''Sometime Never...'' is a

BBC Books BBC Books (also formerly known as BBC Publishing) is an imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division. The minority shareholder is BBC Studios, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadca ...

original novel written by

Justin Richards Justin Richards (born 14 September 1961) is a British writer. He has written science fiction and fantasy novels, including series set in Victorian or early-20th-century London, and also adventure stories set in the present day. He has written ...

and based on the long-running British

science fiction television Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary ...

series '' Doctor Who''. It features the

Eighth Doctor The Eighth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. He is portrayed by Paul McGann. The character was introduced in the 1996 TV film '' Doctor Who'', a back-door p ...

Fitz Fitz (pronounced "fits") was a patronymic indicator used in Anglo-Norman England to help distinguish individuals by identifying their immediate predecessors. Meaning "son of", it would precede the father's forename, or less commonly a title held b ...

, Trix, and Miranda.

Continuity

The

epilogue An epilogue or epilog (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἐπίλογος ''epílogos'', "conclusion" from ἐπί ''epi'', "in addition" and λόγος ''logos'', "word") is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature, usually used to bring c ...

of the novel offers a possible explanation to the fan asked question of how the Doctor can still exist after the destruction of

Gallifrey Gallifrey () is a fictional planet in the long-running British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. It is the original home world of the Time Lords, the civilisation to which the protagonist, the Doctor belongs. It is located in ...

in '' The Ancestor Cell''. In that novel, time is reversed to stop Gallifrey or the

Time Lords The Time Lords are a fictional ancient race of extraterrestrial people in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', of which the series' main protagonist, the Doctor, is a member. Time Lords are so named for their command ...

from ever existing, provoking confusion among fans. This novel shows the Doctor giving one of the council of Eight (Soul) some of his life energy to keep him alive. When Soul and Miranda's daughter Zezanne leave in Sabbath's time ship (the ''Jonah''), Soul takes on the form of an old man who resembles the

First Doctor The First Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. He was portrayed by actor William Hartnell. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien T ...

. They both lose their memories, but believe they are the First Doctor and

Susan Susan is a feminine given name, from Persian "Susan" (lily flower), from Egyptian '' sšn'' and Coptic ''shoshen'' meaning "lotus flower", from Hebrew ''Shoshana'' meaning "lily" (in modern Hebrew this also means "rose" and a flower in general), ...

. The ''Jonah'' arrives, disguised as a

Police Box A police box is a public telephone kiosk or callbox for the use of members of the police, or for members of the public to contact the police. It was used in the United Kingdom throughout the 20th century from the early 1920s. Unlike an ordinar ...

in 1963, with Octan's Starkiller (replacing the Hand of Omega). This potentially

retcons Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in which established diegetic facts in the plot of a fictional work (those established through the narrative itself) are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subs ...

the entire series, giving an alternative explanation to the Doctor's origins without the Time Lords. This however contradicts the revelations about Gallifrey's destruction in '' The Gallifrey Chronicles'', where it is revealed that while Gallifrey was destroyed, the Time Lords were not erased from history. However, the cataclysm set up an event horizon in time that prevented anyone from entering Gallifrey's relative past or travelling from it to the present or future. The Time Lords also survived within the Matrix, which had been downloaded into the Eighth Doctor's mind, with the intention of restoring the Time Lords and Gallifrey.

Continuity

*While talking to the image of the

Master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

, the Doctor mentions that "Somewhere... the tea will be getting cold", a reference to the

Seventh Doctor The Seventh Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', and the final incarnation of the original Doctor Who series. He is portrayed by Scottish actor Sylvester McCoy ...

's final speech in ''

Survival Survival, or the act of surviving, is the propensity of something to continue existing, particularly when this is done despite conditions that might kill or destroy it. The concept can be applied to humans and other living things (or, hypotheti ...

''. *In the end of this novel

Jo Grant Josephine "Jo" Grant, later Jo Jones, is a fictional character played by Katy Manning in the long-running British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. Jo was introduced by Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks in the first episode of ' ...

is seen alive and well, indicating that all the companions that the Council of Eight killed have returned to their normal time lines.

Notes

*Sabbath's allies were originally

Daleks The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrials in fiction, extraterrestrial race of mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction on television, science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by write ...

, but legal issues prevented this and the Council of Eight were a last-minute replacement. This means that the black eye sun mentioned in earlier novels, originally meant to tie in with the revelation of Sabbath's allies being Daleks, has not been explained. However, it is implied that the Daleks are watching Soul and Zezanne leaving the station, hinting at a new version of ''

Remembrance of the Daleks ''Remembrance of the Daleks'' is the first serial of the 25th season of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. The serial was first broadcast in four weekly episodes from 5 to 26 October 1988. It was written by Ben Aaronov ...

''.

References

External links

The Cloister Library - ''Sometime Never...''
* {{Master stories, selected=Books 2004 British novels 2004 science fiction novels Eighth Doctor Adventures Novels by Justin Richards Sometime