Well, this wasn't the awful novel I was expecting. A bit simplistic at times, but okay. There were, however a bit too many heads being blown off.

Peel was grimly determined to to tie previous Who stories together (we now know what happened to the Master between "Frontier in Space" and "The Deadly Assassins"), no matter what.

A few nits:

I thought the Daleks of TDIOE wanted to turn the Earth into a space-going ship, not use its core as material for a matter-transmitter.

Why does the Master's Tissue Compression Eliminator work on the Dalek's shell?

The Master doesn't recognize Susan as a Time Lord; does this mean the ability for TLs to recognize one another is a conscious effort?

The biggest nit: David and Susan's motivation depend on the fact that she still looks 18 after 30 years. Yet in "The Five Doctors", which this novel states took place earlier, Susan most definitely does not look 18.

Where did all the Robomen come from? By the end of the novel, the Daleks had hundreds of them.

I never understood why the Doctor thought Sam would be on 22nd century Earth. I know it didn't hurt to ask, but it sure seems like a longshot.

Apparently this was supposed to be a Third Doctor story (hence the Delgado Master) so when it changed to Eighth they had give a reason for him going to Earth when he should have been searching for Sam...so they came up with this rather flimsy 'But he IS searching for Sam!' excuse.

I don't see why the tissue compression eliminator shouldn't work on a Dalek shell - it worked on those spacesuits in Planet of Fire.

Btw, it's a matter transmuter, not a matter transmitter. Though either way, it definitely doesn't fit in with Dalek Invasion of Earth.

God, it's annoying having a main character called Donna. There's only ONE Donna in the universe as far as I'm concerned.

So the kittens are all OK? Despite the fact Becky was racing along with them stuffed down her sweater when she FELL OVER?

'It was everyday life that had now become a horror to her' - yeah, how terrible it must be NOT growing old and wrinkled and pain-filled...my heart BLEEDS for Susan. Imagine having thirty years having the desires of a teenager...how she and her loving husband must suffer!

God, what an awful attempt to portray the marriage:

SUSAN: I love you!
DAVID: I love you too!
SUSAN: I love you AND I love looking at you!
DAVID: I love you AND I love looking at you too!
SUSAN: Yes, I love you!
DAVID: If you loved me you'd come out to dinner with the neighbours! I HATE YOU!!!!

OK, so this DOES come up with an explanation for why Susan looks so much older in Five Docs - wig and ageing make-up (no, really), but that still begs the question of WHY anyone would want to write an entire book about Susan's post-Dalek Invasion life based entirely around strenuously contradicting the ONE thing we KNOW about it - that she GETS OLDER.

'She loved David, and watching him deteriorate for the next ten or twenty or however many years he had left would be torture beyond endurance' - jeez, to think I felt the Doctor's 'humans DECAY!' speech in School Reunion was unnecessarily overwrought.

'In thirty years, she'd never even seen him' - well, as Sarah also seems to have forgotten Five Docs, I can't complain too much if Rassilon wiped Susan's memory (or something).

Bit of a waste of time and technology to have vid-phones in a post-apocalyptic 'civilisation'.

'He hurt. He hadn't felt this alone since his decision to leave Gallifrey...The decision to flee had been so hard...' Oh, come off it. Only GOOD authors should even THINK about tackling an introspective Doctor.

'Wasn't the first sign of dementia talking to oneself?' - yeah, right, like ANY Doctor is worried about talking to himself, let alone the Eighth one...

So instead of following Susan's ship, the Doctor just decides to nip back in time to prevent whatever caused her to be so upset in the first place? Cos what's the big deal about tweaking the laws of time, he'd just get a slap on the wrist the next time he went to Gallifrey...Which bit of BEING A TIME LORD is he just not getting, here?

And why the hell doesn't he do a systematic search for Sam, a la Seeing I, instead of just crazily assuming she might have headed for a semi-destroyed Earth for no readily apparent reason - especially as he obviously has no idea if the dates match up to when he lost her ('She might look slightly older - or even a lot older, I suppose').

Anyone any idea when Longest Day, Dreamstone Moon or Seeing I are set? Cos if they're NOT set 30 years after the Dalek Invasion of Earth, the Doctor's little trip makes even LESS sense.

'Only renegades made a habit of picking up people from one world and transporting them to another.' - I'm not sure most renegades bothered with that sort of thing. Except the Doc and the War Chief, anyway.

The TARDIS does NOT sound like 'an angry animal, howling and screaming', thank you very much.

