BASIC PLOT
673 years ago the Doctor left this family in the House of Lungbarrow. Abandoned, disgraced and resentful, they have waited. And now he's home at last.

DOCTOR
Seventh, plus the First in flashback.

COMPANIONS
Chris Cwej, Ace, Leela, K9 Mark I, K9 Mark II, Romana, Susan (in flashback, page 267).

MATERIALISATION CIRCUIT
The House Lungbarrow and the slopes of Mount Lung (page 302).

The first Doctor's TARDIS also materialises in the Capitol, disguised as a pyramid, in the Old Time in a flashback sequence (pages 278 and 280).

PREPARATORY READING
Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible.

This novel wraps up many of the thematic threads of the NAs, although it's not reliant on too many of them explicitly.

A good working knowledge of the Gallifrey TV stories would be helpful.

CONTINUITY REFERENCES
Cover: It might not be intentional, but the two figures who can be seen clearly bear passing resemblances to the first Doctor and the sixth Doctor (or perhaps The Stranger). It's possible the looms weave on recurring genetic patterns, so some of the Doctor's cousins might look like his other incarnations.

Front quote "How far Doctor? How long have you lived?" The quote at the front is obviously from The Brain of Morbius.

Pg 1 "The fathomless pits of the Sepulchasm" Sepulchasm is mentioned in Time's Crucible.

"The Pythia was dead, overthrown by her children." Time's Crucible.

"A pall of smoke drifted across Pazithi Gallifreya." Gallifrey's moon is first named on page 40 of Time's Crucible and also mentioned on page 27 of The Infinity Doctors.

Pg 2 "Omega, despite his sacrifice, still had a hand in their affairs." Omega was first seen in The Three Doctors and the Hand, which plays a major role here, in Remembrance of the Daleks.

Pg 4 "Eighth Man bound Makes no sound" Eighth Man Bound was a Gallifreyan game introduced in Christmas on a Rational Planet. The Doctor was able to see ahead to his future regenerations and saw further than anyone ever had, as far as his seventh incarnation (the Doctor and Romana also discuss this on page 259).

Pg 7 "And Satthralope smacked me so hard I could barely walk." This phrase also appears on page 95 of Cold Fusion.

Pg 8 "That's what the tafelshrews do. There was a nest of them in the back of the pantry" Tafelshrews are small Gallifreyan rodents, also mentioned on page 23 of Time's Crucible and page 9 of The Infinity Doctors.

Pg 13 "She remembered the effects of a Time Storm that had snatched her off the world before." Dragonfire.

Pg 14 "The periods in between Spandrell's two previous retirements" This explains why Spandrell was Castellan in Blood Harvest, even though he hadn't been since The Deadly Assassin.

"She had even announced a state visit from the Chairman of Argolis." The Leisure Hive.

Pg 20 "She wasn't even at the reception for the Chelonian envoy." The Chelonians were introduced in The Highest Science and were seen throughout the NAs and MAs.

Pg 22 "Rodan has been sent on a cross-cultural liaison course." Rodan befriended Leela in The Invasion of Time.

Pg 27 "They had lain together under the stars that burnt in the ochre sky" This matches Susan's description of Gallifrey in The Sensorites.

Pg 30 "He dared not breathe; tried not to think; prayed to the God of Pain that his hearts would stop pounding so loudly." The God of Pain is one of the Gallifreyan Gods, who are really Eternals (from Enlightenment) who manifest themselves as gods so the Gallifreyans will have someone to worship. They appeared throughout the New Adventures, most notably Time (as the Doctor was her champion) and Death (who appears on the front cover of Timewyrm: Revelation).

Pg 32 "One inside another, they showed the Mansions of the Stars and Houses of the Gods - red/black for Death, white for Pain and some indeterminate shifting colour for Time." The three major Gods.

Pg 34 "Innocet took the opportunity to raise the Duke of Dominoes into position on the card mansion." The Duke of Dominoes was a short story by Marc Platt in the first Decalog and referred to the Master.

Pg 35 "At every turn it was a different sign - a Cloud, a tear, then an Owl." Owls were the symbol of the Time Lords throughout the NAs, most notably in the works of Paul Cornell.

"The frozen gas giant Polarfrey came into conjunction with its fiery opposite Karn." Karn was seen in The Brain of Morbius (and the stage play The Seven Keys to Doomsday).

"It was Kasterborous the Fibster, the mythical Hero himself" Kasterborous is Gallifrey's constellation and Gallifreyan Heroes (such as Prydonius) were seen in Time's Crucible.

