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"Placebo Effect" is not by any means a great Doctor Who book, but it is far from being a bad one.The Eighth Doctor, who didn't get his fare run on television, is well represented here and the return of the Wirrn is a welcome one. Lets hope that they are a race that will return to our screens in the next series.
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 | It's Better On the Inside |
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Sorry about the pun. It's one that Tim Quinn and Dicky Howett would have been proud.
It gets ten out of ten for being an indispensible part of my youth. It fell to pieces in the end, but my 12 year old self read it repeatedly and found it hilarious.
| What: | Winner Takes All (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | will, devon |
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| Date: | Thursday 16 June 2005 |
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| Rating: |   9 |
great
One of the best BBC Doctor Who stories I have read so far. Set in England during WW II the combination of history and science fiction complete with American private eyes and Irish police inspectors. This mixture of a 1940's mystery and the futuristic cybermen create a great backdrop for a story for the Doctor and Ace.
In common with Jim Mortimore's other Doctor Who novels, Eternity Weeps is shot through with a general sense of loss and of an emotional intensity that packs a considerable punch. The book splits roughly into two sections, the first in Turkey 2003 and the second...elsewhere. The Turkey sections are probably the most potent; the characters are vividly drawn and the dialogue really lifts off the page. There is a slight falling off in quality once the action shifts to Location No.2, with some laboured plotting and a denoument that is far too busy for it's own good. But don't let that put you off. Eternity Weeps is well worth picking up.
Occasionally ingenious but bland, this book is a shopping list novel. This is in essence a non-parodic, Five Doctors companion-fest with a diversity of whispers from the TV series such as an appearance from the Great Intelligence (perhaps in the form of a BOSS-like computer?).
The main action plot is substantially a retread of Frontios, its Tractators and - in its ultimate explanation of vanished humans - a piece of Bidmead-like illogic worthy of the Logopolis proposition to flush the Master out of the TARDIS as though the ship were a sewage pipe and the Master a stubborn turd.
The villain of the piece, Marnal, is yet another Earth-bound, peevish, hypocritical Time Lord. He stands as the latest in a less than illustrious line of banal, bureaucratic-minded, Gallifreyan aristo-wannabees. His redeeming feature is that whatever his shortcomings, he at least isn't as stupid as the clownish protagonist Vansell from some of Big Finish's more idiotic efforts.
The relationship that breaks out between Trix and Fitz like unsuspected meningitis and with similar threat to the health of the reader's brain is also in a noble tradition; that exemplified by Leela and Andred in The Invasion of Time. Absurd, abrupt, unconvincing declarations of affection spew out but of their mouths but without the attractive colouring of vomit.
A rollicking, breathless adventure story might have been the ideal tribute rather than the bastard offspring of Devil Goblins of Neptune and Frontios set - substantially - in a bedroom and a garage. The bedroom and garage of a Time Lord, admittedly, but even so ...
There's no sense of adventure really when 8D is reduced (sic) so explicitly to a consumerist's superhero; a hero who - if he crumples - will be replaced by The BBC Books' Fan Author Superhero Co Ltd with "a brand spanking, brighter, shinier, new, improved, better-than-ever version ...
... and still only £6.99!"
This Doctor is diminished to the state and status of the negligible by his intended elevation to invincibility.
How many more stories does the 8th Doctor have where he loses his memory. We learn he has the Matrix in his head which contains all the Time Lords thoughts, but he had to lose his memories to fit it in...hmmm. So how does he keep all the thoughts of the other time lords in there, but his own. Very weak plot, nothing relevant to the New TV series. Very disapointing, and confusing.
| What: | Winner Takes All (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Corey davies , london |
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| Date: | Monday 6 June 2005 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
it is one of the best books i've ever read
There are lots of plots of implausability. Alot of loose threads that are explained within a matter of pages, when it to 59 or more to get there. Very hot off the press, with lots of Now politics and occurances.
Ill have to read it again to go over the bits in the book that left me confused. Only took me 3 hours solid to read mind you.
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| Don't be put off by the giant porcupines |
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| What: | Winner Takes All (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Liz, Newport |
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| Date: | Sunday 5 June 2005 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
The characterisations are very authentic and the story has some great plot twists. It's weird and surreal with villains who are comic at best, but holds together pretty well. The scene in which the Doctor agonises over altering Rose is unmissable.
| What: | Series 1 Volume 1: (BBC new series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Peter Pavey, U.K |
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| Date: | Thursday 2 June 2005 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
This is what doctor who is about pure action without any scaleable trimings. And for a fair price as well.
A fine book. Well written. But I never really felt emersed in the story. Character development was very good with a well thought out story. But agian with a lot of Doctor Who Stories it seemed 95% of the book was build up and everything got solved in only a couple of pages at the end. I enjoy more of a drawn out ending. Where things are revealed and answered more slowly. Something that gives you more to guess at and try to figure out yourself. But all in all a strong story.
Started well, but after time, the Doctor's lack of action and Mel's treatment was just not real.