'Refreshing to know your order accept women members' - condescending git. How DARE he automatically assume this society is sexist? (Well, alright, it was sexist as hell thirty years earlier...)

Ooh, look, it's Craddock!! Hang on...which one was Craddock, anyway? Didn't he get turned into a Roboman or throttled by his brother or something?

The paranoid tyrant isn't suspicious about the Master handing over EIGHT Dalek guns and promising the rest AFTER the war starts...?

'All Dalek weapons were destroyed after the war' - that's funny, cos you TOLD us Dalek Artefacts just tended to be locked up.

'Didn't the colony worlds offer to help' 'Certainly. But they were refused. Doctor, this is our home. We don't need anybody's help to rebuild it' - well, if you're prancing round in shining armour in the twenty-second century, you obviously DO need help. And I can't believe people would put pride before the lives of their children. Why the hell SHOULDN'T the high-tech colony worlds who owed everything to Earth chip in to get it back on its feet after a Dalek invasion?

The Doctor doesn't insist on helping if he's not wanted?! Since when??!!

Why such desperation to get the population back up? A tenth of its previous level sounds nice and sustainable. It's not as if you've got the technology needed to support billions of people anyway.

'It's nothing to do with me. This isn't my fight. I just want to say hello to my granddaughter' - who are you and what have you done with the REAL Doctor?

'"Lemmings," said the Doctor with the faintest trace of a sneer on his face' - I'm starting to wonder if this was originally planned for HARTNELL rather than Pertwee...

'"Nobility?" the Doctor laughed hollowly. "I don't suppose any of them can trace their pedigrees back more than a couple of generations...The biggest thieves and crooks rose to power, no doubt, as is always the case"' - Blimey, could he BE more of a snob? And he was in a better temper straight after the Time War. How come temporarily mislaying Sam Jones has turned the Doc so bitter and twisted?

'I always have a problem with authority figures' - well, unless they've got a royal pedigree of course, in which case you're thrilled to be grovelling in front of 'em saying 'My life at your command.'

Why does the Doctor keep prying into Donna's private life? Why does he (incorrectly!) accuse Lord London of provoking Haldoran's attack?

Barlow's 'entranced' by seeing Dalek weapons mow down innocent men. Given that Dalek weapons are supposed to be utterly taboo, and that every life on this (allegedly) grossly underpopulated planet is precious, this doesn't exactly bode well for this book's conclusion that he's actually a bit of a hero.

'[The Master's TARDIS] was almost soundless, as it was supposed to be' - alright, we all know NOW that the Doc accidentally leaves his handbrake on, but was Delgado's TARDIS soundless on TV?

'Was it even a Time Lord?' Susan wonders, cos the bloke emerging from a TARDIS was 'cold and self-contained' - surely that should make him MORE likely to be a Time Lord, not less? And why isn't Susan remotely worried that he's come to put her on trial for nicking a TARDIS and interfering and suchlike? Especially as she bizarrely doesn't seem to have grasped the concept of Time Lord Renegades that aren't herself or her granddad.

So how come the Doc's 'almost dry' in the pouring rain? That's not a gift he was displaying in, say, Journey's End.

Oh look! The Doctor has FINALLY asked how Susan is! Don't STRAIN yourself, Sunshine!

'We age at a vastly slower rate than humans' - except for the Tenth Doctor, who seemed to age ten years in his pitiful five years of life.

'She's not going to get wrinkly and grey - and David is.' 'It's an unpleasant problem. But it's one that my family seems prone to.' 'Got a genetic weakness for humans?' - is THIS the closest the EDAs EVER came to addressing the unaddressable, viz, 'I'm half-human, on my mother's side'??

'Unlike my people. We live so long that everything takes longer with us. Getting a waiter's attention in a restaurant can take about a week' - I find that difficult to believe. (Actually, I find it difficult to believe that Gallifrey has restaurants, notwithstanding The Eight Doctors helpfully providing Gallifrey with PUBS.)

'A small predator that she couldn't identify, but probably a Dalek rat' - a WHAT?

To be continued...

I'm not sure most renegades bothered with that sort of thing. Except the Doc and the War Chief, anyway.

The Rani did collect a bunch of geniuses for her giant brain project, and the Corsair does sound like the sort of hearty bloke who'd go round picking up women.

And why isn't Susan remotely worried that he's come to put her on trial for nicking a TARDIS and interfering and suchlike?

