''Warmonger'' is a
BBC Books
BBC Books (also formerly known as BBC Publishing) is an imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division. The minority shareholder is BBC Studios, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasti ...
original novel written by
Terrance Dicks
Terrance William Dicks (14 April 1935 – 29 August 2019) was an English author and television screenwriter, script editor and producer. In television, he had a long association with the BBC science-fiction series ''Doctor Who'', working a ...
and based on the long-running British
science fiction television
Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary ...
series ''
Doctor Who''. It features the
Fifth Doctor
The Fifth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He is portrayed by Peter Davison.
Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord from ...
and
Peri.
It is a prequel to the television serial ''
The Brain of Morbius
''The Brain of Morbius'' is the fifth serial of the 13th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 3 to 24 January 1976. The screenwriter credit is given ...
'' from Morbius and Solon and the Sisterhood of the Flame's perspective, although it is technically also a sequel as the Fifth Doctor is the main character while ''The Brain of Morbius'' featured the Fourth as the central protagonist. Cardinal
Borusa
Borusa is a fictional character in the series ''Doctor Who'', a member of the race of Time Lords from Gallifrey. Within the context of the series, Borusa is a former teacher of the Doctor who appears in four serials. Notably, Borusa was portraye ...
also appears.
Plot
The Doctor and Peri arrive on a small planet, but as soon as Peri steps out, she is attacked by a wild animal and her arm is almost severed. The Doctor takes her in the
TARDIS
The TARDIS (; acronym for "Time And Relative Dimension In Space") is a fictional hybrid of the time machine and spacecraft that appears in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and its various spin-offs. Its exterior a ...
to the hospice on the planet Karn to see the best surgeon in the galaxy,
Doctor Mehendri Solon. When they arrive, the hospice's advisor, the Reverend Mother Maren (of the Sisterhood of the Flame) convinces Solon to reattach Peri's arm, which he does successfully.
The head of security, Commander Aylmer Hawken tries to stop the Doctor leaving, but Maren convinces him not to, as she is wary of
Time Lord
The Time Lords are a fictional ancient race of extraterrestrial people in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', of which the series' main protagonist, the Doctor, is a member. Time Lords are so named for their command ...
s. Lord Delmar, the owner of the hospice also warns Hawken against interfering with the Doctor, in case it stops the peace conference which the hospice is hosting from proceeding. The conference is to make alliances between the smaller empires, and has been set up by a warlord known as "The General".
Solon's assistant Drago starts harassing Peri, and after The Doctor complains, Drago later suggests to Solon that Peri and The Doctor be killed, but Solon dismisses his worries and goes to work on "project Z". overhearing this, Peri follows Drago to a room full of dead bodies made from parts of different species. She leaves the room, but Solon notices Peri's interference and injects her with a poison, but tells The Doctor that her body is rejecting the arm, and she needs the Sisterhood's elixir of life. The Doctor fetches it, but Solon secretly keeps it and gives Peri the antidote. The Doctor then threatens to reveal what Solon just did to Lord Delmar and takes Peri out of the room.
When the ambassadors arrive for the peace conference, Lord Delmar invites the Doctor to watch, but as the Doctor is about to refuse, he recognises the General's mind as that of a Time Lord, and decides to bug the room. Listening in on the meeting, they discover that The General is gathering the small empires into a huge army to take over the galaxy. After his plan to steal the elixir of life fails, the General reveals himself to be
Morbius and kidnaps Peri.
Peri escapes Morbius's ship by pretending to have an infectious skin disease, and she is put in an escape pod and launched into space, but a ship from the planet Sylvana finds her and takes her back to Sylvana. Sylvana's nearest planet Freedonia joins Morbius and attacks Sylvana and invades it, causing Peri to join a group of guerrillas.
While Solon continues his experiments, the Doctor goes to
Gallifrey
Gallifrey () is a fictional planet in the long-running British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It is the original home world of the Time Lords, the civilisation to which the protagonist, the Doctor belongs. It is located in ...
to warn the Time Lords about Morbius. The Time Lord President Saran and Borusa refuse to become directly involved, but order the Doctor to unite the largest empires in the galaxy into one army to defeat Morbius. The Doctor then manages to persuade a number of
Draconians and
Sontarans to join his army. The Time lords send him Ensign Vidal, a Gallifreyan, to act as his advisor, a flagship and the title of Supreme Coordinator of the Alliance. As the campaign grows,
Ogron
Ogrons are a fictional extraterrestrial race from the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''.
Ogrons are low-intelligence, ape-like hominids who live in scattered communities on the rocky planet Ograviss, on the outer fringe ...
s,
Ice Warrior
The Ice Warriors are a fictional Extraterrestrials in fiction, extraterrestrial race of List of reptilian humanoids, reptilian humanoids in the long-running British science fiction on television, science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' ...
s and
Cybermen
The Cybermen are a fictional race of cyborgs principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. The Cybermen are a species of space-faring cyborgs who often forcefully and painfully convert human beings ( ...
join the Doctor's forces. After Sylvana is recaptured, Peri is reunited with the Doctor.
Eventually Morbius begins defending the area around Karn, which is where the Doctor plans to defeat him finally. The Doctor leads his army into a ground battle, but Maren initially refuses help in defending the elixir of life but eventually accepts. Morbius then withdraws all his troops from the planets they are protecting and brings them to Karn. After the Doctor's forces are nearly destroyed, a second army arrives, comprising foot soldiers from the planets that the Doctor liberated from Morbius. Morbius's army is destroyed, he is captured, tried and sentenced to death. The survivors of the Doctor's army return to their home planets while Morbius is imprisoned awaiting execution.
Solon unleashes his zombies on Saran and Borusa, but they easily overpower them, and Solon is imprisoned. To avoid a paradox, the Doctor goes to free Solon from his cell, but finds one of Morbius's commanders has already done so, following them to the execution room, he finds Solon removing Morbius's brain. After Solon leaves, the Doctor puts Morbius's body in the vaporisation chamber, and waits for Saran and Borusa to arrive. They then vaporise Morbius's body. The Doctor quietly leaves with Peri. The hospice is abandoned, the Sisterhood retreat to their temple and Solon resumes his experiments until, years later, the
Fourth Doctor
The Fourth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He is portrayed by Tom Baker.
Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord from the ...
and
Sarah Jane Smith
Sarah Jane Smith is a fictional character played by Elisabeth Sladen in the long-running BBC Television science fiction on television, science fiction series ''Doctor Who'' and two of Doctor Who spin-offs, its spin-offs. Sarah Jane is a dogged in ...
arrive on Karn.
Notes
*Peri quotes from ''
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (sometimes referred to as ''HG2G'', ''HHGTTG'', ''H2G2'', or ''tHGttG'') is a comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally a 1978 radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4, it ...
'' by
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author and screenwriter, best known for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series), BBC radio comedy, ''The H ...
. Adams was script editor on ''Doctor Who'' in 1979 and wrote three stories for the programme, ''
The Pirate Planet
''The Pirate Planet'' is the second serial of the 16th season in the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 30 September to 21 October 1978. It forms the second seria ...
'', ''
City of Death
''City of Death'' is the second serial of the seventeenth season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor. It was produced by the BBC ...
'' and the uncompleted ''
Shada''.
Reception
''Warmonger'' won Worst Book in the 2002 Jade Pagoda Awards.
References
External links
*
{{Sisterhood of Karn stories
2002 British novels
2002 science fiction novels
Past Doctor Adventures
Fifth Doctor novels
Novels by Terrance Dicks
Novels set on fictional planets