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Doctor Who: Missing Adventures #1
Doctor Who: Goth Opera
‘The time of humanity on this world has come to an end. The long night is starting. The age of the undead is upon us.’
Manchester, 1993. The vampires of Great Britain have received a the long-awaited arrival of their evil messiah is imminent. It’s time for a recruitment drive.
On holiday in Tasmania with Tegan and the Doctor, Nyssa is attacked by a demonic child. She escapes unharmed - except for two small wounds in her neck.
Why are the descendants of the Great Vampire so desperate to obtain the blood of a Time Lord? And what is their connection to a forbidden ancient Gallifreyan cult?
Manchester, 1993. The vampires of Great Britain have received a the long-awaited arrival of their evil messiah is imminent. It’s time for a recruitment drive.
On holiday in Tasmania with Tegan and the Doctor, Nyssa is attacked by a demonic child. She escapes unharmed - except for two small wounds in her neck.
Why are the descendants of the Great Vampire so desperate to obtain the blood of a Time Lord? And what is their connection to a forbidden ancient Gallifreyan cult?
238 pages, Paperback
First published July 21, 1994
11 people are currently reading
503 people want to read
About the author
Paul Cornell
616 books1,501 followersPaul Cornell is a British writer of science fiction and fantasy prose, comics and television. He's been Hugo Award-nominated for all three media, and has won the BSFA Award for his short fiction, and the Eagle Award for his comics. He's the writer of Saucer Country for Vertigo, Demon Knights for DC, and has written for the Doctor Who TV series. His new urban fantasy novel is London Falling, out from Tor on December 6th.
via Wikipedia @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Cor...
via Wikipedia @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Cor...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
May 28, 2013
I just couldn't get into this one. I could have handled the vampire Time Lord, but evil vampire baby biting Nyssa? Made my stomach turn.
July 19, 2025
Having skipped over Peter Darvill-Evans’s preface, I had started the inaugural volume of the “Missing Adventures” line of Doctor Who novels before discovering that it was a sequel to Terrance Dicks’ Blood Harvest from the older “New Adventures” series. And while Darvill-Evans claims that reading it isn’t necessary to enjoy this book, I wonder if doing so might have improved my opinion of it. Because as it was, I found myself annoyed by what seemed Paul Cornell’s deviation from the mythology Dicks outlined in his original introduction of vampires to the Doctor Whoniverse, Doctor Who and the State of Decay, in service to the story Cornell tells in the book. Had the changes been introduced by Dicks or by Cornell? There was only one way to know for certain, and yet it would require more effort than I was willing to expend.
Having made that decision, I settled in to enjoy the novel. And it was an enjoyable enough story of an obsessed Time Lady who decides to realize a prophecy involving the revival of the great vampires. Whovians more conversant with the details of Gallifreyan lore are better suited to comment on Cornell’s fealty here, but the idea of a Time Lord taking the vampires’ side was interesting enough to propel me through the tale. There was even a welcome appearance of a surprise guest later in the novel, which helped to enliven a plot built around a plan a little too cliched for my liking. But Cornell excelled at what matters most for me in these books, which is in capturing the voice and tone of the characters from the show. That alone makes this novel worth reading at least once.
Having made that decision, I settled in to enjoy the novel. And it was an enjoyable enough story of an obsessed Time Lady who decides to realize a prophecy involving the revival of the great vampires. Whovians more conversant with the details of Gallifreyan lore are better suited to comment on Cornell’s fealty here, but the idea of a Time Lord taking the vampires’ side was interesting enough to propel me through the tale. There was even a welcome appearance of a surprise guest later in the novel, which helped to enliven a plot built around a plan a little too cliched for my liking. But Cornell excelled at what matters most for me in these books, which is in capturing the voice and tone of the characters from the show. That alone makes this novel worth reading at least once.
February 11, 2021
Unfortunately as far as conclusions to trilogies go this can be filed in the "not as good as the second volume" with Alien 3, Terminator 3 and Return of the Jedi. Which isn't to say it wasn't good because it most certainly was and quite enjoyable. I just vastly preferred Blood Harvest over Goth Opera. Though the ending did leave some more questions that would be interesting to explore if continuations past this have been published.
January 1, 2025
Goth Opera a fascinating work. Published years ago it was the first of the "Missing Adventures," introducing the now-standard technique of inserting new stories into previous era. Nowadays, this is Big Finish's, and indeed, this book is connected to Finish's current projects in several ways.
For a start, it explores Gallifrey in an intriguing. The Seventh Doctor " Harvest (a prequel to this in timey-wimey) was the book brought Romana back Gallifrey; this is the one that really has her interacting with it satisfyingly The Romana Presidency extends from this, and there references to Deca and a Gallifreyan that Rassilon infected with the Vampire from "State of Decay." Furthermore, is an early echo of Time War here. The renegade Time Lord who drives the plot believes that Gallifrey, as we know it in the distant past the present, the Time Lords no longer exist. She believes that Time Lords are an evolutionary dead end and must become vampires survive. When she confronts the Doctor, the Time flips through hisations including his "final" one in the future.
, the main drive of such a story cannot merely rely on continuity. It must have an emotional core, and this one has a strong one, taking the character interactions of the Davison era and enhancing them, providing the characters with complexity, and them to interact dynamically Tegan is more sympathetic, Nyssa is more active, and Five is both. The secondary characters each with their own and short stories.
This story does have its flaws, including a couple of scenes that resemble a poorblazer ripoff and a character with a Deep Dark Secret that manages to be a predictable cliché.
For a start, it explores Gallifrey in an intriguing. The Seventh Doctor " Harvest (a prequel to this in timey-wimey) was the book brought Romana back Gallifrey; this is the one that really has her interacting with it satisfyingly The Romana Presidency extends from this, and there references to Deca and a Gallifreyan that Rassilon infected with the Vampire from "State of Decay." Furthermore, is an early echo of Time War here. The renegade Time Lord who drives the plot believes that Gallifrey, as we know it in the distant past the present, the Time Lords no longer exist. She believes that Time Lords are an evolutionary dead end and must become vampires survive. When she confronts the Doctor, the Time flips through hisations including his "final" one in the future.
, the main drive of such a story cannot merely rely on continuity. It must have an emotional core, and this one has a strong one, taking the character interactions of the Davison era and enhancing them, providing the characters with complexity, and them to interact dynamically Tegan is more sympathetic, Nyssa is more active, and Five is both. The secondary characters each with their own and short stories.
This story does have its flaws, including a couple of scenes that resemble a poorblazer ripoff and a character with a Deep Dark Secret that manages to be a predictable cliché.
March 3, 2024
Second time reading this book; last time was 30 years ago. Really enjoyed this read through. Captured the 5th Doctor team quite well, and the vampire story was interesting and had some surprises. Paul Cornell is always great at pulling you into the prose.
September 12, 2014
This is another occasion where I’m glad to say my initial impression of a novel I first read 20 years ago remains the same. ‘Goth Opera’ launched Virgin Publishing’s New Adventures range, and I still think it’s one of the strongest books published under that banner.
It was a very good choice to get Paul Cornell – by then the clear stand-out talent of the New Adventures series – to write the first one in a seemingly more backward-looking range featuring Doctors prior to the seventh. It was an even more inspired choice to make this a sequel to a New Adventure which had been written by one of the leading lights of the TV series – ‘Blood Harvest’.
I should say that hindsight shows what must have been a deliberate choice – both ‘Goth Opera’ and its prequel work very well as individual novels and the links between them are only slight. In fact, in the case of ‘Goth Opera’, the only really negative part of the book is a continuity-laden chapter, slapped in the middle of the story, which lays the connections on with a trowel. Cornell has said how difficult he found that chapter to write, and I do sympathise. I understand why it needed to be there, but I can’t help but think the whole thing would have worked better without it.
