(back to the doctor who bewildering reference guide)
timewyrm: genesys
author:    john peel
isbn:    0 426 20355 0
confusion quotient: 0.535

p.1
Eridu: The plains of Iraq, setting for Genesys, The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Code of Hammurabi; bound by the rivers Tigris and Euphrates.
Great River: The Euphrates, a geographic feature of the Fertile Crescent, the Cradle of Civilisation.
Gilgamesh, King of Men: Gilgamesh was a king of Uruk, a city in ancient Mesopotamia about 2700 BC.  The Epic of Gilgamesh was written down in the cuneiform alphabet about 2000 BC
Enkidu, Brother to the Beast: A wild man created by the sky-god Anu to temper Gilgamesh.  In this book he is prtrayed as a Neanderthal.  In the Epic of Gilgamesh they cut down the Cedar Forests of Iraq, kill the demon Humbaba, rebuff the advances of Ishtar and kill the Bull of Heaven she sends for her revenge.  Enkidu is singled out by the gods for retribution for their adventures, and dies of a wasting disease.
Ea, Goddess of Wisdom: Helped to create humanity and saved Utnapishtim from the Flood.
Aya, Goddess of the Dawn: If you say so.
Ishtar, Glorious and Fearful: Goddess of the Sky who tempts Gilgamesh, in both the Epic and Genesys.
Utnapishtim, Ancient and Cunning: After Enkidu's death Gilgamesh undertakes to find Utnapishtim and his wife, who have become immortal by surviving the Flood.

p.3
Mutters Spiral: In "The Deadly Assassin" Engin implies that Earth is in a galaxy called Mutters Spiral.

p.5
Chapter 1 Serpent In The Garden:  Reference to The Bible (Genesis 3)
Uruk: Acording to the Epic Gilgamesh built Uruk.  The ruins of the Ziggurat of Ur survive today 250 km southeast of Baghdad.

p.6
Kish: Neighbouring city of Uruk in the Code of Hammurabi.  Remains exist.

p.12
lapis lazuli: A complex silicate containing sulphur, of bright blue colour, also used as a pigment.

p.15
Tiffany-style table lamp: Louis Comfort Tiffany was a great contributor to the Art Nouveau style.

p.20
Hat-stand, wooded high-backed chair, small chest and mirror: Typical furniture of the TARDIS console room, lacking only an antique ormolu clock.

p.22
You stupid idiot: Ace has a distrust of the Doctor dating back to "The Curse of Fenric".
Editing memories: First done here, the Doctor also edits his memories in later books.
TARDIS telepathic circuits: Twin TARDIS console panels which form a circuit through the body when one places one hand on each.
4th Doctor costume: This apparition of the Doctor is circa "The Invasion of Time", but he is wearing the coat, hat and scarf from two seasons later.

p.23
Chapter 3 When You Wish Upon Ishtar: Jiminy Cricket, from Walt Disney's "Pinocchio"

p.24
Ziggurat of Zababa, patron god of Kish: Named in the Code of Hammurabi as Zamama, who only started by founding this city.

p.30
Nergal, Father of Death and Pestilence: Death God from the Code of Hammurabi.

p.34
Dorothy: Ace's real name is Dorothy.  Her last name is revealed in "Set Piece" by Kate Orman.

p.35
Leela: Savage companion of the Fourth Doctor, who stayed on Gallifrey at the end of "The Invasion of Time".

p.36
Sontarans: Militaristic, froglike aliens who invaded Gallifrey in "The Invasion of Time"

p. 37
Ancient High Gallifreyan: An archaic language presumably similar to Old High Gallifreyan, first mentioned in "The Five Doctors".

p.38
Cybermen: Militaristic cyborgs who encountered the Doctor and Ace in November 1988
nitro-nine: Ace's perfected home-made explosive.
Perivale, West London: London suburb on the Central Line between Greenford and Hanger Lane.
The Master: Arch-enemy of the Doctor encountered on the..
The Planet of the Cheetah-People: Alien locale in "Survival" where Ace and the Doctor were threatened by the Master, in control of a band of humanoid cats on horseback.

