Recap / Past Doctor Adventures World Game

Warning: Spoilers may be unmarked.

Written by Terrance Dicks; published 2005, and featuring the Second Doctor and Serena.

Having summoned the Time Lords to return home the War Lords’ kidnapped victims, the Doctor, on charge of temporal interference, faces execution - but is offered reprieve in the form of a mission to prevent a recently detected attempt to pervert Earth history. Extra-dimensional beings known as the Players, already encountered by the Doctor in 1915, threaten to reverse the outcome of the Battle of Waterloo.

Lent a Type 97 TARDIS, the Doctor and young Time Lady Serenadellatrovella, or Serena for short, pursue Countess Treszka’s attempts to steer to continental domination the advancing Napoléon Bonaparte.

After stopping assassination of Horatio Nelson and Sir Arthur Wellsley, the Doctor and Serena prevent Napleon’s utilisation of an anatomically powered submarine. This incurs the Countess’s second attempt to assassinate the Duke of Wellington. With a quick trip to an anomalous 1865, the Doctor and Serena show chief minister Prince Talleyrand the nightmarish dystopia to which this will reduce Europe…

Tropes:

• Adaptation Expansion: The Raston Warrior Robot, as seen briefly in The Five Doctors, is said to have been built by an ancient race whose mastery of war wiped them out.
• Alternate History:
  • The Doctor and Serena pre-emptively visit a variation of 1815 in which, before the Battle of Waterloo, The Duke of Wellington was assassinated. The state has suppressed all discussion of the Duke’s mysterious death, while secret police and disappearances hint at Napoleon’s pre-invention of fascism.
  • They then take Foreign Minister Prince Talleyrand-Perigord to 1865, telling him what France should be like in the history they know before opening the TARDIS door to show him the new world created by Napoleon's victory. Having conquered most of the world, Napoleon, on victory parade in Moscow, died of pneumonia, whereupon his World Empire collapsed. The conquered nations split into separate states, of which Paris is one of many. Savaged by rocket bombs, the city is ruled by the Countess and her primitive automatic rifle-wielding troops, the Players enjoying limitless opportunities for small-scale "games" with each other.
• Ambition Is Evil: Averted with Serena’s political aspirations; she is persuaded to serve as the Doctor’s "supervisor" in exchange for Agency help with her career.
• Assassination Attempt: In 1795, at Downing Street’s Colonial Office, the Countess and henchman Valmont aim to deliver an anachronistically small bomb to Lieutenant Sir Arthur Wellesley and Lord Nelson, this being the only occasion where the two men were ever in the same place at the same time. Having determined the likely target, the Doctor breaks in and chucks the bomb into a garden pond.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Serena’s reserved nature relaxes further on the Doctor’s escape from the exploding Nautilus, whereupon she hugs him in relief.
• Because Destiny Says So: Napoleon, a self-professed “man of destiny,” is highly receptive to the Doctor’s hints of future insight.
• BFG: With Napoleon’s Guard attacked by the Raston Warrior Robot, the Doctor and Serena blast it with one of the Nautilus's air-propelled torpedoes.
• Big Eater: At the Palais de Tuileries reception, following his summons to Napoleon's study, a suddenly ravenous Doctor sees to a plate of small chicken and garlic pies.
• Big Entrance: Downplayed. At the Duchess of Richmond’s ball, the Duke of Wellington’s arrival is announced by a small party of elaborately dressed senior officers.
• Bizarre Alien Biology: The Doctor notes his ability to put himself into a coma.
• Blood Knight:
  • Napoléon Bonaparte is portrayed as enamoured by war and conquest.
  • Downplayed with The Duke of Wellington - while on the battlefield he seems immune to fatigue or worry, its aftermath brings tears to his eyes.
• The Brigadier:
  • A political variant in Foreign Minister Prince Talleyrand - taken by TARDIS to an anomalous 1865, he readily aids the Doctor and Serena.
  • Colonel Grant, in charge of intelligence, heeds the Doctor’s warning of an imminent attempt on the Duke’s life. He later accompanies a Napoleon-disguised Doctor in interception of the Countess and Valmont's attempt to sabotage the Battle of Waterloo.
• Call-Forward:
  • From the Death Zone, the Countess and Valmont procure, via Timescoop, a vampire and a Raston Warrior Robot.
