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Doctor Who: Virgin New Adventures #30
Doctor Who: First Frontier
Ace raised her blaster. 'You've already killed me once, girl,' Kreer said. 'Didn't you learn anything from that?'
When Bernice asks to see the dawn of the space age, the Doctor takes the TARDIS to the United States of America in 1957 - and into the midst of distrust and paranoia. The Cold War is raging, bringing the world to the brink of atomic destruction.
But the threat facing America is far more deadly than Communist Russia. The militaristic Tzun Confederacy have made Earth their next target for conquest - and the aliens are already among us.
Two nuclear warheads have been stolen; there are traitors to the human species in the highest ranks of the army; and alien infiltrators have assumed human form. Only one person seems to know what’s going on: the army’s mysterious scientific advisor, the enigmatic Major Kreer.
When Bernice asks to see the dawn of the space age, the Doctor takes the TARDIS to the United States of America in 1957 - and into the midst of distrust and paranoia. The Cold War is raging, bringing the world to the brink of atomic destruction.
But the threat facing America is far more deadly than Communist Russia. The militaristic Tzun Confederacy have made Earth their next target for conquest - and the aliens are already among us.
Two nuclear warheads have been stolen; there are traitors to the human species in the highest ranks of the army; and alien infiltrators have assumed human form. Only one person seems to know what’s going on: the army’s mysterious scientific advisor, the enigmatic Major Kreer.
294 pages, Paperback
First published September 15, 1994
About the author
David A. McIntee
74 books29 followersDavid A. McIntee was a British author who specialised in writing spin-offs and nonfiction commentaries for Doctor Who and other British and American science-fiction franchises.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
April 28, 2026
Really enjoyed this book, set in 1950s America , with the focus being on the space age. The story revolves around UFOs, aliens which have taken over high ranking army roles etc. I found the characterizations of the Doctor and his companions on point, a fairly long NA novel, with more than one adversary ie Major Kreer. i found it a fascinating page turner and i would highly recommend it to all fans.
July 27, 2026
Ace is a beast on fire here, so already I'm happy. There's a choppy feel, probably too many side characters spread around, and tons of human, and alien, ranks and positions to almost give up on keeping straight...but overall, I had a great time with a re-read of this one.
Blaster fire, disrupter fire, machine gun fire. Car chases, motorcycle chases. An orbiting mothership shaped like a giant sword. UFOs, humans abducted for strange alien experiments. Scattered, worldwide political centres and military bases infiltrated by aliens attempting a "soft" invasion, with a plan to splice our DNA right into their Tzun Confederacy, thus making us part of their big happy family. Sure, we lose our own free human destiny, and are somewhat the subservient junior partner in the Tzun hierarchy - plus the plan involves two stolen nuclear warheads, and killing hundreds of millions while getting the rest of the world on board, with subterfuge and cajolery, massaging a new and willing human perspective - but it'll be good for Earth, right?
Enter the Doctor, Ace and Benny, not getting into the Tzun spirit of the thing.
There are many sly references to other movies and franchises. I got stumped for a bit, when someone - was it the Doctor? - said "...this is a valuable piece of merchandise - which, with any luck, they'll want back.". First, I had to convince myself that this innocuous, somewhat generic statement was actually a quote from something else. Even if it wasn't, it was at least close to a quote from a movie or TV show that I was somehow familiar with, and that meant it would gnaw at my brain until I remembered where I had heard it. My memory has been known to put me in this position many times, even without a book prompting it; a floating quote pops int my head, but I can't pin down who said it and where it's from. Then, I put my memory, and logic, to work. I thought for sure the quote in this case was from the Star Wars films...maybe Han Solo claiming something , which "with any luck, they'll want back". But I couldn't pin down the item - the "valuable merchandise" - and it just seemed wrong; when did someone in Star Wars claim something the enemy would want back? And yet, suddenly I was hearing a voice like Alec Guinness saying the line, and felt I almost had it, and that it was from Star Wars...
