BOOK DETAILS
Pages | 143 |
ISBN | 0-426-20092-6 |
Publication Date | 11 December 1979 |
SYNOPSIS
Reluctantly cancelling his well-earned holiday,
Assisted by the argumentative Romanadvoratrelundar and K9, he lands on the planet Ribos in search of the first segment and finds himself entangled in the machinations of two sinister strangers, Garron and the Graff Vynda Ka.Who are they? Is Garron simply a shady confidence-trickster dealing in interplanetary real estate? Is the Graff Vynda Ka just a power-crazed exile bent on revenge?
Or are they both really agents of the Black Guardian, intent upon seizing the precious Key in order to throw the Universe into eternal chaos? Risking his life within the monster-infested catacombs of Ribos, The Doctor has to use all his wit and ingenuity to find out …
NOTES
CHAPTER TITLES
- Unwelcome Strangers
- The Beast in the Citadel
- A Shaky Start
- Double Dealings
- Arest and Capture
- Unlikely Allies
- Escape into the Unknown
- The Doctor Changes Sides
- Lost and Found
- Conjuring Tricks
DEVIATIONS FROM THE TELEVISED STORY
The Fourth Doctor plans to holiday in Occhinos instead of Halergan 3.
- The Guardian’s meeting place dissolves into space and the Doctor nearly makes it to the TARDIS.
- The tracer is called the Locatormutor Core.
- Romana graduated from the Academy with a Triple Alpha while The Doctor graduated with Double Gamma on the second attempt.
- Cyrrhenis Minima is renamed Cyrrhenis Minimis.
- Jethrik is renamed Jethryk.
- The Graff Vynda-K is renamed the Graff Vynda Ka.
- The Graff is unhinged and needs Sholack to control him.
- The Seeker is unaffected when the Graff stabs her to death, but carries on in a zombie-like form.
- The end of the story happens in a different order to the televised story.
- The White Guardian does not tell The Doctor he will be given a new assistant, with Romana explaining the situation when The Doctor finds her in the TARDIS.
- The relic room is lit with oil lamps, rather than the electric lights seen on screen.
- Both The Doctor and Romana consult a roll-up star chart in the TARDIS.
- Garron edits his comments to Unst offe rather than making indiscreet remarks.
- Unst offe poses as a trapper when giving the Shrieve a drink and there is more emphasis on him stealing the man’s uniform.
- Romana’s comment about Unst offe having an honest face is said to be ironic, rather than The Doctor having to explain to her that he is a crook.
- The Ribos seasons are said to last eleven years instead of thirty-two.
- Much of the Graff’s back story is omitted, with him simply describing himself as the rightful heirof the Levithian throne.
- Garron recounts a local legend that the wearerof the crown can force back the Ice Time.
- Sholakh attempts to confiscate the Locatormutor but The Doctor palms it back.
- K9 stuns a Shrieve on his way to rescue The Doctor and Romana and stuns three Levithian guards rather than just one.
- Garron’s line about dying being the last thing he’ll do is given to The Doctor and rewritten to remove much of the humour.
- The Seeker tells the Shrieve captain to direct the Graff to the catacombs.
- There is an extra sequence of the Doctor thinking Romana and Garron have been sealed in a crevice by a cave-in.
- There is more materials with the Shrievenzales, with Unst offe and later Romana and K9 hiding from them and the Graff’s men being attacked by one, killing several of them.
- The Graff explains his guards to the Captain by saying they are a regiment formed to protect trade routes.
- There is much dialogue between The Doctor and Sholakh when the former is disguised as a guard, with The Doctor claiming to be
- Gammon, a member of the special reserve.
- The Seeker is blown apart by the Shrieves’ cannon. (This comes from early storylines.)
- The Graff is trying to clear the blocked entrance when the charger blows up, implying that the explosion clears a way for The Doctor’s group to leave the catacombs.
- There is no mention of Garron and Unst offe having the Graff’s ship.
- The Guardian’s meeting place dissolves into space and the Doctor nearly makes it to the TARDIS.