Pg 37 "Even in the super-buoyant water of the TARDIS bathroom" The bathroom was first seen in The Invasion of Time and later deleted, but restored in the NAs.

"He'd better not let on to Roz, though." Roz was the Doctor's former companion who died in So Vile a Sin.

Pg 38 Reference to Daleks, including Marsh-Daleks. Ace's surname is again given as McShane.

Pg 39 "A Stone Roses T-shirt" Ace was a fan of The Stone Roses back in Timewyrm: Revelation.

Pg 40 "I'm the cat-girl. I'm the Dalek-killer and the lion-hunter. I'm Time's Vigilante." Ace was the cat-girl in Survival, New Ace was the Dalek-killer between Love and War and Deceit and Ace took on the mantle of Time's Vigilante in Set Piece.

"No more worries about sudden death and regeneration." The Doctor foresaw his impending regeneration in The Room With No Doors.

Pg 42 "It's the Bontosaurus Effect... or something" The Blinovitch Effect was first mentioned in Day of the Daleks.

"He said that he warned Rassilon and that they had a lot of trouble with the prototype of the Hand..." Remembrance of the Daleks.

"'And you remember what Lady Peinforte said? About knowing who he really was?' 'Yeah and the Cyber-Leader didn't even want to know.'" Silver Nemesis.

"What about the Master and the Daleks?" Survival, Remembrance of the Daleks.

"And Adolf Hitler [...] And Leonardo." Timewyrm: Exodus, City of Death.

"And Lethbridge-Stewart." Ace met the Brigadier in Battlefield, No Future and Happy Endings.

Pg 43 "Blue Peter badge. You lost it when you did over an alternative version of yourself in the Clock tower in the city of the inside of the TARDIS." Time's Crucible

"There were birds high on it, wheeling birds." Possibly a reference to An Unearthly Child, episode 2.

Pg 50 "At its centre, on a raised plinth, stood a weather-worn statue wielding a black rod." Presumably the Rod of Rassilon, seen in The Invasion of Time.

Pg 51 "Something like the academy simulator ranges on Ponten IV." Original Sin.

Pg 54 "Twelve hundred pandaks to make the delivery." Pandak the third was mentioned as a long-serving president in The Deadly Assassin.

Pg 55 "Oh, that Doctor. [...] President Fly-by-night" The Invasion of Time, The Five Doctors.

Pg 57 "Fancy dress bepple optional." Original Sin.

Pg 62 "And Damon too, that strange one who is fifty times older than he looks." Arc of Infinity.

Pg 72 "Danger, Mistress. Danger!" K9 Mark III says this in The Five Doctors.

Pg 75 "Despite all the soul-searching and inner harmonizing of the Doa-no-nai-heya Monastery, he really missed Roz." The Room With No Doors.

Pg 89 "He pointed to the different varieties [or mushrooms] 'Feathergilles, pogsquats, skullcaps... Those flat circular ones are called Cardinal's collars." The Valeyard wore a skullcap in The Trial of a Time Lord and the Cardinals have worn big circular collars since The Deadly Assassin.

Pg 98 "I will submit to your mind probe test" The Five Doctors.

Pg 101 "It originally belonged to Professor Marius." The Invisible Enemy.

Pg 108 "For a second Chris thought he was having another hearts attack." The Doctor had a hearts attack in the opening of So Vile a Sin.

Pg 109 "I discovered anomalies in your genetic codings!" Presumably the discovery that the Doctor is half-human, from The Telemovie.

"He levelled a finger at the outraged Glospin and saw that he wore a jewelled ring." The first Doctor's ring, revealed to be the Other's ring in Cold Fusion.

Pg 111 "Osiran bottle opener" The Osirans are said to have cerebrums like spiral staircases in Pyramids of Mars.

Pg 119 "But that's the Tharil Embassy!" Warriors' Gate.

Pg 120 "They identified its origin as Skaro, second Dalek imperium." Presumably the bomb is Dalekanium.

Pgs 120-121 "Its a damn nuisance that the cold-summons scoop won't penetrate the dampeners on the Agency constraint Keep." The Time Scoop was first seen in The Five Doctors.

Pg 123 "They just stayed inside reading more books and watching the Public Register transcasts from the Capitol." Public Register Video was seen in The Deadly Assassin.

Pg 126 "The gates were open, yet they transducted in." Transduction is used to transport the TARDIS in The Deadly Assassin.

