The Infinity Doctors (novel)

Publisher's summary
"Sing about the past again, and sing that same old song.  Tell me what you know, so I can tell you that you're wrong."

Gallifrey. The Doctor's home planet. For twenty thousand centuries the Gallifreyans have been the most powerful race in the cosmos. They have circumnavigated infinity and eternity, harnessed science and conquered death. They are the Lords of Time, and have used their powers carefully.

But now a new force is unleashed, one that is literally capable of anything. It is enough to give even the Time Lords nightmares. More than that: it is enough to destroy them.

It is one of their own. Waiting for them at the end of the universe.

Featuring the Doctor, this adventure celebrates the thirty-fifth anniversary of Doctor Who.

Characters

 * The Doctor
 * The exact incarnation of the Doctor featured in this novel is not explicitly indicated, though Lance Parkin personally classifies this as both a First and Eighth Doctor novel on his website.
 * Thinks to himself that his father's name definitely wasn't Ulysses, and might be a professor at Berkeley.
 * The Doctor was born in the House of Lungbarrow.
 * Demonstrates his fascination with Earth by filling his quarters with Terran memorabilia.
 * Owns a (possibly Terran) cat called Wycliff.


 * Larna
 * Is one of the Doctor's most promising students.
 * Develops a relationship with the Doctor.


 * Lord Savar
 * It is a couple of regenerations after Savar lost his eyes.
 * In his current body he has multiple personality, two distinct ones in fact.
 * In his current body he is an accomplished telepath.


 * The Magistrate
 * Wears black, is the Doctor's oldest friend and sparring partner, and has a goatee.


 * Lord Hedin


 * Castellan Voran


 * Chancellory Guard Raimor


 * Chancellery Guard Peltroc


 * Technician First Class Waymivrudimqwe ' Waym'

Sontaran delegation

 * General Sontar
 * Mastermind behind the two thousand year war with the Isari.
 * Although a clone like the other Sontarans, he is a full duplicate, and not just a genetic clone, as he has the original Sontar's memories.


 * Admiral Krax of the Three Millionth Fleet


 * Chancellor Stroc


 * Chief of Staff Groll

Gallifrey

 * The Seal of Rassilon is an omniscate.
 * The Doctor's rooms have six sides. They include: many bookshelves, a wooden globe of Sol Three, a wine rack with a dozen of the galaxy's finest vintages. On the mantel piece is an ormolu clock. There are also two paintings: one computer painted, the second hand painted (by the Doctor) of a woman holding a scroll with the words "Death is but a door" written in High Gallifreyan. Speaking those words opens a door to a zero room where thousands of candles burn, honouring the woman in the painting.
 * The Doctor is a member of the High Council.
 * The Doctor offers tea to guardsmen Raimor and Peltroc
 * The Doctor has a cat; Wycliff.
 * Ohm is an ancient Time Lord god.
 * Tyler's Folly is on the High Council agenda to be discussed as there are 'disturbances' on the planet.
 * The Time Lords know of names that will appear in history books of the future: Varnax, Faction Paradox, Catavolcus, the Timewyrm; these are threats that the Time Lords ARE destined to survive.
 * The Time Lords know of a war against an implacable enemy, that would result in the destruction of Gallifrey, though even after several millennia of knowing about this they have not decided what action to take.
 * The Founders of Gallifrey; Six individuals; Rassilon, Omega, The Other and three others.
 * Qqaba is a Population III star.
 * The Doctor uses a toy tafelshrew to distract a guard to get to his TARDIS.

Individual Gallifreyans

 * Marnal is mentioned several times as a Time Lord who lacked planning in the Wars he fought.
 * Morbius is also mentioned in the past tense.
 * The Magistrate went to school with the Doctor, and is his oldest friend. Ironically, given the hints about their conduct as students, he's the highest ranking lawman on Gallifrey.
 * Hedin is compiling a comprehensive history on Omega.
 * The Doctor lectures at the academy. He's loved by his students for his more anarchic practices as a teacher, but frowned upon by his colleagues for the same.
 * The Doctor is one of the highest ranking Prydonians.

