Placebo Effect (novel)

Placebo Effect was the thirteenth BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures. It was written by Gary Russell. It featured the Eighth Doctor and Samantha Jones. It also featured Stacy Townsend and Ssard, a human and Ice Warrior respectively, who had travelled with the Doctor in the Radio Times comic stories. This novel therefore is the first BBC Books novel to feature a crossing of two different ranges.

Publisher’s summary
It is 3999. An artificial planetoid, Micawber's World, is hosting the Intergalactic Olympic Games, and athletes from all the worlds in the Galactic Federation are coming to take part. But when the Doctor and Sam arrive, murders soon begin...

The Doctor finds himself drafted in to examine some bizarre new drugs that are said to enhance the natural potential of the competing athletes. But what is their real purpose? Why are members of the Security Forces disappearing randomly? And just why is Chase Carrington, manufacturer of the drug, so protective of his company’s secrets?

Watching and waiting, at the very heart of Micawber’s World, is a race of parasites the Doctor has fought before. The Wirrn have come to the Milky Way from Andromeda, determined to spread their seed throughout a whole new galaxy, and it seems to Sam that the Doctor’s hands are too full to pay their threat full attention...

Plot
to be added

Characters

 * Eighth Doctor
 * Sam Jones
 * Kyle Dale
 * Stacy Townsend
 * Ssard
 * Susan Dallion
 * Chase Carrington
 * Dallion
 * Duchess of Auckland
 * Green Fingers
 * Lukas
 * Miles Mason
 * Ritchie
 * Sox
 * Sumner
 * Talon Chalfont

The Doctor

 * The Doctor is now at least partly aware that Sam had "a bit of a crush on him."
 * There are notes pertaining to the Seventh Doctor in the Galactic Federation database referring to Peladon, the Ancient Diadem and the planet Pakhar.

Individuals

 * Sam Jones's middle initial is an A.
 * There is a bust of Rassilon in the TARDIS.
 * Stacy's parents are Christopher and Mary Townsend.

Organisations

 * There have been terrorist threats from Galaxy 5 and the Free Rasta VI.
 * Susan Dallion is Quartermaster Sergeant in the Space Security Service.

Planets

 * The Wirrn are from the Andromedan Galaxy.
 * Livista, Tyrexus, the Phylox system, Coscos, Salostopus, the rimworlds of Golos and Vysp are all part of the Andromedan Galaxy.


 * Earth is the centre of the Galactic Federation.
 * Terrorists and criminals are imprisoned on the planet Desperus.
 * Liasici was destroyed in a war "years ago" by the Argolin.
 * Sam mentions Mu Camelopides moon.
 * Kolpasha is the Fashion capital of the Federation.
 * Stacy Townsend is working in an office on the planet Antares.
 * Ssard works at the Martian Commission on Io.
 * Iota 9 is a small colony world on the other side of Sauron.

Religion

 * The Church of the Way Forward does not approve of inter-species breeding.
 * Kyle Dale is a member of the Church of the Way Forward.

Species

 * How the Foamasi can fit into human sized bodies despite their size: "Our skeletons have hollow bones with double-joints every few centimetres. This means we can compact our natural forms quite comfortably inside a full replica-human bodysuit for up to eighteen hours at a time."
 * Jadeans are genetically engineered, and cannot have their minds read by telepaths.
 * The Teknix are a cloned species, bald and very efficient.
 * The Foamasi Ambassador says he works for Martians, Pakhars, humans, Cantryans, Chelonians, the Tzun, Lurmans, and Vegans, but won't work with the Daleks.
 * Cows have been exported all over the galaxy.
 * Security officer Gar is a V'orrn.
 * Other species mentioned include Doradan, Hiind, Morrain, Parad and Saurian.
 * Sam recalls to herself being chased by Daleks, Zygons and Psionovores.
 * Sam meets a Meep.
 * Morogs are squat humanoids from Pindant.

Titles and offices

 * The Guardian of the Solar System is mentioned by numerous people. The Doctor explains to Sam that the Guardian's role in the Galactic Federation is analogous to that of US President Bill Clinton's role in the United Nations in 1997.

Continuity

 * Stacy and Ssard (and the adventures they had) featured in the Radio Times comic stories series.
 * The Doctor last encountered Ice Warriors en masse in PROSE: The Dying Days.
 * The Wirrn first appeared in TV: The Ark in Space.
 * The Foamasi first appeared in TV: The Leisure Hive.
 * The planet Golos is mentioned in AUDIO: Bang-Bang-A-Boom!.
 * Sam mentions, "Only magicians could take me to Victorian London or twenty-second century Borneo", referring to PROSE: The Bodysnatchers and Alien Bodies respectively.
 * The Doctor states, "I've never had a faith, as such. I had a House. And a birthsign. And a Chapter to be loyal to." In order this refers to PROSE: Lungbarrow (House), TV: The Creature from the Pit (Birthsign) and TV: The Deadly Assassin (Chapter, first mention).
 * Sam recalls leaving the Doctor in PROSE: Longest Day and seeing him again in Dreamstone Moon, and her time spent away from him in Seeing I.
 * The Doctor states he saw the birth of mankind as single celled amoeba, which is probably TV: City of Death.
 * The Galactic Federation, Space Security Service and Guardian of the Solar System all first appeared in TV: The Daleks' Master Plan.
 * Sam has encountered Psionovores. (AUDIO: Minuet in Hell)