The Devil Goblins from Neptune (novel)

The Devil Goblins from Neptune
Doctor:	Third Doctor
Companion(s):	Liz
Featuring:	The Brig, Yates, Benton
Main enemy:	The CIA, The Waro
Main setting:	Gorkiy, Soviet Union and Manhattan, the 1970s
Key crew
Publisher:	BBC Books
Writers:	Martin Day and Keith Topping
Release details
Release number:	1
Release date:	2 June 1997
Format:	Paperback Book; 30 Chapters, 288 Pages
ISBN:	ISBN 0-563-40564-3
BBC Past Doctor Adventures
Next →	The Murder Game

The Devil Goblins from Neptune was the first novel in the BBC Past Doctor Adventures series. It was written by Keith Topping and Martin Day, released 2 June 1997 and featured the Third Doctor and Liz Shaw.

Publisher's summary

From the outer reaches of the Solar System, alien eyes are surveying the Earth. Eyes as cold and cruel as the methane ice that shrouds their distant world...

The Doctor is perturbed when a spate of deaths follows the break-up of an alien mass in the atmosphere. But this is merely the latest incident in a sinister conspiracy that threatens the entire planet, and the Doctor himself is embroiled in the plans of all the players.

The Brigadier's concern is heightened by the possibility of traitors at the very heart of UNIT. Leaving for Geneva to discover the truth, he little realises the deadly motives of an enemy agent on his own doorstep. The Doctor and Liz, meanwhile, discover that London doesn't have a monopoly on alien invasions.

What are the gargoyle-like creatures that kill without mercy? What do they want from our planet — and how do they figure in top-secret governmental plans?

As the lines between allies and enemies begin to blur, the Doctor finds himself fighting to save Earth once again. But who will he be saving it for?

Plot

to be added

Characters

• Third Doctor
• Liz Shaw
• Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart
• John Benton
• Mike Yates
• Control
• Viscount Rose
• Bob Franklin
• Julia Franklin
• Major-General Augustus Hayes
• Thomas Bruce
• Arlo
• Mick Houghton
• Valentina Shuskin
• Brendan Trainor

References

The Doctor

• The Doctor can perform a Time Lord rite called Soul Catching; however, he is not very good at it.
• As well as suppressing the Doctor's knowledge of how to repair the TARDIS, the Time Lords have also suppressed some of his specific knowledge of Earth's future history.

Individuals

• Mike Yates' full name is Michael Alexander Raymond Yates.
• Thomas Bruce infiltrates UNIT HQ, claiming to be an American UNIT soldier named Bruce Davis.
• The Brigadier can speak French.
• Bernard Trainor is acquainted with Rachel Jensen and Ian Chesterton.

United Nations Intelligence Taskforce

• UNIT has branches in Russia and the United States of America
• UNIT US discovered a second Silurian base in Oregon.

Notes

• This novel was originally conceived as a Virgin Missing Adventures novel.

Continuity

• The Doctor tells Benton that he has met the Duke of Wellington and Napoléon Bonaparte. (PROSE: World Game; AUDIO: Mother Russia)
• The Doctor refers to Quinnis in the fourth universe, where he trained as a ninja. Quinnis was the final planet visited by the First Doctor and his granddaughter Susan Foreman before the TARDIS materialised in London in 1963. (TV: The Edge of Destruction; AUDIO: Quinnis)
• The Doctor and the Brigadier both refer to International Electromatics. (TV: The Invasion)
• Brendan Trainor mentions Rachel Jensen (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) The Doctor talks to Trainor at a party about the Cyber invasion (TV: The Invasion), the Eocene crisis (TV: Doctor Who and the Silurians), and the aborted Inferno Project (TV: Inferno). Ian Chesterton tells Trainor to ask the Doctor about Vortis. (TV: The Web Planet)

• The Brigadier mentions Major Jimmy Turner (TV: The Invasion) and Major Cosworth. (TV: The Mind of Evil)

External links

• The Devil Goblins from Neptune at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• The Discontinuity Guide to: The Devil Goblins from Neptune at The Whoniverse
• The Cloister Library: The Devil Goblins from Neptune