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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!
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| Looking For The Connection? |
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While being a good read, it is definatly the the best. Strong charactors but with each page I was waiting for the tie in to the first book. O.k the cat was in both books but there is not a plot conection. I liked the postwar type scene played out in NYC. I wish it had be explored and developed more. Too much dancing around in bad guys (or girls) heads just to have them die insignificatly. Not enough time building the story. Instead, just kept being dropped into the middle of things after the character, mostly ACE, had been there awhile.
| What: | The Blue Angel (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Jonathan Davis, San Jose, CA |
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| Date: | Monday 18 April 2005 |
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| Rating: | 1 |
It's been quite some time since I read it so I can't really give many details, but I remember some of it and I CERTAINLY remember my reaction to it. This contains some spoilers, but they might very well save you from wasting your time on this book.
The story starts out well enough. The doctor ends up in a new place to with another interesting civlization with problems to solve and all that. But apparently he's been there before, or at least the people there think so. Apparently a future regeneration of the doctor will be coming by at some point. But Doctor 8 has never been there before. He sets out to help them with their current problems as usual.
At the same time a friend of his (who's also a time lord) is doing something on earth and through various events eventually ends up where the doctor is. She's rather interesting, but except for the end has little impact on the story. Incidently it was her that was the doctor's companion when he shows up at the location of this story in a later regeneration.
At the same time there seems to be an alternate version of the doctor that is staying at a the afore-mentioned friend's house on earth along with his companions. IIRC he's having tea there and such. This alternate version of things never really seems to have much importance but keeps popping up periodically.
Overall events go as one would expect with regards to the doctor and those with him (the one in the real story, not the tea party one). It's not super good, but it's okay.
However, in the end, something weird happens and the doctor basically loses. At this point whatever story there was completely falls apart and whatever happened basically had no meaning. It even appears that it all might have happened in an alternate universe of sorts. But however well the mediocre story might have started out, it ends horribly.
The author seems to want to say that the doctor doesn't always win and thus gives a horrible story to show just that. But it's not as if it even manages to end in a sane manner. It's a hodge-podge of vaguely related stuff that COULD have been really interesting but which are never fully explored and which completely falls apart at the end.
It's a mediocre story with the worst ending of all time. If you aren't looking to read every doctor who book there is, don't read this one. As far as I know nothing in this book has any real impact on the later ones and it's not worth much if anything on its own.
| What: | Dead Romance (New Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Luca Signorelli, Italy |
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| Date: | Saturday 16 April 2005 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
By far the greatest Dr. Who - related book ever, and by far Lawrence Mile best work so far, "Dead Romance" is a splendid, mindtwisting, moving and horrific tale about the last days of Earth... in 1970! Narrated from the POV of Christine Summerfield, a drugged out girl living in 1970's London, the tale moves from he meeting with Chris Cweji (yes, that Chris Cweji - very different but also very recognizable), her struggle to understand the nature of time and space, and her witnessing of a series of of event (both on Earth and outside) culminating in one of the most terryfing description of the end of the world, I've ever read. Actually, I've never been impressed like this by a SF novel since PJ Farmer "Inside Outside"
This is a real mindbender, but is also a very accessible book, who's going (once again - it's Larry Miles!!!) turn your view of the Whoverse upside down. In fact, it's the perfect book for someone who don't know anything about Dr. Who and couldn't care less. A must buy if ever was one
| What: | Resurrection of the Daleks (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Michael C Smith, Edinburgh, UK |
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| Date: | Friday 15 April 2005 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Lets get the rotten aspects of this story out of the way: the rubbish one-dimensional characters on the prison ship, the hammy deaths, the lazy script editing, the obligatory 'mind analysis' sequence, the body count, Terry Molloy's inferior performance as Davros (though better than Gooderson) and of course, Turlough; the oldest school boy EVER.
Phew... now onto the reasons why Resurrection is a smashing yawn, and in desperate need of a re-evaluation by the critics. Firstly- the gorgeous design work. So often design is based on contemporary fashions but here (apart from the obvious example of Tegan's blouse!) the spaceship, the uniforms, the excellent Dalek-troopers are totally convincing and uniquely alien allowing the production to out-survive it's original transmission date. The action here is expertly executed too, never feeling laboured or padded, but actually helping to add depth to the story, returning the Daleks to their original status of truly terrifying killing machines. The location work too is always impressive, and I'm sure I'm not the first to get a chill down my spine when walking around the now redeveloped and exclusive Butlers Wharf.
I have to mention Tegan's leaving scene; disconcertingly no warning is given that this is coming, adding to the impact when Tegan lambastes recent events, implying the Doctors lack of humanity is endangering her own. Haven’t we all had that feeling where we lose a friend and are left with no way of getting back in touch? Cue tear to the eye.
An excellent romp, it was never going to change the world. It's a no-brainer, yes, but much better than the cabbage-firing antics of the A Team on the other side.
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| A lesson in TV storytelling |
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| What: | The Caves of Androzani (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Michael C Smith, Edinburgh, UK |
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| Date: | Friday 15 April 2005 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
Watchability and longevity can (literally) be polls apart in Doctor Who. Many stories that impress on initial viewing just don’t cut it when it comes to repeat viewing. This can often be the case in stories which rely on 'shock' value is at the heart of the story telling (see Earthshock). ‘Who’ at it’s best does both. When character, suspense, design and cohesive production marry with genuinely shocking moments- this is where a story becomes truly 'classic'. Enter 'Caves of Androzani'.
Too many moments to mention, but for pure world-class story telling lets look to the shocking cliff-hangers ('nothing in the world can stop me now!' -the wet-vet, I don’t think so!), incredible character development ('you think bullets can stop me?') and, of course, the build up and execution of one of the most moving regeneration’s recorded for the series. No wonder Davidson had second thoughts about leaving. Lest we forget however, that for every Caves on his CV, there is also a ‘Time Flight’; Bob Holmes again proving the script at the fundamental of the series.
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| Well written, But a little unclear |
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I really enjoyed this book and I think it was well written. But at the same time it was a bit unclear. I understand it was written not using any one of the eight doctors but a bit of all of them but I think that this aproach actually took something away from the story. I liked learning more about Gallifrey and Timelord socitey. What I didn't like is that I couldn't put a face to the doctors character. We all create a picture in our mind from the author's discription, Unless there is an actor's face we picture, but with this story there was very little. This was a real Doctor "who?". I loved the character of Larna and hope she visits again. And I hope that the information revealed in the story, such as the Doctor being married, is built on and more is reveled and explained about the Doctor's past, ot future.
Because of the lack of a definate character in the book it was harder for me to emerse myself into the story therefor it took me longer to read.