p.39
Waitress on Iceworld: When the Doctor first discovered Ace she was getting by as a waitress on this asteroid, also known as Svartos, in the far future as a result of the machinations of..
Fenric: A supernatural being who manipulated thousands of human beings, including Ace, in a great scheme against the Doctor.
School Lab Explosion: Fenric threw Ace forward in time to Iceworld under cover of one of her chemistry experiments.

p.39
Cloister Bell: TARDIS emergency warning heard in "Logopolis".
Logopolis: Home of a race of mathematicians whose calculations helped to keep the Universe in balance.

p.40
"You don't know much, and that's a fact": The Duchess in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland(1865), by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson).

p.41
The Brigadier: 20th-century army officer and companion of the Doctor through most of his lives.
Victoria: 19th-century orphan and companion of the 2nd Doctor.
Jamie: 18th-century Scottish revolutionary piper and companion of the 2nd Doctor.

p.42
Katarina: Trojan handmaiden and brief companion of the 1st Doctor.

p.43
"I've got a very bad feeling about this": Han Solo, "Star Wars" (1977)

p.47
Lugalbanda: Gilgamesh's personal god.  So what about Shamash?

p.49
Shamash, God of the Sun: Ishtar's rival and mate, who watches out for Gilgamesh.  From the Epic and the Code of Hammurabi.

p.57
James Bond: 20th-Century British spy and misogynist.
John Steed: 20th-Century British spy and bowler-hatted gentleman.
Mickey Mouse: Running rodent of Walt-Disneyism.

p.58
Nimrod: Educated Neanderthal encountered by the Doctor and Ace in..
Gabriel Chase: A 19th-Century Perivale mansion haunted by..
Light: An ancient taxonomist bent on destroying all new forms of life in favour of the ones he began studying millennia ago, such as Nimrod.

p.72
CAMRA: CAMpaign for Real Ale.

p.74
Chapter 8 Band On The Run: Hit song by Wings.

p.77
Whiff of Evil: In several serials the Doctor has had premonitions of evil.

p.80
Belit-Sheri, Recorder of the Tablets of the Dead: If you say so.

p.81
The Wild Rover: English drinking song. Ace has, in Season 25, admitted to having a terrible singing voice.  John Peel has heard Sophie Aldred sing, though, and doesn't want the voice put to waste.

p.86
Jack Dempsey: William Harrison Dempsey (1895-1983) was a legendary hero of American sport.  In 77 bouts he scored 49 KOs.

p.92
"I've worked hard to get where I am today": Popular comic catch-phrase, perhaps popularised by Douglas Adams in "The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy".  I actually intended that to be a joke about "The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin." His boss was always saying "I didn't get where I am today by..." 'The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin is another English sitcom starring Leonard Rossiter.  Adams and the 'Perrin' writers probably got the line from the same pot; it may go all the way back to the early-20th Century music-hall tradition.
 

respiratory bypass: A feature of the Doctor's Time Lord biology is a loophole to escape asphyxiation, strangling and anaesthesia.

p.97
Erishkegal, Queen of the Underworld: So they say.

p.100
Professional ceiling inspector: Euphemism for a prostitute. Oh, the "professional ceiling inspector" line wasn't actually mine. Peter
Darville-Evans added it in the place of another comment. I have to confess that I liked it!  It does seem to be strangely appropriate as a mood-setter, or Whitehouse-baiter if you fancy.
Enki, Giver of the Waters of Life:
Nisaba, Giver of the Corn:
Ennugi, Watcher over the..:

