Master steals in the novel ''Face of the Enemy'' can't be hypnotised. So the Master kills him instead.
185	* IntercontinuityCrossover: One of the characters in ''Corpse Marker'', by Creator/ChrisBoucher, previously appeared in his ''Series/BlakesSeven'' episode "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS2E3Weapon Weapon]]".
186	* {{Interquel}}: Nearly every Past Doctor novel is set between two episodes of the TV series, with the exception of ''Fear Itself'' (published after the Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures wrapped up, and set between two earlier [=EDAs=]) and possibly also of ''The Infinity Doctors'' (deliberately ambiguous as to placement). A sizeable number of Sixth Doctor novels and audios (basically everything where he isn't travelling with Peri) are set in the increasingly-large gap between his trial and his regeneration. Most of the Seventh Doctor novels are set in the long gap between the last episode of the ongoing series and the 1996 TV movie.
187	** Where this puts them in respect to the [=NAs=], set within the same gap, is up for debate, since the BBC's policy was to neither confirm nor deny the Virgin novels' canon status, and certainly not to provide official guidance on how they fitted into the continuity (although the [=PDA=] ''Millennium Shock'' is an explicit sequel to [=MA=] novel ''System Shock'').
188	*** Having said that, the epilogue to ''Algebra of Ice'' has the Doctor say that, on his most recent visit to Earth, "I visited your Moon. Also my own mind", which must mean ''Timewyrm: Revelation'', and means the main story takes place before the [=NAs=].
189	** The novel ''Wolfsbane'' is also partly set during the time of the Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures, as it features the Fourth and Eighth Doctors dealing with two different ends of a crisis, the Eighth Doctor facing a threat in November 1936 during his amnesic exile on Earth while the Fourth Doctor ties up the loose ends a month later.
190	* ItsCuban: The original Master smokes Cuban cigars.
191	* JerkassHasAPoint: In ''Fear of the Dark'', ultimately [[spoiler:Cadwell’s concerns about the Doctor being susceptible to the Dark’s influence were valid, even if he could have at least told the Doctor the reasons for his concerns to help the Doctor fight it rather than act as though the Doctor was a willing accomplice Cadwell couldn’t trust]].
192	* KillAndReplace: The villains' plan in ''The Face of the Enemy'' is for survivors from the fascist Earth of ''Inferno'' to kill and replace their counterparts in the main Universe.
193	* LandmarkingTheHiddenBase: Canary Wharf is the headquarters of the British time travelling military in an [[AlternateUniverse alternate 2006]] visited by the First Doctor in ''The Time Travellers''.
194	* LaserGuidedKarma: The fate of Koel [[spoiler:Paddox]] in ''Festival of Death'', after [[spoiler:he wipes out an entire species in an attempt to recreate their ability to resurrect at the beginning of their lives with memories of how the last one went, in the hope of doing this himself to change his own past. He succeeds, but because he isn't one of this species, he is unable to change anything, only watch from inside his own mind as he lives all the tragedies and atrocities of his life over again. And again. And again...]]
195	* LastOfHisKind: Sha'ol in ''Mission: Impractical''.
196	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: On p229 (of 280) in the deeply MindScrew-y ''The Infinity Doctors'', the Doctor, confronted with a book of infinite pages, says:
197	-->"The best thing about a book is that you can always tell when you're getting to the end. No matter how tricky the situation the hero's in, you hold the book in your hand and say 'Hang on, I'm two hundred and twenty-nine pages in, with only another fifty-one to go. It started slow, but it's building to a climax.'"
198	* LeaveBehindAPistol: ''The Devil Goblins From Neptune'' features a subversion; a spy who's been acting to undermine UNIT has discovered that his superiors have betrayed him, and has been captured and tortured by them as a result when he tried to defect. Later, one of his minders appears to leave a gun behind to end the spy's misery; he tries to, only to learn it's not loaded. His former boss then enters the room and bluntly tells him that ''he'll'' be the one to decide when it ends for him.
