Festival of Death (novel)

 was the thirty-fifth BBC Past Doctor Adventures novel. It featured the Fourth Doctor, Romana II and K9 Mark II.

2000 BBC Books edition
The Beautiful Death. The ultimate theme-park ride. For twenty galactic credits, you can find out what it's like to be dead.

But something has gone wrong. Visitors expecting a sightseeing tour of the afterlife have been transformed into mindless zombies, set on a killing rampage.

The TARDIS arrives in the aftermath of the disaster and, to the Doctor's baffled delight, he is immediately congratulated for saving the population from certain and terrible destruction.

The only problem is, he hasn't actually done it yet.

Aided and abetted by a drug-addled hippie lizard, a hard-hitting investigative reporter and a suicidal ship's computer, the Doctor has no choice but to travel back in time and discover exactly how he became a hero.

And then he finds out. He did it by sacrificing his life.

2013 BBC Books edition
The Beautiful Death is the ultimate theme-park ride: a sightseeing tour of the afterlife. But something has gone wrong, and when the Fourth Doctor arrives in the aftermath of the disaster, he is congratulated for saving the population from destruction – something he hasn't actually done yet. He has no choice but to travel back in time and discover how he became a hero. And then he finds out. He did it by sacrificing his life.

Plot
to be added

Characters

 * Fourth Doctor
 * Romana
 * K9
 * Byson
 * Durkan
 * ERIC
 * Evadne Baxter
 * Gallura
 * Harkan Batt
 * Hoopy
 * Jeremy
 * Koel Paddox
 * Metcalfe
 * Nyanna
 * Repulsion
 * Rige
 * Rochfort
 * Tarie
 * Vinnie

Alcoholic beverages

 * Hoopy and his friends drink Old Bizzarre.

Drugs

 * Illegal narcotics used by Hoopy and his friends include Glycerat, Novovacuous, Phenyzide, Etheramyl, Opiasamin and Tutranol

The Doctor

 * The Doctor has met General George Armstrong Custer.
 * The Doctor failed his Time Travel Proficiency test at the Academy because he didn't turn up for it.
 * The Doctor carries in his pocket a copy of Bor Pollag's Book of Alien Monsters, which includes illustrated entries on Akker-Takkers, Algolian Sithersbacks, Apostles of Grarb, and the Arachnopods.

History

 * By 3012 the 20th century is considered ancient history.

Literature

 * The co-pilot of the Montressor reads Shrieking Boy Veepjill - The Myth Behind the Truth - An Autobiography.
 * Magazines available in the year 3012 include Guards and Guarding and Holding Captive.

Planets

 * In 3012 Earth colonies include Third Birmingham and Nudism Four.

Species

 * Alabast elephosaurs are highly immune to painkillers.
 * Gonzies are a race of short, orange-skinned reptilian humanoids from the planet Gonzos.

Spaceships

 * Yetraxxi spaceships have a hairdryer design to them.

Continuity

 * Romana states that if not for his sonic screwdriver, he would probably still be trapped in a cellar in Paris in 1979. (TV: City of Death)
 * The TARDIS previously jumped a time track. (TV: The Space Museum)