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Roots: There are references to the Wright Brothers, Sherlock Holmes, and Charles Dickens.

Dialogue Triumphs: "I have a comrade who tells me that once one has eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbably, must also be eliminated."

"Retreat at once, wood-pulp scum!"

Continuity: Milton is a humanoid alien criminal who is wanted by the Shadow Proclamation. He specialises in developing weapons based on genetic enhancement.
Marlowe Hapworth is acquainted with Madame Vastra, who has called on his learning and knowledge in the past. Vastra, Jenny and Strax investigated a haunted house the previous month.

The Doctor eats a baked potato here. He uses the alias Doctor John Smith again. He, Clara and Strax drink beer.

Clara eats roast chestnuts at the Frost Fair. She later eats tea cakes with Oswald. She gets various cuts and scratches from the paper birds, which Strax treats with antiseptic wipes.

Links: Strax notes that he has fought against Headless Monks (A Good Man Goes to War). The Doctor notes that he has met King Arthur (Battlefield). When he sees a mermaid in the Carnival of Curiosities, he notes that the skin is the wrong colour and the fins are the wrong shape ([bf]Cryptobiosis[/b]). Strax notes that hostile snowflakes are not unknown (The Snowmen, Time and Relative). Milton's ship is armed with distronic missiles (Genesis of the Daleks).

Location: London, January [1889].

Unrecorded Adventures: When he first met King Arthur, the Doctor removed the sword from the stone and was King of England for a day before abdicating in Arthur's favour.

The Bottom Line: "Weapons do terrible things. That is rather the point of them." Workmanlike, but entertaining enough. Milton isn't an especially memorable villain, although his weaponised human servants are well-written and Richards always writes well for Vastra, Jenny and Strax. The Twelfth Doctor and Clara are also captured well, and the Victorian London setting is as atmospheric as usual.

Discontinuity Guide by Paul Clarke

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Comments

What about the fact that according to S10 Thin Ice (and history but that's irrelevant) the Last great frost fair in in 1814? How did they go to the frost fair? Are we sure this story is set during the 1890s? Is the frost fair in this story unofficial? Seems like Justin Richards didn't research the Frost fair enough before writing his story

Thin Ice has 1814 as the last great frost fair, but that doesn't necessarily mean that there can't be ater frost fairs that aren't great. That's probably the best way of reconciling the two stories. But good spot on the apparent contradiction.

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