Christmas on a Rational Planet

Roots: There are quotations from James Rafferty's Portents and Pathways, Thomas Jefferson, Claire Tennant's A Practical Change of Perspectives,. There are references to Tom and Jerry, Doctor Johnson, the Eurovision Song Contest, Uri Geller, The X-Files (La verite est la dehors is French for "The truth is out there"), Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Jefferson, Paine, Washington, The Catcher in the Rye, Cain and Abel, and Paddington Bear. Chris finds a PRIME computer in the TARDIS, a reference to the PRIME adverts featuring Tom Baker and Lalla Ward.

Technobabble: Catcher uses quantum mnemonics [see Millennial Rites] to restructure reality.

Dialogue Triumphs: "Human beings have two notable characteristics. One, they're extremely intelligent. Two, they're very very stupid."

"Consequences aren't my concern. I'm a magician, not a Doctor."

"I've done so much. Saved entire races whose names I can't even remember. And why? Because of reasons. Because of principles. Truth, love, and harmony. Peace and goodwill. The best of intentions. Whatever I've done, I've done for these reasons. And there's been a price to pay. Sacrifices. People close to me have died. Four of my companions, hundreds of the universe's supporting cast. I could fill whole volumes with their names. Bystanders who helped me, perhaps for just a moment or two, and suffered for it. I've died myself, six times over. I have a responsibility. To every one of them, the living as well as the dead. If I let you succeed, if I let you make a world without reasons, then every sacrifice they've ever made in my name would be for nothing. They would have suffered, and died, and triumphed... all for no purpose."

Continuity: It is implied that Gallifrey has a second, Heliotrope, moon (see Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible). The maintenance engineers tending the Eye of Harmony built the first amaranth to counteract the warping effect on space-time caused by black holes. Amaranths look for parts of the universe that have become unstable in some way and rebuild them along more rational lines. The Doctor's amaranth contains an emergency function; if it finds itself in a place that it can't make any sense of, it is programmed to transport its user to a more stable part of the continuum. Gustous Thripsted's book Genetic Politics Beyond the Third Zone suggests that since the Time Lords are produced from the Looms, they have no fairy-tales and thus no understanding of mythology. Time Lord technology is compatible with any system [within reason]. Before the Time Lords arose, the universe had no laws of physics or guiding principles, just possibilities. The Time Lords, described by the Carnival Queen as "masculine, logical creatures" wanted existence to be precise and so they invented rules and tied creation down to those rules (including, apparently, proving that horses couldn't fly, which resulted in horses not being able to fly). The "shadeling gods" [the various seers referred to in Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible] began to die as a result, as did the children of the Pythia. Following Rassilon's lead, the Time Lords cast out the irrational parts of their souls, which congregated as a great cloud in the upper atmosphere of Gallifrey, and was banished from the newly rational universe by Rassilon, who imprisoned it in a tiny corner of creation. It became known as Cacophony, or the Carnival Queen.

The Carnival Queen is allowed back into the rational universe by Duquesne's physic probing of the Time Vortex [where she was imprisoned]. She refers to the Time Lords as Watchmakers, and to Rassilon as the first King of the Majestic Clockwork. The Time Lords no longer remember the Carnival Queen and won't allow themselves to dream of her. The Carnival Queen claims that Time Lords have killing genes programmed into their DNA, making them walking weapons to fight Cacophony. The Carnival Queen states that contrary to what the Doctor and the other Time Lords believe, the Great Old Ones (All-Consuming Fire, Millennial Rites) are not from a universe that existed before the Big Bang; instead, the "Space before this" referred to in texts from the Dark Time is actually this universe, but from before the Time Lords banished the forces of Cacophony and the Great Old Ones are refugees who escaped. The Carnival Queen has been influencing reality from her prison, nurturing psychic abilities in humans, and thus indirectly giving rise to the Shadow Directory and events of Yemaya (SLEEPY). She is realised from her prison by a combination of Duquesne's psychic abilities and Chris's tampering with the TARDIS. The Carnival Queen describes Gynoids as her children. Gynoids are literally robots that are like women. They are not built, they simply are. Gynoids have a distorting effect on reality.