Still, as with the Gallifrey-set sections of ‘Blood Harvest’, this is the only negative element of a very strong work. And one of the most interesting things about a comparison between this and ‘Blood Harvest’ is the way the two authors – both of whom have a great deal of respect for the other – tackle the depiction of vampires in completely different ways. Dicks, uses Gothic horror tropes as a way of telling a cracking good story, whilst Cornell’s influences are rather more modern, with an Anne Rice-style examination of how the converts feel about being part of a new species. And, my word, that works well. It’s always more frightening to see monsters in recognisable settings, and although neither I nor Doctor Who had been to Manchester at the time the book was published, Cornell’s success in bringing the city to life really adds to the scenes depicting the carnage the vampires unleash.
It’s an interesting move, pitting Peter Davison’s Doctor – still the most ‘human’ of all the Doctors – against such a colossal force. All his traits are here – bravery, vulnerability, compassion and the irritation during those times when he feels people are not according him the status he deserves. His companions are true to form, too – Nyssa seems a born victim but has enough strength of character to resist the worst aspects of the changes that come over her after she converts, while Tegan has enough depth to come across as far more than the “mouth on legs” role she may have been consigned to in a lesser work.
It’s ironic, really, that it was the New Adventures who began life with a short-lived “too broad and too deep for the small screen” tag, since – with ‘Blood Harvest’ as a good example – a better budget could have made most of them eminently suitable for television. It’s the Missing Adventures who tended to try and expand what could be achieved within tight parameters, and to me this was always their biggest strength and their biggest failing, often simultaneously!
Start as you mean to go on… ‘Goth Opera’ isn’t a story that could have fitted into the (actually non-existent) gap between the TV stories ‘Snakedance’ and ‘Mawrdryn Undead’ – everything about it is rather too mature, knowing, and downright scary to have passed muster as weeknight family entertainment. Look at the depiction of Hugo Lang – an evangelist fired up by the desire to fight metaphorical demons because he believes them to cause more harm than that of friends or family who get close to their victims.
We share the Doctor’s discomfort at this point of view, and even though the reason behind it is predictable enough, it’s still a well handled revelation.
So, leaving aside an overblown continuity chapter, this is a strong work indeed. I wouldn’t want every book I read to be like this, but I am pleased I revisited it and that my 20-year-old first impressions were quite right. It stands up very well indeed, all these years later, and is yet more evidence as to why Paul Cornell is one of the best Doctor Who writers out there.
It was a very good choice to get Paul Cornell – by then the clear stand-out talent of the New Adventures series – to write the first one in a seemingly more backward-looking range featuring Doctors prior to the seventh. It was an even more inspired choice to make this a sequel to a New Adventure which had been written by one of the leading lights of the TV series – ‘Blood Harvest’.
I should say that hindsight shows what must have been a deliberate choice – both ‘Goth Opera’ and its prequel work very well as individual novels and the links between them are only slight. In fact, in the case of ‘Goth Opera’, the only really negative part of the book is a continuity-laden chapter, slapped in the middle of the story, which lays the connections on with a trowel. Cornell has said how difficult he found that chapter to write, and I do sympathise. I understand why it needed to be there, but I can’t help but think the whole thing would have worked better without it.
Still, as with the Gallifrey-set sections of ‘Blood Harvest’, this is the only negative element of a very strong work. And one of the most interesting things about a comparison between this and ‘Blood Harvest’ is the way the two authors – both of whom have a great deal of respect for the other – tackle the depiction of vampires in completely different ways. Dicks, uses Gothic horror tropes as a way of telling a cracking good story, whilst Cornell’s influences are rather more modern, with an Anne Rice-style examination of how the converts feel about being part of a new species. And, my word, that works well. It’s always more frightening to see monsters in recognisable settings, and although neither I nor Doctor Who had been to Manchester at the time the book was published, Cornell’s success in bringing the city to life really adds to the scenes depicting the carnage the vampires unleash.
It’s an interesting move, pitting Peter Davison’s Doctor – still the most ‘human’ of all the Doctors – against such a colossal force. All his traits are here – bravery, vulnerability, compassion and the irritation during those times when he feels people are not according him the status he deserves. His companions are true to form, too – Nyssa seems a born victim but has enough strength of character to resist the worst aspects of the changes that come over her after she converts, while Tegan has enough depth to come across as far more than the “mouth on legs” role she may have been consigned to in a lesser work.
It’s ironic, really, that it was the New Adventures who began life with a short-lived “too broad and too deep for the small screen” tag, since – with ‘Blood Harvest’ as a good example – a better budget could have made most of them eminently suitable for television. It’s the Missing Adventures who tended to try and expand what could be achieved within tight parameters, and to me this was always their biggest strength and their biggest failing, often simultaneously!
Start as you mean to go on… ‘Goth Opera’ isn’t a story that could have fitted into the (actually non-existent) gap between the TV stories ‘Snakedance’ and ‘Mawrdryn Undead’ – everything about it is rather too mature, knowing, and downright scary to have passed muster as weeknight family entertainment. Look at the depiction of Hugo Lang – an evangelist fired up by the desire to fight metaphorical demons because he believes them to cause more harm than that of friends or family who get close to their victims.
We share the Doctor’s discomfort at this point of view, and even though the reason behind it is predictable enough, it’s still a well handled revelation.
So, leaving aside an overblown continuity chapter, this is a strong work indeed. I wouldn’t want every book I read to be like this, but I am pleased I revisited it and that my 20-year-old first impressions were quite right. It stands up very well indeed, all these years later, and is yet more evidence as to why Paul Cornell is one of the best Doctor Who writers out there.
March 13, 2019
When I looked back over my old ratings I wondered why I had rated this lower than Blood Harvest. I felt I remembered this as better and I thought I had a better handle on the overall plot. Also, I had rated a Dicks novel above a Cornell? Seems unthinkable.
Now, this is a good book. The characterisations of the TARDIS team are brilliant, Cornell captures the dry humour and interactions of the era perfectly and Nyssa's struggle with her memories of Traken and vampirism is really interesting to go through.
However, once I got into it, I realised there isn't actually that much there. Quite a lot of it seems to be spending a long time explaining Blood Harvest and connecting what was in this book to both State of Decay and Virgin Gallifrean lore. As such I found my concentration wandering in these sections. The book itself is also not very thick (the shortest since Birthright) so if you cut out a lot of the extraneous material it is probably closer in length to a Telos Novella. Also, the choice for this to be a contemporary set novel felt a little odd to me, it didn't really add anything to the plot or feel and was not something that was generally done in the Virgin series (by my count there are only two others).
What it does do well is give a great horror story filled with plenty of blood and heart (literally in the former case). Worth checking out.
One thing I won't mark it down for but I wanted to note, rereading this now in Virgin chronological order I found that I was missing the New Adventures team. Having spent 28 novels, 3 short stories and 3 comics collections with 7, Ace and Benny, jumping out to another TARDIS team (albeit one of my favourites) gave me a bit of a jolt. Will probably get more used to it as it becomes more of a pattern.
Now, this is a good book. The characterisations of the TARDIS team are brilliant, Cornell captures the dry humour and interactions of the era perfectly and Nyssa's struggle with her memories of Traken and vampirism is really interesting to go through.
