''The Last Dodo'' is a

BBC Books BBC Books (also formerly known as BBC Consumer Publishing and 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 subsidia ...

original novel written by

Jacqueline Rayner Jacqueline Rayner is a British author, best known for her work with the licensed fiction based on the long-running British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Biography Her first professional writing credit came when she adapted Pau ...

and based on the long running science fiction television series ''

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 ...

''. It features the

Tenth Doctor The Tenth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He is played by David Tennant in three series and nine specials. The character has also appeared in other ''Docto ...

and

Martha Jones Martha Jones is a fictional character played by Freema Agyeman in the long-running British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and its spin-off series, ''Torchwood''. The show's first female black companion, she is a companion of ...

. It was published on 19 April 2007, after the television debut of companion Martha Jones, alongside ''

Sting of the Zygons ''Sting of the Zygons'' is a BBC Books original novel written by Stephen Cole (writer), Stephen Cole and based on the long-running science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It features the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones. It was published ...

'', and ''

Wooden Heart "Wooden Heart" is a pop song recorded by Elvis Presley. The composition is based on a German folk song " Muss i denn" (''lit.'' Must I then) and it was featured in the 1960 Elvis Presley film '' G.I. Blues''. The song was a hit single for Pres ...

''.

Synopsis

The Doctor and Martha Jones go searching for the last

dodo The dodo (''Raphus cucullatus'') is an extinction, extinct flightless bird that was endemism, endemic to the island of Mauritius, which is east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The dodo's closest relative was the also-extinct and flightles ...

. They end up in a museum featuring the last examples of extinct species, all in suspended animation. Many of the exhibits are going missing. The Doctor himself is in danger because he is the last of his race.

Plot

Upon being asked where she wants to go next, Martha chooses the zoo, falling back on childhood memories which appears to upset the Doctor who later admits the idea of animals in cages hurts him. Seeing the Doctor using a dodo feather as a bookmark, Martha asks to see a dodo in its natural habitat. The Doctor slots the feather into the TARDIS which ends up taking them to the Earth section of the Museum of the Last Ones (MOTLO) run by the sinister Eve. The Doctor also gives Martha an I-Spyder book which she regularly updates. Eve explains that the entire Universe is monitored and when a species gets down to only one, they are retrieved and placed in suspended animation within the museum. As several specimens have been going missing, the Doctor, Martha and the museum workers investigate, ultimately finding the thief to be a museum worker Frank, trying to make a profit. Frank is detained by Eve, who then also captures the Doctor since he is the Last of the Time Lords, while sending Martha off with another museum worker to retrieve another last one specimen. Upon discovering the Doctor frozen, Martha manages to free him and transport all the frozen animals back to their original destinations, only for the Doctor to reveal that since MOTLO doesn't possess time travel, they will be returned to present day earth. The Doctor and Martha head to Earth where they find the Dodo (which the Doctor dubs Dorothea) in a town, along with a sabre tooth tiger and dinosaurs, but soon discover multiples of the creatures in the town. Another MOTLO worker Tommy arrives to try to help but is injured by a sabre tooth tiger. Transported back to MOTLO, Martha gets help for Tommy before attempting to investigate, finding Frank in a secret lab before she is cornered by both Frank and Eve. On Earth, the Dodos seem to lay eggs which begin ticking. At MOTLO, Eve reveals that while Frank had been cloning the animals mainly to make a profit, she had realized that since planets ended all the time and species died, her collection would never be truly complete so she plans to have the clone dodos lay bomb eggs which when detonated would destroy the Earth and will then hold Martha in her collection as the last survivor of Earth. The Doctor returns to MOTLO, attempting to hold Eve at stalemate with a ticking Dodo egg, which fails. Upon being told the plan, the Doctor points out it wouldn't work as since the Universe is constantly expanding, by the time Eve finishes killing off one civilization, billions more will have already been created, meaning her collection can never be complete. Faced with this, Eve shoots herself, revealing herself to be an android, and the Doctor is able to disable the bombs from her. Attempting to find out Eve's codes so they can retrieve the displaced animals, the group is confronted by Frank who plans to use one Dodo egg to destroy MOTLO and escape with his cash. Dorothea manages to bury the egg in Frank's bag before he teleports away. Tommy reveals he knows Eve's password and the Doctor transports all the animals on MOTLO back to their original time periods. Dorothea is introduced to the Dodo clones which have remained behind and the Doctor advises the MOTLO workers to possibly document the creatures another way. Discovering another secret room, Martha and the Doctor find Eve's creator who reveals that he created Eve after he found his own world destroyed and she had misunderstood his desires to document lost species. Upon leaving MOTLO, Martha fills in the I-Spyder guide and receives her certificate.

Continuity

* The novel takes place in the year 2062. * Martha's I-Spyder

e-book An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Al ...

mentions the Sea Devils. * Martha mentions having previously seen

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

s on her travels. This occurred during the

New Series Adventures The ''New Series Adventures'' are a series of novels relating to the long-running BBC science fiction television series, ''Doctor Who''. The 'NSAs', as they are often referred to, are published by BBC Books, and are regularly published twice a y ...

novel '' Made of Steel''. * The Doctor names the dodo "Dorothea". Dorothea was the name of former

First Doctor The First Doctor is the original incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor, the protagonist of the British Science fiction on television, science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He was portrayed by actor William Hartnell in th ...

companion Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregive ...

, Dorothea "Dodo" Chaplet.

Outside references

* Martha's I-Spyder book bears many similarities to the

I-Spy The I-SPY books are spotters' guides written for British children, particularly successful in the 1950s and 1960s in their original form and again when relaunched by Michelin in 2009 after a seven-year gap in publishing. A search engine set to l ...

line of books. * The Doctor and Martha reference the good things that come in fours, including: the Fab Four (

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

, who had been enjoyed by the

and friends in '' The Chase''), four seasons pizza, the Four Yorkshiremen sketch (''

At Last the 1948 Show ''At Last the 1948 Show'' is a satirical television show made by David Frost's company, Paradine Productions (although it was not credited on the programmes), in association with Rediffusion London. Transmitted on Britain's ITV network in 196 ...

''), '' The Four Just Men'',

The Four Tops ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

, the

Fantastic Four The Fantastic Four, often abbreviated as FF, is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in '' The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover-dated November 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism i ...

, Radio 4 and the Four Tenors (until Martha reminds him that there are only three of them – and he claims he had had to turn them down).

Publication notes

* The novel was originally announced for September 2006 as ''The Last Museum'', before being replaced with '' The Price of Paradise''. This happened because the writer had not finished writing the book. * The book was originally going to feature Rose.

Audiobook

An abridged audio book was released in July 2007 by

BBC Audiobooks AudioGO (formerly BBC Audiobooks) was a British publisher of audiobooks and a range of spoken word and large-print titles. It was majority owned by AudioGO Ltd, and minority owned by BBC Worldwide. It was formed in 2010, when AudioGO purchased ...

and read by

Freema Agyeman Freema Agyeman (; born Frema Agyeman; 20 March 1979) is an English actress. She rose to fame with her role as the Doctor's companion Martha Jones in the BBC science fiction series ''Doctor Who'' (2007–2010) and its spin-off '' Torchwood'' ...

(Martha Jones in the television series). What was not included in the abridged version is the I-Spyder e-book perhaps due to copyright issues with the real life I Spy books.

References

External links

*
The Cloister Library - ''The Last Dodo''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Last Dodo, The 2007 British novels 2007 science fiction novels 2062 Novels set in the 2060s New Series Adventures Tenth Doctor novels Novels by Jacqueline Rayner Novels set on fictional planets Dodo