Eighth Man Bound is a Time Lord game played by neonates of the Time Lord Academy, but is never played by Time Lords of the 'newblood' houses for whom a change of body is as trivial as a change of fashion (a reference to Romana's regeneration from Destiny of the Daleks), and who come straight from the Loom with a second heart. Eighth Man Bound claims the lives of up to fifteen Academy students each semester. The game is played by an "Initiate", who sits in the centre of a circle of Academy classmates, referred to as "the Inquiry". A suitable ambience is created using a simple symbiosonic generator. The Inquiry then attempts to create an identity crisis in the Initiate's mind, often by repeating his or her name over and over again until it becomes meaningless to them, and his or her personality is violently dissected, his memories questioned and disassembled. Drugs may be used to affect the Initiate's psychological state. The resulting stress causes the Initiate's body to believe that something is very wrong, causing it to enter a state of flux, the genetic structure becoming unstable and preparing to regenerate. The aim of the game is to remain in this state of flux for as long as possible, balanced "between bodies". This generates an unusual rapport between the Time Lord's conscious mind and the genetic data programmed into his body, and for a few brief moments the Time Lord will glimpse his biological destiny, seeing glimpses of his own future regenerations. Gustous Thripsted summarizes this by stating that Eighth Man Bound is a game of exploration, in which the Time Lord - deprived of his original identity - goes in search of the alternative identities that he may one day possess. Risks associated with Eight Man Bound include triggering an actual regeneration, or remaining in flux for too long so that his identity is permanently lost and his body tries to rebuild itself randomly causing a lethal genetic spasm. Students of the Arcalian Chapter in honour of one of their number who managed to "fake" his first six regenerations, thus discovering the nature of his first seven bodies, a record that has never been broken, coined the actual name Eighth Man Bound. Rumour has it that a member of the Prydonian Chapter [the Doctor] managed to equal this record, but he denies having ever played a game as irresponsible and reckless as Eighth Man Bound. His contemporaries apparently claim that he wouldn't have been able to resist the temptation however, since curiosity has always been his downfall.

The influence of the Carnival Queen causes the Lady President [Romana] to suffer an epileptic fit, during which she signs a release order for three hundred prisoners from Shada, including Grandfather Paradox, "the voodoo priest of the House of Lungbarrow" [see Alien Bodies, Interference, The Ancestor Cell]. Time Lord criminals are given dragon tattoos [thus explaining the exiled Third Doctor's tattoo].

The Doctor has taken to carrying a walking-cane, in an attempt to "wean himself off" his umbrella. His pockets contain pebbles, credit-chips, oilcans and Sidelian memory-bubbles (The Face of Evil). He curses on a bizarre alien language that makes extensive use of the letter X (possibly Miasimian). He again uses the alias Smith, but is concerned that is becoming dangerously close to being his real name and is considering changing it. Professor Hulot of the New Orleans diocese of the Shadow Directory hypothesizes that certain astral personages exist in more than three dimensions, and that their influences affect meta-space, resulting in seeming coincidences that allow them to make easy escapes (see Sky Pirates! - this suggests that the Doctor has an effect on reality wherever he goes). The Doctor suspects that he has infected previous companions with Time Lord genetic material, which has spread throughout the human race (he cites Jo, Benny, Chris, Timothy Dean (Human Nature (book)), and Ancelyn (Battlefield) as particular examples). The Doctor's neural processes are tuned to a human frequency of thought, which means that he has human pain perception. When performing Venusian Aikido, his left arm has to do the work of two limbs, to account for the fact that the Venusians have one more than he does.

