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| What: | The Robots of Death (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Toby, England |
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| Date: | Saturday 22 October 2005 |
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| Rating: |   5 |
I have seen every episode of Doctor Who from this episode onwards and I do not think this was a good way to start off. The story was dull seeing that it was just a typical murder mystery only set with the person you thought was your freind turning out to be the murderer only set in the future. If you do not know that old story this would be good otherwise do not bother.
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 | A glimpse of true potential |
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Budget restraints meant thre classic TV series never portrayed the supposed threat of the Daleks very well... there were no intergalatic invasions and mass subjugations of entire species, as referred to by the Doctor.
Congratulations then to Nicholas Briggs for giving us a sense of the true menace of the Daleks. Setting the series over a period of years has allowed the characters to progress and change, while giving a better snapsot of the relentless war machine that the Dalek race is supposed to mobilise.
The storylines may a tad obvious, but the originality is left for the end of the last disc... an alternative universe of "good" Daleks at least gives the mythology something different.
Big Finish proves the Doctor Who universe is very large and can cope without the Doctor.
| What: | The Monsters Inside (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Siskoid, Moncton, NB |
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| Date: | Sunday 16 October 2005 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
The Monsters Inside has some great banter from Rose and the Doctor, and remains witty when we're inside their heads. Much closer to the TV series' pace than The Clockwise Man. So it's all great fun, with villains that really do pose a challenge for the heroes, and it flies by extremely fast.
If there's a flaw here, it's that the technobabble/pseudoscience is a bit off the charts. While this is common in Doctor Who, it does tend to make the later chapters a little too talky, and really, anything can be made to happen since the science makes little sense.
Still, some excellent scenes, great dialogue, and Rose comes up... well, roses. Great parts for both of them so that their being split up doesn't sink the book when we go back and forth.
Overall: Fun read that smacks of the TV series, though don't pick it up expecting hard SF
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| This book is very helpful |
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This book is very helpful for all those fast lines and Inside information of what different, hard to read actions were all about.
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| Of the City of the Damned |
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One of the more intriguing concepts that came out of Doctor Who's confinement to novels was Faction Paradox, a time travelling cult that sought to unravel and rewrite history. In the novels it was the Faction, not the Daleks, that led to Gallifrey's destruction. Since then, the Faction has spawned a small but flourishing genre of its own, the latest example of which being Warring States by Mags Halliday.
It's interesting to see how Halliday has reshaped the Faction';s mythology. One facet of this is that the Faction as originally envisaged by Lawrence Miles, was a rather English conceit, its iconography being that of Big Ben, Trafalgar Square and the Hell Fire caves (its base was built inside eleven day's taken from London's history when the Gregorian calendar replaced the Julian calendar. Having previously set Doctor Who novels in Barcelona at the time of the Spanish civil war, Halliday chooses Peking at the time of the Boxer Rebellion over eighteenth century England (it's always somewhat surprising to me how few authors have chosen China as a setting for Doctor Who stories). For much of this, the narrative tries to draw out the fantastic from the mundane; the structure of the city is defined by ritual, with telegraph lines and railways seen as disrupting the chi of the city. Where the Boxer cultists simply imagined themselves invulnerable to bullets and foreign weapons here this proves to be the case. Ritual acquires a significance lost to the Western inhabitants of the city, with the idea of prayers to ward off or invoke the spirits mapping previsely onto the existing Faction rituals and mythology.
While much of the narrative contains rather familiar ideas (archaeologists opening a tomb within a pyramid, a murder taking place within a locked room) much of it is also based around the slightly less familiar (to me, at any rate) Chinese wuxia narrative, a form of martials arts romance (typically where the hero was an outcast and criminal, just as the Faction are).
I may be generous with Exile, but I think it's really a thing of parts. Some parts excellent, some dreadful. It's easy to remember the dreadful parts, but I prefer to linger on the good.
So to get the bad out of the way: There are two kinds of comedy on show, and the one involving the female Doctor is unfortunately predicated on getting drunk. And if I go by Dalek Empire as well, Nick Briggs' idea of being drunk involves entirely too much belching and vomiting (fairly graphic too). Having the Doctor in a menial life with a couple of drunkard friends wears thin VERY quickly, and it's really too bad.
Why? Because Weir would be a passable Doctor if we go by the end of the play. I would have liked to see a little more of that and less of the bingeing. Especially frustrating since we have a woman in the role, and she is unfortunately made weak through most of the audio.
The Timelord double-act, on the other hand, draws from more Pythonesque humor and works much better. I wish Exile was like that all the way through! Certainly, it gives me confidence that Davis Tennant (one of the two Timelords) will make a witty Doctor worthy of Eccleston's first year.
Overall: Skip to the funny bits and the end when Weir really gets to be the Doctor.
Deadline asks "What if Doctor Who had never been made?" and spends more time with the washed up writer who missed with it than with his Doctor, whom he's still writing in his head as he goes progressively mad.
The play's well written, and the flights into fantasy play fast and loose with reality, as the Who mythos is added on little by little, remaining flexible. But it all really hinges on Derek Jacobi's performance.
