 Cover Art | |
| Author | Paul Cornell |
|---|---|
| Series | Doctor Who book: Virgin Missing Adventures |
Release number | 1 |
| Subject | Featuring: Fifth Doctor Tegan,Nyssa,Romana II |
| Set in | Period between Snakedance andMawdryn Undead |
| Publisher | Virgin Books |
Publication date | July 1994 |
| Pages | 238 |
| ISBN | 0-426-20418-2 |
| Followed by | Evolution |
Goth Opera is an originalDoctor Who novel, published byVirgin Publishing in theirMissing Adventures range ofDoctor Who novels. It was the first book in that series and a sequel to theNew Adventure bookBlood Harvest, but it can be read separately.
As the Fifth Doctor and his companions vacation inTasmania they become caught up in a scheme by the Time Lord Ruath to resurrect thevampire Yarven (fromBlood Harvest). Ruath sends a vampire baby to attack the Doctor and turn him into a vampire, but the child instead attacks and converts Nyssa. Unable to provide Yarven with the Doctor's Time Lord blood, Ruath gives her own blood to Yarven, causing her to die and regenerate into a vampire Time Lord.
Nyssa, while trying fight her new vampire nature, is drawn to Yarven's castle, where she learns more about Ruath's plan. Ruath has created a genetically enhanced mist that can turn normal humans into vampires, and kill those who use traditional methods (garlic, crosses, etc.) to protect themselves. Ruath has also invented a Time Freeze, a small Time Loop that can hold the Earth in a perpetual night, leaving the vampires free to roam and feed.
The plot for the novel was originally developed from an unproduced comic strip for Doctor Who Magazine, which would have featured theFourth Doctor in a fight againstDracula. Cornell revised the story to use the Fifth Doctor for this first Missing Adventure.[1]
The back cover ofGoth Opera says that it takes place between the television storiesSnakedance andMawdryn Undead. However, it is difficult to avoid the fact that there is actually no gap between these shows to put an extra adventure.[2][unreliable source?]
The novel's cover was originally to feature a far more graphic image of Nyssa's shirt covered in blood.[3][unreliable source?]The artwork had to be adjusted and the blood airbrushed out when retailerW H Smith insisted that they would not stock the book in that form.[4]