p.101
Gordon Bennett:Mild expletive favoured by Ace, also used on p. 108 (Text submitted by Dr. Evil) Basically it's a nice version of 'god in heaven' (god pronounced gawd). Much like 'gee-whizz', it's a way of extricating yourself from possible blasphemy if there are any sensitive ears around, although anyone actually called Gordon Bennet must be sick of having his name taken so often in vain by now, they'll be looking in their 'Start Your Own Jihad' manuals.  (Text submitted by Henry Potts) "Gordon Bennett" is an exclamation, a word used in a moment of surprise or shock, although I'm afraid I don't know what the etymology is. However, it is completely out of date and was so even when Ace said it. One would expect a real-life Ace to say something like "fucking hell" instead, but the BBC wouldn't approve of that sort of language in a children's programme.  (Text submitted by Iain Hepburn)  As an addedum to that, as far as I can remember, Bennett was the editor who sent Stanley out to find Dr Livingstone.  I vaguely remember this coming from, of all places, CORNERS, that endearingly pisspoor piece of infotainment that Sophie Aldred used to present on Children's BBC.
I'm not sure about being out of date.  Ace was meant to be about 16 when she started.  Although I was a wee bitty younger, I remember a lot of the kids I knew at high school saying it, before Ace came into the show..

p.102
crude battery: Although the first electrochemical battery was documented by Alessandro Volta in 1800, crude devices probably used in magic trick have been excavated from Mesopotamia.

p.104
Morphius (sic): Morpheus, bringer of sleep from some legend or other.  (Text submitted by Paul Andinach) Greek. Can't remember anything else about him, though.

p.106
thermite: Generic explosive, perhaps fictional. (Text submitted by Paul Andinach) It's a genuine incendiary, although some of the properties attributed to it in fiction can't be trusted. The standard thermite formula is a mixture of iron oxide and aluminium powder, which burns at over 2000 degrees celcius and produces extremely dangerous amounts of visible and UV light. If you can get it lit.
Vale of Tears:  Psalms Chapter 83, Verse 7

p.107
Zuqaqip: Two large scropions who guard the way past Mount Mashu.
Mountains of Mashu: In the Epic Mount Mashu guards the rising and the setting of the sun and is a stage on the way to Utnapishtim.

p.114
like butterknives: Ancient Babylonian scrapers to abrade away dead skin rather than washing it off with soap.

p.116
bacon butty: Ham-bearing breakfast snack, or general UK name for a bacon sandwich.  Melanie Brown from the Spice Girls likes them, apparently.

p.123
Chapter 12 Avram's Tale: This is a variation on the Flood stories of Utnapishtim and Noah.
Shulpae, God of Feasting:
Ashnan, God of Barley:
Anu, Father of the Gods: In Genesys Anu is Ishtar/Qataka's and Utnapishtim's extinct home planet.  The Ziggurat surviving at Ur was dedicated to the Anu of the Epic and the Code of Hammurabi.

p.124
Arrows of Adad:

p.127
Hegel - Don't judge cultures by their own standards: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) was a philosopher who believed that individual cultures were simply aspects of humanity in general, and had to be judged objectively, among many other things.
Watership Down: Richard Adams wrote Watership Down, not Hegel. It's the story of a warren of disposessed rabbits.

p.130
Chapter 13 Split Infinities: When the two words of the infinitive form of a verb are separated by an adjective (eg. to boldly go) the infinitive is split.

p.134
time path indicator: Gadget which gives warning of time-space vessels following the TARDIS.  It was used in "The Chase" and "The Daleks' Masterplan" when the Dalek time machine followed the TARDIS.  In the latter serial the Daleks needed the..
Tarranium Core: A device containing a substance of extreme power mined from Uranus which the Daleks needed for their Time Destructor weapon.
Katarina and Sara Kingdom: Two of the Doctor's companions were killed in the struggle for possession of the Tarranium Core.
Ninsun, Mother of Gilgamesh: Gilgamesh is supposedly a demigod; his mother is also known as Rimat-Ninsun.

