The Ancestor Cell is a novel written by Peter Anghelides and Steve Cole. Released in 2000, it is the thirty-sixth novel in BBC Books' Eighth Doctor Adventures series and tells of Gallifrey being visited by Faction Paradox. Lawrence Miles was extremely displeased with this novel due to its butchery of his concepts.
Characters[]
- Eighth Doctor
- Grandfather Paradox - the one-armed leader of Faction Paradox, who may be a future or alternate version of the Doctor
- Father Kreiner
- Fitz Kreiner
- Compassion
- Lady President Romana III
- Mali - a member of the Time Lord Military
- Technician Nivet - a technician living in the Capitol
- Greyjan the Sane - a resurrected former Lord President who was driven to suicide by a vision of the titular ancestor cell
- Mother Tarra - a member of Faction Paradox who took the form of a Time Lord
- Mother Mathara
- Uncle Kristeva - the leader of the invasion alongside Mathara
- Timon - Romana's Vice President
- ghostly Third Doctor
- Vozarti - a Castellan
- Kellen - a member of the secret coven
- Kaufima - a member of the secret coven
- Eton - the son of Vozarti
- Djarshar - the one-time Chancellor of Time Future
- Fremest - the Chancellor of Time Past
- Branastigert - the Chancellor of Time Parallel
- Ressadriand - a member of Faction Paradox
- Samax - a member of the High Council
rest to be added
Publisher's summary[]
The Doctor's not the man he was. But what has he become? An old enemy — Faction Paradox, a cult of time-travelling voodoo terrorists — is finally making him one of its own. These rebels have a mission for him, one that will deliver him into the hands of his own people, who have decreed that he must die. Except now, it seems, the Time Lords have a mission for him too...
A gargantuan structure, hewn from solid bone, has appeared in the skies over Gallifrey. Its origin and purpose are unknown, but its powers threaten to tear apart the web of time and the universe with it. Only the Doctor can get inside... but soon he will learn that nothing is safe and nothing sacred.
Shot by both sides, confronted by past sins and future crimes, the Doctor finds himself a prisoner of his own actions. With options finally running out, he must face his most crushing defeat or take one last, desperate chance for salvation...
In-universe continuity[]
- The Ancestor Cell attempts to wrap up the War in Heaven arc by blowing up every major faction - something that Lawrence Miles viewed as being extremely lazy. It directly leads into the Earth Arc.
- The destruction of Gallifrey was retconned in The Book of the War and appended in Lance Parkin's novel The Gallifrey Chronicles. Dale Smith's Faction Paradox novel Spinning Jenny further retcons the events of this novel.
- The Doctor encounters a "ghost" of his alternate self from the Interference duology.
- Romana mentions the events of Steve Cole's audio play The Apocalypse Element and some vague events from Paul Cornell's novel Goth Opera.
- The Slaughterhouse was first mentioned in Craig Hinton's novel The Quantum Archangel.
Sources[]
- TARDIS Wiki page for The Ancestor Cell