Maybe she's below the age of criminal responsibility, especially if she really is as old as she looks. Of course, the Doctor would face the full weight of Gallifreyan law, but she's only a teenager; she can't be expected to think of everything.

'A small predator that she couldn't identify, but probably a Dalek rat' - a WHAT?

It could mean Skaro's equivalent of a rat but I really can't see the Dalek saucers being infested with vermin, the way human ships were. Either they deliberately imported Skaroan rats for use in some evil scheme, or they experimented with robotising Terran rats - like cybermats, but better.

The Rani did collect a bunch of geniuses for her giant brain project

Ah. Yes. I'd managed to blank that out.

and the Corsair does sound like the sort of hearty bloke who'd go round picking up women.

You can't just generalise about him like that! Especially when he's a she a lot of the time! Hang on...*Whips out The Brilliant Book of Doctor Who 2012*

Hmm, the evidence is conflicting. On the one hand, Number 8 of Eleven Fantastic Facts About The Doctor's Very Naughty Time Lord Friend says 'He or she smiled the kind of smile that made the person being smiled at want to...run off with him or her...Sometimes people did'. On the other hand, Numnber 9 says 'The Corsair liked having a cat and, sometimes, a parrot aboard his TARDIS. He never had a companion, however, preferring to travel alone' (well, HOW CAN S/HE BE ALONE IF S/HE'S GOT A CAT YOU MORON???)

Maybe she's below the age of criminal responsibility

Oh, like the Time Lords would let a little thing like THAT stop 'em! Look at the way they're always trying to VAPORISE the Doctor, even on the rare occasions they actually KNOW he's entirely innocent!

Either they deliberately imported Skaroan rats for use in some evil scheme, or they experimented with robotising Terran rats - like cybermats, but better.

There's NO SUCH THING as better than a Cybermat! They're ADORABLE! (Obviously I'm talking Closing Time and Tomb here, not those enormous travesties in Revenge.) And if Daleks HAD had their own Cybermat-type things we'd've SEEN 'em by now. We've seen an awful lot of Dalek history, from their humble beginnings to their (repeated-numerous-times) final end.

Oh, like the Time Lords would let a little thing like THAT stop 'em!

True, but Susan is young. She might well believe she'd get off lightly because of her age, even if she actually wouldn't.

There's NO SUCH THING as better than a Cybermat! They're ADORABLE!

Better in Dalek eyes. They don't care how cute it is, only how deadly.

She might well believe she'd get off lightly because of her age, even if she actually wouldn't.

Though, funnily enough, on those rare occasions 'going home' comes up, Susan looks WAY more freaked-out at the prospect than the Doctor does...

Interesting that she isn't even MENTIONED at the Doctor's trial, isn't it. She must be considered responsible for her own actions or 'kidnapping a minor' would have turned up on the Doctor's charge-sheet, and yet he isn't even ASKED where his fellow-criminal has got to...

'All of the Daleks on Earth had been destroyed' - yeah, and since you're writing this sequel maybe you'd like to elaborate on HOW?

'His entire purpose in life had been decimated' *sigh* How many people, in those pre-Sound of Drums days, just didn't GET the word 'decimate'...?

Bit stupid to try to set Barlow and Craddock against each other by sending spies pretending to be from each other to each other's offices SIMULTANEOUSLY. Bit of a give-away.

'Doctor, he's going to destroy my spirit! I could never live through what he'll subject me to. That's why you have to kill me first!' - oh puh-lease. Like anyone talks like THAT. Why the hell can't Donna just top herself, anyway?

'I seem to have done something naughty. My people usually have a law that we must meet each other in a linear progression along our relative time-streams. But I've slipped back in regards to the Master - I've met him in two and a half bodies since this one' - the Doctor considerately explains to DONNA.

That's a rather over-elaborate plan the Daleks have just in case they're defeated. Especially as these guys have serious trouble accepting they can EVER be defeated when the Doc's just buried their army in ice, let alone when they've been successfully running Earth for ten years.

And what a delightful coincidence that BOTH their fiendish plots - hollowing out Earth and creating a matter transmuter - come to fruition at precisely the same moment. And why exactly were they running that particular experiment on that particular conquered world, anyway? And given that the Dalek Supreme/Emperor/Red Dalek/Davros/Whoever the hell was ruling them at the time must have been kept appraised of their progress, why didn't any Daleks even TRY to nip back to a fairly devastated and defenceless Earth to pick up their universe-conquering superweapon?

'Testing can begin within five time units' - alright, so avoiding 'rels' is quite sensible, given their thoroughly contradictory usages, but...TIME UNITS?