However, once I got into it, I realised there isn't actually that much there. Quite a lot of it seems to be spending a long time explaining Blood Harvest and connecting what was in this book to both State of Decay and Virgin Gallifrean lore. As such I found my concentration wandering in these sections. The book itself is also not very thick (the shortest since Birthright) so if you cut out a lot of the extraneous material it is probably closer in length to a Telos Novella. Also, the choice for this to be a contemporary set novel felt a little odd to me, it didn't really add anything to the plot or feel and was not something that was generally done in the Virgin series (by my count there are only two others).
What it does do well is give a great horror story filled with plenty of blood and heart (literally in the former case). Worth checking out.
One thing I won't mark it down for but I wanted to note, rereading this now in Virgin chronological order I found that I was missing the New Adventures team. Having spent 28 novels, 3 short stories and 3 comics collections with 7, Ace and Benny, jumping out to another TARDIS team (albeit one of my favourites) gave me a bit of a jolt. Will probably get more used to it as it becomes more of a pattern.
April 12, 2025
This was my second time reading Goth Opera and the first time I've read it after Big Finish's audio adaptation came out in June 2024. I love that adaptation, but I do prefer the original novel.
Goth Opera is an absolute joy to read from start to finish, and I dare say it may be my favourite book of all time as of today. I feel I owe quite a bit to this book, as rereading it reminded me how it cemented the idea of "faith" and "religion" as some of the most interesting topics fiction can utilise for me. This story heavily features aspects of Christianity and the faith people have in objects, texts, people, etc, due to it dealing with vampirism, and one of the many defences, as well as offences we can utilise against vampires, is our faith. Before reading this novel originally I had never given it much thought. I don't even think I'd experienced it in media either (the closest I'd say I remember would be the Doctor Who story "The God Complex" in Series 6 of the modern show). Even in real life nowadays, I find the idea of religion/faith extremely fascinating, and whilst I am not religious myself, I hold great admiration for those who find solace in such depictions of religious texts and their meaning.
Vampires in Doctor Who are also something that I love. This novel is very lore-heavy about The Great Vampires and how, in "The Dark Times", Rassilon exiled the remaining vampires to E-Space (another universe) in a bid to save Gallifreyian life. The novel goes a lot deeper into it than I've quickly surmised here, and there is a lot of it throughout, but I revelled in every passing detail, eager to understand what I could.
This story features the 5th Doctor, Tegan Jovanka and Nyssa of Traken. I feel like this story is great for all three of our main cast though the standouts are certainly The Doctor and Nyssa. It's honestly, probably the best Nyssa story that existed when this novel came out in 1994 and to this day is one of her best. It's no spoiler to say that Nyssa becomes a vampire for the majority of this novel. I was quite shocked to remember just how soon into the novel she was bitten and spent the next two hundred or so pages dealing with her current state, straddling the lines of submitting to Lord Yarven.
It's quite upsetting to see Nyssa go through all this as she wasn't the intended target of the vampire attack, it was meant for The Doctor. I love Nyssa as a character and she shines here, early into her transformation I absolutely loved how she justified herself by keeping the attack secret by thinking about how she could save her father, Tremas, from The Master. That, with her new hypnotic abilities, she could "bring Tremas to the surface" and they, together again, could work on a cure for vampirism and save thousands of people.
With Nyssa off with the vampires, The Doctor and Tegan are together 95% of the time throughout the novel and they are fantastic together. The writer, Paul Cornell, captures their relationship perfectly and I could feel the two of them coming off the pages as I read their dialogue and intermittent thoughts. I do agree with a slight complaint about this story in that The Doctor all of a sudden seems incredibly favourable to cups of tea. I think he requests a cup of tea maybe twenty times throughout the novel. It's a very strange choice as it's not like tea was a major part of the 5th Doctor's character (though as a big tea lover myself I certainly wouldn't be against that) but also, sadly, it's usually Tegan tasked with the making of the teas and considering how she acted, and rightly so, during The Five Doctors when ordered to make up some refreshments for The 1st Doctor, 5th Doctor and Susan, I can't exactly imagine her being all too okay about making yet another tea.
Another prominent character is that of Victor Lang, a Texan evangelist who comes to Manchester after hearing it being teeming with satanic activity. I find Victor Lang to be a very interesting character. He is sort of the religious focal point of the story, showing how the general public has begun to behave following the many disappearances of teens and young adults from Manchester and its surrounding areas. However, in his final moments at one of his evangelical rallies held in the Old Trafford stadium, his character becomes distorted and, for me at least, an immediate sour taste overtakes my mouth as we learn, by Lang himself that he used to have an incestuous relationship with his daughter. Previously in the story, there had been hints that Lang's trip to the UK wasn't just for his religious pursuits instead, something was happening at home where his Daughter didn't want anything to do with him. Still, the confession (brought on by a hypnotic trigger placed in his mind by Ruath) is downright horrific and is a strange thing to see in a Doctor Who story (although I know in the 90's DW stories were a lot more "adult" than that of the previous TV show). Now, I don't particularly hate the revelation as Lang's outburst is coupled with a speech about sinners and judgement day it's a very intense moment and it works incredibly well.
The two main villains of the story are Yarven, the Vampire Messiah, and Time Lady Ruath, a renegade Timelord who dedicated her life to studying vampirism, as well as Yarven's consort. These people both have links to The Doctor's past and future as Ruath knows The Doctor back from when they were studying at the Prydonian Academy in their youth on Gallifrey. Yarven knows of The Doctor in his 7th incarnation as Goth Opera is a semi-sequel to a 7th Doctor novel called Blood Harvest where Yarven is introduced. I have not read that novel and Goth Opera can be perfectly understood without it. However, I'm sure reading it would give readers more insight into Yarven's motivations (though I believe his motivations were more than justified through what's told in Goth Opera).
I enjoy the character of Yarven however at the end of the day he is just a vampire and whilst he is a great villain to follow, the real meat of the antagonist comes in the form of Ruath due to her connection with The Doctor. This relationship was an intriguing glimpse into The Doctor's early years, reading what he, The Rani, The Master and The Monk got up to was magical as it's a period the franchise has rarely explored and I wouldn't want them to explore it in great detail. Ruath is the driving force behind the plot and is written superbly with her own best interests at heart throughout.
Other than Nyssa, Lord Yarven and Ruath, Jake and Madeline are the vampires that feature the most and they are extremely good characters in my opinion. Throughout the novel they are shown to be sort of distant to the plan, not as gung ho as other vampires such as one, Jeremy Sanders. They're involved and do follow Yarven & Ruath's orders but on their list of priorities, it's not all too high. Their relationship throughout the novel is incredibly sweet even though they are vampires and wreak havoc at pivotal points and attack The Doctor and Tegan on multiple occasions.
This story is extremely vivid to me, many scenes I can imagine them playing out in my head. In fact, scenes that I conjured the last time I read this novel came back to me. I can remember exactly what I thought of when thinking of the TARDIS landing in Manchester for the first time, or the place where The Doctor and Tegan first meet Jake and Madeline. I felt that was not only impressive of myself but also goes to show just how powerful the writing is for something like that to still remain in my head nearly 2 years since I read it for the first time. I also loved the setting of this story being Manchester—albeit 1993 Manchester, a time when I was not alive—as I've been to Manchester many times and can properly imagine what certain places look like.
To try and wrap up this review as it's become quite the large bit of writing this has—but what's new when it comes to me and reviews—I'm going to actually just end it here because I don't know what else to say.
If you're at all interested, please read Goth Opera or listen to the Big Finish audio adaptation.
Thank you for reading.
