Virgin Lands single work   short story   science fiction  
Issue Details: First known date: 2002... 2002 Virgin Lands
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'The Doctor takes Ace and Benny to an old colonial mansion in Sydney, Australia to visit a woman named LaMort. Ace is hoping for a confrontation; a gunman recently ran amok in Port Arthur, the second such massacre in a month's time, and Ace wants to believe that an alien monster is responsible. Ace waits and then follows the Doctor in through the front door, while Benny sneaks into the house around the back -- and while Ace sees herself in an opulent house full of party guests, Benny has fought her way through an overgrown backyard jungle into an abandoned, decaying ruin. Upstairs, the Doctor is talking to a woman whom only he and Ace can see, but whom Benny can hear. Her face looks like skin stretched over a skull and her voice sounds like decay; she is LaMort, Death, and she's weary of her role, having seen everything on Earth there is to see. The Doctor knows that death still has a vital part to play, and has Benny tell LaMort about her life. Death realises that the human race is bound to leave Earth and expand out into the cosmos, taking her influence to new worlds previously untouched; there will always be more for her to see. Ace can't accept the finality of death, but accepts that the human race is responsible for its own crimes.'

(The Doctor is the Seventh Doctor.)

Source: drwhoguide.com (http://www.drwhoguide.com/whotrip4.htm).

Sighted 2/6/11

Notes

  • Introduced as a new companion for the Seventh Doctor in Paul Cornell's 1992 Doctor Who: New Adventure novel Love and War, Benny (Professor Bernice Summerfield) was spun off as an independent protagonist in 1997, when Virgin's license to publish Doctor Who fiction was not renewed by the BBC.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Zodiac : A Short-Story Collection Jacqueline Rayner (editor), Maidenhead : Big Finish Productions , 2002 Z1783547 2002 anthology short story science fiction

    'Take a TARDIS trip through the constellations, as the Doctor travels to twelve thrilling tales inspired by the mystical zodiac.

    Telepathic fish, miniature lions and twin planets are the least of his problems, as the Doctor -- all eight of him -- faces the Capricorn Killer, endures a mindswap with the Machiavellian Master, and dances with Death herself.

    And that's not the half of it -- as the two K9s can attest.'

    Source: drwhoguide.com (http://www.drwhoguide.com/whotrip7.htm).

    Sighted: 2/6/11

    Maidenhead : Big Finish Productions , 2002

Works about this Work

The Doctor is In (the Antipodes) : Doctor Who Short Fiction and Australian National Identity Catriona Mills , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Doctor Who and Race 2013; (p. 213-230)
'British science-fiction family television program Doctor Who has always had a strong fan-base in Australia. This essay explores the ways in which certain of those Australian fans use the shorter forms of ancillary Doctor Who fiction to question the construction and promulgation of Australian national identity. By dropping the Doctor into significant crisis points in Australian history – from Gallipoli to the Port Arthur massacre – these authors literalize and question the process of constructing national identity, drawing to the surface the troubled and often negated role that race plays in ‘Australianness’.' (Author's abstract)
The Doctor is In (the Antipodes) : Doctor Who Short Fiction and Australian National Identity Catriona Mills , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Doctor Who and Race 2013; (p. 213-230)
'British science-fiction family television program Doctor Who has always had a strong fan-base in Australia. This essay explores the ways in which certain of those Australian fans use the shorter forms of ancillary Doctor Who fiction to question the construction and promulgation of Australian national identity. By dropping the Doctor into significant crisis points in Australian history – from Gallipoli to the Port Arthur massacre – these authors literalize and question the process of constructing national identity, drawing to the surface the troubled and often negated role that race plays in ‘Australianness’.' (Author's abstract)
Last amended 4 Aug 2011 14:39:24
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