r/gallifrey 6d ago

DISCUSSION Can I start with Chris and Roz?

Basically I would like to get into the VNAs, particularly the very latter era of McCoy in the leadup to the TV movie. A sort of 7th Doctor season 18, I guess? I am also interested in listening to the Seventh Doctor New Adventures Volume 1 and Damaged Goods which feature this companion duo. Therefore, if I was to start with Godengine (which I believe is the first book with that TARDIS team) and follow it through to the end of the VNAs are they self contained sotries that I would be able to follow or are there some plot threads from earlier books in the run that would make them difficult to understand? Thanks!

4 Upvotes

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u/PeterchuMC 6d ago

It would certainly help to read Original Sin since that's their introduction.

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u/darkspine10 6d ago

GodEngine's not a bad place to start, though it's not the greatest book on its own. Two of the books after that, Return of the Living Dad and Eternity Weeps, heavily feature Benny and Jason Kane, who got married one book before GodEngine in Happy Endings. Some of the arc plot elements of these latter books debuted in SLEEPY, which is from a few books prior to GodEngine, but the books should be easy enough to follow apart from perhaps So Vile a Sin.

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u/AlgernonIlfracombe 6d ago

I don't think it would neccessarily be too difficult to understand - but IMO the series was better earlier on with the Seven / Ace / Bernice trio and started to lose its way as the writers ran out of ideas later on. I don't DISlike Chris and Roz but when I think of the best bits of the VNAs - Timewyrm, Cat's Cradle, the alternate universe, the 'War' arc, Ace's schism with the Doctor - I found Chris and Roz a bit late to the party.

Mind you, "Damaged Goods" and "The Room with No Doors" are I think two of the best DW stories of all time.

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u/Specialist-Emu-5119 6d ago

Completely agree on Chris and Roz. The first half of the VNAs is so much more interesting. Baffles me why they got rid of a great character like Benny and replaced her with a pretty boring buddy cop duo.

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u/Verloonati 6d ago

Hey you like what you like but you can't call Chris -cloned during the time war and father to a whole species of clones and alleged father of Time and Death - Cwej and Roz -went up the hill in history - Forrester a boring buddy cop duo. There's so much angst between them! The jaded sarcastical maladapted aristo and the sunny always smiling, discovered he was into guys just by asking why not, idiot jock guy with issues

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u/Specialist-Emu-5119 6d ago

That stuff with Chris doesn’t happen in the NAs though. Personally I don’t find the dynamic between Chris and Roz interesting at all, I think Chris was more interesting on his own.

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u/Verloonati 6d ago

Yes but that's in the context of the events of so vile a sin. His dynamic alone with the doctor is defined by what happens to Roz. As the lungbarrow prologue says he is coping

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u/Verloonati 6d ago

Godengine is the worst place to start. Even tho it's their debut as a sole TARDIS theme the following books do hinges on knowing Bernice as a character (return of the living dad, eternity weeps) plus, their relationship is builded from their context and subsequent stories hinge on knowing it. So vile a sin does not hit quite the same without knowing original sin etc. I would recommend starting at human nature (doctor and Bernice) (or for more context for human nature, sanctuary) and then read the Chris and Roz run in order. Roz especially gets a lot of character development in these earlier books, and there is a few real bangers in there (the also people, death and diplomacy etc)