Goth Opera is an absolute joy to read from start to finish, and I dare say it may be my favourite book of all time as of today. I feel I owe quite a bit to this book, as rereading it reminded me how it cemented the idea of "faith" and "religion" as some of the most interesting topics fiction can utilise for me. This story heavily features aspects of Christianity and the faith people have in objects, texts, people, etc, due to it dealing with vampirism, and one of the many defences, as well as offences we can utilise against vampires, is our faith. Before reading this novel originally I had never given it much thought. I don't even think I'd experienced it in media either (the closest I'd say I remember would be the Doctor Who story "The God Complex" in Series 6 of the modern show). Even in real life nowadays, I find the idea of religion/faith extremely fascinating, and whilst I am not religious myself, I hold great admiration for those who find solace in such depictions of religious texts and their meaning.
Vampires in Doctor Who are also something that I love. This novel is very lore-heavy about The Great Vampires and how, in "The Dark Times", Rassilon exiled the remaining vampires to E-Space (another universe) in a bid to save Gallifreyian life. The novel goes a lot deeper into it than I've quickly surmised here, and there is a lot of it throughout, but I revelled in every passing detail, eager to understand what I could.
This story features the 5th Doctor, Tegan Jovanka and Nyssa of Traken. I feel like this story is great for all three of our main cast though the standouts are certainly The Doctor and Nyssa. It's honestly, probably the best Nyssa story that existed when this novel came out in 1994 and to this day is one of her best. It's no spoiler to say that Nyssa becomes a vampire for the majority of this novel. I was quite shocked to remember just how soon into the novel she was bitten and spent the next two hundred or so pages dealing with her current state, straddling the lines of submitting to Lord Yarven.
It's quite upsetting to see Nyssa go through all this as she wasn't the intended target of the vampire attack, it was meant for The Doctor. I love Nyssa as a character and she shines here, early into her transformation I absolutely loved how she justified herself by keeping the attack secret by thinking about how she could save her father, Tremas, from The Master. That, with her new hypnotic abilities, she could "bring Tremas to the surface" and they, together again, could work on a cure for vampirism and save thousands of people.
With Nyssa off with the vampires, The Doctor and Tegan are together 95% of the time throughout the novel and they are fantastic together. The writer, Paul Cornell, captures their relationship perfectly and I could feel the two of them coming off the pages as I read their dialogue and intermittent thoughts. I do agree with a slight complaint about this story in that The Doctor all of a sudden seems incredibly favourable to cups of tea. I think he requests a cup of tea maybe twenty times throughout the novel. It's a very strange choice as it's not like tea was a major part of the 5th Doctor's character (though as a big tea lover myself I certainly wouldn't be against that) but also, sadly, it's usually Tegan tasked with the making of the teas and considering how she acted, and rightly so, during The Five Doctors when ordered to make up some refreshments for The 1st Doctor, 5th Doctor and Susan, I can't exactly imagine her being all too okay about making yet another tea.
Another prominent character is that of Victor Lang, a Texan evangelist who comes to Manchester after hearing it being teeming with satanic activity. I find Victor Lang to be a very interesting character. He is sort of the religious focal point of the story, showing how the general public has begun to behave following the many disappearances of teens and young adults from Manchester and its surrounding areas. However, in his final moments at one of his evangelical rallies held in the Old Trafford stadium, his character becomes distorted and, for me at least, an immediate sour taste overtakes my mouth as we learn, by Lang himself that he used to have an incestuous relationship with his daughter. Previously in the story, there had been hints that Lang's trip to the UK wasn't just for his religious pursuits instead, something was happening at home where his Daughter didn't want anything to do with him. Still, the confession (brought on by a hypnotic trigger placed in his mind by Ruath) is downright horrific and is a strange thing to see in a Doctor Who story (although I know in the 90's DW stories were a lot more "adult" than that of the previous TV show). Now, I don't particularly hate the revelation as Lang's outburst is coupled with a speech about sinners and judgement day it's a very intense moment and it works incredibly well.
The two main villains of the story are Yarven, the Vampire Messiah, and Time Lady Ruath, a renegade Timelord who dedicated her life to studying vampirism, as well as Yarven's consort. These people both have links to The Doctor's past and future as Ruath knows The Doctor back from when they were studying at the Prydonian Academy in their youth on Gallifrey. Yarven knows of The Doctor in his 7th incarnation as Goth Opera is a semi-sequel to a 7th Doctor novel called Blood Harvest where Yarven is introduced. I have not read that novel and Goth Opera can be perfectly understood without it. However, I'm sure reading it would give readers more insight into Yarven's motivations (though I believe his motivations were more than justified through what's told in Goth Opera).
I enjoy the character of Yarven however at the end of the day he is just a vampire and whilst he is a great villain to follow, the real meat of the antagonist comes in the form of Ruath due to her connection with The Doctor. This relationship was an intriguing glimpse into The Doctor's early years, reading what he, The Rani, The Master and The Monk got up to was magical as it's a period the franchise has rarely explored and I wouldn't want them to explore it in great detail. Ruath is the driving force behind the plot and is written superbly with her own best interests at heart throughout.
Other than Nyssa, Lord Yarven and Ruath, Jake and Madeline are the vampires that feature the most and they are extremely good characters in my opinion. Throughout the novel they are shown to be sort of distant to the plan, not as gung ho as other vampires such as one, Jeremy Sanders. They're involved and do follow Yarven & Ruath's orders but on their list of priorities, it's not all too high. Their relationship throughout the novel is incredibly sweet even though they are vampires and wreak havoc at pivotal points and attack The Doctor and Tegan on multiple occasions.
This story is extremely vivid to me, many scenes I can imagine them playing out in my head. In fact, scenes that I conjured the last time I read this novel came back to me. I can remember exactly what I thought of when thinking of the TARDIS landing in Manchester for the first time, or the place where The Doctor and Tegan first meet Jake and Madeline. I felt that was not only impressive of myself but also goes to show just how powerful the writing is for something like that to still remain in my head nearly 2 years since I read it for the first time. I also loved the setting of this story being Manchester—albeit 1993 Manchester, a time when I was not alive—as I've been to Manchester many times and can properly imagine what certain places look like.
To try and wrap up this review as it's become quite the large bit of writing this has—but what's new when it comes to me and reviews—I'm going to actually just end it here because I don't know what else to say.
If you're at all interested, please read Goth Opera or listen to the Big Finish audio adaptation.
Thank you for reading.
October 1, 2025
Doctor Who: Goth Opera by Paul Cornell is a dark, gothic tale that plunges the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, and Tegan into a chilling battle against vampires. As the first book in Virgin Publishing's Doctor Who: The Missing Adventures series, it’s a thrilling mix of horror and science fiction, blending the eerie atmosphere of classic vampire lore with the Doctor’s usual blend of cleverness and moral conviction. Set in 1990s Manchester, the story kicks off with a gruesome murder and escalates into a full-blown vampire crisis, threatening not only Earth but all of time and space.
The gothic atmosphere is one of the book’s standout features. Cornell’s writing is vivid and evocative, painting a world of shadowy cathedrals, blood-soaked rituals, and ancient, sinister forces. The vampires here are not your sparkly, romanticized variety they’re brutal, dangerous, and deeply tied to Gallifreyan mythology, which adds a fascinating layer to the Doctor Who lore.
The Fifth Doctor is written brilliantly. His gentle, thoughtful demeanor contrasts perfectly with the dark, violent tone of the story, and it’s refreshing to see him deal with such a grim scenario. Nyssa gets a lot of focus here, and her character is explored in depth as she faces personal challenges and makes some tough decisions. Tegan, with her sharp wit and no-nonsense attitude, provides a great balance to the tension, though she doesn’t get quite as much to do as Nyssa.
The plot is gripping and full of twists, with Cornell weaving together elements of horror, mystery, and timey-wimey sci-fi. The inclusion of Time Lord history and the exploration of the vampire race’s connection to Gallifrey add an epic, almost mythic feel to the story. However, the pacing can feel a bit uneven at times, with some sections dragging slightly compared to the more action-packed moments.
