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I'm certain nobody thought this would be the end result of Nick Briggs' third Dalek Empire saga but it is certainly a return to form after the last few discs treading water. Characters are dispatched left, right and centre and the level of drama maintained is nail biting, especially at the climax when it is uncertain whether the goodies have achieved ANYTHING.
Really this series of Dalek Empire feels like a prelude to the next with some tantilising possibilities opened up for future development but it has been an entertaining six disc series, full of good characterisation and superb production values.
Nick Briggs has earned the right to voice the Daleks in the new series.
| What: | The Infinity Race (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Joe Ford, Eastbourne |
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| Date: | Monday 22 November 2004 |
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| Rating: |   5 |
The only thing Doctor Who cannot survive is being boring. The Infinity Race struggles to be funny and scary and silly and clever and ends up being none, just a little mundane. Simon Messingham switches narratives in an annoying fashion, jumping from first to third with jarring unpredictability.
The scenes from Anji's POV are quite fun, especially her hilarious commentary on Fitz's action hero moments. But when that is the best part of the novel, you have problems.
| What: | The Last (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Joe Ford, Eastbourne |
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| Date: | Sunday 21 November 2004 |
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| Rating: | 4 |
This should have (and could have) been the best eighth Doctor audio ever. The idea that he could land on a doom laden planet set to explode, mix in with the survivors, lose both his companions and wind uo being the last survivor is gripping and dramatic. Unfortunately this production is not brave enough to go through with these changes and the big shiny reset button is pressed at the end basically rendering the entire production worthless.
Not only this but Paul McGann's performance is lazy, he sounds totally bored throughout and cannot even perk up when Charley and C'rizz pop their clogs. This is especially bad on the part of the director who should be keeping his actors in check but the Doctor's bored reactions to the story means we can hardly be thrilled by events either.
A shame because there are a few seminal scenes hear, the moment Charley is smothered by a pillow is discomforting to say the least and the sort of uncomfortable tone the whole story should have adopted.
Could have been so much better...
| What: | The Eleventh Tiger (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Joe Ford, Eastbourne |
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| Date: | Sunday 21 November 2004 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
It would appear that David A. Mcintee's time away from Doctor Who has done him the world of good, whereas when he was writing three books a year his work suffered as a result this colourful historical drama has clearly been lavished with a lot of time and love.
I'm not sure what was better, the glorious setting in the East, the intelligently written first Doctor (who gets an excellent moment away from his wisdom to have a Kung-fu fight!)or the sweet romance developing between Ian and Barbara. There are a number of excellent secondary characters who light up the book and the main villain is enough of a creep to make you want him put out of the way.
It not only has the best McIntee plot since Face of the Enenmy but the writing has improved tenfold too with a slower, less OTT prose style which suits the story perfectly.
| What: | The Indestructible Man (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Joe Ford, Eastbourne |
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| Date: | Sunday 21 November 2004 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
The cover and blurb might lead you into thinking this might be a fluffy Gerry Anderson-esque romp but nothing could be further from the truth. Simon Messingham has written his best PDA yet, a disturbing, exciting thriller that takes the Anderson idea of hero worship and twists it so we can all see the darker side of it.
The writing is crisp and readable, the regulars are caught perfectly (and really put through the wringer) and the Myloki make a great, mysterious enemy. Some of the dialogue was pure Troughton, you can almost hear him ad libbing the story!
Zoe gets some fine development and Jaime is put through hell, you can finally see why they love the Doctor so much as they go through hell just to get back to him in this excellent read.
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 | Get me out of this universe! |
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| What: | Caerdroia (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Joe Ford, Eastbourne |
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| Date: | Sunday 21 November 2004 |
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| Rating: | 2 |
Absolute nonsense from begining to end, Caerdroia encapsulates the inherent weaknesses of this silly divergents arc. The whole story builds up to a confrontation between the Doctor and the divergents...and it never happens. It is basically a plodding runaround with the characters splitting up, meeting up again, splitting up, meeting up again, splitting up one final time, meeting up again and leaving. Kro'ka gets some development but because we still know so little about him it is hard to care about his fate. Even Charley and C'rizz are still a rubbish set of companions, is there anything that we will learn from him and is there anything else still to learn from her?