p.140
Over a Thousand: According to later New Adventures continuity, the Doctor does not celebrate his one thousandth birthday until "Set Piece".
K'Anpo: According to "Planet of the Spiders", K'Anpo Rinpoche was one of the Doctor's tutors on Gallifrey.
Vardans: Able to travel along beams of radiation, the Vardans led a diversionary invasion of Gallifrey in "The Invasion of Time".
Adric's death: Adric, a mathematician from an alternate universe known as E-Space, was a companion of the 4th and 5th Doctors.  He was killed in a collision between a space freighter and prehistoric Earth which caused the extinction of the dinosaurs in a battle with the Cybermen.
Lying down on the job: another reference to prostitution, this time from the Doctor.

p.145
Chapter 15 Guardians at the Gate of Dawn: There is a Pink Floyd album entitled "Piper at the Gates of Dawn". Not Pink Floyd (I don't particularly like them) but Arthur C. Clarke, "Childhood's End." Of all pop and rock bands, Pink Floyd has to be one of those inspired by Arthur Clarke.  The '..at the Gates of Dawn' phrase may even date from some earlier poem. (Text submitted by Paul Andinach) I don't know about 'Childhood's End', but the album is named after the chapter in Kenneth Grahame's 'The Wind in the Willows'. I don't know whether Kenneth Grahame made it up or drew on an even earlier source.

p.148
Robots- "Some help": Such robots rarely have a well-developed sense of irony.

p.154
Urshanabi: In both the Epic and Genesys Urshanabi is the ferryman to Utnapishtim who Gilgamesh assaults.

p.157
"He got a bit carried away": Much like Sir Launcelot at Swamp Castle in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (1974).

p.163
Liquorice allsort: Not a jelly baby.

p.166
Paradise Towers: A run-down apartment block of the future dealt with by the Doctor and Mel.  So why is Ace worrying about it?
Psychic Circus: A galactic circus performed on the planet Segonax for the enjoyment of the Gods of Ragnarok, and sorted out by the Doctor and Ace.  You got that right.

p.183
Wagner's Ring: Clinically theatrical set of operas written by the German composer Richard Wagner.

p.186
positronic brain: Science fiction concept originated by Isaac Asimov for an extremely fine and complex computer processor able to contain human consciousness.

p. 193
"Once more unto the breach": Henry V, Act 3, Scene 1.

p.197
Sigourney Weaver: Female star of the "Alien"series of sci-fi/action movies.

p.205
Third Doctor telepathy: The 3rd Doctor supposedly has special telepathic powers, although so does the 2nd, 4th, 6th and 7th.

p.206
Jo: Former companion of the 3rd Doctor.
"Reverse the polarity of the neuron flow": possibly an in-joke at the expense of the 3rd Doctor's favourite technobabble.  Also could be a spelling error. yes, that's a pun. I *love* puns, and I couldn't resist that one.

p.207
Sergeant Benton: Soldier and companion of the 3rd Doctor.

p.208
Liz: Liz Shaw, a physicist and companion of the 3rd Doctor.

p.213
Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby: Politically incorrect Mississippi fable popularised by the Disney film "Song of the South".

p.214
Secondary Control Room: Alternative console room set used in Season 14.

p.216
hoodoo: Unusual sedimentary geologic features native to the Badlands area of southern Alberta.
Dodo: Former companion of the 1st Doctor.

p.218
Happy Endings: Watch out for this phrase.

p.220
"With great power comes great responsability" -Marvel Comics: And the 7th Doctor knows comics only too well.

p.224
Chronovores: Chronovores were first seen in "The Time Monster", where the Chronovore Kronos was used by the Master in time travel experiments which led to a destruction of Atlantis.

p.226
Time Ram: Also used exclusively in "The Time (Text submitted by Paul Andinach) Monster" (ta Paul), this term describes the collision of two TARDISes in the Time Vortex: in this case, the Doctor's and the Master's.

p.230
Wigan: A Lancashire town near Liverpool, home of the vaudevillean George Formby.