''Goth Opera'' is an original ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' novel, published by

Virgin Publishing Virgin Books is a British book publisher 90% owned by the publishing group Random House, and 10% owned by Virgin Group, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company. History Virgin established its book publishing arm ...

in their '' Missing Adventures'' range of ''Doctor Who'' novels. It was the first book in that series and a sequel to the '' New Adventure'' book '' Blood Harvest'', but it can be read separately.

Plot

As the Fifth Doctor and his companions vacation in

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

they become caught up in a scheme by the Time Lord Ruath to resurrect the

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...

Yarven (from '' Blood Harvest''). Ruath sends a vampire baby to attack the Doctor and turn him into a vampire, but the child instead attacks and converts Nyssa. Unable to provide Yarven with the Doctor's Time Lord blood, Ruath gives her own blood to Yarven, causing her to die and regenerate into a vampire Time Lord. Nyssa, while trying fight her new vampire nature, is drawn to Yarven's castle, where she learns more about Ruath's plan. Ruath has created a genetically enhanced mist that can turn normal humans into vampires, and kill those who use traditional methods (garlic, crosses, etc.) to protect themselves. Ruath has also invented a Time Freeze, a small Time Loop that can hold the Earth in a perpetual night, leaving the vampires free to roam and feed.

Background and continuity

The plot for the novel was originally developed from an unproduced comic strip for '' Doctor Who Magazine'', which would have featured the Fourth Doctor in a fight against

Dracula ''Dracula'' is an 1897 Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. The narrative is Epistolary novel, related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist and opens ...

. Cornell revised the story to use the Fifth Doctor for this first Missing Adventure.

Placement problem

The back cover of ''Goth Opera'' says that it takes place between the television stories Snakedance and Mawdryn Undead. However, it is difficult to avoid the fact that there is actually no gap between these shows to put an extra adventure.

Cover

The novel's cover was originally to feature a far more graphic image of Nyssa's shirt covered in blood. The artwork had to be adjusted and the blood airbrushed out when retailer

W H Smith WH Smith plc, trading as WHSmith (also written WH Smith and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son), is a British retailer, with headquarters in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of railway station, airport, port, hospital and motorway service st ...

insisted that they would not stock the book in that form.Jade Pagoda post
by Craig Hinton, 29 June 2004

References

{{Fifth Doctor stories, selected=Books 1994 British novels 1994 science fiction novels Fifth Doctor novels Virgin Missing Adventures Novels by Paul Cornell Vampire novels Manchester in fiction