Why does Donna get the pick of the SECOND litter of kittens, not the first?

'The Doctor struggled against the natural order of things, his foolish head filled with notions such as compassion, love and pity' - dunno if Docs 1-3 were big on LOVE.

'If these Daleks had access to Skaro Central, they'd be sure to read that the Master had failed the Daleks on his last mission' - er...didn't said mission occur in the twenty-sixth century? Whereas this is the twenty-second?

How exactly was Donna 'betrayed' by Brittany? Donna had a husband who tortured her on a regular basis. Eventually he kicked her out and married Brittany instead. Surely the woman deserves Donna's heartfelt thanks and/or pity?

And wasn't it pretty stupid of Lord Haldoran to hand his wife - and Lord London's daughter - over to his thugs to be tortured anyway?

Barlow and Donna have NEVER HEARD OF ROBOMEN??????????????????????????

'They really didn't have the time or the resources during the invasion to mine and stock enough metals' - yeah, it's not like the Daleks had TEN HAPPY YEARS and billions of slave-labourers to mine all the metals they wanted...OH WAIT! THEY DID!

So small-arms fire doesn't even irritate Daleks? Which bit of AIM FOR THE EYESTALK has the Doctor not quite grasped?

At the beginning of the book, David's offering Susan a divorce - his 'nastiest barb, the one she hated' - and she yells no, yet David then tells the Doctor that 'The last time I saw Susan, she suggested getting a divorce to resolve our age problem'. Lying git. (And what's with the age problem, anyway? Loads of men David's age would be thrilled to trade in their wife for a teenager. He doesn't even have to BOTHER.)

'That's the reason they came to Earth in the first place - they wanted the metal present at its molten core' - since when! Whatever happened to piloting Earth around the galaxy? Has Peel even WATCHED Dalek Invasion of Earth?

The Doctor has extremely acute hearing? Since when?

So a power drain will kill the Daleks permanently? Since when?

If this is the first matter transmuter EVER you'd think it would be big n'bulky - the easily-portable bit could surely wait for a later model?

'Her eyes could see the TT capsule for what it was' - so Susan can instantly recognise a TARDIS (unlike, say, Engin and Spandrell when confronted with the Master's clock) yet she can't recognise a Time Lord?

The Master can hold a pistol, the TCE AND the matter transmuter? How many hands has he GOT?

On a scale of one to a ten, exactly how convincing IS it that David would take multiple bullets for his grandfather-in-law before dying with a noble 'Better this way, perhaps. Now Susan won't have to wait for me to die'?

'There was only darkness and pain crowding his head, now. And fear' - if all this book's pointless brutality against everyone in general and the Doctor in particular is an attempt to do an Interference-style 'the poor bugger wandered into the wrong adventure', it's REALLY falling flat.

'I promise to be merciful and allow you to join [the late lamented David] soon. When I can be bothered' - REALLY bad excuse for not shooting Susan now.

Why does Susan bother hitting the Master with a mental wave when she's got his TCE?

Funny how both the books and audios (Earthly Child, Relative Dimensions, To the Death/Lucie Miller) waited till the Eighth Doctor for a drastically unconvincing reunion with his granddaughter.

So the Doctor just forgets about Sam for days on end? That's not what he said in Seeing I. Likewise for the claim he's got lots of coats just like this one.

Why would the Doc be in a coma for days cos he was shot in the arm?

'She was free again, in all senses of the word. David's death had severed her ties to Earth' - blimey, Susan's certainly taking the Robert Shaw attitude towards adoption. She doesn't give Ian, Barbara or David Junior a single thought...OR the fact that her adopted homeworld of three decades is facing a Dalek resurrection, OR the fact that granddad may be alive or dead...what a •••••. (Of course, it's not like the Doctor does anything about HER. OR the hundreds of Dalek bases we've been informed are just sitting on Earth hibernating...)

'His entire purpose in life had been decimated' *sigh* How many people, in those pre-Sound of Drums days, just didn't GET the word 'decimate'...?

Language shifts, constantly. Disaster and consider literally mean against and with the stars respectively - dis-aster, con-sider - but these days you need not believe in astrology to use them.

That's a rather over-elaborate plan the Daleks have just in case they're defeated. Especially as these guys have serious trouble accepting they can EVER be defeated when the Doc's just buried their army in ice, let alone when they've been successfully running Earth for ten years.

