Past Doctor Adventures - Television Tropes & Idioms

Doctor Who spin-off novels published from 1997 by BBC Books. Where the Eighth Doctor Adventures featured the new Doctor introduced in the 1996 TV movie, the Past Doctor Adventures told new adventures featuring the first seven Doctors. (In other words, much like Virgin Publishing's Missing Adventures, except that the seventh Doctor was now Past instead of being New.)

Novels in this series

The Devil Goblins from Neptune (June, 1997) by Martin Day and Keith Topping. Features the Third Doctor, and Dr. Elizabeth "Liz" Shaw.
The Murder Game (July, 1997) by Steve Lyons. Features the Second Doctor, Ben Jackson, and Polly.
The Ultimate Treasure (August, 1997) by Christopher Bulis. Features the Fifth Doctor, and Perpugilliam "Peri" Brown.
Business Unusual (September, 1997) by Gary Russell. Features the Sixth Doctor, Melanie "Mel" Bush, and Brigadier Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart.
Illegal Alien (October, 1997) by Mike Tucker and Robert Perry. Features the Seventh Doctor, and "Ace"/Dorothy.
The Roundheads (November, 1997) by Mark Gatiss. Features the Second Doctor, Ben Jackson, Polly, and Jamie McCrimmon.
The Face of the Enemy (January, 1998) by David A. McIntee. Features the Third Doctor, the Master, Brigadier Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, and Harry Sullivan.
Eye of Heaven (February, 1998) by Jim Mortimore. Features the Fourth Doctor, and Leela of the Sevateem.
The Witch Hunters (March, 1998) by Steve Lyons. Features the First Doctor, Susan Foreman, Ian Chesterton, and Barbara Wright.
The Hollow Men (April, 1998) by Martin Day and Keith Topping. Features the Seventh Doctor, and "Ace"/Dorothy.
Catastrophea (May, 1998) by Terrance Dicks. Features the Third Doctor, and Jo Grant.
Mission: Impractical (June, 1998) by David A. McIntee. Features the Sixth Doctor, and Frobisher.
Zeta Major (July, 1998) by Simon Messingham. Features the Fifth Doctor, Tegan Jovanka, and Nyssa of Traken.
Dreams of Empire (August, 1998) by Justin Richards. Features the Second Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon, and Victoria Waterfield.
Last Man Running (September, 1998) by Chris Boucher. Features the Fourth Doctor, and Leela of the Sevateem.
Matrix (October, 1998) by Mike Tucker and Robert Perry. Features the Seventh Doctor, and "Ace"/Dorothy. Alternate Reality versions of the other Doctor incarnations and a few of their companions also figure into the plot.
The Infinity Doctors (November, 1998) by Lance Parkin. Features an unspecified incarnation of the Doctor.
Salvation (January, 1999) by Steve Lyons. Features the First Doctor, Steven Taylor, and Dorothea "Dodo" Chaplet.
The Wages of Sin (February, 1999) by David A. McIntee. Features the Third Doctor, Jo Grant, and Dr. Elizabeth "Liz" Shaw.
Deep Blue (March, 1999) by Mark Morris. Features the Fifth Doctor, Tegan Jovanka, and Vislor Turlough.
Players (April, 1999) by Terrance Dicks. Features the Sixth Doctor, and Perpugilliam "Peri" Brown.
Millennium Shock (May, 1999) by Justin Richards. Features the Fourth Doctor, and Harry Sullivan.
Storm Harvest (June, 1999) by Mike Tucker and Robert Perry. Features the Seventh Doctor, and "Ace"/Dorothy.
The Final Sanction (July, 1999) by Steve Lyons. Features the Second Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon, and Zoe Heriot.
City at World's End (September, 1999) by Christopher Bulis. Features the First Doctor, Susan Foreman, Ian Chesterton, and Barbara Wright.
Divided Loyalties (October, 1999) by Gary Russell. Features the Fifth Doctor, Adric, Nyssa of Traken, and Tegan Jovanka.
Corpse Marker (November, 1999) by Chris Boucher. Features the Fourth Doctor, and Leela of the Sevateem.
Last of the Gaderene (January, 2000) by Mark Gatiss. Features the Third Doctor, Jo Grant, Brigadier Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, Sergeant John Benton, and Captain Mike Yates.
Tomb of Valdemar (February, 2000) by Simon Messingham. Features the Fourth Doctor, Romana I, and K-9.
Verdigris (April, 2000) by Paul Magrs. Features the Third Doctor, Jo Grant, and Iris Wildthyme.
Grave Matter (May, 2000) by Justin Richards. Features the Sixth Doctor, and Perpugilliam "Peri" Brown.
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.
Prime Time (July, 2000) by Mike Tucker. Features the Seventh Doctor, and "Ace"/Dorothy.
Imperial Moon (August, 2000) by Christopher Bulis. Features the Fifth Doctor, Vislor Turlough, and Kamelion.
Festival of Death (September, 2000) by Jonathan Morris. Features the Fourth Doctor, Romana II, and K-9.
Independence Day (October, 2000) by Peter Darvill-Evans. Features the Seventh Doctor and "Ace"/Dorothy. The Second Doctor and Jamie McCrimmon appear in the introduction.
The King of Terror (November, 2000) by Keith Topping. Features the Fifth Doctor, Tegan Jovanka, Vislor Turlough, and Brigadier Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart.