199	* LetsYouAndHimFight: Briefly utilised by the Doctor in ''Fear of the Dark'', when [[spoiler:he provokes the Dark (now manifested in a corporeal body) and the monstrous Bloodhunter to attack each other when the Dark had previously been using the Bloodhunter as its servant to regenerate its body. The Dark swiftly destroys the Bloodhunter but the fight leaves it more vulnerable, allowing the Doctor and his allies to properly kill it]].
200	* ManInTheIronMask: The central character in ''Dreams of Empire''.
201	* MechanicalEvolution: Comes up [[spoiler:twice]] in ''Palace of the Red Sun'', when Green-8 [[spoiler:and Oralissa]] develop sentience after being left online for so long; the process that triggered sentience in such an individual case is unique, but the Doctor notes that it's far from impossible in these circumstances.
202	* MillenniumBug: ''Millennium Shock''. Of course, in this case, there are aliens involved.
203	* MirrorUniverse: ''Face of the Enemy'', which returns to the mirror 'verse from "Inferno".
204	* MultipleChoicePast: In ''The Infinity Doctors'', the Doctor meets four Knights at the end of the universe, who don't remember their pasts but who each have a different theory as to who they are: [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E2TheDaleks the last surviving Thals]]; a group of [[Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie human/Gallifreyan hybrids]]; the only [[Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures People of the Worldsphere]] who didn't AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence; or the [[Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine High Evolutionaries]]. Since a couple of these theories involve [[AlternateContinuity Alternate Continuities]] to the BBC books, this may be interpreted to give the entire Whoniverse a MultipleChoicePast.
205	* MythologyGag: In ''Face of the Enemy'', the mirrorverse Master was stranded on Earth when the Great Intelligence destroyed his TARDIS, leaving only the console. This was considered as an idea for how the Third Doctor would be exiled to Earth in ''Spearhead from Space'', but subsequently rejected.
206	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: The Sixth Doctor almost has a breakdown in ''The Quantum Archangel'' when his interference accidentally escalates a minor conflict he was trying to prevent into a global nuclear holocaust, with the failure being so great that Mel nearly decides to leave him; [[spoiler:the entire conflict is erased at the conclusion of the novel as a few higher-dimensional beings decided that they owe the Doctor a favour, but he has to acknowledge that it still happened even if it didn’t any more]].
207	* NeverMyFault:
208	** An interesting example of this, as ''Heart of TARDIS'' sees the Second Doctor claim that his difficulties in piloting the TARDIS are actually the result of security protocols that inhibit a thief’s ability to control a stolen TARDIS rather than just that he doesn’t know what he’s doing (although the evidence suggests that he was at least exaggerating the impact these protocols have on his ability to control the ship).
209	** In ''Festival of Death'', Rochfort, captain of the ''Cerberus'', takes this to a particularly twisted extent; when the ''Cerberus'' is caught in a closing hyperspace tunnel, ship's computer ERIC told Rochfort to let him stop the ship, but Rochfort kept insisting that they could make it up until the moment they crashed into the now-sealed tunnel exit, and subsequently tells ERIC that he ''should'' have overridden Rochfort's orders even though ERIC's programming specifically forbids him from doing such a thing. The resulting conflict between what ERIC is being told he should have done and what he was actually capable of doing drives him into a suicidal depression that lasts for almost two centuries, while Rochfort's attempt to escape responsibility [[spoiler:sees him possessed and essentially killed by an other-dimensional entity of pure death]].
210	* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
211	** ''The Final Sanction'' sees the Second Doctor almost alter history so that the planet Ockara and the ruthless Selachian natives aren’t destroyed in 2204, to the point that [[spoiler:a group of surviving Selachians nearly destroy Earth in retaliation]].
212	** ''Independence Day'' opens with the Second Doctor's TARDIS arriving in a room full of electronic equipment, but although the Doctor guesses he's been brought there for a reason, he can't work it out at the time and decides to leave as the planet's too hot, but asks Jamie to bring a "souvenir" to remind him to return later. The Seventh Doctor learns that the "souvenir" was actually a vital part of the communications link between conflicting local cultures, so his actions have hindered the scientific development of the local society.
