So the Onihr know that the legendary Doctor has only got one heart? That's smart of them. Given that his one-heartedness only lasts about a year – from the end of Adventuress to the middle of Time Zero.
I agree, a really fun read. I was rather shocked by the Doctor tricking Cosgrove into jumping off a cliff. Sure, he had free will, blah blah, but I'm sure the Doctor realized right away that Cosgrove's ONLY reaction would be to jump after the time travel device.
Politics in 2020 US now sound refreshingly calm. The current US President had previously been VP, and before that Secretary of State, an unlikely procession of jobs these days. It also seems that Who Earth either did not have problems in North Korea or Iraq, or else settled them very quickly.
I guess the Doctor's memory really is screwy, because I can't imagine Doctors 1-7 being fooled by Cosgrove's scam for more than 10 minutes.
What was the purpose of the soon-killed Professor Lik? I thought the somewhat salascious name was a saltue to like names found in James Bond movies, but this women didn't do much before kicking the bucket.
How could Anji's phone still work 20 years or more after leaving Earth? Wouldn't her cell phone account have been canceled long ago for lack of payment? Or is it possible that Anji does one day return to Earth, and keep the same cell phone?
Oh, the Doctor has a long and honourable tradition of tricking his enemies into destroying themselves. My favourite example is the Eighth Doctor drinking vampire-killer before going for a parley with them - they'd've been perfectly alright if they'd resisted the temptation to sink their fangs into him. Though I admit, it's easier to see McCoy in this role ('Davros, I beg of you - do not use the Hand of Omega!') than McGann.
Trading Future's Britain-splitting-with-Europe-to-support-America stuff seems to be happening as we speak...
There is some comment about the 'war on terrorism' being 'won' using Cosgrove's remote-controlled robot troops. This seems a little unlikely and isn't ever expanded upon, so I suspect it's either a) Lance being ironic or b) Lance responding to global events taking place while he's writing the book.
I think it's perfectly likely, given modern society's general acceptance of high tech war and its perceived lack of casualties (casualties on our side, that is). If we had RealWar robots available right now, I think even the French would support an invasion of Iraq........
Taking the statement I cited literally, I think it is possible that RealWar could have been deployed usefully in Afghanistan and prevented some embarrassing routs (Tora Bora might have been a very different story). If RealWar did prove decisive in ending the 'war on terrorism' then presumably the US government wouldn't need to be stirring up international conflict to distract from its failure to deal with al-Qaeda.
More realistically though, I think the existence and nature of RealWar would make the prospect of international conflict more likely. Possibly there are lots of proxy US-Euro wars being fought around the world in 'TF' that aren't commented on simply because they've been marginalised or ignored by the news media - though this doesn't sit well with the high profile RealWar seems to enjoy.
So I think it was just Lance being caught on the hop, conceiving a book pre-11th September that couldn't have anticipated the extent of the Bush administration's belligerence.
So, has anyone spotted Trix yet?
No-one's bloody noticed this supposed Trix person AFTER she allegedly joined the TARDIS crew, so I'm dammed if I'll even TRY to spot her beforehand. Honestly, what is this sudden desire by the novels to have future trailers? First all those scenes in Father Time, then Sabbath (apparently) turning up all over the place pre-Adventuress, and now Trix. Is it a desperate attempt to pretend that the EDAs are one well-planned, coherent whole, and not, as one might actually suspect from READING them, a bit of a mess, arc-wise?
I really liked this book. I guess I'm a bit thick, because until I read here and at Gallfrey One that Cosgrove was created in the image of Sean Connery I never made the connection.
The Onihr are humanoid rhinos; Onihr is 'rhino' spelt backwards.
No alcohol was allowed at Michael Jackson wonderland? Guess this was written before that theory was blown away. And he's living on the Moon now? Guess that's one way to avoid prosecution!
Ah. Well. Obviously we were all wrong assuming that the nameless pop star who really, REALLY loved children was Michael Jackson.
Right. The authour probably meant Billy Idol. Or maybe Keith Richards.
It also seems that Who Earth either did not have problems in North Korea or Iraq, or else settled them very quickly.
Or...not:
'"The Europeans and Americans are on the verge of a third world war." "Fourth, surely?" "Ah...yes, thank you."'
;)
I guess I'm a bit thick, because until I read here and at Gallfrey One that Cosgrove was created in the image of Sean Connery I never made the connection.
Well, I certainly never made the connection either...despite wondering why Parkin would have such an implausibly geriatric super-spy.
Space-rhinos! FIVE YEARS before the Judoon Platoon upon the Moon!
If you're a soldier working for the world's premier spy, and you hear something drop onto the deck of your invisible evil hydrofoil, followed by footsteps where no footsteps should be...would you really claim 'it's nothing' and have to be ordered to go investigate?
Anji calls the Doctor 'boss'! I thought it was just Mickey who did that.
So Anji thinks her late lamented boyfriend can be lured away from his own death at the prospect of cheap Star Wars DVDs? Wouldn't the uber-geek already OWN every conceivable Star Wars DVD?
'She and Dave had been in trouble...it stopped firing on all cylinders' - yup, that's the impression of the relationship I got in Escape Velocity, but what's with the 'She'd thought it was over, that she'd stopped feeling anything for him'? It wasn't THAT bad, for heaven's sake.
Does Anji REALLY think that revealing the Doc's an impostor to a paranoid ruthless time traveller will result in him being politely shown the door instead of, say, BEING THROWN OUT OF THE BLOODY WINDOW?!
So the old couple are crying over their home. Understandable, given that it's underwater, but - hello! Your son is missing! Try crying over HIM, why don't you?
Those stupid rhinos 'know the identities of the four surviving elementals' - SO not fair!
OK - how plausible is the Doctor shooting bullets out of the air?
'"You'd think he'd be proud of his daughter, too." "He is, miss, don't worry about that"' - like hell he is. Doc never gives poor Miranda a thought from Father Time until she turns up in Sometime Never - and even THEN he hardly gives her a thought even though she DIES.
Well, Lance certainly didn't foresee that concord would go out of business.
God, the Doctor is ADORABLY thick in this. Is there ANYTHING he doesn't get wrong, at least until five minutes before the end?
So...AHistory dates Trading Futures at around 2016. And Lance Parkin should know, he wrote both books. (And much past 2016 and Mather would have referred to 'thirty years' rather than 'over twenty' since he'd seen the Doctor in 1989.)
Which means we (or at least the Whoniverse's Earth) has THREE YEARS to resurrect Concord, create effective robot soldiers, build a rather large shrine to Michael Jackson...oh, and hold World War Three. And then clear up so well after World War Three that its effects are utterly unnoticeable.
So...AHistory dates Trading Futures at around 2016. And Lance Parkin should know, he wrote both books. (And much past 2016 and Mather would have referred to 'thirty years' rather than 'over twenty' since he'd seen the Doctor in 1989.)
Which means we (or at least the Whoniverse's Earth) has THREE YEARS to resurrect Concord, create effective robot soldiers, build a rather large shrine to Michael Jackson...oh, and hold World War Three. And then clear up so well after World War Three that its effects are utterly unnoticeable.
We didn't quite manage it, did we.
Still, any date post-2019 and that Michael Jackson shrine would be...even more embarrassing.