The Quantum Archangel (January, 2001) by Craig Hinton. Features The Sixth Doctor, Melanie "Mel" Bush, and the Master. An Alternate Reality version of the Third Doctor also appears. There are cameos of Katarina, Sara Kingdom, Adric, and Kamelion.
Bunker Soldiers (February, 2001) by Martin Day. Features the Fist Doctor, Steven Taylor, and Dorothea "Dodo" Chaplet.
Rags (March, 2001) by Mick Lewis. Features the Third Doctor, and Jo Grant.
The Shadow in the Glass (April, 2001) by Justin Richards and Stephen Cole. Features the Sixth Doctor, and Brigadier Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart.
Asylum (May, 2001) by Peter Darvill-Evans. Features the Fourth Doctor, and Nyssa of Traken.
Superior Beings (June, 2001) by Nick Walters. Features the Fifth Doctor, and Perpugilliam "Peri" Brown.
Byzantium! (July, 2001) by Keith Topping. Features the First Doctor, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, and Vicki.
Bullet Time (August, 2001) by David A. McIntee. Features the Seventh Doctor, and Sarah Jane Smith.
Psi-ence Fiction (September, 2001) by Chris Boucher. Features the Fourth Doctor, and Leela of the Sevateem.
Dying in the Sun (October, 2001) by Jon de Burgh Miller. Features the Second Doctor, Ben Jackson, and Polly.
Instruments of Darkness (November, 2001) by Gary Russell. Features the Sixth Doctor, Melanie "Mel" Bush, and Dr. Evelyn Smythe.
Relative Dementias (January, 2002) by Mark Michalowski. Features the Seventh Doctor, and "Ace"/Dorothy.
Drift (February, 2002) by Simon A. Forward. Features the Fourth Doctor, and Leela of the Sevateem.
Palace of the Red Sun (March, 2002) by Christopher Bulis. Features the Sixth Doctor, and Perpugilliam "Peri" Brown.
Amorality Tale (April, 2002) by David Bishop. Features the Third Doctor, and Sarah Jane Smith.
Warmonger (May, 2002) by Terrance Dicks. Features the Fifth Doctor, and Perpugilliam "Peri" Brown.
Ten Little Aliens (June, 2002) by Stephen Cole. Features the First Doctor, Ben Jackson, and Polly.
Combat Rock (July, 2002) by Mick Lewis. Features the Second Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon, and Victoria Waterfield.
The Suns of Caresh (August, 2002) by Paul Saint. Features the Third Doctor, and Jo Grant.
Heritage (October, 2002) by Dale Smith. Features the Seventh Doctor, and "Ace"/Dorothy. A daughter of Melanie "Mel" Bush is a major character.
Fear of the Dark (January, 2003) by Trevor Baxendale. Features the Fifth Doctor, Tegan Jovanka, and Nyssa of Traken.
Blue Box (March, 2003) by Kate Orman. Features the Sixth Doctor, and Perpugilliam "Peri" Brown.
Loving the Alien (May, 2003) by Mike Tucker and Robert Perry. Features the Seventh Doctor, and "Ace"/Dorothy.
The Colony of Lies (July, 2003) by Colin Brake. Features the Second Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon, and Zoe Heriot. The Seventh Doctor, and "Ace"/Dorothy appear in a number of chapters.
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.
Deadly Reunion (November, 2003) by Terrance Dicks and Barry Letts. Features the Third Doctor, Jo Grant, and Brigadier Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart.
Scream of the Shalka (February, 2004) by Paul Cornell. Novelization of the animated series. Features its own version of the Ninth Doctor, along with Alison Cheney, and the Master.
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.
The Eleventh Tiger (May, 2004) by David A. McIntee. Features the First Doctor, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, and Vicki.
Synthespians™ (July, 2004) by Craig Hinton. Features the Sixth Doctor, and Perpugilliam "Peri" Brown.
The Algebra of Ice (September, 2004) by Lloyd Rose. Features the Seventh Doctor, "Ace"/Dorothy, and Brigadier Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart.
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 Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, and UFO.
Match of the Day (January, 2005) by Chris Boucher. Features the Fourth Doctor, and Leela of the Sevateem.
Island of Death (July, 2005) by Barry Letts. Features the Third Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith, and Brigadier Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart.
Spiral Scratch (August, 2005) by Gary Russell. Features the Sixth Doctor, and Melanie "Mel" Bush. Alternate Reality versions of the other Doctor incarnations and a few of their companions also figure into the plot.
Fear Itself (September, 2005) by Nick Wallace. Features the Eighth Doctor, Fitzgerald "Fitz" Kreiner, and Anji Kapoor.
World Game (October, 2005) by Terrance Dicks. Features the Second Doctor, and Lady Serena.
The Time Travellers (November, 2005) by Simon Guerrier. Features the First Doctor, Susan Foreman, Ian Chesterton, and Barbara Wright.
Atom Bomb Blues (December, 2005) by Andrew Cartmel. Features the Seventh Doctor, and "Ace"/Dorothy. Last novel in this series.

