Virgin Missing Adventures

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The Virgin Missing Adventures (often referred to simply as MAs in fandom) were a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which had been cancelled in 1989, continuing the story of the series from where the television programme had left off. The novels were published from 1994 to 1997, and featured the First through Sixth Doctors. (The Seventh Doctor also appeared in one novel.) The Missing Adventures complemented the Virgin New Adventures range, which had proved successful. Like all spin-off media, their canonicity in relation to the television series is open to interpretation.

Contents

[edit] Publication history

Virgin had purchased the successful children's imprint Target Books in 1989, with Virgin's new fiction editor Peter Darvill-Evans taking over the range. Target's major output was novelisations of televised Doctor Who stories, and Darvill-Evans realised that there were few stories left to be novelised. He approached the BBC for permission to commission original stories written directly for print, but such a licence was initially refused. However, after the television series was cancelled at the end of 1989, Virgin were granted the licence to produce full-length original novels continuing the story from the point at which the series had concluded.

The first range covered only the continuing adventures of the Seventh Doctor, but when that proved successful, Virgin also created this range covering the previous Doctors, with new stories that fit in between the televised serials.

In addition to original novels, the Missing Adventures series also incorporated two novelisations: The Ghosts of N-Space, based upon a mid-1990s BBC audio play, and Downtime, which was based upon an independent video production featuring several characters from the Doctor Who series (the novelisation is one of the few Doctor Who novels in which the Doctor does not appear as a central character).

When the BBC decided in 1996 to do their own line of novels with the Eighth Doctor, they withdrew the license from Virgin to publish the Eighth Doctor Adventures. The adventures of the previous Doctors were taken up by the BBC in the Past Doctor Adventures line of books.

[edit] List of Virgin Missing Adventures

# Title Author Doctor Featuring Published
1 Goth Opera Paul Cornell 5th Tegan, Nyssa July 1994
2 Evolution John Peel 4th Sarah Jane September 1994
3 Venusian Lullaby Paul Leonard 1st Ian, Barbara October 1994
4 The Crystal Bucephalus Craig Hinton 5th Tegan, Turlough, Kamelion November 1994
5 State of Change Christopher Bulis 6th Peri December 1994
6 The Romance of Crime Gareth Roberts 4th Romana II, K-9 January 1995
7 The Ghosts of N-Space Barry Letts 3rd Sarah Jane, the Brigadier February 1995
8 Time of Your Life Steve Lyons 6th Grant Markham March 1995
9 Dancing the Code Paul Leonard 3rd Jo, UNIT April 1995
10 The Menagerie Martin Day 2nd Jamie, Zoe May 1995
11 System Shock Justin Richards 4th Sarah, Harry June 1995
12 The Sorcerer's Apprentice Christopher Bulis 1st Ian, Barbara, Susan July 1995
13 Invasion of the Cat-People Gary Russell 2nd Ben, Polly August 1995
14 Managra Stephen Marley 4th Sarah Jane September 1995
15 Millennial Rites Craig Hinton 6th Mel October 1995
16 The Empire of Glass Andy Lane 1st Steven, Vicki; plus Irving Braxiatel November 1995
17 Lords of the Storm David A. McIntee 5th Turlough December 1995
18 Downtime Marc Platt none the Brigadier, Sarah Jane, Victoria January 1996
19 The Man in the Velvet Mask Daniel O'Mahony 1st Dodo February 1996
20 The English Way of Death Gareth Roberts 4th Romana II, K-9 March 1996
21 The Eye of the Giant Christopher Bulis 3rd Liz Shaw, UNIT April 1996
22 The Sands of Time Justin Richards 5th Tegan, Nyssa May 1996
23 Killing Ground Steve Lyons 6th Grant Markham June 1996
24 The Scales of Injustice Gary Russell 3rd Liz Shaw, UNIT July 1996
25 The Shadow of Weng-Chiang David A. McIntee 4th Romana I, K-9 August 1996
26 Twilight of the Gods Christopher Bulis 2nd Jamie, Victoria September 1996
27 Speed of Flight Paul Leonard 3rd Jo, Mike Yates October 1996
28 The Plotters Gareth Roberts 1st Ian, Barbara, Vicki November 1996
29 Cold Fusion Lance Parkin 5th and 7th Adric, Nyssa, Tegan; Roz, Chris, Bernice December 1996
30 Burning Heart Dave Stone 6th Peri January 1997
31 A Device of Death Christopher Bulis 4th Harry, Sarah Jane February 1997
32 The Dark Path David A. McIntee 2nd Jamie, Victoria March 1997
33 The Well-Mannered War Gareth Roberts 4th Romana II, K-9 April 1997

[edit] Sequels

Three of the Missing Adventures were sequels to televised serials, they were:

Many old foes appeared, including:

[edit] Who Killed Kennedy

Main article - Who Killed Kennedy

In 1996, Virgin Books published Who Killed Kennedy, a Doctor Who novel by David Bishop. Although set during the time of the Third Doctor, Virgin published this book as a standalone work, and not as part of the Missing Adventures series.

[edit] See also

v • d • e
Doctor Who novels, novellas and short stories

[edit] External links

[edit] Virgin Missing Adventures e-books