Chris once spent six hours in the TARDIS' wardrobe trying on every pair of the Doctor's sunglasses until he found "the neatest" pair. As a child he watched simcord holo-vids of EarthDoom XV from behind the sofa. His parents took him to visit the EarthDoomWorld exhibit on Overcity Three-Point-One, where he was thrown out by guides in unconvincing Star Patrol uniforms because he'd refused to find the animatronic alien monsters frightening. The TARDIS Cloisters usually remind Chris of the Initiation Quadrangle on Ponten IV (Original Sin). Chris's Dad's name is Volsted Kornbluth Cwej. Cwej's have served in the Oberon Lodge of Adjudicators for generations. When Chris was training with the Adjudicators, he did an off-world tour of duty and visited the planet Jallafillia, run by the Church of Saint Thoth. The Church killed children with red hair, claiming that it was the mark of the Evil One. Due to a clause in the Colonies Cultural Identities Act, the Adjudicators were powerless to intervene. As part of their training, young Adjudicators-to-be were shut in an interrogation room with a training robot and told to get a confession out of it; they were forbidden from beating it unless absolutely necessary. Under the Carnival Queen's influence, Chris gives birth to a gynoid. To choose between cacophony and reason, Chris is forced the answer the question of which he trusts more, the Carnival Queen or the Doctor. He chooses the Doctor, but partly because of a false memory implanted by the TARDIS, which wants to preserve the rational universe.

Trapped in New York State in December 1799, Roz poses as a "witch-woman" fortune teller. Amongst her customers is one Samuel Lincoln, whom she mistakenly believes to be the father of Abraham Lincoln; in order to let the Doctor know where she is so that he can rescue her, she decides to assassinate Samuel, thus altering history and thereby attracting the Doctor's attention. Roz has a wealthy sister (see So Vile a Sin). Faced with the Doctor's anger at her actions, she furiously tells him exactly what life is like for a black woman living in America in 1799. Roz used to call herself Roslyn Sarah Forrester, so that she didn't have to explain what Inyathi means. The Doctor's amaranth grows a new Roz from Roz's ID implant, which contains genetic data, personality matrices and Adjudication codes. This other Roz carries a flenser and slither-caps. The main Roz kills her. Criminals about to be executed by the Adjudicators are given a standard six-second opportunity for prayer and reflection. Roz recalls a training course on Ponten Luna Sierra.

The TARDIS food machine moves about the corridors. The TARDIS contains a piece of software created by Kamelion (or by the Doctor for Kamelion's use), which provides an interface between the TARDIS and its occupants, since most occupants are unable to communicate directly with the ship. The interface manifests itself as a pair of lips in a roundel, with eyes in other roundels. It suspects that the Doctor doesn't know that it still exists, probably having assumed that it would cease to function once Kamelion "departed". It creates a more human personality for itself based on the TARDIS' observations of previous TARDIS occupants; these include , from which learns about manipulation. The Doctor deactivates it using priority deactivation code Theta-Sigma-74384338. Furniture in the TARDIS at this time includes the hat-stand, a Louis XV chair, and a tea chest. The TARDIS contains a wood-paneled planetarium, showing fourteen planets revolving around a sun (Earth's solar system, including Mondas, Planet 5, Cassius and Planet 14). There are two shopping trolleys in the Cloisters. The TARDIS contains an Eighth Door section, which Chris accidentally turns inside out and pushes into Hilbert-space. Chris's tampering with the TARDIS architecture causes the TARDIS to become de-rationalized. The core systems of the TARDIS intelligence are protected by teleplasmic minefields and contain several sub-intelligences. The TARDIS has a function to prevent it from materializing in the path of a volcano or aeroplane. The TARDIS is telepathic, allowing uses to find any book they want. The TARDIS library is currently a corridor. The TARDIS library's copy of A Passage to India contains a metadimensional passage on each page, each leading to different location in the TARDIS. The TARDIS plants a memory in Chris's mind, to make him choose reason over cacophony, much to the Doctor's anger.

