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i recently purchased copies of both DWB books, and apart from a few pages at the back of each, it is all doctor who. a selection of lovely, all new material not found in any other book.
10/10.
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 | DOCTOR WHO AND THE CARPET MONSTERS... |
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| What: | Image of the Fendahl (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 31 March 2009 |
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| Rating: |  10 |
But one thing Doctor Who seemed to very well more times than not is to create really good effects with limited resources. And here is yet another example to highlight this. This creepy story shows you dont have to have millions to have a cracking good tale.
What is really good is the fendahleen, made out of that good thing we all love to have in our front room called carpet i do believe. And yet they creeped the hell out of me when i first saw them a long time ago. And that prop skull has to be one of the best prop skulls ive ever seen in my whole life. Skulls are so scary. Skulls are freaky. Doctor Who always did skulls, apart from when it came to Silence In The Library, where it looks pretty fake. SO muich for more money. Cant even make a skull as creepy as the one in Image of the Fendahl.
And considering the fact that many seem to think the Graham Williams period is where doctor who started on its downward spiral, im afraid i have to admit that this is utter rubbish. There are plenty of great stories during his reign as producer, in fact some of the best and most memorable stories of all, like The Pirate Planet, Stones Of Blood, City Of Death and all that and this story im now reveiwing of course.
What i like too is that Leela gets to do a little more, lots of stories the companions seem to fade into the background and become paillid and might as well not even been in the show for the use they are to the rest of the story. But Chris Boucher created Leela, so he actually gives her a sizeable chunk of story. And Louise Jameson is on fine form, a great companion.
Tom Baker is at his authoratative best i think in this story. The way he just strides in and takes complete control of the situation is well performed and written. And i do not believe that episode three is totally all just filler, how can it be when it has one of my all time favourite cliffhangers in doctor who?
The supporting acts on this story too are very good indeed, especially Wanda Ventham, giving a really good performance.
Doctor Who is a show, or used to be, with little money but great representation and effect. Many stories engage the mind and get the viewer to think about the points the story is trying to make. Intelligent and gripping storytelling, with a good monster and good cliffhangers. This story really does have it all.
This was first introduction to fan fiction anthologies. I bought the original spiral bound version and then the perfect bound follow-up with two extra stories. I'd never dabbled in fan fiction and was new to the internet when this came out and, gee, wasn't it great? Authors from the NAs stacked side-by-side with unknown names who become future authors in the official range. Great fun. Not every story is my cup of tea but every story has a purpose and I can see why every story was chosen. This was fan fiction, professionally made. Damon
First up a confession - I'm one of the authors in this. But the book is so big that doesn't matter. In fact, its greatest strength is its variety. There is something for everyone here. Plus there are a few short stories from Craig Hinton that remind us what a tremendous loss he was. I have always found the fan made short story collections to be more adventurous, more diverse, and usually much, much more fun than the official releases. Read it, enjoy it, support it. It is big. It's bold. It has more courage per square story than anything else in the Whoniverse you are likely to read this year. You may not love everything but you will love something. Damon
| What: | The Great Space Elevator (The Companion Chronicles audiobooks) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Saturday 28 March 2009 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
So far these companion chronicles have been written very well, all the different stories seem to fit seamlessly into the season they are portrayed to come from.
But this is a very special story. What with Debbie Watling back finally as the great companion Victoria. That oh so great comapanion with so much promise and yet with only one whole season to her name. She was such a good actress, not just entirely screamy and all that.
When you get an old companion you have to have a story that doesnt dissapoint. i think the Great Space Elevator is the most easily fitting story into season 5 yet. Jonathan Morris is really quite a deep thinking writer, always writing stories with strong moral pointers. And he gets the feel of that season right down to the core.
You have the cramped settings, you have the trigger happy guards, you have the weird alien trying to take over the world and feed to survive. So yet again this is an earth story, which all but one of season 5 were. This is so very well read by Debbie too.
Helen Goldwyn is also a great choice for the second acting voice in this. Jon even gets the get up right, with a reference to a very small and short miniskirt.
Doctor Who with Patrick troughton always was full of suspense and dark shadows and shady aliens. And this story is all of this. These companion chronicles are now one of my favourite parts of Doctor Who.
| What: | Matrix (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | kieren, kidderminster |
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| Date: | Friday 27 March 2009 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
In a very similar style to 'Illegal Alien', I like this a lot for it really plays with some of the stuff from The Ultimate Foe and does it excellently. It grips (or is that rips?) you and you don't put that book down till you've finished. It is dark, violent, surreal and dramatic which is what it should be anyway.
