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| What: | The Fearmonger (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | the Traveller, the Mick Thompson Show studio |
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| Date: | Saturday 11 February 2006 |
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| Rating: |   9 |
The Fearmonger is one of the best Big Finish productions. Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred give assured performances, the supporting cast are strong, and there are some great cliffhangers. Fantastic.
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 | Ghost story with a twist... |
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BASIC PLOT: Nyssa and the Doctor investigate the actions of a supposed poltergeist at a school in the Swiss Alps.
Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton and the supporting cast all give great performances, and the story is a strong one. Very good.
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| Tom Baker takes on a cactus... |
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| What: | Meglos (BBC classic series videos) |
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| By: | the Traveller, Zolfa-Thura |
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| Date: | Saturday 11 February 2006 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
THE BASIC PLOT: A power-crazy talking cactus named Meglos persuades a gang of Gaztacs to assist him in stealing a powerful artefact from the nearby planet of Tigella, the Dodecahedron.
Is this supposed to be a comedy?
Bar Tom Baker and Lalla Ward's performances, this story is weak. The Gaztacs are irritating, the effects are poor, K-9 is again side-lined from the action and is even kicked at one point... and the villain is a cactus.
Oh, and why do all the Tigellans have the same hair style???
THE BASIC PLOT: The Rani kidnaps the newly regenerated Doctor to help her in her latest crackpot scheme.
Onece you can get over the ludicrously daft plot, if you can call it that, (I mean, the Rani dressing up as Mel and wearing a ginger wig to fool the Doctor) this story is actually quite enjoyable. Sylvester McCoy gives a promising first performance, and the effects and title sequence look fantastic. However, Bonnie Langford is terrible, the Lakertyans can't act, and Kate O' Mara hams it up ridiculously as the Rani.
Cannot be beaten.
| What: | Dalek Survival Guide (Miscellaneous humour / parody) |
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| By: | Soul-Hunter, The TARDIS |
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| Date: | Wednesday 8 February 2006 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
GO THIS BOOK WE ALL KNOW THE LOOMING THREAT THAT APPROACHES US ALL...MAINLY THE COINCIDENCE OF THE DALEKS ARRIVAL AND CHRISTMAS!!!!!!
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| The Start of a Great Series |
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| What: | Timewyrm: Genesys (New Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Lord Animus, England |
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| Date: | Wednesday 8 February 2006 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
Great Well worth a read!
Slightly over the top with a plot that is thin at best. Generally nothing really happens apart from the usual, beating the enemy with whatever is in reach, a lot of luck and a fall guy close at hand. Should have been a lot better.
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| Worst Doctor Who Novel Ever Published. |
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This is the novel that ruined Doctor Who. It was the most horrid, depressing thing I had ever seen when it was first published in '92. I cannot describe what this did to my young, happy mind. Truly weird and truly unpleasant.
This novel established my firm hatred of Paul Cornell's work. Apparently it was his first novel, and it was partly responsible for my leaving Doctor Who fandom for a time. I came back, thankfully, when it became clear that later writers like Gareth Roberts were beginning to cheer things up again. But it was a long, hard wait.
Revelation is a story obsessed with loss, sadness and death. The first quarter of the book is interesting enough, with the Doctor and Ace arriving in the small English town, and a "what's going on" mystery is established. Then Ace runs through some bushes and finds herself on the moon' surface, and things just sort of fall apart from there, becoming really, really strange, confusing and meaningless, twisted and sad.
All semblence of plot and intrigue simply disappear, to be replaced with oodles and oodles of the Doctor doing strange, mystic stuff that seems to mean nothing. A Church is snatched off Earth and carried to the moon by an alien power, Ace is drawn into what appears to be Hell, and the Doctor becomes a shadowy, haunted figure of hidden, nostalgic torments. Cornell lovingly evokes all sorts of dark adult resentments about childhood, and then explores them in all their disturbing, Freudian glory.
Bullies and bullets. Machine guns and roses. Punky, irritating, tragic and bleak.