Gallifrey Locations

 * There is a clock tower in the Old Harbour that rings out bells throughout the Gallifreyan day.
 * The clockwork figures inside the clock tower have developed sentience, and may be the most intelligent things on Gallifrey.
 * The Citadel is patrolled by the Watchmen.
 * In the southern corner of the Panopticon is a statue of Omega wearing a space suit like that he wore at Qqaba.
 * If you enter the Panopticon from the north you would walk under the legs of Rassilon. Rassilon is (always) portrayed as wearing leather sandals.
 * The Doctor and the Magistrate re-enact their childhood habit of sitting on the feet of the statues, much to the wry amusement of the Magistrate. The Magistrate climbed faster than the Doctor, despite his bulkier clothing.
 * Another statue is of Apeiron, who wears spiky combat boots.
 * A further statue wears "sensible" (and it's implied originating on Earth) footwear.
 * The Citadel dates from the time of Rassilon and Omega; all Time Lords live in the Citadel, which is dimensionally transcendental.
 * Olyesti is one of the Three Minute Cities east of the Citadel, reachable by rail.
 * The Tomb of the Uncertain Soldier contains a body of a Gallifreyan soldier who fought in the Time Wars and chose at the critical moment to wipe out his own timeline.
 * Flowers of Remembrance of the Lost Dead are either held or grown within the Citadel.
 * Low Town is a shanty town that grew up around the columns that kept the Capitol dome stable.

Gallifreyan Technology

 * The Doctor uses a Transmat to copy himself.
 * Omega takes over one of these bodies, which Savar later decapitates.


 * The Time Lords use a time scoop to bring the Rutans and Sontarans to Gallifrey. The Doctor also builds a primitive time scoop to bring the delegates to his TARDIS.
 * There were two Hands of Omega.

Continuity

 * Of the threats the Time Lords were/are to survive; Varnax is mentioned in several (unmade) Doctor Who Movie scripts featured in REF: The Nth Doctor, Faction Paradox first appear in EDA: Alien Bodies, the Timewyrm first appears in NA: Timewyrm: Genesys, and Catavolcus first appears in DWM: The Neutron Knights.
 * The Doctor mentions several groups that could have created the Effect; the Klade who first appeared in EDA: Father Time and the Tractites who first appeared in EDA: Genocide.
 * Lord Savar appears and tells of how he lost his eyes, the Doctor finds them and returns them in EDA: Seeing I.
 * The events which lead the woman (who is Omega's wife) occurred in MA: Cold Fusion.
 * How a transmat works and the process involved is discussed in detail in BNA: Down.
 * In EDA: Unnatural History the Doctor visits a professor at Berkeley who has an assistant called Larna.
 * Marnal appears in EDA: The Gallifrey Chronicles.
 * Tyler's Folly appears in BNA: Down.
 * Omega first appeared in DW: The Three Doctors.
 * Hedin first appeared in DW: Arc of Infinity.
 * The Hand of Omega first appeared in DW: Remembrance of the Daleks.

Timeline

 * The timeline placement of this book is unknown. However, based on the events in the story such as Omega's first attempt at leaving the Anti-Matter universe, the fact the Doctor's TARDIS is described as a blue box and his fascination with Earth is well known, and he's described as having "settled down", it's possible to draw the assumption that this story is set in a universe where instead of exile, the Time Lords ruled that the Doctor would remain on Gallifrey. Lance Parkin has not said definitively which Doctor is featured in the novel, though his own chronology lists The Infinity Doctors as being either a First or Eighth Doctor novel.
 * See also this article's talk page for further discussion on this issue.

Reprint
BBC Books has announced that a "print on demand" reprint edition of this novel will be made available as of 31st August 2011 as the imprint revisits adventures featuring the first eight Doctors.