Trivia and In-Jokes
About the Story:
This is something I’ve wanted to write since re-watching Six’s “Trial of a
Time Lord” season (Season 23 of Classic Who). It’s basically to make a
bridge between the end of Back to the Future Part III and the mid-point
of “Trial of a Time Lord Part 13: The Ultimate Foe”. I’d also wanted to write it
because it’s a big thing in AL’s timeline: Her feeling that Doc Brown didn’t
need her anymore now that he had a family (she won’t be told how wrong she is
’til way later) and her change of perspective on the Sixth Doctor’s personality,
which mirrors my own views on him (see below). I originally had this as a
crossover, but it’s really more of a Doctor Who story even though Doc and
co. make a speaking appearance. It’s more like a cameo, really.
Story:
Doc, Clara, etc.: Doc, Clara, Jules and Verne Brown, Marty McFly,
Jennifer Parker, the Time Train, clock tower, etc. are all from the Back to
the Future trilogy. AL met Doc in June of 1983 and stayed until this point.
She’s jealous of Clara and the boys because for two years she was Doc’s family
and now she’s been (so she thinks) replaced. She’ll find out how wrong she is in
my story Dreaming of You, when she and Doc are reunited.
The ones she left behind: AL’s biological family was destroyed in the same explosion on Alnilam that wiped her memories of them. Jamie McCrimmon was the companion of the Second Doctor and the first of her many relationships since the explosion. Erik is the Phantom of the Opera, whom AL met previously when the Sixth Doctor dropped her off in Paris in my story Beyond the Stars.
The trial of a Time Lord: As it implies, everything comes from the latter parts of Six’s “Trial of a Time Lord” season.
Their link: The link between AL and the Doctor had once been very strong, when he was the Fifth Doctor and in love with her. After the regeneration, Six’s erratic and disagreeable personality caused her feelings for him to wane and the link to weaken considerably. That’s why since the regeneration she never hugged him, held his hand or let him put an arm around her. It actually took being away from him for all that time for her to realize, “Yeah, he’s a little unpredictable and prone to mood swings but you know what? He’s still the Doctor and I still love him.” From this point, the link got stronger than it had been but not at strong as it once was (after all, Five he was not). That made sense in my head. It’s a kind of mirror of my own views: I originally wasn’t all too fond of the Sixth Doctor, however, after getting the “Trial” DVD box set and watching it several times I began to see his appeal. In fact, I started to like him. So I decided that AL would warm to him after they were reunited.
Mel having to leave: This is more in the novelization of the episode than in the TV version. Mel is from a point in the Doctor’s future and, as such, had to be returned there in order for the flow of time to be corrected.
The telepathy: This all started in a story my friend Ashley (MISS YOU!!) was writing in which the Fifth Doctor and AL, Tegan, Turlough and AL’s nephew Mat (who was based off my brother’s ex-wife’s son and has since been phased out of existence) meet her Time Lady character Stella and her various incarnations. Within the story, AL and the Doctor speak telepathically most of the time. I liked the concept, so I kept it. AL and the Doctor do most of their communicating telepathically especially AL with the Fifth, Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Doctors. Some with Six and Seven, too, but mostly with those four.
The Rani: This leads into Seven’s first episode “Time and the Rani”. “Trial” takes place directly before it, though Six and AL have to have at least two adventures (meeting Mel and the one aboard the Hyperion III as seen on the Matrix in “Terror of the Vervoids”) before he regenerates.