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 | better,better...but not best |
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I love a good ghost story. Even better I love a story about a mysterious ship of unkown origins. I was hoping for something similar to Rondivous With Rama by Authur C. Clark or Ringworld by Larry Nivan. I was a little disapointed.
The story was very well writen. Sometimes being a bit over complicated. If you can use a simplier word to explain something why use a word that makes you have to stop and think. A very good story flows. This one kind of hick ups sometimes.
And while I can wrap my mind, with a little difficulty, around the way the author choose to end this book. It is not the way I would have chose to do it. personally I'm not much for stories that out of 280 pages lead up to a 2 page explaintion of events for an ending. It could have been much better developed. So little of the ship and its function was actually explored.
I do believe it deserves better then the 5.2 rating it has so far. I give it a 7 out of 10
| What: | Verdigris (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Claire Chaplin, Gillingham, Kent, Ebgland |
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| Date: | Wednesday 18 May 2005 |
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| Rating: |  10 |
It's a matter of taste with Paul Magrs novels, if you like the bizzare then this is definately the novel for you.
A friend lent it to me to read and we're still talking about it now!
An enjoyable read that is a change from the norm.
| What: | The Wormery (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Claire Chaplin, Gillingham, Kent |
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| Date: | Wednesday 18 May 2005 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
A typical Paul Magrs style script, which is a very easy listen. Iris is played brilliantly by Katy Manning, and this now has a firm place as one of my favourite BIGFinish audios.
There aren't many things that I want to listen to again a few days after originally listening to them - this is the exception.
Memorable lines that you can be quoting for months afterwards, although weird, this is a must for fans of the audios!
| What: | Kinda (Target novelisations) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Tuesday 17 May 2005 |
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| Rating: |  4 |
"Kinda" is one of the top Doctor Who stories in its TV version, an intriguing concoction of comparative religion and critique of English colonialism. In this respect, it is like Doctor Who does Roger Zelazny. Therefore, it would have been very interesting to have read a novelisation by the original scriptwriter, Christopher Bailey. Instead, Terrance Dicks does his usual bare bones writing here. I have said elsewhere that Dicks is a better scriptwriter than novelist, and this one proves that beyond doubt. Dicks provides simple descriptions in primer sentences, but principally just transcribes dialogue. One can hardly call this writing. Most frustrating is his verb choice. No part of speech can make writing come alive better than a well-chosen verb. Dicks, however, sticks to neutral and general-purpose verbs, such as "was" and "looked" and "found." Additionally, he adds little descriptive detail and few phrases or adjectives that would enhance one's mental picture of events. It all makes a lively story go flat.
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| Like Dicks' Novelisations |
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| What: | Enlightenment (Target novelisations) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Tuesday 17 May 2005 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
In its TV production, "Enlightenment" was like several other Davison-period serials, larger in conception than the BBC were capable of producing. At least in one respect it was very successful - namely in bringing the "Black Guardian" story arc to a close (we can all be thankful for that). This one is very much a Turlough-oriented story. Turlough was the first of the complex companions. Others may have provided some challenges for the Doctor, notably Leela and Romana, but Turlough was the first whose history and motivations allowed for writers to develop beyond one-dimensionality. This story is one of the better ones in this regard, bringing complexity to Turlough's character.
On the down side, Barbara Clegg, the original scriptwriter, has taken the Terrance Dicks approach to novelising the script. It is a brisk read through mostly dialogue, with only a few very basic descriptive and analytical passages. Clegg missed an opportunity here to fill in gaps left in the TV version. Thus, none of the descriptions has the grandeur or elegance or detail that can separate a novel from a TV production. It reads as if one is simply getting a description of what was on the TV screen.