I decided something was still leading me astray, and realized from past experience that the trick was to REALLY HEAR the line said in my head, and try to hear the actual voice..."this is a valuable piece of merchandise - which, with any luck, they'll want back...".
C'mon, Seth. That memory of yours...you can recite off the top of your head all 118 titles of the Perry Rhodan series...HEAR the person saying the line... Okay, I'm thinking Alec Guinness, because...the person is British. And the sentence structure is not Han Solo, anyway...
It's Roger Moore. I've got it now. Enough to finish this. It's got to be James Bond, a James Bond quote. Still not clear...start with each Roger Moore James Bond film, in order, starting with your favourite, LIve and Let Die, and remember when it was said...
Done! Actually, I should have realized James Bond was a good starting point, because there are other James Bond nods throughout First Frontier. A timer counts down to "0:07", stops, and the character in front of it says something like "Three more ticks, and we'd have all been blown to bits...", and that's right out of Goldfinger (where they were going to show a timer stopping at 0:03, got clever and changed it to 0:07 - 007! - but did not re-shoot the dialogue where someone says it stopped with 'three more ticks" to go).
And of course, two stolen nukes is pure Thunderball. So, a lot of the time, First Frontier is an action-oriented homage to James Bond. Although...suddenly a scene came up in this Doctor Who novel that made me think of a famous scene from the Doctor Who TV show, like as if the were aware of it and this novel, and used it in the 10th Doctor episode called 'Utopia', with some modifications! Too similar to be coincidence? I wonder...!
Blaster fire, disrupter fire, machine gun fire. Car chases, motorcycle chases. An orbiting mothership shaped like a giant sword. UFOs, humans abducted for strange alien experiments. Scattered, worldwide political centres and military bases infiltrated by aliens attempting a "soft" invasion, with a plan to splice our DNA right into their Tzun Confederacy, thus making us part of their big happy family. Sure, we lose our own free human destiny, and are somewhat the subservient junior partner in the Tzun hierarchy - plus the plan involves two stolen nuclear warheads, and killing hundreds of millions while getting the rest of the world on board, with subterfuge and cajolery, massaging a new and willing human perspective - but it'll be good for Earth, right?
Enter the Doctor, Ace and Benny, not getting into the Tzun spirit of the thing.
There are many sly references to other movies and franchises. I got stumped for a bit, when someone - was it the Doctor? - said "...this is a valuable piece of merchandise - which, with any luck, they'll want back.". First, I had to convince myself that this innocuous, somewhat generic statement was actually a quote from something else. Even if it wasn't, it was at least close to a quote from a movie or TV show that I was somehow familiar with, and that meant it would gnaw at my brain until I remembered where I had heard it. My memory has been known to put me in this position many times, even without a book prompting it; a floating quote pops int my head, but I can't pin down who said it and where it's from. Then, I put my memory, and logic, to work. I thought for sure the quote in this case was from the Star Wars films...maybe Han Solo claiming something , which "with any luck, they'll want back". But I couldn't pin down the item - the "valuable merchandise" - and it just seemed wrong; when did someone in Star Wars claim something the enemy would want back? And yet, suddenly I was hearing a voice like Alec Guinness saying the line, and felt I almost had it, and that it was from Star Wars...
I decided something was still leading me astray, and realized from past experience that the trick was to REALLY HEAR the line said in my head, and try to hear the actual voice..."this is a valuable piece of merchandise - which, with any luck, they'll want back...".
C'mon, Seth. That memory of yours...you can recite off the top of your head all 118 titles of the Perry Rhodan series...HEAR the person saying the line... Okay, I'm thinking Alec Guinness, because...the person is British. And the sentence structure is not Han Solo, anyway...
It's Roger Moore. I've got it now. Enough to finish this. It's got to be James Bond, a James Bond quote. Still not clear...start with each Roger Moore James Bond film, in order, starting with your favourite, LIve and Let Die, and remember when it was said...