Pg 131 "The glance that Andred shot her was enough to frighten babies and silence the Evil One himself." The Evil One was Xoanon with the Doctor's face in The Face of Evil.

Pg 133 "A possible exchange of telepathic information." The second and third Doctors do this in The Three Doctors.

Pg 141 "He and Roz had watched it at a late-night film show in Sydney, 1996." The Doctor, Chris and Roz spend time in Sydney, 1996 on page 15 of Return of the Living Dad.

Pg 142 "The skinny Cousin struggled with the strength of an Ogron" The Ogrons were first seen in Day of the Daleks.

Pg 147 "I'm a vegetarian and my friend is allergic to dead rodents." The Doctor has been a vegetarian (with some exceptions) since The Two Doctors.

Pg 148 "And I'm the Emperor Morbius." The Brain of Morbius.

Pg 150 "Have You Seen the Muffin Man?" Page 156 makes it clear that this is a reference to the end of The Talons of Weng Chiang.

"Gold Usher, the Guardian of the Chamber" A Time Lord rank, first seen in The Deadly Assassin.

Pg 151 "An Alternative History of Skaro The Daleks Without Davros" Likely reference to history having changed in Genesis of the Daleks, as described in The Discontinuity Guide and the opening of A Device of Death, where the Daleks were a powerful force in the pre-Davros stories and are much less advanced afterwards.

Pg 152 "Hello again, Ace." Romana knows Ace from Blood Harvest.

Pg 153 "Um, I first met Dorothee when we were in E-Space fighting the Great Vampire." Blood Harvest.

Pg 154 "It's a four-dimensional artform that they've just come up with at the Leisure Hive." The Leisure Hive.

"The Doctor and I saw some of his work when we were in Paris." City of Death.

"He's spent a lot of time with the Tharils in E-Space." Warriors' Gate.

Pg 156 "The Doctor bought us muffins in London." The Talons of Weng-Chiang.

"He once bought us both baked Alaska" Time's Crucible.

"Not much of a ladylike bearing at all." Ghost Light.

Pg 158 "Our world was ruled by a line of oracles who could see and predict far into the future. [...] The planet was cursed and became barren [...] The Old Time." Time's Crucible.

Pg 160 "And when you give the dispatch to him, say Fred sent you." In the Ribos Operation, Romana says she'd prefer to be called Fred over Romana.

Pg 161 "I didn't want to give the Doctor that "mission" in the first place." The mission is the one to pick up the Master's remains, as seen in the Telemovie.

Pg 162 "Pandak the Original!" Pandak the third was mentioned in The Deadly Assassin.

Pg 170 "I deny this reality." The Doctor says the same thing when in the Matrix in The Deadly Assassin.

Pg 174 "The first ones were grown during the Intuitive Revelation." This is the period of great achievement when Rassilon first came to power, as seen in Time's Crucible.

Pg 189 "It was Bernice a smug grin on her face." Benny was the Doctor's former companion, and also appears in the next book.

Pg 199 "The great stone owl that guarded the Chapterhouse gate." Here it's revealed that owls are a symbol of Prydonians specifically.

Pg 201 "You are being tractored back to Time Traffic Control for further questioning." Rodan described herself as a glorified traffic control operator in The Invasion of Time.

Pg 203-204 We get a couple of summaries of events regarding The Hand of Omega, the Other and the Intuitive Revelation (Remembrance of the Daleks, Time's Crucible).

Pg 207 "Lectures on the viability of panatropic racking systems." In the Deadly Assassin we saw the Amplified Panatropic Net.

Pg 213 "The reciting of a historical text in what sounded like pigbin Orculqui" Language of the natives of Svartos, mentioned in the novelisation of Dragonfire and pages 60 and 82 of Time's Crucible.

Pg 215 "The sort of rough bread that wandering Shobogans bake in ember fires" Shobogans were Gallifreyan vandals mentioned in The Deadly Assassin.

Pg 218 "'What colour?' 'Patrexes.'" Technically Patrexes are a chapter, like Prydonians (their colour is heliotrope, as mentioned in The Deadly Assassin), but the Doctor is choosing pieces in a game, where people often refer to the type of piece when asked what colour they'd prefer.

Pg 223 "A data extractor with Loom attachment." The Deadly Assassin saw biog-data extractors.

Pg 224 "Psycho Dalek-killing biker in a crinoline." Ace describing her "New Ace" persona, first seen in Deceit.

"In my great scheme I was going to have you enrolled at the Academy here on Gallifrey." This was planned for Ace's departure story in Season 27 and is also seen in Death Comes to Time.