213	** In ''Tomb of Valdemar'', the Fourth Doctor makes the situation worse when he helps Magus Paul Neville ‘wake up’ an ancient palace because he assumed Neville had no way to control its more dangerous resources.
214	** In ''Loving the Alien'', after receiving a ‘warning’ of the future in the form of discovering the corpse of Ace from a point in her not-too-distant future, the Seventh Doctor attempts to [[spoiler:prevent Ace’s death by going to the time and place where her dead body will be discovered, and then leaves her alone without warning her about what he’s trying to accomplish; leads into a HeroicBSOD when her body is discovered later]].
215	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The British Prime Minister Terry Brooks in ''Millennium Shock'' is a caricature of UsefulNotes/TonyBlair.
216	* NoKillLikeOverkill: In ''The Face of the Enemy'', Barron reckons the only way to kill the Master is by going completely over the top. Sadly for him, even two helicopters with machine guns aren't enough.
217	* OfficerOHara: ''Illegal Alien'', which transposes a number of American hardboiled detective tropes to Britain, plays with it by having a [[UsefulNotes/NorthernIreland Northern Irish]] Chief Inspector in [[UsefulNotes/ScotlandYard the Met]], who says things like "Saints preserve us", but also suspects all Irish-Americans of being IRA sympathisers.
218	* OfficialCouple: Ian and Barbara in... pretty much every novel featuring them. ''Byzantium!'' establishes that they married sometime after returning to 1966, and ''Eleventh Tiger'' has them agreeing to marry when they return to their home time.
219	** Confirmed canon in the TV series continuity - Sarah Jane mentions them in an episode of ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures''.
220	* OldMaster: Particularly invoked in ''The Eleventh Tiger'', when the First Doctor is placed in charge of a Chinese school in 1865 and proves himself in combat against another former student of the school.
221	* OminousMessageFromTheFuture: Essentially comes up in ''Imperial Moon''; the whole plot starts because the Doctor and Turlough receive a diary in the TARDIS's Time Safe, detailing an expedition to the Moon by the British Imperial Space Fleet in 1878, and learn after reading it that they will be involved in the expedition.
222	* OriginsEpisode: ''Business Unusual'' finally explains how Mel first met the Doctor.
223	* OurZombiesAreDifferent: ''Grave Matter'' features a microscopic alien lifeform that takes over its victims and continually repairs the host body from all injuries, including fatal ones. The only thing it cannot repair is the brain, so if that is damaged the rest of the body will heal and carry out the alien's commands with no human consciousness to aid it, resulting in mute, stumbling creatures that might as well be zombies.
224	* OutOfCharacter:
225	** In ''The King of Terror'', Turlough drinks eight beers in a bar in Los Angeles, chats up local girls and is apparently interested in American football.
226	** ''Warmonger'' has the Fifth Doctor acting almost like Six - impatient, threatening, angry, bitter, violent, arrogant, unsympathetic and bored. The same book has Peri become a hardened guerilla leader.
227	* OverlyLongName:
228	** Lady Serenadellatrovella in ''World Game''.
229	** Inverted in ''Heart of TARDIS'', where there's a Time Lord with the overly short name of Wblk.
230	* PaperThinDisguise: In ''World Game'', the Second Doctor disguises himself as Napoleon to take important messages through enemy lines on behalf of the Duke of Wellington to avert the interference of the time-manipulating Players. While the Duke and his immediate allies acknowledge that the Doctor only bears a slight resemblance to Napoleon, with the right clothes the Doctor makes a convincing enough Napoleon to the average Frenchman who would never come that close to his Emperor but only see him at a distance.
231	* PlayfulHacker: Bob Salmon in ''Blue Box''.
232	* PresentTenseNarrative: ''Tomb of Valdemar'' is told in the present tense, even when most of it is intended to be a story being told in a pub on a distant planet.
