Human Nature (Dr Who episode)

Human Nature (Doctor Who novel)

'' Human Nature is an original novel written by Paul Cornell, from a plot by Cornell and Kate Orman, and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The novel was also serialised in e-book form on the BBC Doctor Who website. A prelude to the novel, also penned by Cornell, appeared in Doctor Who Magazine #226, and is also available on the BBC website.

Cornell adapted his own work for a two-part story in the 2007 TV series of Doctor Who. The first episode is titled "Human Nature" and the second, "The Family of Blood". The names of many of the human characters in the novel are reused for characters in the television story, which is also set in a boys' school shortly before World War I. The Family of Blood have some resemblance to the descriptions of the antagonists in the novel, though they have different names and are possessed humans rather than shapeshifters.

In a poll conducted by Doctor Who Magazine to mark the 35th anniversary of Doctor Who (#265, June 1998), Human Nature was voted the readership's favourite novel of the New Adventures series.

Prelude

DWM published preludes to several New Adventures. The prelude to Human Nature appeared in issue 226. According to Cornell, he wrote his novel's plots with these preludes in mind.

Synopsis

Alexander Shuttleworth has come to Joan Redfern's WI group to talk about the archaeology of the Bronze Age. Joan — a science teacher at Hulton College — reflects on her late husband, who was killed in the Boer War. Her thoughts move on to Dr John Smith, a new history teacher at the school. Shuttleworth snaps her out of her thoughts, and tells her that she's blushing.

Plot

Bernice Summerfield is grieving since the death of Guy de Carnac (as seen in the previous novel, Sanctuary). The Doctor takes her to a market on a planet called Crex in the Augon system. He quickly sets off, telling her he'll be back in an hour, and Benny finds a pub where she orders a beer and finds a group of female human drinking partners. After Benny's had several drinks with them, the Doctor arrives and places a patch on her cheek — a pad that disperses the alcohol in her system. He tells her that they need to leave immediately, and leads her back to the TARDIS. He hands her a scroll, tells her he'll see her in three months, and collapses.

Meanwhile, the genesmith Laylock meets with his associates. They plan to follow the Doctor. In a long, dark room, a teenager named Tim awakens from a dream, having had a premonition that everyone will die.

Unable to understand Benny's grief on a human level, the Doctor has purchased a device which alters his biodata, transforming him into a human named Dr John Smith. Smith lives as a history teacher at a public school in 1914 England, and falls in love with a fellow teacher named Joan. However, when alien Aubertides, hoping to acquire Time Lord abilities, attack the school, Smith sacrifices himself and becomes the Doctor once more; as the Time Lord, he is unable to love Joan in the way the human John Smith did.

Trivia

An Aubertide masquerades as the Tenth Doctor early in the book. The book was, of course, written ten years before the revival of Doctor Who as a series and twelve years before its adaptation as an actual Tenth Doctor television story.