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| Not as kiddie as you might think! |
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| What: | The Clockwise Man (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Joe Ford, Eastbourne |
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| Date: | Sunday 15 May 2005 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
This was much better than I dared to hope for, for I feared that with the reduced page count and the new kiddie audience to cater for we would be dealing with dumbed down novels. This is another great Justin Richards book with his trademark twists and ability to capture the early twentieth century so atmospherically but with a re-captured sense of zest and fun that has been lakcing in his past few books.
The Doctor and Rose are captured beautifully and the guests characters all have something to contribute.
The Big Ben staged climax is rather brilliant, especially when the Dooctor is smashed through the clock face. Fantastic!
I got my books this morning (13/5) which gobsmacked me as I thought they weren't out for another week....I got Winner Takes All and Clockwise Man but this is a quick review of Winner Takes All...
So far I am a few chapters in and what strikes me most is...
1: The personalities of the characters have been captured beautifully...when the Doctor is being sarcastic towards Roses mum you can imagine him being this way (not hard if you've been following the series).
2: The plot is actually good! It is taking the most awful elements of the human character (greed & innocence) and exploiting it in this storyline. Who would have thought a computer game would be so addictive? Raising questions the media has asked a thousand times already.
3: The new books design is fantastic....much more worthy of that place on the bookshelf!
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| Brilliant....But spoiled by my curiosity |
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I really enjoyed this story. One of Sylvester McCoy's best adventures.
I liked the fact that The Doctor and Ace had been working undercover for a while and not just happened to arrive juat as any trouble started!
The only thing that spoiled it for me was before I got it I looked on the internet to find out what the story was about and on one website they gave away the "surprise" ending...
I honestly wouldn't have guessed what or who were the "baddies" it if I hadn't read it online first.
It would have made the surprise of finding out that much better!
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| Dazed and Confused by The Dreamtime! |
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| What: | Dreamtime (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Billy Rees, UK |
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| Date: | Monday 9 May 2005 |
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| Rating: | 4 |
After listening to the brilliant "Harvest", I was really looking forward to the next release featuring Sylvester McCoy as The Doctor, Ace and new companion Hex.
Unfortunatly, this CD left me dazed and confused as to what was going on...
I have enjoyed most of the McCoy releases with "Fearmonger" and "Colditz" being good examples of how brilliant the TV series could have become had it been allowed to continue.
Childish attempt to write a bad fantasy rip-off of Lord of the Rings. This is as bad as Doctor Who writing can get...toxic.
| What: | The Tomb of the Cybermen (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | PJ Johnson, Hoddesdon, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 5 May 2005 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
Tomb of the Cybermen is a good story, and a typical example of the 2nd Doctor's era of clear 'good vs. evil' style story-telling. It isn't, however, the classic it is often made out to be.
The story does contain some excellent and highly-memorable moments, the best by far being the sight of the Cybermen emerging from the tombs. However, there are too many aspects of the story which don't make sense, lots of annoying slip-ups and a few cases of god-awful acting. For example, the Doctor is fully aware of the threat posed by the Cybermen, and yet it is he who grants the expedition access to the tomb and then to the catacombs beneath. Now I know the Doctor has a tendency to show off, but to the extent that it puts the lives of his companions and others at risk? I find that very difficult to believe. Also, why on earth would the Cybermen design the tomb so that the Cyber Controller's regeneration chamber is on the upper floor, so far from the catacombs, especially considering that it is vital to the Controller's survival? Why not just have it located right next to the catacombs?
These major plot holes aside, there are many other annoyances throughout the story. Why, for example, is the Doctor so shocked to hear that Cybermen are involved when there are two huge cybermen clearly carved into the wall right in front of him? In the regeneration room, how does Kaftan know which switch to operate to trap Vicki in the revitalising chamber? How does Vicki, a frightened young woman from the 19th century, not only know how to fire a gun but also manage to hit a tiny Cybermat on the other side of the room with her first shot? Other annoyances include the shot of Toberman throwing the painfully obvious empty Cyber Controller suit across the room, and the earlier shot in which a Cybermen lifts Toberman into the air and the wires lifting the actor can clearly be seen.