The Shadow Directory is a secretive eighteenth-century organization that investigates paranormal phenomenon. The Directory, an organization that took over the running of France after the Revolution, created it in 1794. A Time Lord was present when the Shadow Directory was created. Love-Lies-Bleeding is a Directory code meaning that a situation has gotten out of hand.

The Vatican's secret treasures include the Library of St. John the Beheaded in London, the living specimens of the Crow Gallery in South Africa, and the Collection of Necessary Secrets in New York.

According to some legends, when a child of the Age of Reason dies, her guilty spirit can become lost in Null-Space (The Ghost of N-Space), where its phobias and anxieties feed on less vindictive spirits. These spirits may eventually grow into Eternals (Enlightenment).

Genetic tests were run on Daleks after their "War of Sharpened Hearts", which revealed that all Daleks are grown from male Kaled tissue.

By 1998, Sarah-Jane Smith is married and has become Sarah-Jane Morley.

Stattenheim and Waldorf knew a great deal about TARDIS configuration, despite being from sixteenth-century Berlin (The Two Doctors).

Links: According to fan rumour, Christmas On a Rational Planet contains references to every Doctor Who television story. It isn't quite true, but it comes close, as the following exhaustive list demonstrates:

100,000 BC
The Daleks There is a reference to the TARDIS' food machine and the Fault Locator.
Inside the Spaceship Chapter 7 is entitled The Edge of Distraction.
Marco Polo The Collection of Necessary Secrets contains the Secret Travelogues of the Khan-Balik Caravan.
The Keys of Marinus There's a mention of the Voord.
The Aztecs Chris say a variant of "we can’t change history. Not one line"
The Sensorites The Doctor has told Roz that he met Henry VIII.
The Reign of Terror The Doctor and Susan's first visit to revolutionary France is described.
Planet of Giants Chris wonders what sort of dimensional imbalance would be caused by the TARDIS doors opening in mid-flight.
The Dalek Invasion of Earth The Carnival Queen mentions Daleks coming out of rivers.
The Rescue The Doctor describes Astra as a "horrible place. Typical twenty-fifth century Earth colony. All pot-plants and air-conditioning."
The Romans Nero is at the Doctor's inquiry.
The Web Planet Chris discovers the Doctor's enormous collection of mounted insect specimens in the TARDIS.
The Crusade There is a Crusader at the Doctor's inquiry.
The Space Museum Chris wonders if the TARDIS has skipped a time-track.
The Chase
The Time Meddler The Collection of Necessary Secrets contains a "Clockwork Fantastique", found in the ruins of an eleventh-century village (the Monk's wristwatch).
Galaxy Four Drahvins are mentioned.
Mission to the Unknown
The Myth Makers There is a reference to King Priam.
The Daleks' Master Plan The Doctor mentions the deaths of Katarina and Sara. The Carnival Queen mentions Daleks burning down jungles. She utters the immortal line "And a Merry Christmas to all of you at home".
The Massacre The Collection of Necessary Secrets contains the only surviving copy of Charles Preslin's On Co-incidence as a Disease.
The Ark Roz's glimpse of the future shows her the Ark and its Monoid slaves.
The Celestial Toymaker
The Gunfighters There is a Doc Holliday pastiche on page 225.
The Savages The Carnival Queen calls the Doctor the Traveller From Beyond Time.
The War Machines In a metaphysical and rather tacky Hell, the Doctor compares the Inferno to a bad nightclub.
The Smugglers A sea Captain named Longfoot appears, probably Joseph Longfoot's father.
The Tenth Planet The TARDIS' planetarium shows a fourteen-planet system, which is probably Earth's solar system, including Mondas.
The Power of the Daleks There is a flashback to the first scene in the TARDIS, after the Doctor's regeneration.
The Highlanders Jake McCrimmon is a descendent of Jamie.
The Underwater Menace In the information that it requests from the Matrix, the interface sees a group of humans with the corpse of something half-human, half-piscine (a fish person). The Carnival Queen utters the immortal phrase, "Nothing in the world can stop me know!"
The Moonbase The Doctor recalls the Cybermen's susceptibility to chemical cocktails.
The Macra Terror Listing past opponents, the Doctor mentions world-conquering crabs (Macra).
The Faceless Ones
The Evil of the Daleks There is a reference to using mirrors and electricity to make a time machine.
The Tomb of the Cybermen There is a reference to the cryogenic tombs on Telos.
The Abominable Snowmen There is a reference to the Holy Ghanta. The Great Intelligence is mentioned.
The Ice Warriors The Martians are mentioned.
The Enemy of the World The man seen in the Vortex by Duquesne is probably Salamander.
