Lungbarrow (novel)

Lungbarrow was an original Doctor Who novel written by Marc Platt. Published in Virgin Books' New Adventures range, it was the last of that range to feature the Seventh Doctor.

It is considered the final novel under any banner to feature the Seventh Doctor as the "current" Doctor, although McGann's Eighth Doctor had already made his televised appearance by the time the novel was published. Due to a publication delay, however, an earlier-commissioned novel, So Vile a Sin, also featuring the Seventh Doctor, was published later (although it takes place earlier than Lungbarrow in continuity). One additional Eighth Doctor novel would be published under the Virgin New Adventures banner before the series was handed over to Bernice Summerfield.

Publisher's summary
"Nonsense, child," retorted the Doctor. "Grandfather indeed! I've never seen you before in my life!"

All is not well on Gallifrey. Chris Cwej is having someone else's nightmares. Ace is talking to herself. So is K9. Leela has stumbled on a murderous family conspiracy. And the beleaguered Lady President, Romanadvoratrelundar, foresees one of the most tumultuous events in her planet's history.

At the root of all is an ancient and terrible place, the House of Lungbarrow in the southern mountains of Gallifrey. Something momentous is happening there. But the House has inexplicably gone missing.

673 years ago the Doctor left his family in that forgotten House. Abandoned, disgraced and resentful, they have waited. And now he's home at last.

In this, the Seventh Doctor's final New Adventure, he faces a threat that could uncover the greatest secret of them all.

Plot
His mind occupied with thoughts of his coming regeneration, the TARDIS accidentally returns the Doctor to Gallifrey and the House of Lungbarrow, where for over 673 years his 44 cousins have been trapped, but mysteriously only six of them are still left. Meanwhile, Chris Cwej is having strange dreams of the past, when the family cast the Doctor out. The Doctor is accused of the murder of the head of the House, but finds many allies in the form of former companions Ace, Romana, K-9 Mark I and K-9 Mark II and Leela, who have become embroiled in a Celestial Intervention Agency plot to overthrow Romana's presidency. The secrets of the past are catching up to the Doctor, in particular the secret linking him to a figure from Gallifreyan history known only as the Other.

Characters

 * Seventh Doctor
 * Chris Cwej
 * Ace
 * Leelandredloomsagwinaechegesima (aka Leela)
 * Castellan Andred
 * President Romana
 * K9 Mark I
 * K9 Mark II
 * Rodan
 * Lord Ferain
 * Badger

Flashback / In-memory characters

 * Susan (appears in flashback-like sequence)
 * The Other

The Doctor's cousins

 * Innocet
 * Satthralope
 * Jobiska
 * Rynde
 * Arkhew
 * Maljamin
 * Farg
 * Celesia
 * Almund
 * DeRoosifa
 * Chovor
 * Salpash
 * Luton
 * Owis
 * Quencessetianobayolocaturgrathageyyilungbarrowmas (aka Quences)
 * Glospinninymortheras (aka Glospin)

Books

 * Lord Ferain kept a book called An Alternative History of Skaro: The Daleks without Davros.
 * The books The Triumphs of Rassilon, The Book of Rassilon and The Record of Rassilon are books that contain interpretations of Rassilon, Omega and the Other.

The Doctor

 * Before leaving Gallifrey the Doctor worked in the Bureau of Possible Events as a Scrutationary Archivist.
 * He left his post in the Prydonian Chapterhouse's Bureau of Possibility "after disagreements about his overzealous political involvements".
 * The Doctor departs Gallifrey on a final mission to Skaro, as requested by Romana II.

Gallifreyan culture

 * Sepulchasm is a Time Lord game, and quite possibly a profanity.
 * The play Mystery of the New Time is usually conducted during Otherstide.

Gallifreyan lifeforms

 * Gallifreyan forests have striped pig bears in them.

Gallifreyan locations

 * The Doctor returns to his house, the House of Lungbarrow.

Gallifreyan technology

 * Looms create new Gallifreyans.
 * The Hand of Omega befriended the Doctor because it sensed the Other's essence in him.
 * The Time Vortex is red when travelling forward in time and blue when travelling backwards.

Gallifreyan organisations

 * The CIA kill Ace for twenty minutes and upload her memories to the Matrix.
 * An organisation called Space-Time Accessions Bureau exists.
 * The Ordinal-General does not allow members of the House of Redlooms into the Bureau of Temporal Anomalies.

Individual Gallifreyans

 * Andred belongs to the House of Redlooms.
 * Susan's mother died as Pythia cursed Gallifrey.
 * Susan's nanny was called Mamlaurea.
 * Pythia threw herself into the Crevice of Memories That Will Be.
 * Omega was lost in the constellation of Ao.

Plants

 * Leela still carried janis thorns.

Planets

 * Karn is in conjunction with Polarfrey.

Species

 * President Romana is successfully negotiating with the Tharils.
 * Romana did not attend the reception for the Chelonian envoy.
 * Fledershrews are present in the House of Lungbarrow.

Relatives of the Doctor

 * Innocet has telekinesis and telepathy.

Continuity

 * The hermit that lived on the mountain near the Doctor's home was first mentioned in TV: The Time Monster, and later featured in TV: Planet of the Spiders.
 * The Sisterhood of Karn first appeared in TV: The Brain of Morbius. They would later be responsible for the Eighth Doctor's regeneration. (TV: The Night of the Doctor)
 * Leela met Andred in TV: The Invasion of Time.
 * Romana returned from E-space in PROSE: Blood Harvest, and became president in PROSE Happy Endings.
 * A lot of Gallifreyan history revisited in this novel first appeared in PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible.
 * Romana gives the Doctor her sonic screwdriver, which she built in TV: The Horns of Nimon.
 * The Doctor used the Hand of Omega in TV: Remembrance of the Daleks.
 * The Doctor goes on one final mission to pick up the Master's remains, leading into TV: Doctor Who.
 * Gallifrey's renewed ties with the Sisterhood of Karn abolishes Pythia's curse of sterility upon the population. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)
 * Innocet tells Chris Cwej that the Houses are the oldest living things on Gallifrey, the first ones having been grown during the Intuitive Revelation. (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible)
 * PROSE: Unnatural History explains that PROSE: The Eight Doctors is a result of Rassilon's disgusted response to the Time Lords' reconciliation with the Sisterhood and the lifting of Pythia's curse.
 * During the confrontation between Rassilon and the Other, it is mentioned that the Looms give the new generations of Gallifreyans the ability to regenerate; Rassilon and the Other cannot do so. This contradicts the suggestion in PROSE: Cold Fusion that the "Morbius Doctors" were the Other's faces, and PROSE: The Multi-Faceted War, where Rassilon is said to have regenerated.

Associated Images
The e-book version published by the BBC on their website included several illustrations by Daryl Joyce. Titles of illustrations are as they were on BBC's site.