For no apparent reason, Ace finds herself back in her hometown of Perivale, going to bars, trying to pick up guys, lounging around with her backward street-girl friends. I do not have the words to describe how much I loathe seeing things like this in Doctor Who.
The Doctor Who series I grew up with took me to fantastic, wonderous places of scientific mystery and adventure. No swearing. No irritating street-talk. No sex (thankfully.) This stupid book changed all that, and I will never forgive Paul Cornell for opening the door to this disgusting trash writing in my favorite series.
I was thirteen when I first read this book, and the punky weirdness of it all depressed me so much that I quit reading around page 80. It was two whole years before I finally plucked up the nerve to finish the dratted thing. Ugh. What a long, useless haul.
Unfortunately, this so-called novel set the tone for much of what was to come for quite some time. In search of light and hope in my fiction, I actually became *gasp* a Star Trek fan for several years. I am so ashamed. All because of this moronic novel. When it became clear that Star Trek was a lost cause, I began to look at Doctor Who again, and recieved a pleasant surprise. Around 1997, cheerful, brilliant Doctor Who stories were beginning to reappear. No more Paul Cornell! Hurray!
Revelation is beyond failure. It is vile and viperish. I hate it with every particle in my being. I lack the imagination to visualize what state of mind is necessary to write this piece of gutter trash. Avoid, avoid, and once again, avoid!
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| Best read I've had in years! |
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| What: | Only Human (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Mike McGovern, Edmonton, Alberta |
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| Date: | Sunday 5 February 2006 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
A wonderful page turner! They should all be like this!
Gareth Roberts gets better and better with every book. A splendid round of adventure with the Docter and his friends. It's like reading the old Target series with style.
Roberts has established himself as the new Terrence Dicks of the Doctor Who range. His prose has improved to the point where it is difficult to improve anymore. The Neanderthal situation is handled with dignity and tact, and Das's coping with the modern concept of lying (and the modern world) is charming in an old-fashioned way that has been missing from science fiction for many a year. I love watching primitive people portrayed with intelligence, with believable limitations and personality, and I love watching them cope with the modern environment.
Gareth's enthusiasm for the new Ninth-Doctor series is evident from the get-go. The characters sparkle with life and wit, especially the Doctor himself. After reading this book, I was left charged with energy, feeling that I could do anything.
Wonderous, stunning, and joyful all round. Shows real promise!
| What: | Timewyrm: Apocalypse (New Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Daniel, London |
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| Date: | Wednesday 1 February 2006 |
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| Rating: | 4 |
After the first two books, this is something of a disappointment - whereas we have had two historicals, this is more in the pure science-fiction vein. If you are following the Timewyrm series, though, it is of course required reading.
| What: | Timewyrm: Exodus (New Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Daniel, London |
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| Date: | Wednesday 1 February 2006 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
This is the best book in the whole range! Doctor Who meets "Fatherland"! We first get a taste of what would have happened if we lost the war, then we are taken back in time where The Doctor must actually save Hitler! Also a surprise appearance by an old enemy from the Troughton days.
| What: | Timewyrm: Genesys (New Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Daniel, London |
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| Date: | Wednesday 1 February 2006 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
This being the first of the New Adventures reads almost like a slightly more sophisticated version of the Target novelisations. It is not until several books later that the range really hits its stride. Saying that, this is a cracking good tale with some nice Doctor/Ace moments, a chilling new villainess (who features also in the subsequent three novels) and an interesting take on the
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| Dry, Underdeveloped Drivel. |
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This book is very well-loved by Doctor Who fans, although I can't imagine why. When Paul Cornell isn't being weird, depressing, or confusing (his specialties,) he is dreadfully dull and unoriginal.
This novel suffers from a terrible lack of charm, character developement, and is slow, plodding and confusing. Fans say this is a "traditional" novel for Cornell, but this is nothing *like* the traditional stories of the Target range. At least those were exciting and fun, and we knew who was who.
