Five years and forty-two novels in, things had become complicated. A series of seismic adventures saw timelines altered, a companion evolve into a living TARDIS and the destruction of Gallifrey. As a result, the Doctor had lived though the whole of the 20th Century with no memory of who he really was.
‘EarthWorld’ serves as a partial restart taking TARDIS back into space. The Doctor, still partially amnesiac, travels with his old friend Fitz Kreiner and the reluctant Anji Kapour.
They arrive on what appears to be a prehistoric Earth, but is soon revealed as a theme park, split into different time zones and populated by androids. However, the corruption of historical records of Earth has led to a variety of bizarre mix-ups such as Elvis being an actual King, people working, resting and playing on Mars and Herbivores that only eat people named Herb.
Finding themselves under arrest, the Doctor and Anji run into a trio of inept teenage terrorists bent on disrupting the theme park’s opening, working for the anti-Earth “Association for New Jupitan Independence” or ANJI.
New companion Anji is a contemporary character, still reeling from the death of her boyfriend in the previous story. She endures a steep learning curve, picking up the tricks of surviving alongside the Doctor as she goes. A logical thinker, she tries to apply a rational approach to the increasingly bizarre situations and all the while composes message emails to her deceased lover on her PDA, cleverly giving us insight into her thoughts.
Separated from his fellow travellers, the sardonic Fitz falls foul of the homicidal triplets who pull the strings on EarthWorld. Becoming one of their playthings he becomes embroiled in a fight for his life. At the same time, he undergoes a personal crisis of confidence, realising he is not the original Fitz, but rather a constructed copy.
Despite his lack of memory, the Doctor rises to the occasion and saves the day. It appears that some of his talents are automatic, and if suitably diverted he can perform technical feats of wonder at a sub-conscious level. This leads to some amusing attempts at distraction.
Author Jacqueline Rayner was the range editor for BBC Books and has been responsible for a number of Doctor Who novels, as well as writing, producing and script editing for Big Finish audios. In ‘Earthworld’, she provides plenty of incident and lots of literal humour derived from the misunderstandings of history. As well as the adventure, the story covers Anji’s grapple with grief and guilt, and results in a touching ending.
One stumbling block to the tale is continuity, as we spent a fair amount of time looking up references online to fathom out some of Fitz and the Doctor’s back-story! To this end, we do question if it was the ideal choice as a reprint to represent the Eighth Doctor.
Published on Thursday 7 March 2013 by BBC Books.
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