233	* PureIsNotGood: In ''The Algebra of Ice'', the Doctor is somewhat impressed by Brett's commitment to being a total OmnicidalManiac.
234	-->''Even pure darkness was, after all, pure.''
235	* RasputinianDeath: The original, in ''Wages of Sin'', which turns out [[spoiler:to have been partly down to a time-traveller trying to keep Rasputin alive by, for instance, surreptitiously disposing of the poisoned cakes before Rasputin consumed it]].
236	* RetCon: Discussed and deconstructed by the Doctor and the BigBad in ''The Infinity Doctors''.
237	* RoboticReveal: [[spoiler:Prion]] in ''Dreams of Empire'' is actually an android built to appear human. His under-chassis is based on the [=VETAC=] troopers that [[spoiler: assault Santespri]].
238	** Technically in ''Palace of the Red Sun'', [[spoiler:when it is revealed that the 'Lords' are actually just holographic projections]].
239	* RoswellThatEndsWell: ''The Devil Goblins From Neptune''.
240	* SelfDestructingSecurity: “Palace of the Red Sun” features the royal family of the planet Esselven hampering the conquest of Protector Glavis Judd by sealing the last copies of important documents necessary to run the planet in a Radzell and Styne Maxima Vault, a truly impregnable safe. As described by one of Judd’s engineers, the vault has its own internal power source, collapsium-lined walls reinforced by internal fields and an external force shield, with any explosive force capable of breaching the walls triggering a self-destruct mechanism in the vault itself. The only way to open the vault is with a DNA body scan that will respond to the person whose DNA has been programmed into the system, although certain versions will respond to people in the same family. This forces Judd to put his campaign on hold to find the Esselven royals so that he can retrieve the vital official documents held within the vault, all of which are unique items required to run the planet properly such as trade agreements or computer codes for key systems.
241	* ShoutOut:
242	** ''The King of Terror'' has a character from Southern California mention Dingoes Ate My Baby, Oz's band in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', as one of his favorite bands.
243	** ''The Infinity Doctors'' shows a TARDIS in its true/default state: a smooth featureless obelisk. This might be a reference to ''Film/BillAndTedsExcellentAdventure'', where this is the original form of the time machine before it's turned into a phone booth. This might be a coincidence, but considering the author is Lance Parkin, probably not.
244	** ''World Game'' has Wellesley (the Duke of Wellington) musing on the field commission [[Literature/{{Sharpe}} he's just given Sergeant Sharpe.]]
245	* SignificantAnagram: [=SeneNet=] in ''Business Unusual''.
246	* SmallNameBigEgo: In ''Fear of the Dark'', [[spoiler:Cadwell is a descendant of a group that previously stopped the Dark over a thousand years ago. This leaves Cadwell utterly convinced that only he knows how to at least delay the Dark’s resurrection, and when that fails his only “advice” is for the Doctor to kill his companions and then himself to spare them the more traumatic death of being killed by the Dark. Cadwell is so certain of this that he basically refused to try and help the Doctor find another way to stop the Dark, even as the Doctor makes valid observations about how the Dark’s need for a physical body gives it new weaknesses they can exploit]].
247	* SpaceRomans: In ''Dreams of Empire'', the Doctor encounters the Haddron Republic which is essentially, "What if Caesar crossed the Rubicon unsuccessfully?" IN SPACE!
248	* SpannerInTheWorks: In ''Corpse Marker'', an elaborate BatmanGambit is in progress when the Doctor and Leela arrive. Because the gambit didn't account for their presence (and another complicating factor that shows up later), to the point that the man who created it knew of the Doctor and Leela's existence but thought they were just a group hallucination, it gradually falls apart through the course of the book.
249	* SplatterHorror: ''Rags'', in which a demonically-possessed undead punk rock group spread a HatePlague wherever they play, with gruesome results. One of the darkest works ever to be produced under the ''Who'' banner in any medium.