Human Nature is flat, confusing, filled with cardboard characters and too many seperate, badly-defined plotlines. Multiple plotlines can be interesting, but only if handled with the cleverness and depth of say, Who author Terrence Dicks. *His* books are what make the series great. And though Cornell seems to be trying to write like Terrence, he just can't pull it off. Some authors have the ability to make even dull scenes sparkle, and Cornell can't (or won't) do that.
Toward the start of the book are quite a few dull parts with assassins (badly written,) who are flatter in substance than a piece of paper. We never really get to know them, nor do we really care.
When we at last get to Earth, and *finally*
see what the Doctor has become, we are treated to long, tedious pages of people existing in a really boring English countrside, where nothing ever happens and, for most of the book, nothing really does.
Eventually the assassins show up, making for one of the most extended, tedious HUNT THE DOCTOR sections I've ever seen. And the final pursuit of the Doctor is so long and drawn out, with so many extra character points of view, that one wonders when the story will ever be over.
Cornell often makes up for his lack of substance with overly-witty dialog, designed, as one reviewer put it, to show just how terribly clever the author is. I am frankly unimpressed. Snappy comebacks and dark humor do not move me in the the least. I simply want a good story, well told.
Human Nature had the potential to be very intriguing and insightful, but given who the author is, I didn't expect much, and I was right. It not only clunks, it clanks.
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| History should be Interesting! |
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Where to begin? The writing is slow, lacks vibrancy, and I gave up caring by page 5. After skimming this thoroughly unremarkable book,I found I hated Sabbath, whoever that is, and discovered that I will never read another Mags L. Halliday book again. Truly mind-numbing. No real bits with the TARDIS either.
I can get a feeling for the worth of a story from the very first few pages, and one thing that I've discovered is that if a book is boring from the start, the author probably won't have the skill to change that in the rest of the work. With this book I was entirely right.
I write these reviews sincerely to help people. Please avoid this dreadful book!
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| Depressing and uninspired. |
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Paul Cornell's novels are always one big mess, and very depressing. The Shadows of Avalon can depress with the best (worst) of them.
The whole atmosphere of the novel is weird, sad, confusing, and unhappy - typical Paul Cornell muddle, in other words. Is this author even capable of writing anything cheerful?
The entire idea of the Brigadier grieving over the loss of his wife is unpleasant enough to start with, and Cornell simply heaps on the melancholy atmosphere as the story progresses.
The dear old Brigadier isn't even happy to see his old friend the Doctor when the latter finally shows up, spoiling one of the warm moments I look forward to in reunion novels; old friends reuniting, remembering the good times, going on one last Grand Adventure... Sadly, Paul Cornell doesn't seem to care much for nostalgia, except when it is used in unpleasant ways, such as in this book.
I never liked Cornell's Doctor very much. He seems just a little too distant, too unsympathetic and cold, so different from the wonderful, marvellous Doctor I grew up watching on televison. I get the impression that Cornell is trying to make a name for himself at the expense of Doctor Who, and he responds by abusing the format as much as possible.
But Cornell does something far more detestable then rewriting the Doctor in this book - he kills off the poor old TARDIS, possibly for good. What kind of faithful Doctor Who author does something like this? Repulsive beyond words.
I despise it when writers muck about with a brilliant format just to do something "different," which does not necessarily equate with "good."
Paul Cornell seems to be of those people who thinks that "living" characters, ie., people and aliens in a science-fiction series, are the only real stars of the show. But the Doctor Who universe is so filled with life, with vibrancy, that even the machines in it take on a life of their own.
The TARDIS is no mere machine. It is a well-loved character, with moods, temperments, and a personality that the audience cares about. It is an "old girl" to whom the Doctor feels tremendous loyalty.
There are people, probably like Cornell, who believe that one machine or spaceship is as good as another. What an unsymathetic way of looking at the world. A Doctor Who novel without the TARDIS is almost as bad as one without the Doctor.
This single selfish action confirmed for me Paul Cornell's true hatred of the Doctor Who format; that, and leaving the Doctor out of almost the entire novel.