  • To attend the Duchess of Richmond’s ball, Serena, from the TARDIS locker, takes a piece of card; concentration on which prompts it to assume the aspect of a gold-embossed invitation.
  Serena: Latest Agency technology - psychic paper. Gets you in anywhere.
  The Doctor: Splendid! A thing like that could come in useful some day.
  • Following this mission, the Doctor, whose hair is now flecked with grey, is assigned to investigate dangerous time travel experiments on Space Station Gamera, for which he requests return of memory-wiped companion Jamie.
• The Cavalry: With both French and British troops exhausted, a Prussian reinforcement aids ambush by Wellington’s Foot Guard of Napoleon’s Imperial Guard.
• Changed My Jumper: Averted, the Type 97 TARDIS is equipped with a variety of period appropriate outfits. The Doctor and Serena buy quite a few more.
• Chekhov's Gun: In a wood near the Tuileries Gardens, cornered by a vampire summoned via Timescoop, the Doctor’s recent excess of chicken and garlic pies proves most fortunate.
• Chronoscope: A variant in the Time Lords’ temporal graphology, whose swirling tempograph patterns denote timelines and interference therewith.
• Continuity Nod:
  • The Doctor recalls a visit from his Eighth incarnation, urging him to take the risk of calling the Time Lords.
  • Mention of the Doctor’s 1915 encounter with Winston Churchill, as depicted in Dicks’s earlier novel Players.
• Costume Porn: The Napoleonic mission accumulates a variety of fancy historical togs; muslin gowns, cloaks, fans and reticules for Serena; breeches, boots, coats and many-caped cloaks for the Doctor.
• Damsel out of Distress: Held at gunpoint by the Countess’s henchman Valmont, Serena escapes in the grandfather clock-disguised TARDIS.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Serena, initially disdainful of the errant Doctor, quickly comes to admire his tenacious adaptability. The two form a mutual affection.
• The Dragon: Valmont acts as the Countess’s muscle.
• Defiant to the End: Napoleon’s Guard attack the Raston Warrior Robot with "suicidal" determination.
• Dressing as the Enemy: On the Countess’s interception of a call for Prussian reinforcement, the Doctor, to countermand the bogus order, dons a voluminous black cloak and cocked hat to impersonate Napoleon. Colonel Grant, with the horse and uniform of a dead cuirassier lieutenant, comes along.
• Due to the Dead: After Serena’s death, the Doctor demands a formal tribute from the High Council, and her inclusion on the Gallifreyan Roll of Honour.
• E.T. Gave Us Wi-Fi: Robert Fulton's submersible Nautilus, an early submarine armed with air-propelled torpedoes, is offered to Napoleon. With lack of mobility having rendered it ineffective, the Countess aims to supply it with an atomic Omega Drive.
• Fake Wizardry: Following the Doctor’s anticipation, and prevention of, a further attempt on his life, Napoleon wonders if the Doctor is an adept, or of the Illuminati. The Doctor runs with it.
  The Doctor: I am a wandering scholar, sire, and I have travelled extensively. Over the years I have acquired much knowledge of men and fate. I am usually known as the Doctor.
• A Father to His Men:
  "Nelson's warmth, his charm, his instinctive sympathy for the men under his command, had made him the most popular, the most beloved of leaders. He led by consultation and discussion and his captains were a ‘band of brothers’."
• Fire-Forged Friends: Despite initial friction between establishment-employed Serena and the maverick Doctor, their Napoleonic adventure unites them in friendship.
• Freakier Than Fiction: Having (temporarily) blown up the Raston Warrior Robot, the Doctor advises Sergeant Lebrun to tell a cover story of an English saboteur in funny armour.
• For the Evulz: The indefinitely immortal Players are devoted to the thrill of taking on physical form and interfering with Earth’s military history. The Countess’s reversal of the Battle of Waterloo will gender a World Empire whose collapse sees nations split into mini-states at constant war, allowing for boundless strategic thrill.
• Harmony Versus Discipline: Lent a Type 97 TARDIS with a fully functioning chameleon circuit and archival Earth history, the Doctor pines for his own Type 40 - whose police box shell, he reflects, is at least easy to remember.
  The Doctor: A TARDIS isn’t just a machine, you know. There’s a telepathic link. One builds a relationship over the years. My TARDIS was an old friend.
• I Have Your Wife: To coerce the Doctor’s fitting the Nautilus with an atomic Omega Drive, the Countess has Valmont hold Serena at gunpoint.