If you believe War of the Daleks, they found records indicating how their future would go, allowing them to ste up a fake Skaro for Davros. Personally, I think that if War happened, the Daleks only thought their grand plan worked, but still it's not impossible that the Daleks could have found out they would fail.

Imagine if they dug Jo's diary out of the ruins of Unit HQ, and read her accounts of her Dalek encounters, taking place after their present, with a clear implication they didn't rule Earth. Setting up elaborate contingency plans isn't completely out of the question.

dunno if Docs 1-3 were big on LOVE.

Not carnal or romantic love, obviously, but One surely had familial love for his granddaughter - shown in his alien way - and all of them loved humans the way we do our cats.

.didn't said mission occur in the twenty-sixth century? Whereas this is the twenty-second?

If they get old of Jo's diary, that's not a problem, though I'm not entirely sure why Skaro central would have that but not the local Dalek command. Besides, weren't the Thals in control of Skaro at the time?

The Master can hold a pistol, the TCE AND the matter transmuter? How many hands has he GOT?

Two, but he laughs at laws, and he's a stranger to reason. If he wants to carry three items, one in each of two hands, he will. Compared to coming back after being burned to ash, twice, it's a merely parlour trick.

On a scale of one to a ten, exactly how convincing IS it that David would take multiple bullets for his grandfather-in-law

Family loyalty is not to be underestimated, so eight. A truly devoted husband would have faked death, so he could watch over his beloved Susan without her having to watch him suffer the ravages of age.

Susan's certainly taking the Robert Shaw attitude towards adoption.

Not my attitude alone, but that of all those in these parts worth speaking to, and even some who aren't, dog lovers, Gor fans and the like. However, I certainly wouldn't be so uncaring of my grandfather, and even adopted children deserve a modicum of consideration.

Language shifts, constantly. Disaster and consider literally mean against and with the stars respectively - dis-aster, con-sider

Ooh, interesting.

If you believe War of the Daleks, they found records indicating how their future would go, allowing them to ste up a fake Skaro for Davros.

Ah. Mercifully such details have slipped my memory.

Imagine if they dug Jo's diary out of the ruins of Unit HQ

Jo may not be everyone's idea of a good spy, but SURELY they taught her at spy school not to keep a diary...?

Setting up elaborate contingency plans isn't completely out of the question.

Whereas setting up SIMPLE contingency plans - NOT having every Dalek on Earth apparently hovering over Bedfordshire when it went volcanic, for example - was obviously beyond them.

Also, setting up Tomb-style hibernations where you could ONLY get woken by a curious human was pretty stupid. Why does NO hibernator in the Whoniverse EVER manage to set an alarm clock...?

One surely had familial love for his granddaughter - shown in his alien way

Ah yes, that good old strand-'em-on-a-devastated-alien-planet-with-only-one-shoe-and-a-bloke-who-likes-slapping-'em-round-the-face-with-dead-fish alien way.

and all of them loved humans the way we do our cats.

NONE of them loved their humans to ANYTHING like the extent I love cats! One would have been SOBBING in front of that Time-Space Visualiser, not laughing! Two would have been clawing the Time Lords eyes out, not preaching noble acceptance! Three would've been driving Bessie off a CLIFF, not just looking a bit lugubrious...

Besides, weren't the Thals in control of Skaro at the time?

Don't ask me!

but he laughs at laws, and he's a stranger to reason. If he wants to carry three items, one in each of two hands, he will. Compared to coming back after being burned to ash, twice, it's a merely parlour trick.

You're right, of course, and to be fair, he does eventually drop the TCE (without noticing) for Susan to pick up (again, without him noticing). I just can't get over the matter transmuter being light enough to carry in TWO hands, never mind ONE.

Family loyalty is not to be underestimated

It's not as if the Doc had demonstrated much of this family loyalty thing towards Susan and David.

However, I certainly wouldn't be so uncaring of my grandfather, and even adopted children deserve a modicum of consideration.

Oh my god! Even YOU find Susan's behaviour unacceptable!

Jo may not be everyone's idea of a good spy, but SURELY they taught her at spy school not to keep a diary...?

They may have thought it was too obvious to mention, and Jo isn't exactly the smartest human on the planet.

Whereas setting up SIMPLE contingency plans - NOT having every Dalek on Earth apparently hovering over Bedfordshire when it went volcanic, for example - was obviously beyond them.

That's asking for a paradox. If they kept control of Earth, the future described in the diary they found would never happen, and time would go weird.