Gary Russell is going to have to work a lot harder than this if he wants the disapointing reviews to end. If it weren't for Paul McGann's excellent performance it wouldn't even get the two.
| What: | Illegal Alien (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | PJ Johnson, Hoddesdon, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Sunday 21 November 2004 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
I thought Illegal Alien was a gripping read, and ENTIRELY original, not at all like some of the crap John Nathan-Turner was churning out in the later years. For a start, it is missing one of the most prominant (and most annoying) JNT trademarks, which was relying on continuity and constant references to past stories (as in Attack of the Cybermen for example).
The setting for the book is superb, and the backdrop of war-torn London adds greatly to the tension of the lurking (no pun intended - you'll understand if you've read it) cyber menace.
I also felt that both the Doctor and Ace were very well written, and I have always found the Seventh Doctor fascinating, as he alway seems to manipulate events from the shadows, as opposed to getting more involved in the action like his previous incarnations. I also enjoyed the character of McBride, who proves that American characters don't always have to be annoying time wasters if written properly.
I also thought the ending was well conceived, acting as a prequel (of sorts) to The Invasion, explaining where the Cybermen in the sewers came from. This is a nice touch for serious Who fans, but doesn't alienate the casual reader - it merely suggests that London may have more problems with Cybermen in the future.
Illegal Alien is certainly one of the best past Doctor adventures - if only stories like this had been produced back in the late 80s, Doctor Who may well have been on our screens for a lot longer.
| What: | The Last Resort (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Joe Ford, Eastbourne |
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| Date: | Friday 19 November 2004 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
The Last Resort is possibly the most underatted Doctor Who book I have ever read. It isn't perfect but it certainly doesn't deserve the bile that has been directed at it. As far as I can see lots of people have been left totally confused by the book, I problem I cannot empathise with because it made perfect sense to me, the puzzle-like nature of the book easy to figure out if you just take the time to link it all together.
What's more it manages to capture the screwed up nature of the multiverse much more effectively than any of the previous three books together, featuring a number of impressive scenes where reality shifts gears almost invisibly.
It is much more a standalone book than the others in the alternative universe arc. Fitz and Anji getting more attention than the Doctor and confidently taking centre stage.
I adored the complex climax featuring the thousands of Doctor's, Fitz's and Anji's and found Trix's emerging presence intruiging.
Maybe the prose a little simple and some of the characters are underdeveloped thanks to the nightmarish plot but it remains a superior SF novel that dares to be something truly different.
| What: | Timeless (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Joe Ford, Eastbourne |
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| Date: | Friday 19 November 2004 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
This is the best Doctor Who book since Time Zero. Stephen Cole is emerging as a much better writer than he was editor and has fixed many of the problems I had with his other books. Here is a character driven novel and one that manages to take the recent alternative universe arc and chuck it in the rubbish bin (thank goodness!) and start to tie together the eighth Doctor books into a coherent whole after they have appeared to be making everything up all along!
Anji is given a worthy departure and an almost romance with Guy that works if you know her backstory. Trix is now a fully fledged member of the TARDIS team and gets to marry Fitz in some good character building scenes.
But it is the Doctor who shines here, managing to swing from breathless hero to violent monster. Here is the unpredictable beast Justin Richards intended to create, tortuing a man by pulling out his few remaining hairs and kicking a violent sadist in the ribs just because he hates him. And yet he also takes on Sabbath and Kalicum with heroic vigour, trying to stop whatever evil plan they have for the begining of the universe.
Loaded full of treasurable scenes and excellent character closure for the huge cast, Timeless reminds us of the potential of the EDAs of a sort we haven't seen for a year or so.
| What: | Reckless Engineering (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Joe Ford, Eastbourne |
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| Date: | Friday 19 November 2004 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
This book is extremely well written. However it is also extremely poorly written. The actual writing, how Nick Walters captures his locations and characters is very good but the plot is a convoluted mess that is unfortunately tied to the alternative universe arc and therefore not able to mean all that much.
