BASIC PLOT
The TARDIS lands the Doctor and Martha in the Lake District in 1909, where a small village has been terrorised by a giant, scaly monster. The search is on for the elusive 'Beast of Westmorland', and explorers, naturalists and hunters from across the country are descending on the fells. King Edward VII himself is on his way to join the search, with a knighthood for whoever finds the Beast.

DOCTOR
Tenth.

COMPANIONS
Martha Jones.

MATERIALISATION CIRCUIT
Pg 11/16 On a hillside, Lake District.

PREPARATORY READING
Terror of the Zygons.

CONTINUITY REFERENCES
Pg 9 "A rhythmic, whispering, chirruping sound." The Skarasen contorl unit (Terror of the Zygons).

Pg 12 "'I think I've had enough of New York for a while,' said Martha, remembering their last visit there." Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks.

Pg 16 "Miss Jones is an ambassador from the distant land of Freedonia." The Shakespeare Code.

Pg 25 "'You met one before?' 'A little one,' the Doctor confessed. 'You could say I got under its feet. But that was ages ago, up in Loch Ness and about seventy years from now.'" Terror of the Zygons. Interestingly, there is no mention of the hordes of marauding Skarasen in The Bodysnatchers.

Pg 32 "A bunch of them crash-landed in Scotland centuries ago" We get a potted history of Terror of the Zygons.

Pg 34 "'Molecular dispersal,' he said." Terror of the Zygons.

Pg 94 "The Doctor rode beside her on a dark bay horse with a black tail that he'd christened Arthur. In fact, for some reason he'd christened all the horses Arthur." The Girl in the Fireplace.

Pg 119 "Organic crystallography, I'm always underestimating it." Terror of the Zygons.

"Luckily, I'm a lot better with augmented delta waves." The Parting of the Ways.

Pg 129 "We are sole survivors of a stellar calamity." Also mentioned in Terror of the Zygons.

OLD FRIENDS AND OLD ENEMIES
Pg 10 The Zygons.

Pgs 24-25 Skarasen.

NEW FRIENDS AND NEW ENEMIES
Lord Haleston, Victor, Ian, Romand.

CONTINUITY COCK-UPS

1. Pg 12 "Her own outfit was dressier: a gauzy green silk dress with a gold leaf pattern and a close-fitting beaded jacket." Which is entirely unlike the read leather outfit she's wearing on the front cover.
2. Pg 102 "And, with that, the Doctor launched himself like a pinstriped missle" Except the Doctor is wearing the blue suit on the cover, not the pinstriped one. These covers are produced months in advance you know, so you'd think someone could coordinate.

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

1. The Martha on the cover is clearly a Zygon in disguise and this is a subtle clue. Doctor, watch out!
2. The Doctor on the cover is clearly also a Zygon in disguise. What a pair of suckers.

FEATURED ALIEN RACES
The Zygons and their Skarasen.

FEATURED LOCATIONS
Pg 16 Lake District.

Pg 126 Inside the Zygons spaceship.

IN SUMMARY - Robert Smith?
This is light and fluffy and rather gorgeous. It's not aiming to be anything other than a fun runaround, with an enormous number of bait and switches about exactly who's a Zygon, but it succeeds admirably. The period setting is perfect for Zygon wackiness, although having more than one Skarasen was probably a mistake. The black and white characters on the cover are a trifle odd, but not necessarily unpleasant. All up, precisely the sort of thing to devour on a rainy afternoon. If it takes you any longer, you're doing something wrong...