Overall, Goth Opera is a must-read for fans of darker Doctor Who stories. It’s atmospheric, intense, and rich with lore, making it a standout entry in the Missing Adventures series. If you’re into vampires, gothic horror, or just want to see the Fifth Doctor in a more sinister setting, this one’s for you.
The gothic atmosphere is one of the book’s standout features. Cornell’s writing is vivid and evocative, painting a world of shadowy cathedrals, blood-soaked rituals, and ancient, sinister forces. The vampires here are not your sparkly, romanticized variety they’re brutal, dangerous, and deeply tied to Gallifreyan mythology, which adds a fascinating layer to the Doctor Who lore.
The Fifth Doctor is written brilliantly. His gentle, thoughtful demeanor contrasts perfectly with the dark, violent tone of the story, and it’s refreshing to see him deal with such a grim scenario. Nyssa gets a lot of focus here, and her character is explored in depth as she faces personal challenges and makes some tough decisions. Tegan, with her sharp wit and no-nonsense attitude, provides a great balance to the tension, though she doesn’t get quite as much to do as Nyssa.
The plot is gripping and full of twists, with Cornell weaving together elements of horror, mystery, and timey-wimey sci-fi. The inclusion of Time Lord history and the exploration of the vampire race’s connection to Gallifrey add an epic, almost mythic feel to the story. However, the pacing can feel a bit uneven at times, with some sections dragging slightly compared to the more action-packed moments.
Overall, Goth Opera is a must-read for fans of darker Doctor Who stories. It’s atmospheric, intense, and rich with lore, making it a standout entry in the Missing Adventures series. If you’re into vampires, gothic horror, or just want to see the Fifth Doctor in a more sinister setting, this one’s for you.
September 23, 2018
Lange Zeit habe ich mich davor gedrückt dieses Buch zu lesen und hatte dafür scheinbar gute Gründe:
1. Kann ich wirklich fast nichts mit Vampiren anfangen. Irgendwie bin ich dem entwachsen und das hat nur wenig mit dem Hype zu tun den Twilight hervorgerufen hat. Vampire im Doctor Who Universum sind dann nochmal etwas ganz spezielles. Das Buch Vampire Science war okay, aber die Vampire haben mich die ganze Zeit über genervt. Von State of Decay möchte ich lieber gar nicht erst anfangen. Nur so viel, es ist eine der wenigen Folgen die ich noch schlimmer als The Web Planet finde.
2. Es ist kein Geheimnis, dass ich kein Fan des fünften Doctors bin. So sympathisch mit Peter Davison ist, so langweilig finde ich auch seinen Doctor. Zwar haben mich vor allem einige Hörspiele davon überzeugt, dass es auch anders geht, aber grundsätzlich bleibe ich immer etwas skeptisch, was Abenteuer mit dem fünften Doctor betrifft.
3. Von Paul Cornell habe ich bisher nicht viel gelesen, aber das was ich von ihm gelesen habe, war nicht gerade das beste was die Spin-off Medien so hergeben. Im Gegenteil. So fand ich zum Beispiel, dass Timewyrm: Revelation in die Liste der schlechtesten Bücher die ich jemals gelesen habe gehört.
Man stelle sich also meine Überraschung vor, als sich herausstellte, dass Goth Opera ein ganz tolles Buch ist. Cornell hat hier einen sehr schönen und flüssig zu lesenden Schreibstil gefunden und schafft es, fast alle Klischees die dieses Buch hätte bieten können zu vermeiden. Sein fünfter Doctor ist zwar passiv wie in der Serie, allerdings sind seine Beweggründe und seine Hintergedanken hier wunderbar nachzuvollziehen.
Ich bin wirklich froh, hier mal über meinen Schatten gesprungen zu sein und einfach mal das Buch zur Hand genommen zu haben. :)
1. Kann ich wirklich fast nichts mit Vampiren anfangen. Irgendwie bin ich dem entwachsen und das hat nur wenig mit dem Hype zu tun den Twilight hervorgerufen hat. Vampire im Doctor Who Universum sind dann nochmal etwas ganz spezielles. Das Buch Vampire Science war okay, aber die Vampire haben mich die ganze Zeit über genervt. Von State of Decay möchte ich lieber gar nicht erst anfangen. Nur so viel, es ist eine der wenigen Folgen die ich noch schlimmer als The Web Planet finde.
2. Es ist kein Geheimnis, dass ich kein Fan des fünften Doctors bin. So sympathisch mit Peter Davison ist, so langweilig finde ich auch seinen Doctor. Zwar haben mich vor allem einige Hörspiele davon überzeugt, dass es auch anders geht, aber grundsätzlich bleibe ich immer etwas skeptisch, was Abenteuer mit dem fünften Doctor betrifft.
3. Von Paul Cornell habe ich bisher nicht viel gelesen, aber das was ich von ihm gelesen habe, war nicht gerade das beste was die Spin-off Medien so hergeben. Im Gegenteil. So fand ich zum Beispiel, dass Timewyrm: Revelation in die Liste der schlechtesten Bücher die ich jemals gelesen habe gehört.
Man stelle sich also meine Überraschung vor, als sich herausstellte, dass Goth Opera ein ganz tolles Buch ist. Cornell hat hier einen sehr schönen und flüssig zu lesenden Schreibstil gefunden und schafft es, fast alle Klischees die dieses Buch hätte bieten können zu vermeiden. Sein fünfter Doctor ist zwar passiv wie in der Serie, allerdings sind seine Beweggründe und seine Hintergedanken hier wunderbar nachzuvollziehen.
Ich bin wirklich froh, hier mal über meinen Schatten gesprungen zu sein und einfach mal das Buch zur Hand genommen zu haben. :)
April 7, 2018
The timing for this read follows my having seen Peter Davidson, Janet Fielding, and Sarah Sutton live at ReGeneration Who Con (3/2018). It couldn't have been a better pick - as the novel features these three actor's characters in a story that breaks the bounds of the show limitations in dramatic and fulfilling ways on all fronts. Tegan and Nyssa are fully-realized characters, and The Doctor is well characterized for his fifth incarnation (although, this may be one of the more generic points - his companions were much more character-driven). Some truly messed-up and surprising elements, baby vampires forcefully following a primal nature, the interconnectivity of Gallifreyan origins with those of their vampire rivals (under-utilized in the series... but it's also easy to see how show-runners would want to carefully steer away from vampire trendiness and preconceptions). I also very much liked the awkward shoe-horning in of Romana's role (this is apparently a companion book to another story one need not have read - the VNA, Blood Harvest). I'm interested in the Doctor's Theta (Sigma) designation, and in the stories of his earliest compatriots. Ruath features prominently.
These characters are my old friends. That's just how it goes. They're part of my DNA, and that's probably not going to change. I'm thankful for the amazing fans that keep them alive and well - the largest of whom are the authors, range editors. These books are timeless.
These characters are my old friends. That's just how it goes. They're part of my DNA, and that's probably not going to change. I'm thankful for the amazing fans that keep them alive and well - the largest of whom are the authors, range editors. These books are timeless.
February 10, 2022
Is this a sequel or a prequel? It follows on from the novel Blood Harvest and Yarven who's escaped that book is up to tricks with Time Lord Ruarth also introduced in Blood Harvest. So it's a sequel. Except that Harvest stars the seventh Doctor and this one stars the fifth thus making it a prequel. Time travel is complicated.
