To the Slaughter
Nitcentral's Bulletin Brash Reflections: Doctor Who: Novels: Eighth Doctor: To the Slaughter
Synopsis: Fitz joins blind egomaniac decoratiste Halcyon, who is about to Feng Shui the run-down solar system by destroying most of Jupiter's moons; the Doctor and Trix flit around in a stolen spaceship, piecing together a conspiracy involving corrupt businessman Falsh, his fish-eyed Agent, junkie scientist Klimt, and excitable Old Preservers. Klimt finally demonstrates his superweapon to alien bidders on Callisto - Trojan space-slugs which inflame aggression in all animal life, humans included. To stop the slaughter, the TARDIS crew slosh sentient paint around before blowing up the moons.

Thoughts: Good harmless fun. OK, so the dating's a bit inaccurate, Fitz contradicts Deadstone Memorial by thinking he's about to leave the TARDIS, the word 'bum' gets mentioned with unfortunate regularity (still, with The Unquiet Dead canonising such an item, one can't complain too much), the Doctor doesn't seem to give a toss about his act of vandalism, and writing an entire book to explain a line of Tom Baker dialogue is a bit excessive - especially when it involves all this hitherto unsuspected stuff about Earth being reduced to Third World status.

Courtesy of Emily
By Emily on Saturday, May 14, 2005 - 6:59 am:

Why does Fitz assume that he'll 'never see the Doctor again' just because they happen to be temporarily separated (in space, not time)? He's spent YEARS seeing the Doc perform far more spectacular feats than 'Follow that spaceship!'

And for no readily apparent reason the DOCTOR also seems to think the separation is more serious than usual - since when has he felt the need to follow a trail of corruption in the hope he can use it to blackmail the baddie into helping him get his TARDIS and Companion back, instead of...say...just following aforementioned TARDIS and Companion?

Given that this is taking place 400 years after 1938...how come it is also described as taking place 500 years after Trix's time?

By Emily Carter (Emily) on Thursday, December 20, 2012 - 5:20 pm:

Fitz just...LOST HIS TARDIS KEY?? What kind of cavalier attitude does he HAVE towards this Sacred Object? God, when I remember the look on Rose's and Donna's faces...

The Doctor can't get a door open with the sonic screwdriver when he and Trix's lives depend on it? What is it - WOOD? DEADLOCKED??

'"That's Callisto," said the Doctor. "First observed from the Earth in 1610." "There you go again!" "Look, with some people it's train numbers or football fixtures," he said grumpily, "with me it's moons, OK? You should test me on the Venteuse system, sometime. It's got over a thousand satellites"' - sorry, WHEN exactly did the Doctor develop this sort of sad obsession, and WHEN did the AMNESIAC Time Lord have TIME to memorise the Venteuse system, whatever that is?

If you've got a key in your shoe, wouldn't you NOTICE it long before now?

So Fitz's dreams all make sense since his remembering by the TARDIS? I thought humans NEEDED crazy jumbled-up dreams?

Trix is INDIGNANT that the Doctor places himself between her and possible danger? That's very principled and feminist of her, but I'd've thought she was the LAST Companion to complain about having ANYONE'S body between her and danger.

How does Trix know the Doctor's grimacing if she's got her eyes shut?

So Sook's parents can be terminated for thinking a bit differently to the norm...but mindless space-slugs must be preserved at all costs? In fact, ALL the future-history is a bit dodgy. The best it can come up with is 'DRUGS ARE LEGAL!' Well, gosh, THERE'S a shock. What date is Frontier in Space set? Shouldn't it be around this time, in which case, what's all this nonsense about a bankrupt Earth?

Since when has the Doctor kissed Fitz's (or anyone's) hand? Since when has he stamped his foot petulantly or pouted?

'When he was panicking about what to do in the wake of the wild animals, one particular idea hadn't occurred to him: ask the Doctor. OK, so he hadn't come up with anything more constructive in place of that, but it was still a kind of milestone moment. Fitz Kreiner comes of age, he thought hopefully' - what sort of sick freak DOESN'T ask themselves what the Doctor would do in any given situation?!

