The Discontinuity Guide
The Missing Adventures

The Crystal Bucephalus

November 1994

(Features the Fifth Doctor between The King's Demons and The Five Doctors)

Author: Craig Hinton

Editor: Rebecca Levene

Roots: Star Trek: 'I'm a Time Lord, not a Bank Manager'. Lazarus admits that the Codex is a rip-off of the Bible. Through the keyhole: 'I wonder what sort of a person would enjoy sitting in a room like this.'

Goofs: Why do the Elective put all their prisoners together? Do they only have one room they can use as a cell?

The Gubbage Cone Empire 70,000 years ago (ie - 59,000 BC) includes Ogrons [who weren't discovered until 1855 according to Interference: Book 1]. It also seems a strange period for the Ice Warriors to be part of a galactic empire [their heyday on the galactic stage appears to have been well before then, maybe a few settled somewhere].

If time travel requires a huge lump of dichronomide pentafluorate, and Lassiter only built the Bucephalus (his source of this material) after retrieving Arrestis, then how did he retrieve him in the first place?

Fashion Victims: Deva commenting on her shoes: 'We won't be going anywhere if I have to keep tottering around on these.'

Technobabble: Destiny mechanics explains why there's no permanent interaction between the Bucephalus' clientele and the restaurants they visit.

Bladamite tubing, a positive cretathole converter, and a psio-linguistic translator are fundamental aspects of TARDIS technology, needing only a few blocks of exitonic circuitry to turn the Bucephalus into an interactive time travel machine.

Other Bucephalus components mentioned include negative plumfinity coils. Interstital motive bridges can act as analogues for the Time Vortex. Dichronomide pentafluorate. Ethra and Teelis had produced papers on temporal embolisms and paradox wavefronts - relating to what happens when you change history. They were published in the March 9978 issue of Abstract Meanderings in Theoretical Physics.

Dialogue Disasters: Turlough: 'Bucephalus? Hence the statue?'
The Doctor: 'Stop horsing about, Turlough.'

The Doctor refers to the Bucephelus as 'A monumental achievement.'

Dialogue Triumphs: The Doctor: 'Let's assume that there hasn't been any interference in the time stream, shall we?'
Turlough: 'Why?'
The Doctor: 'Well, for one thing it involves an awful lot of paperwork.'

Turlough: 'Pardon me for existing.'

Tegan: 'This is London. Everyone acts strangely.'

The Doctor: 'Proof but no evidence.'

Tegan: 'I'm even worried about Turlough.'

Tegan: 'If you say "brave heart" to me once more, I'll hit you.'

Continuity: The Bucephalus cubicles are 10 foot tall and wide cylinders of polished wood, arranged in concentric circles around the Bucephalus Statue. Benefactor's cublico has access to certain extra locations. The restaurant is inside the Emerald Syphax, and the perimeter defences of New Alexandria (the planet it's on) are considered impenetrable. THe Bucephalus has a sophisticated webwork system, which runs the administrative parts of the business. It has been used as an unofficial parliament for the Union, Elective, and Lazarus Intent since its opening 5 years ago. It uses technology similar to that of a TARDIS, directed by a Legion Tank. It was initially designed 9 years ago - and the webwork is aware of all 1,037,841 historical eating places known to Union records. It is subject to the version of the Blinovitch Limitation Effect we saw in Day of the Daleks. Its toilets include male human, female human, male Draconian, and Cyberman.

The Syzgerny-Durok androids were designed 2,000 years ago - and are now the standard model. They are connected to a co-ordinating webwork, as a reaction to the great cybernetic massacres of th 85th Century. This is designed to prevent free will. The Bucephalus' security stewards are only different in that they have psi-whips and stunners. Class Seven osmidium battlesuits don't come with personal shroudfields as standard.Ships can no longer obtain shuntspeed fifty.Messages are sent by squirtpacket.

The Martians and Alpha Centurians have Senators in the Union Presidium on Maradnias. Diadem was 'the most relaxing planet in the galaxy' - until it was mined out by the Union for its jethryk and trisciliate. The Elective is a criminal syndicate who run all the brothels, drug dens, and gambling establishments in the Union. Their front is the Arrestis Corporation. They are based on Hexdane.

The Lazurus Intent has Prelators, the highest rank of their clergy, who are addressed as "your grace". It has been around for nearly 5,000 years and believe that their messiah died on the Sontaran Throneworld in the 63rd Century to save the Federation from annihilation. They are based on Clavidas and their sacred symbol is the Inf. Members of the Conclave of Prelates have Infs with empathic neuristors built in, allowing some degree of mind control (usually lasting for 20 minutes - but longer with a receptive subject). They prohibit research into genetic experimentation. Their holy book is called the Codex. There are 2 Prelectors who are Prelector Magnus et Dominus - a rank subordinate only to the Benefactor.

