The Ultimate Foe (novelisation)

 was a novelisation based on the 1986 television story The Ultimate Foe.

Publisher's summary
Snatched out of time and space and brought before the Time Lords on Gallifrey, the Doctor is on trial for his life.

While the Doctor asserts that the evidence of the Matrix, the repository of all Time Lord knowledge, has been tampered with, the mysterious and vengeful prosecuting council, the Valeyard, is confident that the Doctor will be sentenced to death.

In a dramatic intervention the Valeyard's true identity is revealed but he escapes from the courtroom into the Matrix, and it is into this nightmare world that the Doctor must follow – to face his ultimate foe ...

Chapter titles

 * Prologue
 * 1) The Key of Rassilon
 * 2) An Unwelcome Intruder
 * 3) Evil Intent
 * 4) Twelve-and-a-half
 * 5) Treason
 * 6) A World Apart
 * 7) A Lethal Greeting
 * 8) Mr Popplewick
 * 9) A Sticky End
 * 10) To Be Or Not To Be
 * 11) Out of the Frying Pan
 * 12) The Baiter Bitten
 * 13) False Witness
 * 14) Off With His Head
 * 15) Mesmeric Riches
 * 16) Point and Counterpoint
 * 17) About-face
 * 18) Two-faced
 * 19) Double-faced
 * 20) Particles of Death
 * 21) The Price of Vanity
 * 22) The Keeper Vanishes
 * 23) Catrot Juice
 * Epilogue

Deviations from televised story
The Master states "The Valeyard, Doctor, is your penultimate reincarnation... Somewhere between your twelfth and thirteenth regeneration". In the televised show the line is "The Valeyard is an amalgamation of the darker sides of your nature, somewhere between your twelfth and final incarnation." Since in the novel, the Valeyard is an actual Doctor incarnation (like the Sixth Doctor), and not a 'dark side' of the Doctor (like the Dream Lord or the actual Valeyard), it is unclear as to what he could possibly gain from killing the Doctor and taking all his regenerations.

Writing and publishing notes

 * to be added

British publication history

 * Hardback (April 1988)


 * W.H.Allen & Co. Ltd. UK ISBN:0491031068, copies priced £7.95)
 * Paperback (September 1989)


 * Target / W.H. Allen & Co. Ltd. One single paperback edition, estimated print run: 23,000, priced £1.99 (UK).

Audiobook
This Target Book was released on 3 October 2013 complete and unabridged by BBC Audio and read by Michael Jayston as part of The Trial of a Time Lord Vol. 2.

The cover blurb and thumbnail illustrations were retained in the accompanying booklet with sleevenotes by David J. Howe. Music and sound effects by Simon Power.