The end of the novel suggests another explanation for the Doctor's regeneration into his seventh incarnation rather than the crash landing seen at the start of Time and the Rani, with the Doctor being forced to sacrifice much of his energy to stop a pan-dimensional being from destroying creation, thus leaving him in a weakened condition prior to the Rani's attack; rather than injuries sustained by the Rani's attack causing the regeneration, he was already dying and the Rani's attack simply finished the job. There is also a reference to the Sixth Doctor meeting a future version of himself in the TARDIS, although which incarnation is not specified. Russell also includes further suggestions that the BBC books range and the Big Finish Productions audio range take place in parallel universes, and even has brief appearances from Peri, Evelyn Smythe, the Cyber-enhanced Evelyn from Real Time and Frobisher, as well as an alternate version of Mel who is a half-Silurian hybrid.
The unofficial novel Time's Champion, written by Chris McKeon based on notes by the late Craig Hinton, implies that the Doctor's endeavour there is a new timeline created by the Sixth Doctor in his first act as "Time's Champion" as he attempts to save Mel from the clutches of Death, who would become a frequent nemesis to the Seventh Doctor in the Virgin New Adventures novels.
Notes
The novel was originally titled Future Nostalgia.[1]