It seems that Mr Messingham is ethier friends with or has copied Mick Lewis' style for this is very graphic and very violent. If you are a Gerry Anderson fan(Thunderbirds, Stingray, Captain Scarlet,UFO) you may become very irritated by the numerous references, but I was ok with it and I enjoyed so much I was able to read it again between reading new ones. If you become concerned while reading just carry one it sorts itself out.
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| Breathing life into a dull original |
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With I first watched the original web planet, despite all the potential for a great story with a real alien feel, I phone it just dull. "Return" on the other hand maintains the really alien feel but with great pace and energy, making it a classic update for a classic story
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| Classic Tom Baker with a twist |
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How time doth fly when your having fun. The Chaos pool has a Tom Baker feel, taking you back with all the flavour of the original Key to time but still comes across as original with the energy of Peter. Including a great twist, new alien race(fun but not stupid) the Chaos Pool is a really entertaining story
| What: | Resistance (The Companion Chronicles audiobooks) |
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| By: | Charles G. Dietz, San Jose, CA, United States |
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| Date: | Monday 23 March 2009 |
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| Rating: |  4 |
This is the 2nd story to have both characters tell the story rather than having the main companion tell the story with voice interaction with the secondary person. But I do love having past companions participate in new stories keeping the memory of Doctors 1-3 alive.
| What: | The Rescue & The Romans (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Sunday 22 March 2009 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
Two excellent story's beautifully restored, especially The Rescue (check out the shot of Barbra & Ian looking at the crashed spaceship which on VHS wobbled but on this DVD no longer does)with very good extras.
| What: | Attack of the Cybermen (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Sunday 22 March 2009 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
An excellent release. This is classic 80's Who. Colin Baker is an excellent Doctor in a very good, exciting paced story.
The extras are very good. A very good history of the Cybermen & a very good "Making of" documentary.
| What: | Tomb of Valdemar (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Sunday 22 March 2009 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
An OK sort of story.
| What: | Attack of the Cybermen (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 19 March 2009 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
Here is another example of Doctor Who being let down by only one main thing. Nothing to do with the acting or scripting this time on my part, but what is truly annoying about this story is its score. Boy this grates on me, spoiling what is otherwise one of my favourite Doctor Who stories of all time. The earthshock cyber heart beat effect is creepy, but the rest is too light and glitzy for so dark and humourless a tale. This story otherwise though has a lot to recommend. The cybermen return on fine form and actually get a good amount of scenes within the story. And the script editors notion that violence shouldnt actually be played down to become stagey or obviously stupid is a very good point. The parents know where the remote control is if the kids get scared. But it presents reality and not fiction, real violence is out there and is at times sadly unavoidable. Doctor Who never shies away from relevant points, whether it be moral points or physical points. The cast on this story are of a very high standard. David Banks again reprises his role of the Cyberleader, not quite as emotive as he was in earthshock. Michael Kilgarrif is back too, putting in a better performance than his original i feel, and do we actually hear his own voice for a change, cool! yes we do. The bickering between the doc and peri is really not as pronounced as in other stories like Timelash and Vengeance on Varos, which is a good thing. And the plot elements for once all seem to fit nicely into each other.
The cybermen are down in the swers of london again, secretly plotting to disrupt earth in 1986 to stop mondas from being destroyed. This is harking back to the past, but done in a fresh and realistic way. The cryons are a good new race of aliens. Yes, this all in all is avery good story indeed, if it werent for that annoying score....
Perhaps it is difficult to write about a career that is reasonably short (so far), but the most frustrating aspect of this book was its tendancy to go into far to much detail on plot synopses. A biog should be more interested in the details of the life and career of the actor, rather than the rehashing of storylines that are already well known (for most people who are reading this it would be assumed their interest is for Mr Tennant's Doctor Who work). The Billie Piper biog was a far more interesting read, being a self-penned tome. Overall, I think this is a missed opportunity: if a perusal of Mr Tennant's Doctor Who work is in order, then perhaps a more penetrating look at his acting and contribution within each story would have been far more enlightening. As a general info book about his career to date, it suffices adequately; as an in depth look into his life, perhaps there's a little too much padding right now- I'm looking forward to the revised edition in 10 years time...
