New Series Adventures (Doctor Who)
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The New Series Adventures are a series of spin-off novels based on the long-running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and published under the BBC Books imprint.
The range of books does not have an official name. Fans use the term "New Series Adventures" or "New Series Books" in order to distinguish them from other Doctor Who book ranges. Others further divide them into "Ninth Doctor Adventures" and "Tenth Doctor Adventures" although there is no distinction in format between the two. The current publishing schedule for the line, which has been in effect since publishing began in 2005, is three books released simultaneously in the spring, followed by three simultaneous publications in the fall. (Although the books make reference to events in the television series, they rarely make reference to each other, therefore the books can usually be read in any order, although they have Gallifreyan numerals on the spine indicating the suggested order). Beginning in 2006, the line also added a novella published in the spring.
All releases to date in the New Series Adventures line (with the exception of the novellas I Am a Dalek and Made of Steel) have been published exclusively in hardcover, making these the first Doctor Who novels to be published in this format since Target Books abandoned the hardcover format for its original series novelisations in the 1980s. There has been no announcement made as to whether paperback editions of these books will be published in the future, or whether the hardcover format will continue to be used for future releases. The same hardcover format and three-at-a-time publishing schedule is being used for original novels based upon the spin-off series, Torchwood.
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[edit] Publication history
[edit] Ninth Doctor novels
With the revival of the television series, BBC Books retired its paperback Eighth Doctor Adventures and Past Doctor Adventures fiction lines in 2005 in favour of a new range of hardback books featuring the Ninth Doctor and Rose. These have a reduced word count compared to the EDA and PDA lines, with an average page count of about 250. (Initially, the EDA and PDA lines overlapped with the New Series Adventures; the final EDA, The Gallifrey Chronicles, was published in June 2005, followed by the final PDA, Atom Bomb Blues, a Seventh Doctor adventure, being published in December 2005.
Although the canonicity of most Doctor Who spin-offs is unclear, the 2005 series episode Boom Town makes a reference to the Doctor and Rose's trip to the Justicia system. This took place in The Monsters Inside, making it the first spin-off novel to ever be explicitly referred to in the television series. All the Ninth Doctor novels except Only Human contain "Bad Wolf" references in common with the 2005 television series[1]. Winner Takes All also features the recurring characters Mickey Smith and Jackie Tyler; Jackie also makes a cameo appearance in Only Human.
Unlike many of the BBC's earlier spin-off novels, no definite timeframe exists as to when each of the books take place, though the first three probably take place between World War Three and The Empty Child. Of the latter three (which feature Captain Jack), Only Human and The Deviant Strain take place between The Doctor Dances and Boom Town, while The Stealers of Dreams takes place after Boom Town as the events of that episode are referenced, although on-screen dialogue in the episode Bad Wolf makes it a challenge to place this novel into the show's continuity.
The first books in the series were popular in the UK. The books were not initially available in North America, but became sporadically available in the late summer; in Canada, the books were not carried by the same distributor as the BBC Books paperbacks, and were initially available only through comic book shops and online retailers when Diamond Comic Distributors took up the contract.
During 2005, the New Series Adventures featuring the Ninth Doctor were published concurrently with the paperback Eighth Doctor and Past Doctor Adventures series. However, following the publication of the Past Doctor Adventure Atom Bomb Blues (featuring the Seventh Doctor) in November 2005, no new paperback releases were announced, with BBC Books choosing to focus on the New Series Adventures exclusively as the books moved on to featuring the Tenth Doctor.
[edit] Tenth Doctor novels
With the departure of Christopher Eccleston from the role of the Doctor, BBC Books subsequently announced the publication of three novels featuring the Tenth Doctor and Rose, released on April 13, 2006. These books follow the same style and format as those featuring the Ninth Doctor, with a continuation of the spine numbering. Range consultant and commissioning editor Justin Richards told Doctor Who Magazine that there would be no Ninth Doctor novels in 2006, and the decision as to whether to continue to publish stories with the Ninth Doctor as a separate range has not yet been taken.
Abridged audiobooks of the first three Tenth Doctor titles, narrated by David Tennant (who plays the Tenth Doctor), were released on July 3, 2006.
In a talk in July 2006, Richards also said that the new series books would continue now that the BBC Books imprint has been taken over by Random House, although he does not know whether he will be continuing in his role. He also discussed how authors for the new series books have been chosen carefully to protect spoilers about the television series from leaking out. He said that The Stone Rose was the fastest selling title so far. [1]
Two books in this series, I Am a Dalek and Made of Steel (the latter scheduled to be published in March 2007) were novellas published in paperback as part of a series of books intended to inspire literacy. Made of Steel, which according to Amazon.com is to be published on March 1, features new companion Martha Jones and will in fact be published before the character makes her television debut. It is also the first New Series Adventure to be written by Terrance Dicks, a longtime veteran of Doctor Who and former writer for the original series, who will have now written novels for every line of Doctor Who fiction with the exception of the Telos novellas. According to Doctor Who Magazine, a further three books will be released on Boxing Day 2007.
[edit] List of New Series Adventures
- I Am a Dalek and Made of Steel are not full-length novels, but rather novellas published as part of Quick Reads, a series of books aimed at promoting literacy. These books are published in paperback editions only, to date the only New Series Adventures titles not published in hardback.
- Rain of Terror by Mike Tucker was originally listed in the second batch of three novels, but was replaced by The Stealers of Dreams a few days later. In Doctor Who Magazine #374, Tucker explained that his heavy workload elsewhere left him with no time to make the changes that had been requested by the production office after he submitted his outline.
- The Last Museum by Jacqueline Rayner was listed, but was replaced by The Price of Paradise. The story would have involved the Museum of the Last Ones, a facility which attempts to keep endangered species alive. The synopsis asks what would happen when the stasis cabinets break down and the specimens released, and how the museum's Curator would react to meeting the Doctor, the last remaining Time Lord. The idea appears to be recycled in The Last Dodo, listed below.
[edit] Synopses for unreleased books
These synopses are based on pre-publication descriptions, and may not accurately reflect the books' final contents.
[edit] Sting of the Zygons
The Lake District in 1909: naturalists flock to a small village terrorised by a monster. King Edward VII himself has arrived to track the "Beast of Cumbria". But when the Doctor discovers the presence of an old enemy, it is up to him to save the King.
[edit] The Last Dodo
Searching for a live dodo, the Doctor and Martha arrive in the Museum of the Last Ones, which has living examples of every extinct creature from history. But the Museum lacks a Time Lord...
[edit] Wooden Heart
On a large spaceship, the Doctor and Martha are intrigued by a stretch of wooded countryside that contains a village traumatised by missing children.
[edit] Notes
- ^ The Clockwise Man: page 120, The Monsters Inside: page 136, Winner Takes All: page 22, The Deviant Strain: page 162, The Stealers of Dreams: page 113