This series provides examples of:

A Day in the Limelight: For Ian, Barbara, UNIT and the Master in Face of the Enemy, as the Doctor was involved in "The Curse of Peladon" at the time.
Anachronic Order: Eye of Heaven
Continuity Nod: 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.
Continuity Snarl: The Infinity Doctors is a deliberate use of this trope. Word Of God 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 the incarnation of the Doctor it features is left unspecified. All of which is entirely intentional.
Cross Through: A Story Arc in which the companions of various Doctors were seemingly killed in Timey Wimey Ball situations. This tied into the "Sabbath" arc in the Eighth Doctor Adventures. One of these PDAs, Wolfsbane, also featured the Eighth Doctor during the EDAs' "amnesiac on Earth" arc.
Everything's Better with Penguins: Mission: Impractical features Frobisher the shape-shifting penguin from the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip (and shamelessly declines to offer any hints about what he's doing in a novel supposedly based only on the TV series).
Evil Only Has to Win Once: In Festival of Death, the Doctor and his allies prevent an Eldritch Abomination 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.
"Yes," said the baby, opening its eyes. "The Doctor suceeded. This time."
The Greys: The Nedenah in The Devil Goblins From Neptune. Sha'ol the Tzun in Mission: Impractical.
Guns Akimbo: The Master, during a John Woo-esque fight scene in Face of the Enemy.
Historical Domain Character:
- Various people associated with the Salem witch trials in The Witch Hunters
- Various people associated with the English Civil War in The Roundheads
- Rasputin The Mad Monk et al. in Wages of Sin
Intercontinuity Crossover: One of the characters in Corpse Marker, by Chris Boucher, previously appeared in one of Boucher's episodes of Blake's 7 .
Interquel: Nearly every Past Doctor novel is set between two episodes of the TV series, with the exception of Fear Itself (published after the Eighth Doctor Adventures wrapped up, and set between two earlier EDAs) and possibly also of The Infinity Doctors (deliberately ambiguous as to placement). 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. (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.)
Landmarking The Hidden Base: Canary Wharf is the headquarters of the British time travelling military in an alternate 2006 visited by the First Doctor in The Time Travellers.
Last of His Kind: Sha'ol in Mission: Impractical.
Leave Behind a Pistol: 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.
Man in the Iron Mask: The central character in Dreams of Empire.
Millennium Bug: Millennium Shock. Of course, in this case, there are aliens involved.
Mirror Universe: Face of the Enemy, which returns to the mirror 'verse from "Inferno".
No Celebrities Were Harmed: The British Prime Minister Terry Brooks in Millennium Shock is a caricature of Tony Blair.
Official Couple: Ian and Barbara in...pretty much every novel featuring them. Byzantium! establishes that they married sometime after returning to 1966.
Playful Hacker: Bob Salmon in Blue Box.
Present Tense Narrative: Tomb of Valdemar.
Rasputinian Death: The original, in Wages of Sin, which turns out to have been partly down to a time-traveller trying to keep Rasputin alive by, for instance, surreptitiously disposing of the poison before Rasputin drinks it.
Retcon: Discussed and deconstructed by the Doctor and the Big Bad in The Infinity Doctors.
Roswell That Ends Well: The Devil Goblins From Neptune
Significant Anagram: SeneNet in Business Unusual.
Suspiciously Specific Denial: In Grave Matter, the Doctor is trapped in a Big Scary House with a character who is slowly being taken over 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."
This Is My Name On Foreign: "Inspector LeMaitre" in Last of the Gaderene and "Gospodar" in The Quantum Archangel
The Tunguska Event: The Doctor takes his companions to watch (from a safe distance) in Wages of Sin.