Why would anyone from whatever-century-this-is think of a grown woman as 'some girl'?

Given how long the top-secret weapon takes to kick in, you're risking revealing its nature to any survivors - or anyone investigating afterwards.

Why exactly does Mildred care more about saving some chunks of rock than saving millions of lives - her own included?

There was no non-warm, non-flat champagne for Our Heroes?

'If I'm still there...I don't know. Just feeling a little unsettled, I suppose' - a LITTLE unsettled?! You're FITZ! You shouldn't think of leaving the Doctor any more than ROSE would!

So...given that Fitz and Trix are madly in love in their next book, there's not much sign of it HERE. Fitz thinking that Trix could wrap him round her finger. Fitz feeling that he'd come home when Trix gave him a surprisingly warm embrace. Fitz telling Trix he wouldn't leave without her. Set against these is the fact Fitz is obsessed by Sook.

All this relentless action-adventure-violence would no doubt be fun to watch, but is pretty boring to read about. And - for the penultimate EDA, not to mention something that lives up to the 'slaughter' in its title - the book feels amazingly shallow and pointless.

By Emily Carter (Emily) on Friday, January 04, 2013 - 3:19 pm:

'If I'm still there...I don't know. Just feeling a little unsettled, I suppose' - a LITTLE unsettled?! You're FITZ! You shouldn't think of leaving the Doctor any more than ROSE would! - Ah. OK. Apparently Deadstone Memorial has the Doctor talking to Fitz about leaving the Ship. THAT would certainly help explain how Fitz is feeling in To The Slaughter, if not what the hell the Doctor thinks he's playing at.

By Emily Carter (Emily) on Monday, January 07, 2013 - 5:22 am:

'[Fitz]'ll still be knocking around in forthcoming "past" Eighth Doctor Adventures, as will Trix, I'm sure.' - Stephen Cole in DWM. WHAT Eighth Doctor Past Adventures??? In nearly eight years since New Who started we've had ONE Past Doctor Adventure for the SECOND Doctor, and FINALLY in our ANNIVERSARY YEAR we'll be getting...*drumroll* a short story IN E-BOOK FORM starring the Eighth Doctor.

'Justin asked me to steer both of them in certain directions ready for Lance to conclude their story in The Gallifrey Chronicles' - well THAT wasn't very successful was it. Fitz n'Trix suddenly being In Lurve in the next book came as quite a shock.

By Emily Carter (Emily) on Thursday, October 29, 2020 - 2:59 pm:

What date is Frontier in Space set? Shouldn't it be around this time, in which case, what's all this nonsense about a bankrupt Earth?

Frontier is c2540 whilst To the Slaughter is c2505 - according to AHistory, anyway.

Since when has the Doctor kissed Fitz's (or anyone's) hand?

Well, Capaldi kisses Clara's hand in Face the Raven, but Twelve/Clara isn't any Eight/Fitz...

Why would anyone from whatever-century-this-is think of a grown woman as 'some girl'?

Presumably because ANY century is sexist as hell.

You're FITZ! You shouldn't think of leaving the Doctor any more than ROSE would!

To be fair, he does consider ditching the Doc in Blue Angel...albeit for another craaazy Time Lord. (Lady. Whatever.)

By Tim McCree (Tim_m) on Friday, October 30, 2020 - 5:43 am:

Emily, you're nitpicking your own nit!?

By Emily Carter (Emily) on Friday, October 30, 2020 - 1:37 pm:

I don't see why I should be immune.

By Emily Carter (Emily) on Thursday, March 02, 2023 - 6:24 am:

Deep Time just had to open its big gob and mention 'the Jupiter moon' like there's only one, thus rendering To the Slaughter's valiant attempt to reconcile Tom's Revenge astonishment at Jupiter's thirteenth moon with the existence of Jupiter's eighty-or-so moons entirely pointless.

Of course, To the Slaughter was entirely pointless ANYWAY...

By Emily Carter (Emily) on Friday, December 01, 2023 - 1:16 am:

'Jupiter lost a number of moons in the Great Cyber-War' - Eighth Doctor audio Audacity: The Cyber-War. See! SEE! We didn't need To The Slaughter AT ALL!

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