Goth Opera is pretty much a standalone book. It starts with the Doctor playing cricket in Tasmania and it's nice to see him just having fun, very reminiscent of the opening of TV story Black Orchid. But Nyssa and Tegan are still uninterested in the game or the match.
In trying to get the Doctor's blood, the Child, a vampire baby, accidentally bites Nyssa who starts to turn.
This is a good and easy read. At the end of the 20th century vampires seemed to be in vogue, in the same way as zombies were to become in the 21st century. Nyssa taps into Louis from Interview with a Vampire book as her modus operandi, trying to find artificial blood rather than kill humans, and that is so in keeping with her character.
Tegan is the Mouth on Legs and this book feels like a TV story from that period. I could visualise it and easily see it on TV.
It is a tad long and like the TV era this is supposedly set in, there's a lot of baggage from the past about Rassilon, Gallifrey. But, as I say, in this period the TV show was the same.
I'd give it an average 6/10.
Scoring: 0 bad; 1-3 poor; 4-6 average; 7-9 good; 10 excellent
Goth Opera is pretty much a standalone book. It starts with the Doctor playing cricket in Tasmania and it's nice to see him just having fun, very reminiscent of the opening of TV story Black Orchid. But Nyssa and Tegan are still uninterested in the game or the match.
In trying to get the Doctor's blood, the Child, a vampire baby, accidentally bites Nyssa who starts to turn.
This is a good and easy read. At the end of the 20th century vampires seemed to be in vogue, in the same way as zombies were to become in the 21st century. Nyssa taps into Louis from Interview with a Vampire book as her modus operandi, trying to find artificial blood rather than kill humans, and that is so in keeping with her character.
Tegan is the Mouth on Legs and this book feels like a TV story from that period. I could visualise it and easily see it on TV.
It is a tad long and like the TV era this is supposedly set in, there's a lot of baggage from the past about Rassilon, Gallifrey. But, as I say, in this period the TV show was the same.
I'd give it an average 6/10.
Scoring: 0 bad; 1-3 poor; 4-6 average; 7-9 good; 10 excellent
August 9, 2025
Book 344 - Paul Cornell – Doctor Who – Goth Opera
Well, this was astonishing. Written in 1994 between the original series ending and the Paul McGann 8th Doctor movie of 1996. It is a much more adult story … involving vampires… the Old Times of Gallifrey and the battles between Rassilon the father of Gallifrey and the Great Ones (Vampires). Set in the present day of the then early 1990s… it is set in the very modern locale of Manchester.
Of the two companions traveling with the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan, it is very much Nyssa’s tale….she is bitten…she is transformed, and we discover through the narrative how she battles through this infection.
All the old Vampiric tropes are there… garlic… sunlight…running water and changing at the next full moon… all given a ‘scientific’ slant…
Very unusually for a Doctor Who story….these are actual vampires and although the TV series did touch on this once before it was always seen as too visceral for television and by reading this book we can see why.
Death follows death…darkness follows, and the eventual denouement is brutal…bloody and not something that could be shown in a family TV show.
A break from the norm of Doctor Who of a time when we all thought it had gone away for good. Devastatingly brilliant, with the villains of the piece fully-rounded and formed characters and ones we still feel a certain amount f sympathy for….the very essence of good writing. Amazing.
Well, this was astonishing. Written in 1994 between the original series ending and the Paul McGann 8th Doctor movie of 1996. It is a much more adult story … involving vampires… the Old Times of Gallifrey and the battles between Rassilon the father of Gallifrey and the Great Ones (Vampires). Set in the present day of the then early 1990s… it is set in the very modern locale of Manchester.
Of the two companions traveling with the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan, it is very much Nyssa’s tale….she is bitten…she is transformed, and we discover through the narrative how she battles through this infection.
All the old Vampiric tropes are there… garlic… sunlight…running water and changing at the next full moon… all given a ‘scientific’ slant…
Very unusually for a Doctor Who story….these are actual vampires and although the TV series did touch on this once before it was always seen as too visceral for television and by reading this book we can see why.
Death follows death…darkness follows, and the eventual denouement is brutal…bloody and not something that could be shown in a family TV show.
A break from the norm of Doctor Who of a time when we all thought it had gone away for good. Devastatingly brilliant, with the villains of the piece fully-rounded and formed characters and ones we still feel a certain amount f sympathy for….the very essence of good writing. Amazing.
September 2, 2021
I quite enjoyed this one - I think I've only read two of the missing adventures / past doctor adventures, and the other one I didn't keep as really didn't enjoy, but this one I did, and on a reread still good. Seems to capture the Fifth Doctor era quite well, while still having a bit more of an adult theme.
While there might be manipulation going on in the story, it isn't by the Doctor, as opposed to the Seventh Doctor's New Adventures line, which makes for a nice break having read a number of Seventh Doctor stories recently.
The Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa are all portrayed quite well here I think, and all get some interesting scenes and moments, and Nyssa especially gets to deal with an unusual set up here, a sort of situation that would have been great to see on TV as well to give her more variety.
The one off characters here are quite good here, and some of them certainly reasonably fleshed out, to point that I cared about some of the 'antagonists' as such and what would happen to them, whereas was quite vested in seeing how one underlying mystery would resolve itself.
The only shame is that it forms a sort of sequel to a novel I haven't read, and so I didn't understand all the references.
Outside of that though, was a great read.
While there might be manipulation going on in the story, it isn't by the Doctor, as opposed to the Seventh Doctor's New Adventures line, which makes for a nice break having read a number of Seventh Doctor stories recently.
The Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa are all portrayed quite well here I think, and all get some interesting scenes and moments, and Nyssa especially gets to deal with an unusual set up here, a sort of situation that would have been great to see on TV as well to give her more variety.
The one off characters here are quite good here, and some of them certainly reasonably fleshed out, to point that I cared about some of the 'antagonists' as such and what would happen to them, whereas was quite vested in seeing how one underlying mystery would resolve itself.
The only shame is that it forms a sort of sequel to a novel I haven't read, and so I didn't understand all the references.
Outside of that though, was a great read.
September 29, 2019
Goth Opera is an urban fantasy vampire novel as seen through a Doctor Who lens. It's got an interesting plot, some nice creepy moments, great dialogue and the characterization is very much on point. I specially liked that the author knew how to write Tegan (too many writers make her a useless complaining machine) and cared to show her relationship to Nyssa. The writing is tight and compelling, while still being emotional, fun and thrilling. I was not surprised to learn that the author is indeed the same Paul Cornell of The Witches of Lychford fame.
I picked up this book after reading some recent Doctor Who novels, expecting it to be like those: an entertaining adventure that felt like an episode of the show but did things with setting and imagery that would have been too hard to accomplish in a tv show. And it is that, but it's also a great adventure and far more daring in prose and plot than those modern Who novels. Absolutely recommended.
I picked up this book after reading some recent Doctor Who novels, expecting it to be like those: an entertaining adventure that felt like an episode of the show but did things with setting and imagery that would have been too hard to accomplish in a tv show. And it is that, but it's also a great adventure and far more daring in prose and plot than those modern Who novels. Absolutely recommended.
September 10, 2024
Doctor Who vs Vampires? Yes please!
I can't believe this is 30 years old now! I remember being so excited buying this at the time and I've re-read it a couple of times since - something I can't say for a lot of the other New and Missing Adventures that came out in the 90s. Tonally it's pitched pretty well in the Davison era so isn't quite allowed to go over the top gore-wise but that's okay. Love the characters obviously but I especially like the vampires Maddy & Jake so I was particularly happy for their ending. The setting is great too, Manchester in the 90s. So much to answer for! Paul Cornell was always one of my favourite Who writers during the Wilderness Years so I may go and visit some of his others if I can get my hands on them for a fair price.