From the beginning, Cornell seems to have had a vendetta against Doctor Who and everything in it. His every Doctor Who novel leaves nothing unchanged. Whereas other authors build up the Doctor Who mythos, Cornell's only pleasure seems to be in tearing down everything the series stands for. And now, the TARDIS... Is nothing sacred? Why do people like (or claim to like) his work so much? Who wants to read depressing garbage?
Cornell's writing is just as weird and graceless as ever, making this novel one long hard plow to read. One gets the impression that if it wasn't for the rest of Doctor Who, novels like this would fade and be forgotten, never achieving any sort of fame. Sooner the better, I say.
Oh yes, and the ending was lousy too.
I would like to write the perfect review for this book, but I cannot. It has already been written, just beneath this one. It's perfect. Every single word. Nothing left to say. Read it.
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| Typical Parkin. Terrible. |
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I got halfway through this book before I started skimming. It wasn't even worth the time.
The people doddle and jabber alot. The homicidal talking robot car should have relieved the boredom, but it did not. All the way through, Parkin's clunky prose style strained my patience. A straight blah book. Clever idea, the Doctor having a daughter, but terrible execution. As usual, for Parkin.
The only interesting story I have ever read by Parkin is a short story, from the collection "Short Trips, A Universe of Terrors." (The 1st Doctor and Susan escape Galifrey.) Thankfully it was shorter than this book.
Paul Cornell has always been an unpleasant writer. Happy Endings is a mess, a disaster, and very depressing indeed. There is always a lack of cheerfulness to Paul's prose, like he's trying to trudge uphill underwater,and it always drags me down whenever I have to view any of his work. For the sake of this review, though, I read his stupid book.
I've always hated Bernice. She bugs me. She is indecent, fippant, vapid, and drags around too much personal baggage. She's like a big, irritating, disrespectful teenage girl, and we all know what selfish little devils those can be. She doesn't have a sophisticated bone in her body. Every one of the Doctor's companions has had some kind of personal dignity, even Ace, but not "Benny." Oh yes, and she's a smart-aleck to the Doctor, too. And not in a good or charming way.
Her personal scenes with Jason are pathetic. It seems clear that the author knows nothing about the kindess of genuine love, and he can't even fake it for the sake of the story. Benny and Jason quibble and fight like two people who don't even like each other, and even when they are married, there is an insincere, impermanent feel to the entire proceeding. But maybe that's just because Benny is a very insincere person, and so, apparently, is the author.
The book, as a whole, suffers from Paul's graceless writing. I see him as the man who ruined Doctor Who with his weirdnes and his dark epics. Revelation comes to mind. I hope he retires. -Regards.
| What: | Just War (New Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Mike McGovern, Edmonton, Canada |
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| Date: | Thursday 26 January 2006 |
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| Rating: | 1 |
The excellent cover hides a dreadful dull book. I didn't know it was possible to make a Nazi occupation so boring. After the genius of Terrence Dick's Exodus, I'd expect far more out of Lance Parkin.
So far every one of Parkin's novels has disappointed. I couldn't even get halfway through Father Time. The man has a terrible, clunky prose style, with none of the grace of Terrence's. They may both be writing for Doctor Who, but they live in totally differnt worlds. The slow pace and the lack of action really wears a person down.
Parkin's ideas aren't so wonderful either. He doesn't have a single original or brilliant notion in the entire book. His concept of the Nazis having built the largest bomber ever sounds clever, but it isn't executed with any sense of wonder or intrigue in the story. Altogether, a waste of space and time.
I can recognize a bad writer when I see one. So can my grandfather. He loves war novels, but he couldn't read this one. I gave him Terrence Dick's novel Exodus to read, and amazingly, he devoured the entire thing in just one day. Grandpa doesn't like or understand science fiction, but Terrence's style is just plain brilliant. The man is a master storyteller. And although the subject of Just War was the same, ie., Nazis, grandpa couldn't read or understand this one. A shody piece of storytelling, repulsively told.
Pathetic. A total failure.