It is a shame because Brunel makes a striking appearance, the Wildren are damn frightening creations and there is some tension between Fitz and the Doctor which is well worth following up on. But all these strengths are fighting the storyline which starts promisingly but gets tied up in knots during its second half and climaxes on a real "who gives a damn?" where it should (and could) have been truly shocking.
Plus there is some suggestions of a romance between Fitz and Anji which are completely unwelcome because the writers had managed to avoid such soap opera antics to this point.
| What: | The Deadstone Memorial (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Joe Ford, Eastbourne |
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| Date: | Friday 19 November 2004 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
The EDAs are in great shape as they approach their demise, its bizarre how the series' fortunes can turn around so dramatically after being ripped to pieces.
Trevor Baxendale is a variable author capable of surprising (Eater of Wasps) and capable of boring (Coldheart) his audience. The Deadstone Memorial is a his best book yet, managing to frighten much more effectively than his Fear of the Dark last year.
By domesticating the Doctor and scaling down events to such a degree that it concerns only the horrors of one family the book has a degree of intimacy that is impossible to not get sucked in by. The Doctor is on true form, especially when he drags Hazel out into the garden to wave at the stars...you get to see first hand the magic the eighth Doctor can weave.
Fitz and Trix are also given a fair bit of space for development, one trying to figure where he fits in these days and the other revealing something of her opaque past that has been so elusive so far.
The book delights in making you squirm and the climax in particular features a *monster* so grotesque it provides a memorable close to the story. I loved the rat scratching is way out of the Doctor's skull...eugh!
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| The powerhouse novel of the year surely! |
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| What: | The Tomorrow Windows (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Joe Ford, Eastbourne |
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| Date: | Friday 19 November 2004 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
A pleasure to read from start to finish, The Tomorrow Windows capatilises on the freshness and standalone nature lavished on the EDAs since Sometime Never...
Much like Halflife it is extremely entertaining and packed full of great jokes and scares. For those continuity fans out there this is the post amnesiac equivilent of a wet dream with references to thousands of past stories in all kinds of medias.
This is not to the detriment of the story however which is full of colourful characters, inventive worlds and lots of good twists to keep you reading. I would reccomend this to fans and non fans alike, it is the sort of entertainment that Doctor Who is better at than any other series.
| What: | The Tomorrow Windows (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | John Ellison, Atlanta, USA |
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| Date: | Thursday 18 November 2004 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
I think my favorite part of the entire novel was the prologue...
I can see quite a bit of potential in the story. In fact, I found several of the planet's visited to be quite amusing. Clearly, this is an attempt to use Doctor Who for social commentary and satire.
Sometimes it succeeds and at others it falls a bit flat. I agree with my counterpart's post above that one of the real gems of the novel is getting some insight into Trix--who remains the most poorly developed companion EVER!
Still, it is hard to find extreme fault with a novel that bases at least one character on Brian Blessed!
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| If only seasons 22/23 were this good! |
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| What: | Killing Ground (Missing Adventures novels) |
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| By: | PJ Johnson, Hoddesdon, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 16 November 2004 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
'Killing Ground' is a thoroughly gripping, moving, thrilling and at times disturbing book, instantly recognisable as Doctor Who but at the same time dealing with far more adult issues than the television series and indeed most Doctor Who books have ever done.
The story revolves around the Earth colony Agora (new companion Grant’s homeworld), which for the past fifteen years has been ruled by the Overseers, a violent, fascist police force commanded by the sadistic Madrox. The Overseers monitor the population of Agora whilst preparing five hundred prime specimens for conversion, to be delivered every three years to their masters - the Cybermen. In order to defend Agora from the invaders, a rebel group lead by the ambitious but arrogant Henneker create 'bronze knights' - human volunteers converted into cyborgs much like the Cybermen, exept supposedly with their minds left fully intact. Henneker is convinced his creations will defeat the Cybermen and free Agora, but will his 'solution' prove more dangerous than the invaders themselves?