The Web of Fear An extract from The Zen Military - A History of UNIT, mentions the "London Underground" episode.
Fury from the Deep Reflecting on the various monster legends of Loch Ness, Chris recalls a legend of a primeval weed-monster from the time of the Dinosaurs.
The Wheel in Space The Doctor's pseudonym of John Smith is used, and it was first used here.
The Dominators The Quarks are mentioned.
The Mind Robber The Doctor has told Roz about meeting Cyrano de Bergerac. Chris refers to the emergency device that can remove the TARDIS from time and space.
The Invasion An extract from The Zen Military - A History of UNIT, mentions the Cybermen landing. The TARDIS' planetarium shows a fourteen-planet system, which is probably Earth's solar system, including Planet 14.
The Krotons
The Space Pirates Mention is made of men with cowboy moustaches and stupid accents pushing the frontier out into space.
The War Games There is a reference to the unusual circumstances surrounding the Doctor's second regeneration.
Spearhead from Space The Doctor mentions his dragon tattoo.
The Silurians
The Ambassadors of Death The Wakefield Affair could be an obscure reference to TV reporter John Wakefield from this story.
Inferno There is a reference to lava and mucus bubbling up through the Earth's crust, the planet dying by fire over and over.
Terror of the Autons The Lamerdines are mentioned.
The Mind of Evil The Doctor quips about having his negative impulses sucked out by an alien mind parasite.
The Claws of Axos Duquesne sees creatures trapped in time loops in the Vortex.
Colony in Space
The Dæmons Duquesne once witnessed the witches of Europe summoning the Goat of Mendes (probably a Dæmon). The Doctor mentions Devil's End.
Day of the Daleks The Carnival Queen mentions Daleks from parallel universes.
The Curse of Peladon Alpha Centauri is mentioned.
The Sea Devils The Collection of Necessary Secrets contains the corpse of a being halfway between man and fish. The Carnival Queen sarcastically suggests that the Doctor reverse the polarity of the neutron flow.
The Mutants Solos is mentioned.
The Time Monster There is a reference to the Hellenic Atlanteans and Chronovores.
The Three Doctors There is a reference to Omega.
Carnival of Monsters
Frontier in Space A Draconian is mentioned.
Planet of the Daleks The Carnival Queen mentions invisible Daleks.
The Green Death
The Time Warrior
Invasion of the Dinosaurs The Collection of Necessary Secrets contains the skeleton of a man discovered side-by-side with the Dinosaurs (Grover or Whitaker).
Death to the Daleks There is a reference to the Architects of Peru, who are of course the Exxilons.
The Monster of Peladon Sarah-Jane's line "There's nothing "only" about being a girl" is quoted.
Planet of the Spiders The IRIS machine is mentioned.
Robot
The Ark in Space The Doctor implies that he knows Madame Nostradamus, said to have knitted his scarf in this story.
The Sontaran Experiment Chris finds a stripped down terrulian diode-charger in the TARDIS.
Genesis of the Daleks There is a reference to Davros' experiments on the Kaleds.
Revenge of the Cybermen The Doctor recalls the Cybermen's susceptibility to gold.
Terror of the Zygons Loch Ness is said to have been home to a thousand different monsters, including of course the Skarasen.
Planet of Evil
The Pyramids of Mars
The Android Invasion The Doctor is tied to a stake by two figures in astronaut suits.
The Brain of Morbius Morbius is mentioned
The Seeds of Doom
The Masque of Mandragora Chris briefly reflects that Time Lord technology allows them to speak any language.
The Hand of Fear The trachoid crystal is mentioned.
The Deadly Assassin There is a reference to the TARDIS' "artronics" (from artron energy) and the Eye of Harmony.
The Face of Wvil The Doctor's pockets contain Sidelian memory-bubbles (he used Sidelian memory transfer to repair Xoanon).
The Robots of Death
The Talons of Weng Chiang There is a reference to Reykjavik and World War VI.
Horror of Fang Rock Listing past opponents, the Doctor mentions militant jellyfish (Rutans).
The Invisible Enemy Listing past opponents, the Doctor mentions insane giant prawns (the Nucleus).
Image of the Fendahl The Collection of Necessary Secrets contains the witch-skulls of Peking, which have a perfect pentagram burned into the forehead. The TARDIS' planetarium shows a fourteen-planet system, which is probably Earth's solar system, including Planet 5. Duquesne sees planets trapped in Time Loops in the Vortex.
The Sun Makers The novel opens with an exert from Genetic Politics Beyond the Third Zone by Gustous Thripsted, mentioned in The Sunmakers. The TARDIS' planetarium shows a fourteen-planet system, which is probably Earth's solar system, including Cassius.