Done! Actually, I should have realized James Bond was a good starting point, because there are other James Bond nods throughout First Frontier. A timer counts down to "0:07", stops, and the character in front of it says something like "Three more ticks, and we'd have all been blown to bits...", and that's right out of Goldfinger (where they were going to show a timer stopping at 0:03, got clever and changed it to 0:07 - 007! - but did not re-shoot the dialogue where someone says it stopped with 'three more ticks" to go).
And of course, two stolen nukes is pure Thunderball. So, a lot of the time, First Frontier is an action-oriented homage to James Bond. Although...suddenly a scene came up in this Doctor Who novel that made me think of a famous scene from the Doctor Who TV show, like as if the were aware of it and this novel, and used it in the 10th Doctor episode called 'Utopia', with some modifications! Too similar to be coincidence? I wonder...!
August 29, 2022
A promising premise - the Doctor gets mixed up in UFO shenanigans in 1950s America - with an interesting alien foe. There's also a genuine surprise with one of the villains' identities (I knew thanks to spoilers, but I won't spoil readers of this review). However, the execution is disappointing - very slow-moving and almost dull in spots, with uneven use of the supporting cast, and some sections where the action is hard to follow. Perhaps this would have worked better on television, with the necessary streamlining... (B-)
May 1, 2010
David McIntee found a nice niche for his New Adventures - a solid historical setting which has room for the SF elements without you feeling that they are completely implausible.
Here he takes the 50s UFO scares in the US and parlays it into a proper alien invasion story. There is a genuinely excellent twist involving one of the major characters which is almost but not entirely a surprise - and it nicely deals with a long-standing loose end from the tv show.
Sadly, however, the story itself is rather routine and there are few surprises (but more than a few ridiculous "back-and-forth" sequences in which characters go somewhere, come back and go away again just to enable the plot to work. And there are times when you lose track of where things are happening when there are two separate army bases, with aliens apparently at both of them.
The aliens are quite nicely realised, with a plausible and unusual military culture, but again it gets confusing as to where the different aliens are and what their motivation is.
Not a great entry in the series, but definitely not a clunker either.
Here he takes the 50s UFO scares in the US and parlays it into a proper alien invasion story. There is a genuinely excellent twist involving one of the major characters which is almost but not entirely a surprise - and it nicely deals with a long-standing loose end from the tv show.
Sadly, however, the story itself is rather routine and there are few surprises (but more than a few ridiculous "back-and-forth" sequences in which characters go somewhere, come back and go away again just to enable the plot to work. And there are times when you lose track of where things are happening when there are two separate army bases, with aliens apparently at both of them.
The aliens are quite nicely realised, with a plausible and unusual military culture, but again it gets confusing as to where the different aliens are and what their motivation is.
Not a great entry in the series, but definitely not a clunker either.
September 8, 2020
When I first started this, I thought it would be a standard alien invasion scenario of the kind I've read and seen on TV and in movies many times, ad nauseam. Although it has many elements of those standard invasion scenarios, the addition of a much-loved character and some interesting new guest characters lifted it above the mundane.
Among the standard fare of UFO enthusiasts, conspiracy theorists, hidebound military officers and worried citizens, we find the Doctor, Ace and Bernice.
I won't go into detail about the best element of the story, because of spoilers, but needless to say, it's well executed and it ties in nicely with the TV show.
Among the standard fare of UFO enthusiasts, conspiracy theorists, hidebound military officers and worried citizens, we find the Doctor, Ace and Bernice.
I won't go into detail about the best element of the story, because of spoilers, but needless to say, it's well executed and it ties in nicely with the TV show.
April 30, 2025
This novel works from the premise of trying to give an explanation for the raft of UFO sightings in 50s America, but doesn't come up with much more than well, it was all those UFOs. The alien baddies the Tzun are original with a well developed hierarchical society and mode of invasion, but the weird names are as hard to follow as the rapid back and forth between lots of military types in different bases. There's a surprise returning character who is used well, but their involvement here has been retconned by the subsequent TV revival and spin off media.
March 5, 2024
I decided that I didn't have the patience for this one. It's not the setting, it's not the story. I suppose it was the writing.