Steve Lyons’ use of Cyber conversion as a key element in his story is an obvious nod to the 1968 TV story 'The Tomb of the Cybermen', considered by many fans to be an all-time classic story. The central theme of 'Killing Ground' questions how the human brain survives the conversion process, and to what extent the person's memories, beliefs and ideals remain intact. This idea is superbly handled and at times very thought-provoking, particularly when Lyons draws parallels between the actions of the tyrannical Cybermen and Agora's 'saviours' the Bronze Knights.
One of Killing Ground's strongest points is its wonderful characterisation - every character, from the excellently portrayed sixth Doctor to the most inconsequential guard, is handled with such care and attention to detail that a separate book could easily be written about each and every one of them. The sixth Doctor in particular is compelling, and I found myself wishing that Colin Baker's Doctor had been so well written for during his unfortunate two years on the show. The relationship between the Doctor and his new assistant Grant is also developed very well, as is Grant’s character and tragic background.
One example of Lyons’ extraordinary attention to detail that is particularly worthy of mention is his obvious reference to the 1975 TV story ‘Revenge of the Cybermen’, in which the Cyberleader is at one point seen strutting around with his hands on his hips – typically human behaviour. This has always been considered by eagled-eyed fans and critics as being an unfortunate lapse by the story’s director, but not only does Lyons describe his Cyberleader behaving in exactly the same manner, he also has the Doctor draw attention to it, mocking his enemy in an incredibly rewarding moment for die-hard fans.
Few books (and even fewer Doctor Who books) can match Killing Ground for its dark, gripping and thought-provoking plot, thrilling action sequences, heart-wrenching moments, truly likeable and sympathetic heroes, despicable villains and tragic antiheroes. This book has so much to offer both dedicated Doctor Who fans and newcomers alike, it really is a must-read – I intend to purchase another copy very soon as my existing copy is falling apart from being read cover to cover more times than I can remember!
Peter Davidson's stories seem to get better and better. This is a very good story with a foe who would be the envy of the Toy Maker.
More please
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| Patrick Troughton look alike |
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This could have been filmed in blakc and white with Patrick and Jamie. Hex's intro is convincing and what you would expect from a good Doctor Who TV yarn.
The intro of the badies was I must say a suprise and handled very well. I would have given a 10 but the defeat of the enemy was a little to quick.
Overall "excellent"
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| Go to the top of the class |
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| What: | The Day of the Daleks (BBC classic series videos) |
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| By: | Mark Wallace, England |
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| Date: | Sunday 14 November 2004 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
What can be said of Day of the Daleks that hasn't been said already. With a cracking script
and some good location work this story zips along at a fair pace,it loses it somewhat in the middle of the story arc but manages to redeem itself once the action begins. The only downside
to this story are the Daleks,who seem to be
irrelevant to this story;in fact you could slot
in any of the Doctors foes. Otherwise it's a good story that could have been better with a bit
more thought and inventivness.
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| Patrick Troughton in America Doctor Who |
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| What: | Patrick Troughton in America (Miscellaneous video interviews / documentaries) |
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| By: | OstiaAntica, South East England |
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| Date: | Saturday 30 October 2004 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
This is a must have for any fan of the 2nd Doctor played by Patrick Troughton. This DVD gives the viewer a different perspective on this actor and how he loved Doctor Who and his contribution to the series. In the USA he was better able to show his fondness for the series and promote this however in England there was a need to avoid been always linked to the series. He talks about been a character actor and the need to be able to switch between characters. I can't describe it properly - listen to his reasons in his own words. If you too have enjoyed the 2nd Doctors era and his work both in and out of the Doctor Who series then you must get this DVD. I really was pleasently surprised by this DVD. Get it now!
| What: | Decalog 2: Lost Property (Decalog short story collections) |
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| By: | Mrs Stott, Cedric House |
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| Date: | Wednesday 27 October 2004 |
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| Rating: | 1 |
Utter Crap the stories were all samey same
| What: | Warmonger (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | wow, london |
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| Date: | Wednesday 13 October 2004 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
I loved this book ! it runs smoothly and both grips and entertains . Terrence dicks has probably wrote the book of his life here . I like the way the sontarans , cybermen , draconians and ogrons work together to fight for a cause , something the real series would never have done . The shock inclusion of SOMEONE is great and only adds to the excitement .