Underworld Once the Time Lords imposed rationality on the universe, the heliomancers of Minyos were cast out of society.
The Invasion of Time Duquesne sees planets trapped in Time Loops in the Vortex [see also No Future]. The demat gun is mentioned.
The Ribos Operation Ponten Luna Sierra may be something to do with Ponten, the planet that makes battleships.
The Pirate Planet The Doctor mentions the synchronic feedback circuit.
The Stones of Blood
The Androids of Tara There is a reference to the Great Beast of Tara.
The Power of Kroll Listing past opponents, the Doctor mentions octopi with delusions of godhood (Kroll).
The Armageddon Factor There is a reference to the Doctor's nickname of Theta Sigma.
Destiny of the Daleks There is a reference to Time Lords from the "newblood" houses finding regeneration as trivial as a change of fashion, a reference to Romana's regeneration.
City of Death The Collection of Necessary Secrets contains a set of Egyptian manuscripts, describing a world built by one-eyed supernatural horrors and discovered by Count Scarlath (one of Scaroth's splinters).
Creature from the Pit
Nightmare of Eden There is a reference to Vraxoin.
The Horns of Nimon
Shada Shada is mentioned
The Leisure Hive There is a reference to the Argolin holiday complex.
Meglos There is a reference to the Prion system.
Full Circle The Carnival Queen mentions Normal-Space.
State of Decay There is a reference to the data core.
Warriors Gate Duquesne is asked if she is a time-sensitive.
The Keeper of Traken There is a reference to the Doctor's Time Logs.
Logopolis The Cloisters appear.
K9 and Company There is a reference to the Cult of Hecate.
Castrovalva There is a reference to the data banks.
Four to Doomsday
Kinda As the forces of Cacophony affect the world, the phrase "thewheelgoeson turning" is heard.
The Visitation The Shadow Directory discovered the technological leftovers from this story, including the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, from which Raphael's scalpel was constructed.
Black Orchid There is a copy of Black Orchid 2; This Time It's Personal in the TARDIS.
Earthshock There is a reference to a great fire from Heaven, which wiped out the dinosaurs. Adric's death is mentioned.
Time Flight
Arc of Infinity
Snakedance The Witches of Enderheid lived on the fringes of the Scrampus system, the location of Manussa.
Mawdryn Undead
Terminus
Enlightenment The Eternals are mentioned.
The Kings Demons The room containing items for men and women, plus a computer interface capable of connecting to the TARDIS, is Kamelion's.
The Five Doctors There are references to Rassilon.
Warriors of the Deep There is a reference to two power blocs in the future.
The Awakening Duquesne has visited the church at Little Hodcombe, rumoured to be haunted.
Frontios The Doctor has told Chris that extreme gravitational disturbances could make parts of the TARDIS break up.
Resurrection of the Daleks The Carnival Queen mentions Daleks being pushed out of windows.
Planet of Fire Roz has a vision of Kamelion's death.
The Caves of Androzani
The Twin Dilemma The TARDIS wardrobe is mentioned
Attack of the Cybermen There is a reference to Riften-5, Lytton's home planet.
Vengeance on Varos
The Mark of the Rani The Doctor curses in Miasimian.
The Two Doctors There is a reference to the Stattenheim-Waldorf principle.
Timelash Loch Ness is said to have been home to a thousand different monsters, including of course the Borad.
Revelation of the Daleks There is a reference to the Oberon Lodge of the Adjudicators (see Lucifer Rising).
The Mysterious Planet The Valeyard is mentioned.
Mindwarp Once the Time Lords imposed rationality on the universe, the Witches of Enderheid (mentioned by the Doctor during his trial) were tried, sentenced and burned at the stake.
Terror of the Vervoids There is a reference to Mogar.
The Ultimate Foe There is a reference to particle dissemination.
Time and the Rani
Paradise Towers The Doctor tells Catcher that he has never got on with Great Architects.
Delta and the Bannermen
Dragonfire There is a reference to bio-machines being made to look like dragons.
Remembrance of the Daleks An extract from The Zen Military - A History of UNIT, mentions the Shoreditch Incident of 1963.
The Happiness Patrol Listing past opponents, the Doctor mentions killer confectionery (the Kandyman).
Silver Nemesis
The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
Battlefield There is a reference to Ancelyn and Merlin.
Ghost Light
The Curse of Fenric There is a reference to the Viking legend of the blood-of-the-wolf, a curse handed down through generations.
Survival
The TV Movie In a bottle in the TARDIS, Chris sees the Doctor running around San Francisco [see Interference, Dead Romance].