Mel's mental and physical torture reached a point that the story just drifted off into a feeble squibb.
The final straw was a pill to cure all the suffering, which pushed the whole thing over a cliff.
Like many recent Big Finish productions, could have been good but just lost itself.
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| Left me a little Cold blooded |
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Three's a crowd, lacked something. A good spin on the modern world and our dependance upon technology making us solitary creatures. However this idea was milked to the point of madness. The pathetic cry's of a young girl facing people for the first time was very good to start with, however 60 minutes later it started to get on my nerves.
Overall not great but not terrible, just could have been better.
| What: | Series 1 Volume 1: (BBC new series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Stephen Carlin, Huddersfield, England |
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| Date: | Sunday 29 May 2005 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
I must admit that I was in two minds about the new series. For a start, I don't rate Russell T Davies, Mark Gatiss or Paul Cornell highly. Secondly, British TV has gone down hill over the past decade.
My worst fears seemed confirmed when I finally Rose, the first episode of the new series. Appalling dialgoue, an appalling story, appalling story telling, appalling humour and appalling direction (later episodes go to show how poor a director Joe Ahearne is) - my heart sank when I watched the first episode. The trailers had me convinced the series was back with a vengeance, Rose convinced me that the series was doomed. Yet, I knew I had to keep on watching, just in case...
Thank God, The End of the World was far superior. The humour, pathos, dialaogue, direction - all head and shoulders above the previous episode. There was a glimmer of a snse of wonder, something lacking from a great many current SF shows.
The Unquiet Dead was quiet good, better than most of Gatiss's novels. I even chuckled when Dickens remarks "What the Shakespeare!" - a wonderful throwaway line. The only downside is the most over-used idea in the world of Doctor Who fiction from the 90s onwards - possessed dead people wandering around.
Overall, a poor start followed by two good episodes. Enough to convince me to keep on watching. Christopher Eccleston is a wonderful addition to the league of splendid chaps. Billie Piper, to be honest, is unremarkable - not bad, but not outstanding either.
| What: | The Ancestor Cell (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Stephen Carlin, Huddersfield, UK |
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| Date: | Thursday 26 May 2005 |
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| Rating: | 2 |
One long running story arc ends, another begins. Could have been a wow, instead, the whole Faction Paradox story arc has been an utter waste of space. The end of Gallifrey and the Time Lords is little more than a fizzle. The return of the TARDIS merely produces a yawn and shows just how unadventurous the so-called "high concept" ideas are.
I just cannot work up any enthusiasm for this book at all - apart from the initial realisation of Gallifrey. Its sad that a lot of the 8th Doctor books have been intensely dull and this is a prime example of non-thought provoking dross.
| What: | EarthWorld (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Stephen Carlin, Huddersfield, UK |
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| Date: | Thursday 26 May 2005 |
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| Rating: | 1 |
After the dreadful Pirates CD adventure I wondered how much was due to the notion or to the author. Having endured this book I can see that the fault lies squarely with Jacqueline Rayner.
This book is appalling - there is little story to speak of, the situations are poorly thought of, the characters are uninteresting and badly realised, all too often some characters simply disappear...then again, who cares.
Its badly written, plain and simple. There is nothing worth mentioning about this book. There is a kernel of a good idea but it is discarded quickly and replaced with dreary meandering. The final third of the book is an utter mess and an utter drudge. AVOID!
| What: | The Monsters Inside (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Joe Ford, Eastbourne |
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| Date: | Tuesday 24 May 2005 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
Much darker than I would imagine with far more adult references than I thought would be allowed, this was still a superb read from Steve Cole. The prose is much denser than it was in Winner Takes All and the plot mechanics, characters and dialogue were good enough to keep me going. Its a great use of an underated of some underated monsters and the feeling of paranoia they exude helps the book no end.
| What: | Jubilee (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Steve Bundy, Bangor |
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| Date: | Friday 20 May 2005 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
I watched dalek before listening to this, and can say its just as fab after watching its cut down copy!
The characterisation of the dalek is spot-on! Much more so than in the later show, but they have more time in the play to discuss the nature of fascism etc.
Also, since this was the first Sixth Doctor / evelyn play i have listened to (not including the slightly dodgey but free -yey- real time and the madness of zagreus)- and have to say they make a great coupling. Might have to break the trend of buying eighth doctor cds and try a few of the other sixth doctor ones after this...
Recommended 8/10
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| Saved by Collin and Maggie.... |
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When rating this story, it is important to take into consideration that you can listen to it free on the bbci website - a fact that gets it an instant extra two points from me as a poor student!
The half cybermen and the suprise about the controllers past are really really good, but alas there is something wrong when the emotionless, dispassionate cybermen manage to out act the human cast. Both the doctor and evelyn are amazing as ever, but the rest of the acting is a little dire (with specific mention of the guy who was also in the tvm...forget his name now...)- not something ive ever had to say about a big finish play before!
So yeh, a mixed bag, but as a freebie with the animations on bbci it makes for a fairly ok listen.
