Frontier Worlds (novel)

Frontier Worlds was the twenty-ninth release in the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures series.

Publisher’s Summary
What strange attraction lures people to the planet Drebnar? When the TARDIS is dragged there, the Doctor determines to find out why.

He discovers that scientists from the mysterious Frontier Worlds Corporation have set up a base on the planet, and are trying to blur the distinction between people and plants. The TARDIS crew plan to prevent a biological catastrophe -- but their plan goes wrong all too soon.

Compassion finds her undercover work so engrossing she risks losing her detachment. Fitz seems too distracted by the local population to keep his eye on Compassion. So when the Doctor gets trapped in a freezing wilderness, who can stop him falling victim to a lethal experiment in genetic modification?

For something else has been lured to Drebnar, something that Frontier Worlds Corporation will ruthlessly exploit without care for the consequences -- an ancient organism which threatens to snuff out Drebnar’s solar system.

Characters

 * The Doctor (also under the alias of James Bowman)
 * The seemingly impossible capacity of the Doctor's pockets is explained: he and his other regenerations habitually tear the stitches in their pockets so the entire lining of their coats can be used as a massive pocket. Apparently this can become an issue if, say, the sonic screwdriver is put in one of these pockets only to be lost along the back of the coat, out of reach.
 * Fitz Kreiner (under the alias of) Frank Sinatra
 * Fitz isn’t quite thirty years old yet.
 * Compassion (under the alias of) Nancy Sinatra
 * Compassion is still using her earpiece despite agreeing with the Doctor not to use it any more.
 * Considers Fitz the most well-balanced and practical person she's met, because the Doctor is prone to flights of fancy and Compassion is too detached.
 * Kills a man with an axe.
 * Alura Trebul
 * Fitz’s love interest for this novel.
 * Murdered by the company while it was hunting Fitz and Compassion
 * Dewfurth
 * Griz Ellis
 * Kupteyn
 * Shaz Mozarno
 * Temm Sempiter

Story notes

 * This novel is part of a pentalogy of sorts around Compassion and her development into a sentient TARDIS.


 * How the TARDIS translation system works is described in this novel; it does the best it can based on what the people it is translating for (and to) are thinking. Consequently it once translated the slogan "Coke adds life" as “Class A drugs brings your ancestors back from the grave”.


 * The Doctor dances with a lady in a dress during a dream sequence. The lady is implied to be the TARDIS.
 * Compassion sums up the TARDIS crew via metaphor - saying that when they look up at the sky, the Doctor sees animal shapes in the clouds and rocket trails, Compassion could list the scientific names for the cloud formations while Fitz would say that the only reason they can see the clouds is because someone has stolen their tent. She's trying to say that the three of them need each other.

Continuity

 * The Doctor’s shadow turns too slowly for his body. (EDA: Interference - Book One)

Timeline

 * This story takes place after EDA: The Taking of Planet 5
 * This story takes place before EDA: Parallel 59