• Implacable Man: Indefinitely fuelled by atmospheric radiation and able to convert energy into matter, the Raston Warrior’s main function is to guard - it doesn’t know or care what, but will relentlessly kill any trespasser.
• Improvisational Ingenuity:
  The Duke Of Wellington: Oh, the French Army is a wonderful machine. But I don’t care for machines. I make my campaigns with string. If something snaps, I tie a few more knots and carry on! Plans? I have no plans. I shall be guided by circumstance.
• Improvised Weapon: Driven into a wood near the Tuileries gardens, cornered by a murderous vampire, the Doctor breaks the coachman’s whip. Into the vampire’s chest, he jams its hickory shaft.
• The Infiltration: Equipped with documents and appropriate attire on a visit to 1794, the Doctor, under the alias of Citizen-Representative Henri Dupont; and Serena, as local seamstress Marie Lebrun, prevent Napoleon from being executed on trumped up charges.
• In the End, You Are on Your Own: With Serena dead, the Doctor, riding off to battle, prepares for his mission’s final, brutal stage.
• Hidden Depths: In 1795, at Downing Street’s Colonial Office, just before the Countess and Valmont's dual assassination attempt, Serena surprises herself with an impersonation of a tearful Lady Hamilton (she later clarifies that she intended to say that she was sent from Lady Hamilton, when Lord Nelson obviously doesn't recognise her).
• I Surrender, Suckers: In the alternate 1865, the Countess, now the city’s Commandant, demands the services of Talleyrand’s political skills. He uses his reputation as the “king of turncoats” to help the Doctor and Serena escape after they've spent a few hours in a cell.
• Long Last Look: After Serena’s death at the Richmond ball, the Doctor returns to the pavilion-disguised TARDIS, and sits on a stone bench until daylight.
• Kangaroo Court: In 1794, on the trumped-up charge of accepting a bribe to sabotage the Italian campaign, newly promoted Citizen General Bonaparte faces execution. Citizen Representative Latour, an extra-dimensional Player against Napoleon’s career, aims to enforce this outcome.
• Killed Off for Real: A musket ball meant for the Duke of Wellington shatters both of Serena’s hearts, preventing regeneration.
• I Owe You My Life:
  • In 1794, the Doctor and Serena save Citizen General Bonaparte from being guillotined.
  • In 1795, during the sole known meeting of Sir Arthur Wellsley and Lord Nelson, the Doctor disposes of an anachronistically small packaged bomb.
• Luxury Prison Suite: On Gallifrey, the Doctor’s cell has an ormolu cabinet-shaped dispenser of galaxy-wide cuisine; music, holovids, and a nice couch.
• The Mole: Luco, aid to Celestial Intervention Agency official Sardon, in hope of a promotion should his boss’s mission fail, supplied the Countess with a Timescoop and access to the Death Zone.
• No-Sell: In 1795, of the man who just saved his life, Major General Sir Arthur Wellesley requires more than a scholarly title.
  The Doctor: Well, I am usually known as the Doctor…
  Wellesley: No shillyshallying, sir. Who are you? And more to the point, what are you?
• Not My Driver: Under pretence of giving them a ride home from the Palais de Tuileries, Valmont, in a small wood, leaves the Doctor and Serena in the company of a vampire.
• Old Soldier: Vieux moustache Sergeant Lebrun, veteran of several campaigns, is horrified but unfazed by the headless corpse before the Raston Warrior Robot.
• Organisation With Unlimited Funding: For the Doctor and Serena’s Napoleonic mission, the Celestial Intervention Agency supplies quite a bit of spending money. When Serena feels guilty at the amount spent on period-appropriate clothes and champagne-fuelled integration, the Doctor cheerily notes the Agency to have limitless secret funds.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: During the Battle of Waterloo, when the Duke realises that the Prussians have been delayed, the Doctor proposes helping him deliver a message by disguising himself as Napoleon. While the Doctor only bears a slight resemblance to the Emperor, with the right clothes and a suitable horse, he estimates that he will look enough like Napoleon to convince the average Frenchman who has only seen his Emperor in portraits or at a distance, so long as he avoids meeting any particularly high-ranking officers.
• Powerful, but Incompetent: While highly sensitive to movement, and able to extrude limitless implements, the Raston Warrior Robot is distracted by a metal pipe flung by the crate-hidden Doctor.