Add to all these flaws some utterly atrocious acting from some of the cast, particularly Shirley Cooklin (Kaftan) and George Roubicek (Captain Hopper), and I fail to see how this story is held in such high esteem by so many fans.
Let me stress, however, that I am by no means slating the story as a failure, I do believe that it is a good story, with some excellent dialogue, genuinely frightening and memorable moments, and strong themes running thrughout. I just feel, that with all the flaws mentioned above, that it cannot be the classic story that so many seem to think it is, and it is certainly not the best Cybermen story.
| What: | Festival of Death (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | PJ Johnson, Hoddesdon, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 5 May 2005 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
I, like many others, am of the opinion that the partnership of Tom Baker and Lalla Ward was largely wasted in the television series, especially in Season 17, which (with the exception of City of Death) was made up of several disappointing stories. With Festival of Death, Jonathan Morris single-handedly makes up for that waste, in an entertaining, gripping, funny and complex tale.
In the vast majority of television stories, the TARDIS was used simply as a means of getting the Doctor and his companions from one story to the next, and the idea of travelling through time during an adventure was rarely exploited.
Here, it is exploited to excellent effect, and provided the reader is paying attention, the multiple Doctors/Romanas running around the space station make for a very interesting story, with several moments of revelation throughout the proceedings as the events of each timeframe unfold. The final revelation, however, comes at the end of the book, with one final, tragic twist which made me want to turn back and re-read the entire book, just to reach that ending all over again.
Morris combines tragedy, comedy and suspense with expert precision, and for every tragic death or unbearably tense cliff-hanger, there is a moment of laugh-out-loud humour, usually provided by ERIC, the station's manically depressed computer, or Hoopy the drug-addled hippie lizard (it has to be read to be believed!). It has been suggested that ERIC is simply a rip-off of Marvin the paranoid android, but to me this seems obvious - of course it is, and there is very little wrong with that, considering that this story is meant to have taken place at the end of Season 17, for which Douglas Adams acted as script editor. In fact, the humour throughout the book is very reminiscent of both Doctor Who's seventeenth season and Adams' most famous creation, The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - which reinforces the notion in the reader's mind that the events of the book did take place between Shada and The Leisure Hive.
Festival of Death is utterly superb, and a must-read for every Who fan, especially those who enjoyed the Baker/Ward partnership on TV and in other books.
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| A Funny Thing Happened... |
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| What: | The Romans (Target novelisations) |
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| By: | Tim Neal, Leeds, UK |
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| Date: | Monday 2 May 2005 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
Donald Cotton restored originality and flair to the Target series with his three novelisations published in the mid-80s. And in this age of CD, DVD and MP3 photo-novels, his and David Whitaker's books alone stand worthy of repeat visits because of their twisted takes on what was shown on TV. Where Cotton scores over the boys-own-adventure style of Whitaker is the humour. They really are funny - and clever! What is fantastic is that Cotton enjoyed himself so much on his own adaptations that Nigel Robinson (series editor) was able to tempt him to do The Romans (written for TV by Dennis Spooner). Fandom in the 80s was not welcoming to these (to use a 21st century phrase) 're-imaginings' but when looking at the perfect balance of humour and character focus reached by Russell T in the new series, I do wonder if Cotton wasn't simply ahead of his time...
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| Good rendering of script into novel |
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Terrance Dicks' first effort in turning Doctor Who scripts into novels is probably his best. Whereas with most of the others, Dicks does very little other than to reproduce the dialogue and add a few hurried descriptions, in "The Abominable Snowmen" Dicks has attempted to write the story as a novel. That means that more care is given toward creating verbal pictures, and Dicks takes time to reveal characters' thought processes, not merely their actions. The story itself is still a "classic," in that great English tradition (I'm thinking John Wyndham, John Christopher, and L.P. Davies, for instance) of the gradually building terror that threatens a small community as a start toward a much larger and more terrifying danger. As with these other writers, it perhaps pays not to think too hard about the logic of a Haisman and Lincoln script. It is better to let the atmosphere have its effect. Dicks does a good job of rendering that atmosphere in novel form.