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| a criticised book- but an excellent read |
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| What: | Back in Time: (Miscellaneous factual books) |
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| By: | Jan, suffolk |
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| Date: | Monday 16 March 2009 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
many people criticise this book, saying it has too much to do with god. but, to be honest, it is just as good as the telos guides, and worth a read. i picked mine up for £0.01 on amazon, so for the price, it is definently worth a look in.
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| Not a classic, but not the worst.... |
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| What: | The Monsters Inside (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | C G Harwood, Dunedin, NZ, New Zealand |
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| Date: | Friday 13 March 2009 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
When I finished this book I wasn't sure how I felt about this, did I enjoy it or not. I was in the middle of the road with this one. But one thing I judge all my Dr Who on (be it TV, Book, or Audio) is would I watch/read/listen to it again. This is probably not a book that I would read again.
The plot of this book was the standard Land the TARDIS, Sperate them from the TARDIS, Seperate Doctor and Companion, then spend the rest of the book getting them reunited. This alone was enough to anoy me a little. I'm not a big fan of the Slitheen but they were not bad in this, and I hope the three of them come back one day
If you are new to these books, this is probably not a book I would start with, I found some of the technicle babble is a little confusing, and had to go back a few times and reread a few pages. I found Winner Takes All much easyer to follow, or his Feast of the Drowned.
It was still an enjoyable read thoe. 6 out of 10
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| Almost Perfect is Perfect |
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| What: | Torchwood: Almost Perfect (Torchwood novels) |
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| By: | Jamie Hardwick, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 12 March 2009 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
Before reading Almost Perfect by James Goss, I wasn't sure that the book would be good. Without Owen and Toshiko, I didn't think the Torchwood format would work. I was pleasantly surprised. Ianto excels in the book and Jack and Gwen also have a large part. I now can't wait for the next three Torchwood novels.
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| Doctor Who at its best!!!!! |
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| What: | The Forever Trap (New series audio originals) |
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| By: | C G Harwood, Dunedin, NZ, New Zealand |
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| Date: | Tuesday 10 March 2009 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
This is Doctor who at its best. With this audio I was hooked by it from the very first minute. I love the whole concept of SPAM geting into the TARDIS, and Donna arguing with it was brillant.
I kind of got the impresion that this was how Philip Hinchcliff and Robert Homes would have done the 7th Dr story Paradice Towers.
Cathrine Tate was great at reading this and the lines that Donna said were delivered as thoe she was in frount of a camera, and I think she may have even worked on her David Tennent voice. If I had one critisism it was that she needs to work on her alien voices a bit.
This was a return to the classic 'I have no idea whats going on, but I love it'. It wasn't until the last 20 minutes till it all made since for me, and it kept me guessing all the way threw.
The main thing I liked about this was it was easy to follow and it was very easy to see all the action in my mind (the special efects in my head were very good on this one). And also the bad creature at the end was great - althoe why do so many creatures feed on other life forms emotions and feelings.
in conclution I loved this audio book, and cant wait for the next Cathrine Tate read book. No hesatation in giving this 10/10.
| What: | The Mind of Evil (TV episode audio soundtracks) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Sunday 8 March 2009 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
I dont know why this story is more frequently put in the greats of the original series of Doctor Who. I cant believe The Daemons and The Curse Of Peladon are considered by many to be better than this, both of these stories are actually pretty dull and matt and lifeless. Whereas the Mind Of Evil truly is a riveting adventure from start to finish.
This story has it all. A very relevant and central theme of manipulating minds, which never ever works out. The Keller machine has to be a great threat, and its a neat new trick that the creature really destroys itself, as by taking all of the first prisoners evil thoughts he becomes a shield when later present.
Roger Delgado gives another excellent and creepy performance as the Master. And we can now see how good a companion Katy is as Jo. Real concern and caring add to her character so shes no longer the annoying dunderhead she was in Terror of the Autons.
They say some scenes are a bit repititious, but this really is not even a quarter bad as Colony In Space. Nowhere near. and anyway, the mind feeds only on mind waves so how the hell else is it gonna kill eh? The scenes of death are really quite gruesome in this story. And this boasts a really good and suspenseful episode ending to episode five.
The acting is very good. The characters are solid and all get quite a lot to do, Richard Franklin particularly. So this all comes together to make one of the best Doctor Who stories ive ever watched. The treatment of prisoners is a good premise for a story, and well done and produced. Even the sets look very effective in this story. Great classic stuff on disc to hear or see.