Ah yes, that good old strand-'em-on-a-devastated-alien-planet-with-only-one-shoe-and-a-bloke-who-likes-slapping-'em-round-the-face-with-dead-fish alien way.

A bloke who won't drag Susan round every war zone and disaster area in the history of Mutter's Spiral. Even a post-apocalypse Earth is safer than the Tardis, and David can be relied on to see to all Susan's physical needs, which is more than the Doctor can do.

NONE of them loved their humans to ANYTHING like the extent I love cats!

They're not as demonstrative as you are, but then they're Time Lords, none of whom are very good at displays of affection. Just look at poor Leela's husband.

Jo isn't exactly the smartest human on the planet.

Jo's not as stupid as you (well, you me and the rest of the planet) always assume. They DID have to give her concussion to act stupid ENOUGH in The Daemons...

That's asking for a paradox. If they kept control of Earth, the future described in the diary they found would never happen, and time would go weird.

How much DO Daleks care about time paradoxes?

A bloke who won't drag Susan round every war zone and disaster area in the history of Mutter's Spiral.

Yeah, but has the Doctor (ANY Doctor) actually realised that's what he DOES? They're always so adorably optimistic about their latest holiday...

Even a post-apocalypse Earth is safer than the Tardis

Not if the books are to be believed. Post-apocalypse Earth is crawling with Daleks, Slythers, warlords and Dalek rats, plus it's LEAVING the TARDIS that will like as not get you dissolved in a pool of acid (Liz), shot dead (Dodo, Sarah, Barbara till they made McIntee do a rewrite), blown up with your entire planet (Romana), lynched (Mel), etc etc.

They're not as demonstrative as you are, but then they're Time Lords, none of whom are very good at displays of affection. Just look at poor Leela's husband.

We don't even know that Andred IS a Time Lord. (Though the fact he's a tedious pointless wimpish nonentity does tend to point that way.) Or that he actually gives a •••• about Leela, come to think of it...

Jo's not as stupid as you (well, you me and the rest of the planet) always assume.

Not stupid, but not smart either, just somewhere near average.

How much DO Daleks care about time paradoxes?

Well Seven tells Ace they wouldn't risk one, and they turn down a chance to kill a girl when they realise she's part of a fixed point, even though they're planning to destroy the universe.

Yeah, but has the Doctor (ANY Doctor) actually realised that's what he DOES?

Well, Eleven at least ought to have some idea, considering the Tardis outright told him she takes him where he's needed.

We don't even know that Andred IS a Time Lord.

Whatever he is, he's immersed in the same culture.

How much DO Daleks care about time paradoxes?

Well Seven tells Ace they wouldn't risk one

Ah, I hadn't realised. I suppose that might help explain why the universe is STILL HERE, but still...that High Councillor's description of the Time War - just before she got vaporised - made me think that neither side exactly respected any Web of Time nonsense. (Still, that WAS after the Time War changed everything.)

they turn down a chance to kill a girl when they realise she's part of a fixed point, even though they're planning to destroy the universe.

For one thing, the brat was staying in its home like the humans were TOLD to, and the Dalek had no reason to exterminate it. And that aside, I don't actually think not-exterminating-Adelaide was a CONSCIOUS decision at all. Thanks to the overwhelming current of time (or, er, something) the Dalek just found itself in a non-exterminatory mood.

Well, Eleven at least ought to have some idea, considering the Tardis outright told him she takes him where he's needed.

Yes, and admittedly the Doctor didn't exactly slap his forehead and shout 'D'OH!' when the penny dropped - well, when the penny was spelt out for him in words of one syllable - so he must have had his suspicions, but still...Hartnell DEFINITELY hadn't twigged that the TARDIS was giving him a tour of every planet in the universe at the exact moment it needed saving, mainly because even Sexy hadn't thought of that yet, and was alternating the heroics with interesting historical periods.

We don't even know that Andred IS a Time Lord.

Whatever he is, he's immersed in the same culture.

Yeah, but obviously not so deeply as your average Time Lord, given that Andred (presumably) has *shudders* SEX with a *shudders* ALIEN and tries to shoot the Lord President and suchlike. So I'm thinking his lack of outward affection for Leela means he doesn't actually give a toss about her, he just doesn't have the guts to say no. (The Gallifrey audios kinda back me up, what with him faking death and disguising himself as someone else for years without bothering to tell his grieving wife.)

Still, that WAS after the Time War changed everything

Whereas legacy was well before. Presumably, Daleks didn't start deliberately causing paradoxes until they thought they'd made themselves immune to the consequences.