250	* SpottingTheThread: The Fifth Doctor displays this particularly keenly in ''Imperial Moon'', although he has to enter a healing coma to give his subconscious a chance to put the pieces together; [[spoiler:based on how their current apparent allies claimed to have gained their knowledge of English from Turlough but were using terms better suited to an educated Victorian man, the Doctor realised that he was actually dealing with a group of ruthless monsters as opposed to simple refugees]].
251	* StatusCellPhone: Mel's dad from ''Business Unusual'' is a businessman who's extremely proud of his mobile phone. The Doctor, who knows that in ten years they'll be a fraction of the size and a lot more common, isn't impressed.
252	* SteamPunk: Suggested in ''Imperial Moon''; [[spoiler:while the propulsion system for the spaceships created for the British Imperial Spacefleet are indirectly inspired by alien influence]], the Doctor notes that Victorian Britain in 1878 could have built a structurally sound spaceship on their own, but would have had no way to get that ship into the air.
253	* StrongerThanTheyLook: In ''Ten Little Aliens'', the First Doctor is able to [[spoiler:telepathically hold back a neural pulse capable of immobilising himself and seven other people with only the power of his mind, despite the fact that he is drawing ever closer to the moment when he will regenerate for the first time]].
254	* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: In ''Grave Matter'', the Doctor is trapped in a Big Scary House with a character who is slowly being taken over [[spoiler:by microscopic aliens]]. Since she is possessed, she is unable to overtly help the Doctor, but she discovers that she is able to obviously mislead him. They are thus able to escape, due to her saying things like: "There is not, I repeat NOT, a secret passageway hidden behind that bookshelf."
255	* TakingTheBullet: In ''Mission: Impractical'', Dibber is killed by a blaster bolt, apparently whilst pushing Glitz out of the line of fire.
256	* TeethClenchedTeamwork: ''The Wages of Sin'' sees Liz return and meet Jo. The two don't get on, with Liz finding her replacement inadequate and immature, while Jo finding her predecessor patronizing and cold. They get better over the course of the story.
257	* ThisIsMyNameOnForeign: "Inspector [=LeMaitre=]" in ''Last of the Gaderene'' and "Gospodar" in ''The Quantum Archangel'' as aliases adopted by the Master; the Doctor explicitly wonders in ''Archangel'' if the Master's running out of languages.
258	* TimeTravelTenseTrouble: ''Imperial Moon'' explicitly features the Fifth Doctor regretting that the English language doesn't have the right tenses for time travel, when he says "We will have been here before" after the TARDIS has just materialised on the Moon in the twenty-first century due to crossing their own temporal wake of a journey they will make to the Moon in 1878 in the TARDIS's own personal future.
259	* TimeyWimeyBall:
260	** The novel ''Asylum'' sees the Fourth Doctor- estimated to be from a point between "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E3TheDeadlyAssassin The Deadly Assassin]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E4TheFaceOfEvil The Face of Evil]]"- meeting Nyssa long after she parted company with the Fifth Doctor ("[[Recap/DoctorWhoS20E4Terminus Terminus]]"), the novel concluding with both aware that the Doctor will now have to be sure of the younger Nyssa’s safety when she becomes his companion in his future.
261	** ''Festival of Death'' opens with the Fourth Doctor, Romana and K9 arriving on the G-Lock space station to learn that they've already saved it from "certain unimaginable destruction", resulting in them having to go back to the day before to save the station and meet everyone they just met for the first time. By the time the novel concludes, the TARDIS crew have not only experienced the same day twice, but had to go back in time almost two centuries to meet the ship's computer for the first time just to ensure all the loose ends are tied up (the Doctor expresses private relief when the computer doesn't recognise him as that means he doesn't have to go back ''again'').
262	** ''Warmonger'' forces the Fifth Doctor to spend a year leading a military campaign against Morbius to set up the events that will lead to Morbius being defeated and his brain extracted so that it can be destroyed by the Fourth Doctor ("[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E5TheBrainOfMorbius The Brain of Morbius]]").
