BOOK DETAILS

SYNOPSIS

1983 Target Books edition

Still weak and confused after his fourth regeneration, The Doctor retreats to Castrovalva to recuperate.

But Castrovalva is not the haven of peace and tranquility The Doctor and his companions are seeking.

Far from being able to rest quietly, the unsuspecting time-travellers are caught up once again in the evil machinations of The Master.

Only an act of supreme self-sacrifice will enable them to escape the maniacal lunacy of the renegade Time Lord.

1991 Target Books edition

THE MASTER LEANED BACK, PERMITTING HIMSELF A THIN CHUCKLE THAT FLOATED AWAY INTO A WHISPER. ‘OH NO YOU CAN’T ESCAPE. YO’RE MINE, ADRIC, MINE – UNTIL WE HAVE COMPLETED OUR FINAL TASK…’

The TARDIS, controlled by The Master, is rushing towards Event One and imminent destruction, Adric and his computational powers are being manipulated to The Master’s own ends.

But The Doctor has been weakened by regeneration and the travellers attempt to travel to peaceful Castrovalva unaware of the web that has been spun by the renegade Time Lord…

Doctor Who – Castrovalva marks the beginning of Peter Davison’s tenure of the role of the Doctor and was written by Christopher H. Bidmead, who was script editor of the series during its eighteenth season.

NOTES

CHAPTER TITLES

1. Escape from Earth
   
2. Towards Zero
   
3. Destination: Event One
   
4. Russian Roulette
   
5. Jettisoned
   
6. The Quest for Castrovalva
   
7. Within the Walls
   
8. The Dark Reflection
   
9. The Occlusion Closes In
   
10. The Clue of the Chronicle
    
11. The World through the Eyes of Shardovan
    
12. The Web is Broken

DEVIATIONS FROM THE TELEVISED STORY

• Nyssa worries that the Fifth Doctor will get high altitude edema.
  
• The Master set up the trap 500 years ago.
  
• Nyssa and Tegan have a more in depth discussion about recursion.
  
• When The Master bids farewell to Nyssa and Tegan on the scanner screen, they can see Adric behind him.
  
• Medicine is dispensed to The Doctor from a large tin box on top of a chrome and glass medical trolley that moves from a door marked ‘Surgery’ into the corridor that The Doctor is located. On-screen, it is from a roundel near the location of the Zero Room.
  
• Tegan takes notes in Pitman shorthand. The Doctor can’t understand it but he had learned shorthand once, a long time ago.
  
• Nyssa’s on-screen gradual change of costume, from skirt to trousers, loss of jacket and haircomb is not included.
  
• When The Doctor climbs the rocks, he gets subliminal images of his former self hanging off a gantry and swinging off a cable. He also hears voices of the past and future calling “Doctor”.
  
• It is stated that the Gallifreyan temperament tends to see the world from the other person’s point of view. This means that The Doctor’s natural sympathies lie with the pig on the roasting spit. To avoid offending his hosts, he tells them that he is tired.
  
• During breakfast, just before Tegan and Nyssa are introduced to Shardovan, Tegan questions the lack of equality in Castrovalva.
  
• The Doctor examines the tapestry with a magnifying glass, while the Portreeve flicks aways some dust from it. On-screen, the Portreeve prevents The Doctor getting close to it. Here, this is only done when The Doctor attempts to look behind it.
  
• On-screen, a little girl helps The Doctor count but here the sex of the child is not specified. Also, when The Doctor remembers Adric, he frightens the child who scurries back to their mother whereas the televised version, the girl just watches him rush off with amusement.
  
• The Master set up the trap 500 years ago.