Pg 226 "The Great Schism and the Pythia's Curse which rendered the planet barren" Time's Crucible. Also another reference to the Shobogans.

Pg 230 Owis steals the Doctor's question-mark pullover, explaining why it didn't appear in the telemovie.

Pg 233-234 We see a puppet show version of the Pythia, Rassilon (including his sash and rod, seen in The Invasion of Time, although the sash is an anachronism here), the destruction of Omega (The Three Doctors), the Hand (Remembrance of the Daleks) and the Other.

Pg 236 "The black cowl of the Other puppet crumpled and fell apart to reveal the figure of the Doctor, defiant amid its ruin." Very symbolic.

Satthralope is served fish tongues, which the Doctor says is traditional. In Time's Crucible fish tongues were the only food the Pythia would eat.

"Remember that ornamental hermit we had? the one that lived in a grotto up the mountain?" The hermit is K'ampo Rinpoche, first mentioned in The Time Monster and seen in Planet of the Spiders.

Pg 237 "Which of you has [...] dreamt of the torches burning on the canals of Venice?" The Doctor visited Venice in The Empire of Glass.

Pg 242 "Yemaya and Yemaya and Yemaya creeps on this pretty pace from day to day." Chris also had problems with psychic powers in SLEEPY.

Pg 245 "I have thorns here that could kill you with one scratch." Janus thorns, first seen in The Face of Evil.

Pg 251 "You know, on other worlds there are people dedicated to cleaning up the mess I leave behind." Isaac Summerfield leads just such a group in Return of the Living Dad.

Pg 254 "The children of my world would be insulted" Quote from An Unearthly Child.

"Thripsted's Flora and Fauna of the Universe" Thripsted's other works are seen in Christmas on a Rational Planet, Alien Bodies and Interference.

Pg 260 "Can't catch me" The Doctor is described as the Gingerbread Man in Set Piece.

Pg 262 We get flashes of all six of the Doctor's regenerations.

"Birds wheeled in the air below them." Possible reference to birds wheeling in an alien sky in An Unearthly Child.

Pg 263-264 "'It's the rose woman.' 'You Eternals get everywhere."" Roses were associated with the first Doctor in Timewyrm: Revelation and the Gods of Gallifrey are Eternals, first seen in Enlightenment.

Pg 265 "But this is the old city over which the Citadel of the Time Lords was built." This is first mentioned in The Deadly Assassin.

Pg 267 "Back to Tersurus?" Tersurus was the planet where Goth found the Master in The Deadly Assassin (also seen in Curse of the Fatal Death).

Pg 268 "I never saw my mother. But I know that she died when I was born, at the very same moment the Pythia cursed the world." This is mentioned in Cold Fusion.

"On one of Rassilon's filthy bow-ships." State of Decay.

Pg 269 "And one day I will return." The Doctor says the same thing to Susan when she leaves in The Dalek Invasion of Earth.

Pg 275 "Just as the Pythia threw herself into the Crevasse of Memories That Will Be." Time's Crucible.

Pg 280 "Time and Relative Dimensions in Space [...] I gave you that idea." This ties in to Susan claiming she made up the word TARDIS from its initials in An Unearthly Child."

Pg 281 "Didn't we meet in the trenches of Skaro?" Lord Ferain was the CIA agent who sent the Doctor on his mission in Genesis of the Daleks.

Pg 284 "Goodness knows what that'll do to the inner configuration." This explains why the TARDIS interior is different in the Telemovie.

Pg 289 "I chose Andred. He had very little say in the matter." The Invasion of Time.

Pg 296 "Send him on the mission you planned for him and I swear the agency will leave him alone." The mission is the one seen at the beginning of The Telemovie and the CIA do indeed leave the eighth Doctor alone.

Pg 298 "Think back. Back to your beginning." This echoes Morbius' line in The Brain of Morbius.

Pg 302 "And you won't believe what the inside of the TARDIS looks like!" Another reference to the redesigned interior in the Telemovie.

"'Bernice Summerfield,' said Romana. 'I've met her.'" Blood Harvest.

"If you like, I'll arrange a time ring." Presumably a small band like Benny and Jason have (Happy Endings) rather than the one seen in Genesis of the Daleks.

Pg 303 "Former Castellan Spandrell has spoken to the High Council in the President's favour." Spandrell appeared in the Deadly Assassin.

"You're the new Ambassador from Karn." The Sisterhood were seen in The Brain of Morbius and on page 262 of Time's Crucible they were revealed to be the line of the Pythia's followers.

