Jimmy Munro was of course the Brig's
right-hand man in Spearhead From Space and Dr Sweetman was
named as UNIT's CMO in Planet of the Spiders, presumably
before being replaced by Harry Sullivan. I tended to prefer to
think that UNIT officers went back to the regular army after
their UNIT stints rather than dying off-screen, but I wouldn't
be surprised if another Doctor Who novel has been written at
some point in which Munro or many of the other UNIT bods
mentioned herein are said to have died.
Into Episode One then - and I realise that this book is
full of nameless characters, the Pale Thin Man with the Scar,
the blond assassin, Mister? and so on. I must've been going
through a phase of doing that - I know that when the Pale Thin
Man returns in my next book, he gets a name and a background.
The Traynor/Stalker sequence in this Episode is then
shamelessly duplicated in the sequel, Business Unusual,
although I also off the dog in that one. Sorry. Originality -
never my strong point!
The reference to the adventure in the tropics and Amelia
Grover is a link to Chris Bulis's novel The Eye of the Giant
that, chronologically precedes this one.
Gosh, I really wanted to set up Liz's general
dissatisfaction with her UNIT life straight away, didn't I?
Subtlety, another weak spot it seems. I like Liz, I thought
she was great as a kid (Season 7 really made me a fan of the
show) but was also annoyed we never saw her leave. Despite
Pertwee being my favourite Doctor then and now, I'm amazed at
how unlikeable I make him in this story. He really has few
redeeming features in Scales which surprises me reading this
back now. Many people have said that Troughton is the hardest
Doctor to write for but I never felt that, for me it's
Pertwee. Which is why I've not tried it since.