Next stop...'Blood Harvest'!
I can't believe this is 30 years old now! I remember being so excited buying this at the time and I've re-read it a couple of times since - something I can't say for a lot of the other New and Missing Adventures that came out in the 90s. Tonally it's pitched pretty well in the Davison era so isn't quite allowed to go over the top gore-wise but that's okay. Love the characters obviously but I especially like the vampires Maddy & Jake so I was particularly happy for their ending. The setting is great too, Manchester in the 90s. So much to answer for! Paul Cornell was always one of my favourite Who writers during the Wilderness Years so I may go and visit some of his others if I can get my hands on them for a fair price.
Next stop...'Blood Harvest'!
June 29, 2020
My first Missing Adventure and my first Fifth Doctor novel! All in all it's a strong start for both of those firsts. Cornell's usually a pretty good shout and he doesn't disappoint! It serves as a nice pre... se... sidequel to Blood Harvest as well as standing up on its own.
For the most part, I think the Doctor and Tegan get characterised pretty well here, though Tegan does kind of get pushed aside a bit because obviously there's a lot of focus on the Doctor being a tad panicky and Nyssa going through... a fair bit. Still, their dynamics shine through and it's nice to see just how well that translates to prose as the Season 19/20 line-ups are some of my favourites.
For the most part, I think the Doctor and Tegan get characterised pretty well here, though Tegan does kind of get pushed aside a bit because obviously there's a lot of focus on the Doctor being a tad panicky and Nyssa going through... a fair bit. Still, their dynamics shine through and it's nice to see just how well that translates to prose as the Season 19/20 line-ups are some of my favourites.
April 28, 2022
5.5/10
Paul Cornell is handed the baton from New Adventures with mixed results. This Novel is perhaps too similar to the New Adventures format and consequently too complex and busy for my tastes.
Where Goth Opera does depart from the NAs is that plenty of the story is centred around the Doctor and his companions, another plus is there are some great lines and humour in this book.
The problem with this adventure is I never believed that this 'missing adventures' story would ever be commissioned by the BBC and with the odd exception it is strangely incongruous with the fifth Doctor era.
Paul Cornell is handed the baton from New Adventures with mixed results. This Novel is perhaps too similar to the New Adventures format and consequently too complex and busy for my tastes.
Where Goth Opera does depart from the NAs is that plenty of the story is centred around the Doctor and his companions, another plus is there are some great lines and humour in this book.
The problem with this adventure is I never believed that this 'missing adventures' story would ever be commissioned by the BBC and with the odd exception it is strangely incongruous with the fifth Doctor era.
July 24, 2024
Really captures 1983 (Doctor Who) but in a way that feels almost disgustingly '90s (Doctor Who). Cornell is definitely of the better writers to come from the 'Wilderness Years' and Goth Opera shows that wonderfully.
October 21, 2024
Cornell doesn't go for anything too deep here - it's 90% pure fun, with just enough thoughtfulness sprinkled on to keep things interesting, but golly it works. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/202...
September 11, 2021
Doctor Who vs vampires. Quite enjoyed it.
February 2, 2023
peak tyssa content
August 2, 2024
4.5 stars rounded
September 15, 2024
Spooky and a great role for Nyssa, but too much continuity and the religious themes fall flat.
November 17, 2024
3.25⭐️
October 3, 2025
3.25 ⭐️
I like the Fifth Doctor, but man was that dark and gruesome. 🦇🩸
I like the Fifth Doctor, but man was that dark and gruesome. 🦇🩸
February 22, 2019
The Peter Davison era of DOCTOR WHO is the one I grew up with. I did start watching the show in Tom Baker’s last series (and have clear memories of watching ‘The Keeper of Traken’ and loving it; but I also remember already knowing who Romana and K9 were, so must have watched it before), but really Peter Davison was The Doctor when my love for the show truly cemented. And yet – despite owning the DVDs – I never really go back and re-watch that era. It’s not that I find it bad necessarily, it’s certainly not the gaudy car crash the same team would soon produce with poor Colin Baker (which, even as a pre-teen, I realised wasn’t good), but still I find something insubstantial about it. The episodes get nowhere near my memories of them and the main emotion I take away from any re-view is disappointment.
Still though, reading Paul Cornell’s lovely capturing of the era was like sinking back into the cosiness of childhood. The Doctor is here (and maybe a slightly more dynamic version than often appeared on screen), Tegan is here and perfectly captured and Nyssa is given much, much more to do than was oft the case. The story is big and grand and has more ambition (and let’s be fair, blood and gore) than would ever have been pulled off in the real Nathan-Turner era.
It’s a grand tale of ancient evil, mischievous time lords, Earth in terrible peril and The Doctor being the brightest person in the toom. Just the way I want it.
With a whole year of no DOCTOR WHO ahead of me, I imagine I will be dipping more and more into my book collection (kept in a geeky box until my bed) and my word, GOTH OPERA is a good place to start.
Still though, reading Paul Cornell’s lovely capturing of the era was like sinking back into the cosiness of childhood. The Doctor is here (and maybe a slightly more dynamic version than often appeared on screen), Tegan is here and perfectly captured and Nyssa is given much, much more to do than was oft the case. The story is big and grand and has more ambition (and let’s be fair, blood and gore) than would ever have been pulled off in the real Nathan-Turner era.
It’s a grand tale of ancient evil, mischievous time lords, Earth in terrible peril and The Doctor being the brightest person in the toom. Just the way I want it.
With a whole year of no DOCTOR WHO ahead of me, I imagine I will be dipping more and more into my book collection (kept in a geeky box until my bed) and my word, GOTH OPERA is a good place to start.
May 17, 2015
The Doctor once again confronts some Vampire
24 January 2012
This is the first of the Missing Adventures series published by Virgin Books which involve adventures featuring the previous incarnations of the Doctor and his companions. This particular adventure involves the Fifth Doctor, Tegan, and Nyssa, and is set between the episodes Snakedance and Madryn Undead. The book is about vampires and is sort of a sequel to the New Adventures story Blood Harvest, though the first book involves the Seventh Doctor, so in the Doctor's life, it occurs after this story, however this story, in the normal time line, is set after Blood Harvest (all very confusing, but if you are a fan of Doctor Who you do end up getting your head around it).
The story was originally drafted so that the Doctor fights the original literary vampire Dracula, however they decided to change it so that instead of using a clichéd vampire, they created the vampire time-lord Ruath. In this book, she wants to turn the population of Earth into a horde of vampires, so she sets Earth into a time loop where it is perpetually night. She then creates a mist that will turn anybody it envelopes into a vampire. As can be expected, the Doctor and his companions defeat the vampire, and because she is a time lord, they also discover her Tardis (which is disguised as a gothic looking manor, as is depicted on the cover).
These stories would be a little more difficult to write than the New Adventures since they occur in a time line that has already been set, namely during the lives of the previous Doctors, where as with the New Adventures the time line is still developing. Apparently this book has the first mention of the destruction of Gallifrey, though this does not become gospel until the later series (it seems that the writers have tried to incorporate the books into the new series, though just barely). The other difficulty is the trick of writing a sequel that occurs before the original (and one would suspect that the Doctor would have memories of the events in this book).
I am probably being a little harsh on these books, and while I did read quite a few (my friend Paul and I would swap titles) I do remember this one. I have glanced over the availability of these books now (being over 10 years since they finished the series) and it is clear that many of these books are now out of print. It is still possible to purchase some of them, and I almost have an urge to attempt to do just that, if only to get another fix of Doctor Who. They weren't bad books, however I would hardly call them literary masterpieces either.