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| Judge the book, not the serial |
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| What: | Terminus (Target novelisations) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Sunday 1 May 2005 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
I don't know why this one is not rated more highly. My suspicion is that people are judging the TV version, not the novelization. The TV production was one of the weaker Davison stories, foiled principally by the inability of the production to match Steve Gallagher's script. The novel, by contrast, suffers from no such problems. John Lydecker is a pseudonym for Steve Gallagher, the scriptwriter. Gallagher, who had published several novels before writing for Doctor Who, puts his novelist's skills to good use. The book is not merely a reproduction of the script with a couple of short descriptions. Gallagher takes the time to enhance the descriptions, explain the motivations, and fill in missing details that help make the whole story more sensible. Gallagher has borrowed heavily from Norse legend and myth, but not in the heavy-handed fashion that "Underworld" relied on Greek legend. The result is a much richer and more satisfying experience than "Terminus" was on TV. There are still a couple of flaws. There is no particular need to heighten the sense of urgency by making the whole universe at stake; merely emphasizing the loss of several thousand Lazars and Vanirs would have done well enough. The segments involving Tegan and Turlough seem irrelevant, since the two get exactly nowhere for the whole story. Similarly, the appearance of Kari and Olvir seems mainly to cover the roles emptied by the wayward Tegan and Turlough, and most of the functions of these two characters could have been modified to fit Tegan and Turlough. For instance, Turlough's technological knowledge could have led him to stumble upon the fact that the ship contained victims of a deadly, contagious disease. It is well within Turlough's nature to have panicked at such knowledge in much the same way Olvir did. These complaints aside, I have to say that "Terminus" is one of the better-written Target novelizations.
Terrance Dicks is a marvel. Warmonger is one of the most brilliantly written things I have ever seen. Possibly his very best.
If children ever discovered Terrance Dicks in Canada, Harry Potter would be finished. Lord of the Rings would be laughable. Warmonger is an adventure that reads like a movie, and it takes one talented writer to create a work that does not require dull effort to read. Brilliant plotting, lovely suspense, epic battles, and some great character work that only Terrance could do.
The Doctor shines. As a general, he is magnificent, a brilliant stratagist and a powerful leader. Peri is excellent as a guerrilla warrior, as are the Sontarans, the Cybermen, the Ogrons, Morbius, Solon, and pretty much everyone else.
What a story. What a story indeed. Wow.
This was Doctor Who as it was meant to be read. Fabulous pacing, breathless action, excellent characters, lively short sentences. Very sophisticated storytelling.
Most authors know very little about pacing. Trevor Baxendale is a master of it. The book never suffers from slow or dull moments. There is no useless description, no sex (thank goodness), no swearing , and lots of the Doctor. I like the small scale of the adventure, limited only to one family, and the horror element is always welcome in Doctor Who.
Doctor Who, at its most basic, is good family entertainment. The Dreamstone Memorial includes a family as central to the plot, without bringing in the more "mature" overtones that other Doctor Who authors often use. I look to Doctor Who as a means of escaping from the world, similar to the abstraction of mathematics, rather than as a way of dragging the world along with me. Many of the other Doctor Who authors should take a page out of Baxendale's book (literally, perhaps), since I find sex and vulgarity to be derivative and foolish, detracting from the intellectual powerhorse that is Doctor Who.