263	** ''The Time Travellers'' is set in 2006 of an alternate timeline, forty years after WOTAN won, with the implication that, because the events of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E10TheWarMachines The War Machines]]" haven't happened to the Doctor yet, they currently exist as they would without his interference. But it also features time travel tech salvaged from the Daleks in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E1RemembranceOfTheDaleks Remembrance of the Daleks]]" ... and the Daleks only traveled back to 1963 due to the Doctor's involvement in ''many'' stories that haven't happened yet.
264	* TitledAfterTheSong:
265	** ''Spiral Scratch'' is named after the song and EP by Music/TheBuzzcocks.
266	** ''Loving the Alien'' was named after the Music/DavidBowie song.
267	* TitleDrop: In ''The Face of the Enemy'', the Brigadier accuses the Master of being involved with the villains' plot. The Master, who was in fact also targeted by them, replies "When I look in the mirror, I don't see the face of the enemy."
268	* TropeCodifier: ''Festival Of Death'' codified the timey-wimey TemporalParadox plot style that would later become commonplace under Creator/StevenMoffat in the TV series (the Doctor arrives on a space station, learns he's going to die saving it from destruction, goes back in time by a day to find out what he did, has to go back ''again'' to do everything for the first time while avoiding the second version...).
269	* {{Tuckerization}}: ''Business Unusual'' features a character named after real-life American fan Trey Korte.
270	* TheTunguskaEvent: The Doctor takes his companions to watch (from a safe distance) in ''Wages of Sin''.
271	* UnderestimatingBadassery: In ''The Face of the Enemy'', Marianne Kyle dismisses the Master as being like a teddy bear - fierce looking but ultimately harmless. It's a mistake that's fatal for her plans.
272	* UnfortunateName: In ''Heart of TARDIS'', the Doctor pointedly remarks to Wblk that it's said a Time Lord's name grows in length in recognition of his stature, reputation and deeds of note.
273	* UnknownRival: In ''Palace of the Red Sun'', Protector Glavis Judd never even learns that the Doctor exists, but the Doctor vows to end Judd's Protectorate after reading the files about him in the Esselven computers.
274	* UnreliableNarrator: ''Blue Box'' is an InUniverse book by IntrepidReporter Chick Peters. While some of what he says about events he wasn't present for is speculative, none of it seems to be exactly inaccurate... except that most of the alien stuff is being kept from him and he refuses to accept the little he's told. So for example, he thinks of the Doctor as an English hippie who has some kind of boat.
275	* UnskilledButStrong: ''Instruments of Darkness'' mentions that the Sixth Doctor has some telepathic potential, but he doesn't use it very often due to his lack of training, with another telepath musing that it’s a shame he hasn’t explored this trait as he has definite potential.
276	* WarIsGlorious: ''Warmonger'' has a bizarrely out of character moment when the Fifth Doctor says this about being a military leader:
277	-->Above all there's war! The greatest and most wonderful game of all, unbendingly complex and thrilling and unpredictable.
278	* WaterSourceTampering: ''Deep Blue'' has the latest alien threat do this to the ''ocean'', though it's only effective in close proximity to their spaceship; anyone who eats fish caught locally or even walks in the shallows at the beach gets infected with a truly nasty ViralTransformation.
279	* WaxingLyrical: In ''The Eleventh Tiger'', while the Doctor and his companions are staying at a 19th century ''gongfu'' school (Note that Ian and Barbara are from ten years before the song came out, but the Doctor clearly recognises the accidental reference):
280	-->[Ian:] "One minute those kids are just running around chaotically, but the next minute they're all focused, and everyone's kung-fu fighting."\
281	"Those kids are as fast as lightning," Barbara added.\
282	The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Are they indeed? And was it, perchance, dear boy, a little bit frightening? Hmm?"
283	* WorthyOpponent: In ''The Face of the Enemy'', the Master considers the Brigadier to be a worthy and honourable adversary despite his inferiority.

Context Literature / PastDoctorAdventures