Mindwarp (novelisation)

Novelisation

 * This novelisation is based on the original television serial DW: Mindwarp (part 2 of The Trial of a Time Lord), which was shown from 4 October 1986.
 * The cover and information on the right are for the original Target edition. It featured the artwork of Alister Pearson. (See below for information on editions with different covers).

Publisher's summary
Accused of `crimes against the inviolate laws of evolution’, the Sixth Doctor is on trial for his life.

The sinister prosecutor, the Valeyard, presents the High Council of Time Lords with the second piece of evidence against the Doctor: a dramatic adventure on the planet Thoros Beta which led to the renegade Time Lord’s summons to the Court of Enquiry.

But as the Doctor watches the scenes on the Matrix he is puzzled by what he sees – his behaviour is not as he remembers. Only one thing is certain: on the evidence of the Matrix the Doctor is surely guilty as charged …

Illustrations

 * None

Deviations from televised story

 * Martin adds a tongue-in-cheek epilogue that reveals that Peri had not died as the Doctor had believed, but that she and Yrconos fell in love and travelled to Earth in he 20th century. Yrconos took up a career as a professional wrestler, with Peri as his manager. This ending spoils the later revelation of Peri's survival in The Ultimate Foe. While the fact of Peri and Yrconos falling in love is consistent with the later story, the rest of it contradicts both televised and novelised versions of the The Ultimate Foe, as well as Peri's later appearances in books such as NA: Bad Therapy. However, the revelation in CC: Peri and the Piscon Paradox that the Time Lords created multiple timelines for Peri leaves the door open for this variant fate to exist alongside the other fates described for Peri.

Writing and publishing notes

 * Dedication: “For Hilary Martin”
 * Includes in the back, colour advert for Fantastic Doctor Who Poster Offers!
 * This was the last story of the Sixth Doctor era to be novelised. One additional story, Revelation of the Daleks, was never novelised.
 * The Doctor Who Magazine review of this book criticised Target for not keeping the cover design of this book consistent with that of the other three chapters of the Trial series.

Additional cover images
To be added

British publication history
First Publication: Paperback (June 1989)
 * Target / W.H. Allen & Co. Ltd. One single paperback edition, estimated print run: 23,000, and a reprint in September 1989, priced £1.99 (UK).

Editions published outside Britain
To be added