September 23, 2017
it was OK.
May 31, 2013
Until two thirds of the pages into the book I thought that it wasn't much more than just a solid romp of a story. Not too great but not too bad either, and it passed the time rather well. Then there suddenly came this surprise reveal of the villain and I went "Oh!". I should have seen it coming if I had [i]really[/i] been paying attention to all the clues and hints throughout the story, but well, I wasn't. Since it was just such of a prime example of a cozy romp I didn't really expected anything of that sort to happen.
And well... in the end it still isn't much more of a romp, but hey, it's a romp with a major surprise twist. How about that?
Anyway, that cover really is a bit crap, isn't it? What the hell happened to the anatomy of poor Ace? Who let kind of thing pass and why didn't anybody notice it before sending it to the printer?
And well... in the end it still isn't much more of a romp, but hey, it's a romp with a major surprise twist. How about that?
Anyway, that cover really is a bit crap, isn't it? What the hell happened to the anatomy of poor Ace? Who let kind of thing pass and why didn't anybody notice it before sending it to the printer?
June 28, 2020
First Frontier is pretty good! It's a nice introduction to some new enemies - the Tzun -
The setting and the characters are all pretty good throughout the majority of it, though after a certain point - - the pacing seems to kind of go a bit awry. The ending also ends up feeling kind of rushed and a bit of a technobabble asspull with some sonic screwdriver magic (or thereabouts) for good measure.
Still, this isn't enough to really make me mark it low - I think it's still definitely deserving of the rating I've given it, yep!
The setting and the characters are all pretty good throughout the majority of it, though after a certain point - - the pacing seems to kind of go a bit awry. The ending also ends up feeling kind of rushed and a bit of a technobabble asspull with some sonic screwdriver magic (or thereabouts) for good measure.
Still, this isn't enough to really make me mark it low - I think it's still definitely deserving of the rating I've given it, yep!
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April 8, 2009http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1928098.html
Rather a good Seventh Doctor romp, with Benny and Ace involved with an attempted alien invasion coinciding with the start of the Space Race in late 1957. It felt from the start rather like The Claws of Axos, only done much better, a feeling intensified by a plot twist about halfway through; it also has the general frenetic pace of a televised New Who story, to the point that I could see it as the basis for a decent script. Good fun.
Rather a good Seventh Doctor romp, with Benny and Ace involved with an attempted alien invasion coinciding with the start of the Space Race in late 1957. It felt from the start rather like The Claws of Axos, only done much better, a feeling intensified by a plot twist about halfway through; it also has the general frenetic pace of a televised New Who story, to the point that I could see it as the basis for a decent script. Good fun.
December 7, 2014
Another of David Mcintee's entertaining Historical/ sci-fi stories. This time we are in america in the early fifties.
Nice use of history, good characterization of the three leads and a clever surprise reveal about one of the bad guys make up for the fact that the aliens are pretty uninteresting and generic. Might have worked better with an old Doctor Who alien.
Nice use of history, good characterization of the three leads and a clever surprise reveal about one of the bad guys make up for the fact that the aliens are pretty uninteresting and generic. Might have worked better with an old Doctor Who alien.
March 16, 2020
A fun romp set in the era of Roswell. The Doctor, Benny and Age make for a likeable team and the return of an old foe was a welcome surprise.
June 6, 2021
*this review contains spoilers *
Well I know some of the vnas are slow but wow I have finally ploughed through this one. Im glad I finally bit the bullet and bought a kindle as i think this will help me read all my Doctor who books like this one here.
Overall, a good historical doctor who story about the space race but it could have done with being a bit shorter and less descriptive. Also, way too many characters about and some that were either forgotten or hardly needed and this resulted Benny, Doctor and Ace being jumbled about.
I did like the reveal of the Master and how he survived after Survival! I thought that was well done and how he used the Tzuan for a new regeneration cycle as he was becoming cat like.
Over all, good story but could have cut a lot out and it would have still made sense. David certainly knows his stuff.
