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Synthespians™ was the sixty-fifth novel in the BBC Past Doctor Adventures series. It was written by Craig Hinton, released 19 July 2004 and featured the Sixth Doctor and Peri Brown.

This was author Craig Hinton's last Doctor Who novel.

Publisher's summary[]

"We've been colonising planets for a thousand million years," she said, turning to the camera and giving her trademark smile. "All right, Mr. Matheson — I'm ready for my close-up."

In the 101st century, nostalgia is everything. Television from the 20th century is the new obsession, and Reef Station One is receiving broadcasts from a distant Earth of the past, transmitting them to a waiting audience.

When the Doctor and Peri arrive on Reef Station One, they find a fractured society, totally dependent on film and television. They also discover that the Republic's greatest entrepreneur Walter J. Matheson is in league with one of the Doctor's oldest enemies.

As the alien influence spreads its tentacles throughout the Republic, the Doctor and Peri must unravel the link between Walter J. Matheson's business empire and the invaders. Because, if they don't, they'll end up in the deadliest soap opera of all time.

Plot[]

to be added

Characters[]

Worldbuilding[]

Individuals[]

Planets[]

Species[]

Television[]

Foods and beverages[]

Notes[]

  • The cover for this novel went through several modifications of its design.
    • The first version of the cover was created by James Gent for Craig Hinton as a proof of concept, intended to be "like Spearhead from Space crossed with Dynasty".
    • Unfortunately, Black Sheep (the cover designers for BBC Books' range of PDAs) interpreted Gent's prompt literally and used copyrighted images of the cast of Dynasty as Autons. This was technically illegal, necessitating the entire batch to be pulped.
    • The third cover was approved for publishing, but featured mirroring on both the background and the two female Autons, prompting Black Sheep to make several modifications to it before publication.[1]
  • The book was dedicated to author Craig Hinton's friend Adam Richards, who had died suddenly around the time Synthespians™ was finished. Richards' partner, Robbie Langton, later contributed a story and a personal note thanking Hinton to the charity anthology Shelf Life, which was released in 2008 in Hinton's memory.

Continuity[]

Gallery[]

External links[]

Footnotes[]

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