Turlough says to the Doctor 'Are you forgetting just who populated my planet in the first place?' [Has his world got an historic relationship with Gallifrey?] Trion has a hypocritical religion. Montaplure is one of the outer planets of Turlough's solar system. Its dead civilisation was devoted to the art of eating. Turlough hasn't been given a TARDIS key.

Dead end 'Time Travel' technology includes Whitaker's Time Scoop, Findecker's double nexus particle, and Blinovitch's chronal displacer. Findecker is another big name in temporal theory.

The Time Lords have a standard sentence of 150,000 years imprisonment for a race misusing temporal powers on the scale the Legions did. They are believed by Lassiter to exist at the dawn of time.

Psychovators are 'mind rapists' - masters of interrogation.

There are Paluthian Hives on Jesentral, who have strange practices concerning small furry animals.

The Doctor has a hairpin in his pocket. He claims that the Capricorn Tract isn't far from his place of birth. His central account at the First Galactic Bank is based on Iapetus.

Pyletheric Acid is rarely fatal to humans, but usually fatal to clones - due to the effect it has on their DNA.

The Earth Reptiles' traditional religion includes the Lizard God. The Martian religion includes Claatris, God of War [an Osirian].

On Marmidion, the penalty for gatecrashing a private party is dissolution in Acid.

Tegan once went to France as an exchange student, this was the last time she had a decent French meal.

The restaurant the TARDIS crew were dining at was built on the site of an Abbey burnt down 100 years ago because the nuns were suspected of witchcraft.

Kamelion is familiar with the Master's TARDIS and the primitive type twenties the Ooolatrii captured during the Celestial Wars.Kamelion's makers have a mental domination radius of 8.4 light years

70,000 years ago, the Gubbage Cones of Pluvikerr were lords of the galaxy. Their empire encompassed the silicon Excalbians, the feathered people of Velopssi, androids from Exo III, the Lamp People of Badafex, Ice Warriors [?!], and Ogrons [?!], as well as Mirebeast fighting pits.

The Sculti generate a bio-electric energy field capable of instantly killing the human brain, though they look like wusses. Jablectas can be disrupted by certain types of energy. This is why the Antonine rescue raid on Scultis in 9381 failed.

Links: Alien Races mentioned include Martians (first seen in The Ice Warriors), Alpha Centurans (The Curse of Peladon, The Monster of Peladon), Chelonians (First seen in The Highest Science), Earth Reptiles (The Silurians, The Sea Devils, Warriors of the Deep), Draconians (Frontier in Space, Love and War), Legions (Lucifer Rising), Sontarans, Terileptils (The Visitation), Thals (The Daleks, Planet of the Daleks), and Cyberlords (clearly a future - and less megalomaniac - version of the Cybermen). Tegan recalls her encounters with the Cybermen (Earthshock), Terileptils (The Visitation), and the Mara (Kinda, Snakedance), as well as moving the TARDIS outside the Urbankan Ship (Four to Doomsday). She has apparently been travelling with the Doctor for 3 years.

The Doctor mentions that he hasn't touched tobacco in four incarnations (100,000 BC). He also mentions Brendon School (Mawdryn Undead)and recalls the secondary control room [though the description is more like that seen in Enemy Within than the secondary control room we saw in the Tom Baker era]. Whitaker's time scoop (Invasion of the Dinosaurs) was a technological dead end. The Doctor remembers mentioning mankind as an indomitable species (The Ark in Space - though he also recalls it being not that long ago). He also remembers his most recent encounter with the Time Lords (Arc of Infinity), as well as encounters with the Master, Ruath (Goth Opera), and Omega (Arc of Infinity).

Mortimus (No Future, The Time Meddler, The Chase) was the CIA agent responsible for the Legions' imprisonment. The Cyberman we see on page 45 is the version seen in a speculative drawing on page 43 of Cybermen. The Doctor mentions the deaths of Katarina, Sara (both from The Daleks' Masterplan), and Adric (Earthshock). Tegan, Diva, and the Suit encounter Dorothy in McDonald's (According to Dragonfire, Ace used to work in a fast food restaurant - and the description matches). Tegan recalls that it's only been a couple of days since she was last in a medieval castle (The King's Demons) - though she also says that it was the last time she'd eaten. The Doctor's jacket was given to him by professor Litefoot (The Talons of Weng Chiang). Races that are capable of replacing the Legions in running the Buceohalus incluude Time Lords, Tharils (Warriors' Gate), Chronovores (The Time Monster, No Future), (their cousins) the Eternals (Enlightenment and various New Adventures), and the Transient Beings. Lassiter uses a Laserson Probe (The Robots of Death). The Doctor says that he should have sued the Terileptils for criminal damage (The Visitation). Tegan recalls when Nyssa's bedroom started to dissolve, a week or so ago.