In addition, there is a reference to PROBE (The Devil of Winterbourne, Unnatural Selection, The Ghosts of Winterbourne). The Doctor performs some Venusian Aikido. Roz sees a version of Kennedy's assassination, noticing a man in a Monk's habit on the grassy knoll [presumably meant to be the Meddling Monk, which contradicts Who Killed Kennedy]. Ace is mentioned.

There are references to several Missing Adventures and New Adventures. The Doctor recalls denouncing magic on Avalon. (The Sorcerer's Apprentice), the five-limbed Venusians are mentioned (Venusian Lullaby), and there is a reference to Null-Space (The Ghost of N-Space). Duquesne sees a snake-like creature in the Vortex, possibly the Timewyrm (Timewyrm: Genesys). The Looms are mentioned (Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible). Justine is mentioned, as is her belief that the Doctor is an all-powerful sorcerer (Cat's Cradle: Warhead). The Silver cat appears, but vanishes when Wolsey tries to sniff its arse (Cat's Cradle: Witch Mark). The Collection of Necessary Secrets contains an ancient parchment depicting Shango the Lightening God, a myth inspired by the Doctor (Transit). The Chelonians are mentioned (The Highest Science). There is a reference to Abslom Daak (who is described as fictional) and the huge intelligence trapped in a cube in the Vortex is probably Pool (Deceit). There is a reference to Pakha (Legacy). The Library of St. John the Beheaded is mentioned (All-Consuming Fire). Wolsey appears and there are references to Dr. John Smith and Timothy Dean (Human Nature (book)). The Carnival Queen mentions Zebulon Pryce (Original Sin). The Charon is mentioned (Sky Pirates!). Chris remembers Detrios (Head Games). Tsuro the Hare is mentioned (The Also People). Roz recalls her last visit to America, early in the twenty-first century (Warchild). There is a reference to the TARDIS leaving Mars (Godengine).

Location: Arizona, 2012; Woodwicke in New York State, 1799.