Well I know some of the vnas are slow but wow I have finally ploughed through this one. Im glad I finally bit the bullet and bought a kindle as i think this will help me read all my Doctor who books like this one here.
Overall, a good historical doctor who story about the space race but it could have done with being a bit shorter and less descriptive. Also, way too many characters about and some that were either forgotten or hardly needed and this resulted Benny, Doctor and Ace being jumbled about.
I did like the reveal of the Master and how he survived after Survival! I thought that was well done and how he used the Tzuan for a new regeneration cycle as he was becoming cat like.
Over all, good story but could have cut a lot out and it would have still made sense. David certainly knows his stuff.
June 4, 2022
One of those novels where I found the characters much more enjoyable than the story itself. It feels a bit tame these days, considering what's been done with the Master on the TV series over the last decade, but the top flight characterizations of the 7th Doctor, Ace & Benny keep you reading until the end
October 15, 2024
Clearly has some shortcomings, especially when it comes to the rather unfocused ending, but the idea of mashing up Doctor Who with UFO mythology in the 1950s is too fun to resist. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/202...
December 11, 2024
David A. McIntee does a better job of incorporating Doctor Who into the American UFO craze of the 1950s than Paul Cornell did in Dreamland 15 years later, but his writing suffers from a surplus of characters and technical detail.
April 5, 2024
Solid book! Villain was a lot of fun, but the ending felt incredibly quick, and I'm used to quick endings for these books. Still all around fun though
July 12, 2025
I loved this one! It's probably my favorite Doctor Who book so far. The villain reveal was awesome and I loooooved the second half!
July 4, 2026
August 2020
3.5/5
Found a few bits hard to follow (although I think I managed to work it out by the end) but basically decent. Not one I was bowled over by but I enjoyed it.
And [redacted] did genuinely take me by surprise, I'll give the book that.
June 2026
2.5/5
Can't shake the feeling that I should like this a bit more than I do...there's very little that I can latch on to complain about, but I also don't really feel like I can latch onto anything I really enjoy, except perhaps finding some of the groundwork for Ace's departure. Part of that might just be that I've always been a bit less keen on McIntee's more sci-fi oriented stories, part of it might just be that 1950s alien invasion and the awareness of the Red Scare really does feel like very familiar ground.
3.5/5
Found a few bits hard to follow (although I think I managed to work it out by the end) but basically decent. Not one I was bowled over by but I enjoyed it.
And [redacted] did genuinely take me by surprise, I'll give the book that.
June 2026
2.5/5
Can't shake the feeling that I should like this a bit more than I do...there's very little that I can latch on to complain about, but I also don't really feel like I can latch onto anything I really enjoy, except perhaps finding some of the groundwork for Ace's departure. Part of that might just be that I've always been a bit less keen on McIntee's more sci-fi oriented stories, part of it might just be that 1950s alien invasion and the awareness of the Red Scare really does feel like very familiar ground.
July 15, 2025
Going to be honest I can’t get on with David A. McIntee’s writing style. I don’t know what it was, but I really struggled. He also has a writing habit to give every character a name (Gary Russell did the same thing in Legacy) The problem with it is that you as the reader will do your best to remember every named character. This is because it should be an indication from the writer that these characters are important and will reappear later.
However, when every character is named (and I mean every character) from a one-off guard, motel clerk or even a passersby, it just becomes too much. You can’t possibly remember all those characters, it becomes overwhelming and so you stop trying. Then suddenly a character you didn’t bother to remember appears and turns out to be a major contributor to the plot.
Sadly I didn’t managed to finish this one.
However, when every character is named (and I mean every character) from a one-off guard, motel clerk or even a passersby, it just becomes too much. You can’t possibly remember all those characters, it becomes overwhelming and so you stop trying. Then suddenly a character you didn’t bother to remember appears and turns out to be a major contributor to the plot.
Sadly I didn’t managed to finish this one.