Thanks to the overwhelming current of time (or, er, something) the Dalek just found itself in a non-exterminatory mood.

But Daleks are always in an exterminating mood. They're seething blobs of hate: if they could, they'd spend all day killing 'lesser' beings. If the Web of Time, or whatever, can stop Daleks wanting to kill everything in sight, it can certainly stop them using paradox generating plans.

Sexy hadn't thought of that yet, and was alternating the heroics with interesting historical periods.

Remember, the Doctor's Wife. She already knew how Two would have her console room decorated when she stole One. I'm pretty sure she'll have decided to take the Doctor where he is was needed by then too. The historicals were just a chance for the Doctor to warm up.

Andred ... tries to shoot the Lord President and suchlike

Common practice for Time Lords. Andred may not be one himself, but he clearly acts much like them. Anyway, everyone on Gallifrey, Time Lord or otherwise, seems pretty reserved by human standards, as long as you avoid their one pet obsession.

Having the Doctor loves humans the way people love cats, but be too reserved to get openly emotional, fits with everything we see. It doesn't mean treating humans exactly like cats - handfeeding Liz Shaw her favourite food while caressing her cheeks and flanks wouldn't persuade her to stay, and might be misinterpreted - but the emotional undertones are the same.

Having the Doctor loves humans the way people love cats, but be too reserved to get openly emotional, fits with everything we see.

The Doctor doesn't see us as cats. He sees us as stupid apes.

Taxonomically, yes, but that doesn't stop him having the same attitude to people as people do to cats and other lesser pets, including pet monkeys.

Presumably, Daleks didn't start deliberately causing paradoxes until they thought they'd made themselves immune to the consequences.

How do you make yourself immune to the consequences of TIME PARADOXES?

But Daleks are always in an exterminating mood.

They're always in a SAYING 'Exterminate!' mood, but it's quite astonishing how seldom they actually DO it. Even when they can be bothered to shoot someone, it's a temporarily-paralysing ray often as not.

They're seething blobs of hate: if they could, they'd spend all day killing 'lesser' beings.

Whereas I reckon they prefer to enslave them, and watch 'em moving rocks all day. It's more FUN.

Journey's End was just a bizarre Davros-caused aberation.

I'm pretty sure she'll have decided to take the Doctor where he is was needed by then too. The historicals were just a chance for the Doctor to warm up.

WARM UP? They were JUST as dangerous for the poor old Doctor (not to mention poor old Barbara, always threatened by rape, poor old Ian, tied up in the desert covered in honey, poor old Vicki and Polly, forced to unconvincingly disguise themselves as boys etc etc) but they didn't have the ooh-I've-just-saved-the-world pay-off at the end.

Anyway, everyone on Gallifrey, Time Lord or otherwise, seems pretty reserved by human standards

Do lines like 'No, not the mind probe!' 'I will be Time Lord eternal, and rule forever!' 'There's been a revolution on Gallifrey!' or 'I WILL NOT DIE! For Gallifrey! For victory! For the end of time itself!' ring any bells...?

Having the Doctor loves humans the way people love cats, but be too reserved to get openly emotional, fits with everything we see.

Well, not EVERYTHING, cos when the Doctor actually DOES care, he ISN'T too reserved to show it. Green Death, Doomsday, Dalek Invasion of Earth, Journey's End, Idiot's Lantern etc etc...

It doesn't mean treating humans exactly like cats - handfeeding Liz Shaw her favourite food while caressing her cheeks and flanks wouldn't persuade her to stay

God, there's NO PLEASING some people...

The Doctor doesn't see us as cats. He sees us as stupid apes.

Actually when Wilf said 'We must look like ants to you' he says 'I think you look like giants'.

How do you make yourself immune to the consequences of TIME PARADOXES?

Ask the Time Lords. The Master managed it, and what little we know of the Time War suggests paradoxes were common place.

WARM UP? They were JUST as dangerous for the poor old Doctor

But they were smaller scale. The Doctor was brought up believing in non-interference. It makes sense that he had to work his way up to interfering on a massive scale, starting with little things, like the historicals.

Do lines like 'No, not the mind probe!' ... ring any bells...?

Of course. That's why I said pet obsessions were an exception. Most Time Lords will start ranting if you get them on a certain subject, like their hobby or their plan for universal domination, and they can get excited in the face of great danger, but the rest of the time they're pretty reserved.