Future History: K. S. Lethbridge-Stewart writes The Zen Military - A History of UNIT in 2006, but it is never published.

There is a Disneyworld in Roz's home time and New Eskimo Alliance. The Empire terraforms Mogar (Trial of a Time Lord episodes 9 to 12, Murtaugh (Original Sin), and the planets of the Prion system, Zolpha Thurra and Tigella (Meglos). Fraudroids, built to mimic human speech and movement, are illegal. My First Blaster, a low-intensity weapon for children, was popular the year before Roz left her own time. The presence of an ID implant in the anatomy of an imperial citizen is mandatory under the Sixteenth Criminal Justice Empowerment, except in those cases outlined in the Corporate Faiths Amendment of 2939.

Unrecorded Adventures: After leaving Mars, the Doctor decides to investigate the origin of the events on Yemaya and makes numerous journeys visiting séances and black magicians. He has an audience with Madame Blavatsky and searches Nostradamus' drawers whilst he is out.

The Doctor and Susan's first visit to Revolutionary France is described; the TARDIS appeared as metal box, and then changed its shape into that of a wooden barricade. The Doctor was interviewed by several of Robespierre's agents, and transcripts of these interviews fell into the hands of the Shadow Directory. Professor Hulot noted that the transcripts of full of pointless witticisms and atrocious puns, one of which referred to an egg-shell; Hulot notes that mere hours afterwards, the Doctor and Susan escaped from a Parisian military post using explosives from an artillery shell that had accidentally been left in a dark corner of the building. Hulot suggests that the Doctor's puns were actually parts of complex equations that affected events beyond human perception, resulting in the extraordinary stroke of luck of an artillery shell just lying around...

The Doctor once spent twenty-six years putting the books in the TARDIS library into alphabetical order.

The Fifth Doctor visited the vid-archives on Riften-5 [explaining how the Doctor knows Lytton in Attack of the Cybermen despite not meeting him in Resurrection of the Daleks]. The Banjaxi are a race known for making robots (as are the Lamerdines - see Terror of the Autons).

The Bottom Line: Witty, bizarre and overflowing with ideas, Christmas On a Rational Planet is complex but rewarding. It's probably the most impressive debut of any Doctor Who author, and contains numerous mind-boggling additions to Time Lord mythology.

Discontinuity Guide by Paul Clarke

Feel free to Contact Us if you have any questions about the site, or any technical problems with it. You may also want to check out our Privacy Policy. There is also an About Us page, if you really want to read one.

Comments

This book got off to a rocky start with me by having the Doctor state evolution gave men and women of all humanoid species totally different psychologies, that men are ordered and planning while women are adaptable and accepting. Miles has the Doctor seem to have trouble accepting this even as he says this, but it feels out of place for the Seventh Doctor to begin with. It's one thing to have the Renewal Society think like this; that was an uglier side to the Age of Reason. I can even accept this as part of Time Lord society, building on the revelations of Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible although it wouldn't be a direction I would want to take the Time Lords in. The Doctor though? No, and the theme just kept on going with the Carnival Queen's claims that the universe really did operate like that.

The book had imaginative moments like Interface manifesting in the TARDIS walls, the Renewalists being dupes for the ultimate irrationality, Roz's reckless attempt to get the Doctor's attention (and being very wrong about it) and the nightmarish beings that rise by the end. Christmas On a Rational Planet will never be one of my favourites though.

The list of references is definitely not complete.

You have nothing for Marinus, but the Voord are mentioned.

You have nothing for Aztecs, but Chris says ‘... we can’t change history. Not one line, apparently. I mean, maybe the odd word or two. I don’t know.’

I’m sure there are more; those are just the first two blanks in your table. I don’t think the rumout about every story is true, but it’s closer than you’re giving credit for.

I guess it was inevitable that we'd miss some of those references, thanks for filling in some of the blanks. They're now added in.

Add new comment

Comment

  • Allowed HTML tags: <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.