Location: The Crystal Bucephalus Restaurant, New Alexandria. Six or seven centuries into the 10th Millenium (so 9600-9700), also it's nearly 5000 years since the 63rd Century, making it nearly the 113th Century (so 11200-11300) (both dates are according to the Doctor on page 27). He also recalls that it's the 108th Century (so 10700-10800) on page 40. 10,663 was in the recent past (page 69). It's about 8,000 years (page 80) since the 44th Century (page 42) (so it's about the 124th Century - 12300-12400). It's 5,000 years since 6198 - so about 11198. The 28th Century (page 40) was 8 millennia ago (page 105) (so it's the 108th century - 10700-10800).

The Exemplar, Tanthane, during the same time period.

Arrestis is murdered in Beswicks, London, 1968. The Doctor and companions were snatched from a meal at the Café de Saint Joseph, Aix-en-Povence, 1791. Turlough disappears from Chardon, 4338 - home of Konig Wilhelm, first of the Wine Lords. Tegan and Diva end up at the McDonald's on Oxford Street, the mid 1980's, a reconstruction of a 13th Century medieval banquet on Marmidion, and Diadem. Arrestis arrives in a bar in late 20th Century Earth. (It's 200 years before the Battle of Cassius [c. 2167] and somebody refers to Star Trek.)

The Doctor spends 5 years on Pella Satyrnis, an arctic planet, at the turn of the 63rd Century (page 184).

Future History: The galaxy is in the middle of a dark age, scientific development is confined to a handful of geniuses. Politically, it is divided into the Union, the Draconian Republic, the Cyberlord Hegemony, the radioactive remains of the Sontaran Empire, and possibly several more powers. The Union is the tattered remains of the Federation civil war. It has about a hundred years left before it descends into barbarism. The Chen Dynasty had put a stop to the Federation's Democracy. The planet Mirabilis was a part of the Federation that sided with the rebels rather than the Emperor. The decisive battle of the war took place in its system. The planet was caught in an atmospheric plasma burst. This appears to have been 1000 years ago.

The Legions were punished by the Time Lords in the 2700s. They had used their temporal gifts to undermine the business consortia that ruled the galaxy. The CIA erected temporal inhibitors on their planet. This was 8 millenia ago.

According to Diva, Oxford Street is worse than both the Birastrop Stampedes and World War Five.

For 1,000 years, the Wine Lordshad the best-kept wine cellars in the galaxy. The trial of the Wine Lords ended 7,000 years ago.

The last authorised research into genetic experimentation began on Tersurus in 6198, funded by the Federation Scientific Executive. It was destroyed when a Sontaran stealth raid in 6211 destroyed the planet with an earthshock bomb, which they obtained from the Cybermen. 3 weeks earlier, a Sontaran strike attack on Io introduced a virus into the Federation Datacore. This virus erased all information about the Tersurus Institute,although its collected papers 6209-6210 found their way to the Doctor.

The Dalek Civil War happened 5,000 years ago and involved Time Lord intervention (This could be a reference to either War of the Daleks or Evil of the Daleks). The Time Lords released the Legions 8 years ago. They are not known to have intervened between those dates.

At the Battle of Cassius, the colonial warship Dauntless disregarded orders and fired the decisive volley that ended the Dalek blockade of the solar system. The ship was commanded by David Jarvis.

A wrecked TARDIS was discovered in the Terran asteroid belt 20 years ago. [Probably a reference to Lady Galah's TARDIS from Strange England.]

The Search for the Double Nexus: The Collected Works of Ernst Findecker 4912-5010 was published as a trionic lattice, now out of date technology.

The Doctor tells Tornqvist that the Union was due to fall in under 100 years, to be replaced by the Junta, a military dictatorship originating with the Elective. It would, in turn, be replaced after 1000 years by the Confederation (which 'wasn't a barrel of laughs'). He then says that recent events mean that, within 20 years, the dominant force would be the Concordance, ruled by President Tornqvist and based on Clavidence - though he later admits that he was making some of it up.

Unrecorded Adventures: When the Doctor's balance at the First Galactic Bank gets embarrasingly large, he offloads vast amounts into ludicrous business ventures with no hope of sucess. This has included the British Film Industry [though this mention could be a joke] and the Crystal Bucephalus, of which he owns 100%. The Maitre'D recalls that the Benefactor has only ever visited the Bucephalus once. [This must be a future incarnation of the Doctor, as the Doctor is unaware that the Bucephalus suceeded. I presume that it's the seventh Doctor, who sets up something for this story.]

The Doctor says that Ben [Jackson] tought him two things not to talk about in a pub: religion and politics. He also remembers Alexander the Great being a dreadful bore. He met a Legion in the 25th Century shortly before the second Dalek War - his only experience of their race so far.

The Bottom Line: A complex and involving plot, made all the better for the characterisation and plot twists. It's nice to see the fifth Doctor change his clothes for once, as well as to see Kamelion in action, and to give a reason why he failed to appear in any televised story up to Planet of Fire.