Well, not EVERYTHING, cos when the Doctor actually DOES care, he ISN'T too reserved to show it. Green Death

Where he closed the door rather than look at Jo, much as he did with Susan. Reserved doesn't mean emotionless; it means he tries not to let the people see him distressed, as in those instances. He closed the door on them both, so they could see how distressed he was at saying goodbye.

How do you make yourself immune to the consequences of TIME PARADOXES?

Ask the Time Lords. The Master managed it, and what little we know of the Time War suggests paradoxes were common place.

That's true...presumably Time-Locking the Time War stopped the Time Lords OR Daleks from experiencing those horrific paradoxes inflicted on lesser species. But the Master had to turn a TARDIS into a Paradox Machine before HE managed it, which seems unlikely for Daleks to achieve, given their lack of TARDISes. (Yes I KNOW you think all those flying saucers were bigger-on-the-inside. PROVE it, that's what I say.)

But Dalek history HAS been rewritten a dozen times over by the Doctor alone, so how come all the Metaltron/delayed-by-a-thousand years/guerrillas-from-a-Dalek-ruled-Earth-preventing-their-own-timeline-ever-happening stuff only ever results in quiet rewritings of history, not bloody great universe-destroying paradoxes?

You're right, Daleks MUST have found a way...while the so-called Lords of Time were still thrashing around desperately trying not to interfere in ANYTHING and writing several different First Laws of Time to this effect...

But they were smaller scale. The Doctor was brought up believing in non-interference. It makes sense that he had to work his way up to interfering on a massive scale, starting with little things, like the historicals.

But unfortunately the historicals had the opposite effect on the Doctor. Barbara's ill-fated messing with the Aztecs must have hardened his 'You can't change history! Not one line!' stance, and he even left poor little Anne Chaplette to DIE towards the END of his Hartnell Historicals experiences...

Do lines like 'No, not the mind probe!' ... ring any bells...?

Of course. That's why I said pet obsessions were an exception.

I don't think the Castellan had a pet obsession about the mind probe.

Most Time Lords will start ranting if you get them on a certain subject, like their hobby or their plan for universal domination

You don't have to GET 'em on a certain subject. Rodan started whinging about traffic control to Leela as soon as she SAW her.

and they can get excited in the face of great danger

Yeah, if 'getting excited' is a euphemism for 'running around like a bunch of REALLY COWARDLY headless chickens'...

but the rest of the time they're pretty reserved.

I'm not so sure. None of 'em seem REMOTELY as icily reserved as Romana I, and look how fast SHE cracked.

Where he closed the door rather than look at Jo, much as he did with Susan. Reserved doesn't mean emotionless; it means he tries not to let the people see him distressed, as in those instances.

Ah. OK, fair enough. He even slammed the door on Leela before saying he'd miss her too...Thank the gods for New Who Doctors who aren't ashamed to blub their eyes out. A lot.

If this meeting out of order could happen all the time:

MASTER: Soon, Doctor, you will die! The escape plan you used when I was working
with the Sontarans will not work again!

DOCTOR: I'm sorry? When were you working with the Sontarans?

MASTER: In 2533. We hijacked an Earth ship and then you arrived and...

DOCTOR: Not yet I haven't. So you can't kill me can you?

MASTER: Bugger.

DOCTOR: You should have learnt your lesson by now, old chap. You did exactly
the same thing when you captured me on Mondas.

MASTER: The Cyberman planet? I haven't been there, yet.

DOCTOR: Ah, well that would explain why you haven't learnt from it, I suppose.

That would be awsome. Of course, you'd need an army of script people to accurately keep track of all the mixed up storylines.

Anyone any idea when Longest Day, Dreamstone Moon or Seeing I are set?

2202 according to AHistory. As in, three years AFTER Legacy of the Daleks, making the Doctor looking for Sam then n'there spectacularly pointless.

'Only renegades made a habit of picking up people from one world and transporting them to another.' - I'm not sure most renegades bothered with that sort of thing. Except the Doc and the War Chief, anyway.

OK, so Missy Season Two has her suddenly decide on picking up Strays but I remain...unconvinced.

Though, funnily enough, on those rare occasions 'going home' comes up, Susan looks WAY more freaked-out at the prospect than the Doctor does...

Um, until the All Hands on Deck anyway short trip anyway...

So a power drain will kill the Daleks permanently? Since when?

Yeah, take a look at Skaro's sewers sometime...

If this meeting out of order could happen all the time

Can't. Missy to River in The Bekdel Test: 'While I have had the decency to try to meet the Doctor in chronological order...'