And what a performance. Now, I've loved everything I've seen this actor do in the past, and he has a great voice. He really makes you go through all the emotions as his character isn't necessarily likeable, and is often pathetic. It's as touching as it is impressive a piece of acting.
For Doctor Who historians, there are plenty of references to the people who made it happen back in the 60s, and some lampooning of the true fanatics, with a policewoman series taking the place of Doctor Who in the hearts of fans. This is where it may get broader, but it still works. Finally, there's a greater message about what Doctor Who has brought to society as a whole.
Overall: The best audio play Big Finish has produced to date, even if the Doctor isn't really in it. It takes a big chance, but succeeds beautifully. (And wraps up the line started in Auld Mortality better than Exile.)
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| An interesting experiment |
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This Unbound plays with the Doctor's personality ("What if he was a right bastard?") and probably feels like the least Whovian of all the Unbound stories. It is the lesser for it, though I do appreciate the experiment.
Part of the problem is that the story, though well told through two timeframes, is rather unartful. There's nothing really new about it, it doesn't really refer to anything else in Who, it's just... average. Furthermore, you get some of the most repetitive musical cues ever in Big Finish. Unartful remains the best word to describe the whole package.
David Collings does a good job with the role, don't get me wrong, and I sometimes think it's worth a listen for the eye-popping last scene, but the buck stops there.
Overall: It's not Doctor Who, and though that's the point, the story around the idea doesn't quite elevate it enough.
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| Great story no matter what universe |
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Though David Warner's Doctor is perhaps not all that distinctive, he quickly makes the role his own, and you accept him totally in it. What really works well here is the story, which might have worked with any Doctor, unbound or not.
The Hong Kong setting is well used and unsettling. The retake on The Mind of Evil doesn't really cover the same ground and, again, is well used. The villain has some reasonmable scenes and is defeated smartly. It's all quite engaging and well constructed.
Nicholas Courtney as an older Brigadier who never had the Doctor's help with UNIT makes one of his best appearances on audio, and there's a fun double-act between him and the new UNIT leader (who's a hoot!) played by David Tennant. It's through these guys that we get references to the ol' UNIT stories and how they were changed by the Doctor's absence, and these are natural enough that they stimulate the imagination without stopping the story.
Overall: Though not as "unbound" as some of the other stories in this series, it's a great little thriller that is begging for a sequel (and now it seems it will get one).
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| Rich and complex, beautiful |
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Marc Platt gave us the incredibly dense Ghost Light, and Aulf Mortality is totally in that vein, taking a lot from the mythology he created in his novel Lungbarrow, but still not losing the listener.
It's "What if the Doctor had never left Gallifrey?" and it's a beautiful, if sad, tale, dense and rich with Doctor Who history, symbolism, and excellent performances from all involved. This is the best version of Susan I've ever met, for example.
There are lots of winks to Doctor Who lore here, from twisted ankles to Daleks, and the spin given to reality at the end is a moment of exaltation that manages to launch the Unbound series in a fun way.
Overall: Excellent. The kind of audio that immediately merits another listen to get all the texture.
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| Great script because a great episode |
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What else can you ask from a script book? This is one of the best Doctor Who stories ever, and Holmes' script crackles with the same wit and energy as the aired story.
| What: | The Discontinuity Guide (Miscellaneous factual books) |
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| By: | Siskoid, Moncton, NB |
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| Date: | Friday 14 October 2005 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
Mine is constantly nearby since it contains a lot of useful or fun information on each episode of the classic series. Briefer than such guides as About Time, but where else can you get all the stories in one small package? Aside from the info, the essays trying to tie up continuity are good and useful, it collects a lot of great lines, doesn't mind laughing at the material, and has some fair criticism of each story.
Other books go more in-depth, but no other book is as accessible and casually perused.
Like the Discontinuity Guide with a lot more discussion, this guide to the 3rd Doc is all the better for its many essays on various aspects of the show, answering niggling continuity questions and placing the series in its context. A critical analysis in addition to the usual geeky information.
The authors have a tendency to trash certain people (from Who and not), but it's not overblown in this particular book. Just take such things with a grain of salt, since this is shaping up to be a definitive guide to Who.
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| Daleks, what did you expect? |
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Goes through the creation of Doctor Who's most famous enemies, with stops at every story they appeared in in the classic series, up to publication, including stage plays, the Dalek movies, strips, etc. with many black and white photographs.
Nothing incredible, and I certainly wouldn't go out of my way to get this, but it's a fair primer to the Daleks, if quite out of date.
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| Satisfying, but could it be more? |
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| What: | The Clockwise Man (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Siskoid, Moncton, NB |
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| Date: | Friday 14 October 2005 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
The Clockwise Man was enjoyable as I read it, but fell apart in my mental analysis once it was all over. Filling, but not nutritious, I suppose.
Among its strengths, I count an appropriately melancholy Doctor, great mood throughout, frequent enough twists and turns, and the reappearance of both bad wolf and Big Ben (placing this in Year 1, it makes the clock tower a better nexus point).