Pg 304 Reference to Kadiatu, first seen in Transit, whose bike Ace rides.

"Just go on being Time's Vigilante." Ace adopted this title in Set Piece.

Pg 305 "I'm going to have the Agency doors thrown open to Public Register Video " First seen in The Deadly Assassin.

"Is this some new Skaro? Or the one I destroyed with the Hand of Omega?" Reference to the Doctor's mission at the beginning of the telemovie and its destruction in Remembrance of the Daleks, and "some new Skaro" is a reference to the forthcoming War of the Daleks (it was well known at the time that War would undo Skaro's destruction).

Pg 306 "If it's the Master's remains then I should be the one to fetch them" The Telemovie.

"Filling in forms with Lethbridge-Stewart? Lunch with the terrible Zodin...?" The terrible Zodin was first mentioned in The Five Doctors and again in Attack of the Cybermen.

"Banish burnt toast forever?" In Ghost Light the Doctor says that he can't stand burnt toast.

Pg 307 "One faded volume had a picture of a tubby creature floating under a dirigible surrounded by a cloud of beatitude flies" This might be a reference to the end of The Well-Mannered War.

"A father from Gallifrey and a mother of Earth stock. That's an unusual pedigree. [...] Just call him after me." The Doctor is revealed to be half human on his mother's side in the Telemovie and this line suggests that the child of Leela and Andred will become the Other, making Leela effectively the Doctor's mother.

The Terrible Zodin is also revealed to be a celebrated sword-swallower.

Pg 308 References to Roz and Bernice.

"I want you to have this. [...] It's my sonic screwdriver." This explains why the Doctor has a sonic screwdriver again in the beginning of The Telemovie.

OLD FRIENDS AND OLD ENEMIES
Andred, Lord Ferain (the CIA agent from Genesis of the Daleks, see page 281), Rassilon, the Pythia (who appears on page 263), and the Hand of Omega (Remembrance of the Daleks).

This novel concludes the story of the Other, first seen in the novelisation of Remembrance of the Daleks and then in bits and pieces throughout the NAs, especially Time's Crucible.

NEW FRIENDS AND NEW ENEMIES
Badger, the Doctor's robotic tutor, who reappears in flashback in Divided Loyalties.

Innocet, Owis and Rynde are the three surviving Cousins. It's been suggested that the missing cousins like Jobiska and Maljamin may not be dead, although there's no mention of them escaping the House's destruction. On the other hand, page 305 refers to "several of them" likely not including Innocet, so it's possible that others survive.

The Drudges, wooden House servants. The White Dragon (page 285), the Orcholotl (pages 250 and 252).

CONTINUITY COCK-UPS

1. Pg 19 Andred has only been Castellan for a year, suggesting that not much time has passed since The Invasion of Time (maybe a few years). This makes sense in terms of Leela, who cannot survive the passage of hundreds of years, but doesn't square with the Doctor's personal timeline (he's 750 when he's with Romana, but over 1000 by now).
2. Pg 272 "While we, dear friend, the doomed relics of another age have but one brief life apiece." The Other claims he cannot regenerate, yet in Cold Fusion he could change his appearance (and Patience, also from that time, regenerates).

PLUGGING THE HOLES [Fan-wank theorizing of how to fix continuity cock-ups]

1. It's likely Gallifreyan time doesn't correspond to the Doctor's personal time. Indeed, on page 158 Romana says "The thing is that Gallifrey moves at a different time speed to the rest of the Universe."
2. On page 197 Glospin suggests "Its not entirely unheard of. People renew their regenerative cycles by jumping Looms, thus being reborn into new Families", and the quote at the front from The Brain of Morbius suggests that this might be deliberate.

FEATURED ALIEN RACES
The Time Lords, Badger, The Drudges, The White Dragon, the Orcholotl, talefshrews.

FEATURED LOCATIONS
The House Lungbarrow, Mount Lung and the Capitol, Gallifrey, 673 years since the Doctor left.

IN SUMMARY - Robert Smith?
A gorgeously written book that wraps up the themes of the NAs beautifully. Lungbarrow answers all sorts of questions, but raises far more, while presenting us with a richly drawn picture of the Doctor's home life and family, something that would have been a disaster had almost any other author attempted it. It's less a celebration of the success of the NAs than a payoff for the threads that have been woven throughout the previous six years. The seventh Doctor's redemption is finally completed here, leading perfectly into the telemovie. This is something really special.