First Frontier (novel)

 was the thirtieth New Adventures novel, It featured the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Bernice Summerfield. This novel also featured the first in-novel regeneration of a character from the TV series: the Master. It is one of three novels written by David A. McIntee that feature the Master, with Virgin Missing Adventures' The Dark Path following in 1997 and BBC Past Doctor Adventures' The Face of the Enemy being published in 1998.

Publisher's summary

 * Ace raised her blaster. "You've already killed me once, girl," said. "Didn't you learn anything from that?"

When Bernice asks to see the dawn of the space age, the Doctor takes the TARDIS to the United States of America in 1957 — and into the midst of distrust and paranoia. The Cold War is raging, bringing the world to the brink of atomic destruction.

But the threat facing America is far more deadly than Communist Russia. The militaristic Tzun Confederacy have made Earth their next target for conquest — and the aliens are already among us.

Two nuclear warheads have been stolen; there are traitors to the human species in the highest ranks of the army; and alien infiltrators have assumed human form. Only one person seems to know what’s going on: the army’s mysterious scientific advisor, the enigmatic Major.

Plot
to be added

Characters

 * The Doctor
 * Ace
 * Bernice Summerfield
 * Shadow
 * Joe Manco
 * Joe Manco

Biology

 * The Master and Ace can detect each other because they are both infected with the Cheetah Virus.
 * The Master used Tzun genetic engineering to remove the Trakenite DNA from his body to restore him to a full Time Lord.

Cultural references from the real world

 * The Doctor makes a sly reference to Santa Mira, thus making the film, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, something that actually happened in the DWU.

The Doctor

 * The Doctor has Majestic clearance with the US government.

Documents

 * The Master respects Bernice and has read her paper on Martian Feudalism.

Individuals

 * Ace will be twenty-seven in a few months.
 * Bernice Summerfield thinks of the Doctor and Ace as her only family.
 * Bernice imagines the Doctor marrying the TARDIS.
 * Shadow is the name of a Kitling named by the Master. It took him from the Cheetah World to 1950s America.

The Master

 * recovered enough from his fight with the Doctor on the Cheetah Planet to teleport back to Earth. However, the explosion of the planet transported him back thirty-two years.
 * The Master regenerates after Ace shoots him in the back. He turns into someone a little bit taller than his previous body (which had been infected with the Cheetah Virus). The body has a high forehead, glossy moustache, neat beard, aristocratic nose and a lean face. He was intended to resemble the actor Basil Rathbone.

Planets

 * Bandraginus Five was a shipyard for the Vegans.
 * Before being trapped on the Cheetah World the Master tried to start a war between Antari Two and Antari Three.
 * The Cheetah World had an atmosphere rich in artron energy.

Psychology

 * Bernice is immune to the Master's hypnotism.

Species

 * The Nestene Consciousness controls a section of the Tau Quadrant.
 * The Tzun are from the planet S'Arl.
 * The Sidhe are mentioned.

Sports

 * It is best (supposedly) to have five arms and five legs when using Venusian aikido.

TARDIS

 * The Master constructs a Stattenheim remote control to retrieve his TARDIS.

Theories and concepts

 * There is some discussion of dimensional transcendence, which in turn leads to discussions of Gallifreyan warp matrix engineering and Block Transfer Computations.

Time Lords

 * The Master claims to be a Time Lord of the First Rank.

Vehicles

 * Ace can fly a Hercules military plane, thanks to what the Doctor refers to as the "narrow minded military": keeping things similar in all airborne craft.
 * Ace also used to fly a spacehopper in the Spacefleet.

Weapons

 * The Master uses his Tissue Compression Eliminator once more.

Continuity

 * The Master acquired the Trakenite DNA after stealing Tremas's body in TV: The Keeper of Traken.
 * The Master last appeared in TV: Survival.
 * The Sidhe (mentioned in this novel) appear in PROSE: Autumn Mist.
 * The Tzun appear in PROSE: Mission: Impractical.
 * A single Tzun appears in PROSE: Return of the Living Dad.
 * Bandraginus Five was mined and squashed to a ball in TV: The Pirate Planet.
 * The Master reappears to cause havoc for Benny in PROSE: Happy Endings.
 * A Kitling last appeared in TV: Survival.
 * The Seventh Doctor states that Dimensions in Time was a dream.