All in all, a breathtaking book. Brilliant, original, creepy. Everything a Doctor Who book should be.
| What: | Marco Polo (TV episode audio soundtracks) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Tuesday 26 April 2005 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Judging by the ranking this story has, most people seem to think very highly of it. In general, I like John Lucarotti's stories, especially "The Aztecs." This one, however, lacks some of the depth of those other stories. The problems here are two: a cardboard villain, and repetitiveness. "Marco Polo" probably would have been very good at 4 episodes. At 7 episodes, we get just too much of the Doctor demanding his TARDIS and Marco denying it, too much of the TARDIS crew getting in his graces, only to lose them again. It happens just too often. The real problem for me, though, is Derren Nesbitt as Tegana. The war lord is so obviously a villain, and so heavily played, that one can only suppose that Marco Polo is just plain stupid for not being able to see it. Even keeping in mind that the producers thought of "Doctor Who" as a children's program in the 1960s, and thus subtle villains were probably not encouraged, still one could do more with a villain than is done here. I refer back to the aforementioned "The Aztecs," where the obvious villain Tlotoxl has a strong motivation for his dislike of the time travellers, that they threaten both his power and his way of life. The contest of wills between Barbara and Tlotoxl is fascinating. Here, on the other hand, we just get a cheap melodrama baddy.
This is not to say that "Marco Polo" does not have its rewards. Lucarotti is often best as a writer in dealing with character pairs. Thus, the relationship between Susan and Ping-Cho works very well, as does the humorous interplay between the Doctor and Kublai Khan. We get the first real evidence of Ian's resourcefulness and intelligence in this story, as well. The basic story is interesting in its episodic fashion, and, as I said, would have been very effective if shortened. Lucarotti also does a good job of avoiding some of the nastier and stupider cliches involving Chinese culture.
| What: | The Next Life (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Tuesday 26 April 2005 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
I liked this adventure a bit more than the other reviewers, but overall it still has many problems. Gary Russell seems to love those story arcs far too much. Perhaps he believes that such contrivances will keep listeners awaiting the next one more than an actually good story will. His model for the last two "seasons" of Doctor 8, and especially the third season, seems to be the Key to Time series. That means that we have an establishing story, some running around here and there with little tidbits of the arc story thrown in, and then a blockbuster finale to bring it all together. It didn't work then, it doesn't work now. The problem is the blockbuster finale, which inevitably drowns in overblown, unrealized expectations and ideas. As with the previous Barnes/Russell contraption, "Zagreus," the formula seems to be to set up the listener only to pull the rug out - repeatedly. So, we have been led to believe that the "Divergents" have been using the Doctor for some dastardly experiment. Surprise - there are no Divergents. C'Rizz is supposed to be a pacifist priest. Surprise - his religion was based on ritual murder. I was expecting, eventually, the big surprise would be that Rassilon would turn out to be a hero again. I still don't know why they missed that one. I never liked turning Rassilon into a villain in the first place.
Ultimately, this is still far better than "Zagreus," which made no sense and ran out of steam after 20 minutes (what, another 200 to go?). Paul McGann is brilliant, as usual, and really makes one wish he had had his turn on the television. Paul Darrow steps out of his usual growling menace to give a more nuanced performance of a true religious devotee, no matter how twisted the religion itself may be. The standout performance belongs to Daphne Ashbrook, who covers a wide range of emotion and attitude here. The plot makes more sense than did "Zagreus" and "Caerdroia." This one has more action and is less chatty than some of the other Doctor 8 adventures, as well.
All in all, the script is like a good first draft. It is full of ideas and has some great snatches of dialogue. However, it also has much that needed revising or rejecting.
This was another page turner for me, I don't know why this novel has been poorly rated by everyone else. The prologue was genuinely creepy, and really sets up the historical divergence well. What I enjoyed was how well thought out the plot was, if time was accelerated the outcome depicted here really seems plausible (the lack of animals, the demented Wildren). My one gripe would the fact that people in their 40s today struggle to conceive, so it takes a little bit of disbelief that the people of the early 19th century could repopulate so easily... It's also good to see how the chaos in the time vortex affects the regulars, and the guilt Malahyde suffers is quite touching.
Another mystery is set up here: who is Natasha? I can't wait to find out!
