Christmas on a Rational Planet (novel)

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***Christmas on a Rational Planet*** is the fifty-second Virgin New Adventures novel. It features the Seventh Doctor, Chris Cwej and Roz Forrester. *Christmas on a Rational Planet* is author Lawrence Miles' first novel for the *Doctor Who* range. He later wrote two novels for Virgin's Virgin Bernice Summerfield New Adventures. He also contributed significant elements to the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures novels in his novels *Alien Bodies*, *Interference - Book One* and *Interference - Book Two*. The beginnings of ideas and elements in those novels can be seen in this novel.

## Publisher's summary

*"An end to history. An end to certainty. Is that too much to ask?"*

December, 1799. Europe is recovering from the Age of Reason, the Vatican is learning to live with Napoleon, and America is celebrating a new era of independence. But in New York State, something is spreading its own brand of madness through the streets. Secret societies are crawling from the woodwork, and there’s a Satanic conspiracy around every corner.

Roz Forrester is stranded in a town where festive cheer and random violence go hand-in-hand. Chris Cwej is trapped on board the TARDIS with someone who’s been trained to kill him. And when Reason itself breaks down, even the Doctor can’t be sure who or what he’s fighting for.

Christmas is coming to town, and the end of civilisation is following close behind...

## Characters

* Seventh Doctor
* Roz Forrester
* Chris Cwej
* The Carnival Queen
* Daniel Tremayne
* Erskine Morris
* Isaac Penley
* Marielle Duquesne
* Matheson Catcher
* Raphael
* Samuel Lincoln
* Tourette
* Jake McCrimmon
* Cardinal Catilin
* Cardinal Pontormo
* Cardinal Roche
* Cardinal Tuscanini

## References

### Books

* *Genetic Politics Beyond the Third Zone* is a book by Gustous R Thripsted.

### Drugs and medicines

* Vraxoin is known to Roz. It was discovered on the Cygnus Rim.
* Cocaine, caffeine and marijuana are all legal in 1799.

### The Doctor

* The Doctor refers to the Eighth Man Bound.

### Individuals

* Stattenheim (of the Stattenheim Remote Control) lived in 16th century Berlin.
* Jake is familiar with the Siege of Quebec.

### Locations

* The United States fell sometime in the 21st century.
* The Catholic Church kept items deemed too dangerous for the public to know of in three places: The Library of St John the Beheaded in London for texts, the Collection of Necessary Secrets in Vatican City for other non-living things, and the Crow Gallery in South Africa for living specimens.

### Planets

* On Minyos they cast out the heliomancers from their society.
* Astra is a terrible place, like many of Earth's colonies in the 25th century.

### Theories and concepts

* Grandfather Paradox is mentioned for the first time.
* Roz tries to kill who she thinks is Abraham Lincoln's grandfather, thus creating a paradox and making the Doctor find her.

## Notes

* This novel is rumoured to contain a reference to every TV story, although some are very obscure (such as Lincoln being a reference to *The Chase* or the reference to Gallifreyan prisoner tattoos being a reference to either *Spearhead from Space* or *Doctor Who and the Silurians*). It requires a distinctly critical eye to identify them, should the rumour be correct.

 File:Christmas on a Rational Planet altcover.jpg
* This novel's original cover was supposedly so unpopular that it was changed before publication.

## Continuity

* PROSE: *Alien Bodies*, *Interference - Book One*, *Interference - Book Two* further expand upon the idea of paradoxes and Grandfather Paradox.
* The planet Astra was Vicki and Bennett's destination in TV: *The Rescue*.
* It's established that the mysterious tattoo seen on the Third Doctor's arm in TV: *Spearhead from Space* immediately after his regeneration was in fact a Time Lord mark signifying an exile.

## External links

* ***Christmas on a Rational Planet*** at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
* The Discontinuity Guide to: **Christmas on a Rational Planet** at The Whoniverse
* The Cloister Library: **Christmas on a Rational Planet**

## Footnotes

1. ↑ Paul Scoones (November 1996). TSV 49: Review: Christmas on a Rational Planet. *NZDWFC*. Retrieved on 8th November 2010.

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