• Prisoner's Work: Celestial Intervention Agency representative Sardon assigns the convicted, highly resourceful Doctor to prevent the Players’ attempts to pervert Earth history.
• Relocating the Explosion: A coach piled with barrels bars the Emperor’s cavalrymen. When the driver flees, the Doctor hastily drives it into a deserted square.
• Ret-Gone: The War Game organisers were sentenced to temporal dissolution.
• Scenery Gorn: The Paris of alternate 1865 is in a constant state of ruin by prematurely developed rocket bombs.
• Screw the War, We're Partying: On the eve of the Battle of Waterloo, the Duke of Wellington attends the Duchess of Richmond’s ball. Despite rapt devotion to the imminent battle, he remains jovial and affable.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When "Lieutenant" Valmont claims the disguised Doctor not to be the real Emperor, Colonel Grant, disguised as a cuirassier lieutenant, challenges Valmont to a duel. While General Didier oversees the duel, Valmont dematerialises before Grant can shoot him.
• Sergeant Rock:
  "Wellesley's officers feared him more than they loved him. He didn’t care if his men loved him or not, as long as they obeyed his orders. Wellesley kept them in order with discipline as ruthless as it was effective. On the other hand, he took care that, as far as possible, his men were well provisioned and well supplied. So long as his soldiers obeyed his orders, he led them to victory, and got as few of them as possible killed in the process. They didn’t exactly love him - but were always glad to see his tall frame and beaky nose on the battlefield."
• She Cleans Up Nicely: To prevent the Duke of Wellington’s assassination, the Doctor and Serena get some more fancy period togs for the Duchess of Richmond’s ball. Quite impressed with his own black breeches; black evening coat, frilled white shirt and white waistcoat, the Doctor tells Serena, in a satin white gown with silver net drapery, that she looks “absolutely stunning,” causing her to blush.
• Shout-Out: When blown up, the Raston Warrior Robot's liquid fragments gradually reassemble.
• Taking the Bullet: When a Highlander-disguised Valmont takes a shot at the Duke of Wellington, Serena jumps into its path. The musket ball shatters both her hearts, preventing regeneration.
• Technology Porn: Robert Fulton’s submersible Nautilus, a copper-coloured, cigar-shaped, twenty foot cylinder.
• Teeth Clenched Team Work: Only at first.
  Serena: If this - this convict refuses to acknowledge my authority, there is absolutely no point…
  The Doctor: Convict? Who are you calling a convict, you mannerless minx?
• Teleportation: The Countess and Valmont can dematerialise; the Countess does so to escape armed guard.
• Time-Travellers Are Spies: Having disposed of the bomb delivered to Lord Nelson and General Sir Wellesley, the Doctor uses the cover story of a small private intelligence department.
  Wellesley: So, you’re one of Mr Pitt's spies.
  The Doctor: The term secret agent is preferred in the profession.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness: Somewhat officialdom-sheltered Serena fears her infection by the Doctor's "incorrigible frivolity."
• Turncoat: Emperor Napoleon’s Foreign Minister, Prince Talleyrand-Perigord, is known as “the king of turncoats.”
  Talleyrand: The art of statesmanship is to foresee the inevitable and to expedite its occurrence. I served the Bourbon establishment until its oppressive stupidity made its fall inevitable. I served the Revolution until it collapsed from within in bloodlust and cruelty. I served the directory till it became too weak and corrupt to control the mob, and the three consuls until it became evident that only one of them was worthy of my service.
• Vacation Chapter: In the Rue Saint Honore, at the Cafe de la Regence, Serena protests the Doctor’s extravagant purchase of champagne.
  The Doctor: Why not? I’ve never been on an expense account before. The Agency can afford it.
• Vehicular Sabotage: Coerced into fitting the Nautilus with an atomic Omega Drive, the Doctor, before vacating with Fulton, sets the Drive to self-destruct.
• War Is Hell: The eventual Battle of Waterloo.
  Wellington: Thank God I do not know what it is to lose a battle. But next to a battle lost, the greatest misery is a battle gained.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: In a wood near the Tuileries gardens, when a Timescoop-summoned vampire attacks the Doctor, Serena is paralysed with fear - while few things seriously frighten Time Lords, the ancient bow-ship war with the Great Vampire’s hordes left an atavistic fear of vampires.