Father Time (novel)

Father Time was the forty-first novel in the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures series. It was written by Lance Parkin. It featured the Eighth Doctor and introduced his adoptive daughter Miranda Dawkins.

Publisher’s summary
"I love her," the Doctor said.

"Of course you do, she’s your daughter."

Earth in the nineteen-eighties is a battleground. Rival alien factions have travelled from the far future to pursue their vendetta.

With UFOs filling the skies, a giant robot stalking the Derbyshire hills, and alien hunters searching for the mysterious Last One, the Doctor is the only man who can protect the innocents caught in the crossfire.

But old scores are being settled, the fate of a Galactic Empire is at stake, and, against his will, the Doctor is drawn into a decade-long war that will strike at those he holds most dear.

The Doctor has lost his memory, his friends, his past and his TARDIS.

All he has now is the love of his daughter.

But will even that be taken from him?

Plot
to be added

Characters

 * Eighth Doctor
 * Miranda Dawkins
 * Ferran
 * Prefect Zevron
 * Deputy Sallak
 * Debbie Castle
 * Alex
 * Arnold Knight
 * Barry Castle
 * Bob
 * Cate
 * Dinah
 * Gibson
 * Graltor
 * Joel
 * Kim Dawkins
 * Kirst
 * Felix Mather
 * Tarvin

The Doctor

 * After he steals a space shuttle, the Doctor comments that he belongs out in space.
 * The Doctor becomes a millionaire so Miranda will want for nothing growing up.
 * The Doctor keeps all of Miranda's milk teeth.
 * The Doctor sees Mr Saldaamir and Daleks in a vision of his future.
 * The Doctor remembers waking up in a train carriage over a century ago. (PROSE: The Ancestor Cell)
 * The Doctor has a photographic memory
 * He plays chess and beats all the members of the school chess club.

The Doctor's items

 * The Doctor has built a sonic suitcase that can (amongst other things) open doors with sonic vibrations.
 * The TARDIS outer shell is fully regenerated, including the writing and the light on top. He keeps it in his garden.
 * The Doctor drives a Trabant, which he obtained in East Germany.

History

 * In the far future, the universe is ruled by the Emperor.
 * Ferran reads the Doctor's memories, and sees — among others — multiple wars, rape, flooding mines, stock market crashes, AIDS, concentration camps, anthrax and Agent Orange as examples of evil on Earth.

Individuals

 * The Doctor's breath doesn't fog in cold weather. Miranda notices it and comments that neither does hers.
 * Miranda Dawkins is said to resemble the Doctor in her tone of voice, manner and appearance. She has two hearts and doesn't need much sleep.
 * Miranda has picked up enough of her father's habits to be a thorn in Ferran's side, incite a revolt and lead a revolution, including convincing a robot to join her.
 * Iris Wildthyme visited the Doctor during the 1980s. She tried to explain everything, but left the Doctor confused.

Planets

 * Neo-phobus (aka Voga) is mentioned.
 * The Doctor encountered the Prefect and Sallak on the planets Galspar and Falkus before.

Species

 * The Klade are implied to have been created by the Daleks.
 * The Hunters are humanoid with elongated bodies.
 * Faction Klade are members of an alliance from the far future.

Vehicles

 * The Eighth Doctor steals a space shuttle to rescue Miranda.

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.

This book is also available as an ebook from the Amazon Kindle store.

Continuity

 * The Doctor uses a Martian greeting first used in PROSE: Legacy. Bernice Summerfield also uses it in PROSE: The Dying Days.
 * The Doctor revisits Betty Stobbold, Reverend Stobbold’s daughter from PROSE: The Burning.
 * The Doctor dreams of a house that has "hundreds of bedrooms, a swimming pool, an art gallery and a library, even a greenhouse the size of Kew Gardens".
 * Debbie sees a picture of the Doctor in Stalingrad from 1951. (PROSE: Endgame)
 * The Doctor tells Miranda various stories when she is a child, including tales of a planet where the moths and the ants are at war (The Web Planet), a man made of liquorice (The Happiness Patrol), and an empress in a jar (The Scarlet Empress).
 * Ferran mentions several records of the Doctor's activities during the late 20th century. These include:


 * Baghdad (PROSE: Interference: Book One and Two)
 * Lloyds building (PROSE: Bullet Time)
 * The Martian Invasion (PROSE: The Dying Days)
 * The Kulan Invasion (PROSE: Escape Velocity, and the only occasion where events actually feature the Doctor's future self)


 * It is interesting to note that during the Tenth Doctor's unintentional visit to Messaline in the far future, his DNA was extracted and used to create a female Time Lord clone called Jenny, making her technically his "daughter" as well. (TV: The Doctor's Daughter)