What have you gone and done to the basic underlying fabric of space/time now?

While I remember enjoying the 2 Virgin New Adventures by Dave Stone that I read, I don't recall much about them. So, I wasn't sure what to expect regarding the prose here. But, since it featured both the Second and Fourth Doctors, I expected it to be fun.

And it was.

Two is traveling with Victoria and Jamie. A failed attempt to land in 20th century London ends up depositing our TARDIS crew in the United States in an odd Midwestern town called Lychburg which bears more than a slight resemblance to Springfield from The Simpsons. It has a statue of its founder, Zebedia Lynchall, and is home to a Doctor Rick who enters a room saying, "Hello, everybody."

Meanwhile, 4 has Romana I by his side when they are confronted by a Time Lord with the vowelless name Wblk who tells the pair who should be out trying to piece together the Key to Time that a very old time machine from Gallfrey's ancient history met a controlled singularity on a populated planet. This meeting created a dimensional rift of some kind that has put the entire universe in peril.

Stone's writing is infused with jokes and casual absurdity a la Douglas Adams. In one scene, Two and his companions are enjoying some lunch while chatting. Imagining the Doctor gnawing on a chicken leg as he lectures to Jamie while the Scotsman is putting a deviled egg in his mouth made me chuckle. The Doctor mentions murder which surprises both Jamie and Victoria. The Time Lord protests that he had surely mentioned it before which prompts Victoria to say, "Possibly it would be simpler if we all pretended that you had told us, but we've forgotten, so you'll have to tell us all over again."

Four and Romana run into the Brigadier, which was a welcome surprise for me. But before that, they break into a museum to retrieve K9 in a manner that is less Mission: Impossible and more Keystone Cops. Another funny moment was when Four is confronting a bad guy and he quips, "Have you ever thought of seeing a specialist about that needlessly self-important and messianic tone?"

There's just a lot of this kind of stuff. Stone does a fine job of portraying our heroes faithfully to the TV show. For example, Romana is ever the aristocratic Time Lady: "And I really wish it was in aid of going somewhere other than Earth. I loathe Earth in that century. All those world wars and extermination camps. Things like that are always so miserable and depressing."

In addition to all of The Simpsons references, Lychburg is bursting with anachronisms, there's a drive-in playing schlocky sci-fi movies, and residents don't need much, if any, provocation, to murder one another.

"Romp" is a good, if overused, word to describe this book. I found myself smiling a lot while reading it. It has a lightheartedness to it and the familiar characters are well-drawn. Yet it has some substance too. There's weirdness and mystery to be had as well.