24 January 2012
This is the first of the Missing Adventures series published by Virgin Books which involve adventures featuring the previous incarnations of the Doctor and his companions. This particular adventure involves the Fifth Doctor, Tegan, and Nyssa, and is set between the episodes Snakedance and Madryn Undead. The book is about vampires and is sort of a sequel to the New Adventures story Blood Harvest, though the first book involves the Seventh Doctor, so in the Doctor's life, it occurs after this story, however this story, in the normal time line, is set after Blood Harvest (all very confusing, but if you are a fan of Doctor Who you do end up getting your head around it).
The story was originally drafted so that the Doctor fights the original literary vampire Dracula, however they decided to change it so that instead of using a clichéd vampire, they created the vampire time-lord Ruath. In this book, she wants to turn the population of Earth into a horde of vampires, so she sets Earth into a time loop where it is perpetually night. She then creates a mist that will turn anybody it envelopes into a vampire. As can be expected, the Doctor and his companions defeat the vampire, and because she is a time lord, they also discover her Tardis (which is disguised as a gothic looking manor, as is depicted on the cover).
These stories would be a little more difficult to write than the New Adventures since they occur in a time line that has already been set, namely during the lives of the previous Doctors, where as with the New Adventures the time line is still developing. Apparently this book has the first mention of the destruction of Gallifrey, though this does not become gospel until the later series (it seems that the writers have tried to incorporate the books into the new series, though just barely). The other difficulty is the trick of writing a sequel that occurs before the original (and one would suspect that the Doctor would have memories of the events in this book).
I am probably being a little harsh on these books, and while I did read quite a few (my friend Paul and I would swap titles) I do remember this one. I have glanced over the availability of these books now (being over 10 years since they finished the series) and it is clear that many of these books are now out of print. It is still possible to purchase some of them, and I almost have an urge to attempt to do just that, if only to get another fix of Doctor Who. They weren't bad books, however I would hardly call them literary masterpieces either.
January 10, 2015
The Doctor Who novel Goth Opera, written by Paul Cornell, is a fascinating one. It was published way back in 1994, and was the first of the “Missing Adventures”, which did the now-standard trick of inserting new stories into a previous era. Nowadays, this is Big Finish’s bread and butter, and indeed, this book is connected to BF’s current projects in more than one way.
For one thing, it gets into Gallfrey in a fascinating way. The Seventh Doctor novel Blood Harvest (a prequel to this in a timey-wimey way) was the book that brought Romana back to Gallifrey, but this is the one that really has her satisfyingly interacting with it - the Romana Presidency extends right out from this story. Plus, references to the Deca, and an ancient Gallifreyan cult who believes that Rassilon was infected by the Great Vampire!
Furthermore, there’s an early echo of the Time War here. The renegade Time Lord who drives the plot is doing it because Gallifrey as we know it exists in the distant past, and in the present (that is, 1993), Gallifrey and the Time Lords no longer exist; by her reckoning, the Time Lords are an evolutionary dead end, and they must become vampires to survive. And when she’s looking for the Doctor using the Time Scoop, she flips through his regenerations, including his “final form” in the future.
But the thing is, the main drive of such a story can’t just be fiddling about with continuity. It has to have an emotional core, and this one has a really good one, taking the character interactions of the Davison era and pumping them up, filling the characters with a rich interiority, and having them bounce off each other. Tegan’s more sympathetic, Nyssa’s more active, and Five is both. The secondary characters each have their own personalities and their own mini-arc.
Does this story have flaws? Oh hell yes, including a couple of scenes that read like a bad Hellblazer ripoff, and a character with a Deep Dark Secret that manages to be both a predictable cliche and not really fit with the rest of that character’s arc. It’s not my favorite of Cornell’s books, but I think it’s very interesting, lots of fun, and a good place to start on the books and on Cornell for fans who are already invested.
For one thing, it gets into Gallfrey in a fascinating way. The Seventh Doctor novel Blood Harvest (a prequel to this in a timey-wimey way) was the book that brought Romana back to Gallifrey, but this is the one that really has her satisfyingly interacting with it - the Romana Presidency extends right out from this story. Plus, references to the Deca, and an ancient Gallifreyan cult who believes that Rassilon was infected by the Great Vampire!
Furthermore, there’s an early echo of the Time War here. The renegade Time Lord who drives the plot is doing it because Gallifrey as we know it exists in the distant past, and in the present (that is, 1993), Gallifrey and the Time Lords no longer exist; by her reckoning, the Time Lords are an evolutionary dead end, and they must become vampires to survive. And when she’s looking for the Doctor using the Time Scoop, she flips through his regenerations, including his “final form” in the future.
But the thing is, the main drive of such a story can’t just be fiddling about with continuity. It has to have an emotional core, and this one has a really good one, taking the character interactions of the Davison era and pumping them up, filling the characters with a rich interiority, and having them bounce off each other. Tegan’s more sympathetic, Nyssa’s more active, and Five is both. The secondary characters each have their own personalities and their own mini-arc.
Does this story have flaws? Oh hell yes, including a couple of scenes that read like a bad Hellblazer ripoff, and a character with a Deep Dark Secret that manages to be both a predictable cliche and not really fit with the rest of that character’s arc. It’s not my favorite of Cornell’s books, but I think it’s very interesting, lots of fun, and a good place to start on the books and on Cornell for fans who are already invested.
June 18, 2016
When I decided to read all the Doctor Who Missing Adventures published by Virgin Publishing, I also decided to read them in Doctor and Doctor-Companion order. That is, chronological according to when they would take place in the series, not the original publication order. So, after just finishing the last book in the series, The Well-Mannered War, I'm now reading the first book in the series, Goth Opera, which includes a nice introduction by Peter Darvill-Evans, the book series editor. Goth Opera is also a sequel to the New Adventures book Blood Harvest, despite the fact that Blood Harvest features the Seventh Doctor and Goth Opera features the Fifth Doctor, as played by Peter Davison, as well as featuring Tegan, and Nyssa. I thought about skipping the book until I'd read Blood Harvest but decided to read it anyway - and re-read it when I read Blood Harvest.
Goth Opera opens in Tasmania at a cricket match. The Doctor's taken Tegan there in order to give her a holiday after her second encounter with the Mara. But Tegan is not enjoying her vacation. Soon, the Doctor and his companions are involved in a plot by vampires to take over the world and turn all humans into vampires. Aiding the vampires in this is Ruath, a Time Lady that the Doctor has encountered before - or that he will encounter again in his Seventh form. Nyssa is kidnapped and turned into a vampire. And Ruath even turns the Doctor into a vampire, though the process takes longer to affect him. Eventually, the Doctor is able to turn the tables on the vampires, eliminate many of them, and even turn other new vampires back into humans, or in Nyssa's case, back to being a native of Traken.
The story was good, with several interesting characters. However, I'm not a big fan of vampire stories. Still, I enjoyed this novel.
Goth Opera opens in Tasmania at a cricket match. The Doctor's taken Tegan there in order to give her a holiday after her second encounter with the Mara. But Tegan is not enjoying her vacation. Soon, the Doctor and his companions are involved in a plot by vampires to take over the world and turn all humans into vampires. Aiding the vampires in this is Ruath, a Time Lady that the Doctor has encountered before - or that he will encounter again in his Seventh form. Nyssa is kidnapped and turned into a vampire. And Ruath even turns the Doctor into a vampire, though the process takes longer to affect him. Eventually, the Doctor is able to turn the tables on the vampires, eliminate many of them, and even turn other new vampires back into humans, or in Nyssa's case, back to being a native of Traken.
The story was good, with several interesting characters. However, I'm not a big fan of vampire stories. Still, I enjoyed this novel.
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