The book produces some nice moments and images, mostly centered around the Painted Lady. Oh, and I LOVE the way the cats are portrayed, a sure sigh that the author knows cats well (just something that resonates with me).
The clockwork stuff, well, sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. I've been exposed to better steam-punk, and I wish Justin either made it more realistic, or gone way over the top (like an entire steamtech planet).
Among its weaknesses, there's the hard to follow political plot (in the sense that it's hard to know who's who at first) and, having started on The Monsters Inside where the Doctor and Rose are incredibly witty, a poor representation of their banter. It's cheeky, but not fast-paced or funny enough. That, and the final action scene isn't as well written as the rest, with a total change of attitude for the villain of the piece.
Overall: A quality novel, but suffers from being out first, with the protrayal of the main characters too demure. But well drawn setting and mood.
| What: | The Taking of Planet 5 (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Siskoid, Moncton, NB |
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| Date: | Friday 14 October 2005 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
This is a very weird book, but I loved every page of it. The tie-in to Lovecraft is excellent and in keeping with Whovian tradition, but goes to more extremes. The future Timelords and Old One's eye view are really interesting. The unravelling of the TARDIS and subsequent ending are beautifully rendered.
There may be a little too much continuity going on with other EDAs, specifically relating to Alien Bodies and the tv series (Image of the Fendahl), but it didn't cause me any problems.
It's not the first time, but the ideas and imagery really elevates a story that doesn't have that central a participation by the Doctor and his companions. Still, I was totally charmed and devoured it.
| What: | Zeta Major (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Siskoid, Moncton, NB |
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| Date: | Friday 14 October 2005 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
I really liked Zeta Major, but usually when it wasn't a Doctor Who story. Everything in the Morestran Empire was great, from the political stuff to the various document inserts to the violence and retro-science. Very cool, and a number of memorable characters (though a lot of generic clergy).
The Doctor, however, doesn't do much. He caused it, isn't that enough? ;-) Well, at least Tegan and Nyssa get to be a lot more active, the story spanning a much longer time span than most adventures. Oh, and I did enjoy the cameo by the actual television series.
As the story comes to a head, it loses focus. By this time, the supporting characters are dying like flies, and then the supposedly grandiose ending is half reset button, half comic book. Not quite up to par with the rest of the novel, but adequate.
Overall: The Morestran society is well drawn and the thriller aspects gripping. As Who fiction, maybe it fails. As straight fiction, it reads much better.
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| Represents its era too well |
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| What: | Last of the Gaderene (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Siskoid, Moncton, NB |
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| Date: | Friday 14 October 2005 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Yes, last of the Gaderene could slip right into the UNIT era of the series, but it so closely follows that formula that it can hardly be called original. The Gaderene couldn't be realized on the tv budget of the time, but they're still clichés. As is everything that happens.
And yet, it's all done very well, with a lot of loving care put into the guest cast and making the village charming and its people endearing. I found myself caring for them and everything.
Overall: Like watching a 3rd Doctor episode, but maybe the novels should try a little harder?
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| High weirdness works well in Who |
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Though the novel is oddly Doctorless, it still works as an Ace story, and as an exploration of Ancient Gallifrey and how Rassilon came to power. Marc Platt has an immensely strange and wonderful imagination, creating images even when his concepts aren't entirely explained.
I find that high weirdness works very well in Doctor Who, even if the tv series couldn't really do it because of budget constraints. And Platt definitely does this. The main idea of an inside out TARDIS and time seen as a space is interesting, and the paradoxes are well worked out.
But it's not perfect by any means. I don't mind the absence of the Doctor, so that's not the problem. The prose can be confusing at times, especially as reality is falling apart in the beginning, and you never really get to know what the Process was/is. Strange, fine, but let's have the strange elements backed up. Still, if I'm reading about Gallifrey, Marc Platt's my man.
Overall: The good definitely outweighs the bad, and Ace has a good role.
| What: | Divided Loyalties (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Siskoid, Moncton, NB |
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| Date: | Friday 14 October 2005 |
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| Rating: | 3 |
Divided Loyalties (bad title) has one thing going for it, and that's the flashback sequences to the Doctor's academy days. These act as a reasonable prequel to The Celestial Toymaker, though they are sludged up by heavy continuity. It took me a while to match the students with the various rogues they became, and it's more than a little fortuitous that they were all in the same class.
But apart from that, the best I can say about the book is that it breezes by quite fast. It's unintentionally funny at times, but that depends on how funny you think Adric's body odor problems are. Lots of Adric bashing, and much of it juvenile.
I'm not a big fan of the original Toymaker episode because I just don't like stories told in set pieces (not a big fan of the 5 Docs either, for example). The novel is also built this way, with the companions getting theirs, but also a bunch of "original" characters getting trapped by the Toymaker. These chapters are quite boring, and worse, these people don't really have an impact on the story later on!
Overall: Some good ideas here and there, but buried in a miasma of winks to continuity and humor at the expense of the characters.