January 17, 2012
I finally got up to the Master's return and regeneration in the New Adventures range of Doctor Who novels - First Frontier - and while I usually enjoy David McIntee's well-researched historicals, he leaves me wanting a little here. There's still research, mostly into the 1950s space race and communist paranoia-fueled B-movies, but there are just too many similar characters to keep track of. Military guys spread across three bases, plus an alien race split into three types, with secret identities besides, makes the supporting cast start to blur after a while. Still good fun, and the new Master (reputedly based on Basil Rathbone) is a welcome change from Ainley's panto villainy, but I guess I was expecting more. The Master could have regenerated 100 pages sooner, for example.
March 29, 2019
Even though I read this relatively recently I realised I had basically no memory of it. Even now I am struggling to recall it in immense detail. Mostly it is overstuffed with references and filled with run-arounds that go nowhere.
It improves in the final 1/3 when it is revealed to Major Kreer is The Master (for which McIntee would go on to write much better books) where there are some great interactions, if a fairly standard plot.
Unfortunately it continues to have the problems of McIntee's other early writings and is unfortunately near the bottom of the pack for the virgin books I have been reading so far.
It improves in the final 1/3 when it is revealed to Major Kreer is The Master (for which McIntee would go on to write much better books) where there are some great interactions, if a fairly standard plot.
Unfortunately it continues to have the problems of McIntee's other early writings and is unfortunately near the bottom of the pack for the virgin books I have been reading so far.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 2, 2015
Not one of the best titles in the old Doctor Who New Adventures series. The plot is actually quite good: an alien invasion in 1957 with a familiar villain and intricate maneuvering by characters who are not what they seem. The aliens and their technology are fairly interesting.
The problem is that the characterizations are horrible. The Seventh Doctor is characterized as the Third Doctor, the characterization of Benny is too generic to be recognizable, and the villain's personality doesn't match the version of him seen on television. Other New Adventures writers understood the Seventh Doctor and his companions better.
I was sorry I paid a little money for a copy of this book.
The problem is that the characterizations are horrible. The Seventh Doctor is characterized as the Third Doctor, the characterization of Benny is too generic to be recognizable, and the villain's personality doesn't match the version of him seen on television. Other New Adventures writers understood the Seventh Doctor and his companions better.
I was sorry I paid a little money for a copy of this book.
September 30, 2012
This is what NA's were designed to be - TV show made bigger and better.
Perfect Who setting too, as the Doctor investigates the 1950s UFO/Roswell "sightings" to uncover a gen-u-ine alien invasion (natch)...with a twist or two!
The main twist, that's near-20 years old by this stage (Spoiler! ), I knew going in and so spent 2/3 of the book waiting for "the reveal", but it didn't really remove from the story any (in some ways it made it fun, spotting the hints and threads that I probably would have missed otherwise).
Good stuff.
Perfect Who setting too, as the Doctor investigates the 1950s UFO/Roswell "sightings" to uncover a gen-u-ine alien invasion (natch)...with a twist or two!
The main twist, that's near-20 years old by this stage (Spoiler! ), I knew going in and so spent 2/3 of the book waiting for "the reveal", but it didn't really remove from the story any (in some ways it made it fun, spotting the hints and threads that I probably would have missed otherwise).
Good stuff.
July 31, 2012
Paper-thin characters that are hard to distinguish and a rambling plot. It does have good elements like a well-detailed alien race and some pivotal post-series continuity, but that doesn't save a dull book.
September 11, 2016
The glorious return of the Master (his first in the New Adventures) and a hell of a cover to boot. A good Ace subplot helps keep this book a page turner, as well as a great characterization by the Master. Although lacking in a really good final confrontation, its still a winner.
August 18, 2024
Doctor Who and the flying saucers, with McIntee's personal addition to the Who bestiary, the Chinese-styled Tzun, and the Master up to his old tricks. The plot is full of action, but not of thought. There is nothing fancy, surrealistic, or philosophical here, just go go go action.
July 8, 2015
A fairly good Doctor Who book. Good villians, a fine premise and a good supporting cast. i'm not really find of the American Southwest as a setting, nor the 50's really, but I'll take it.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews