There are 4,142 reviews so far. To add a review of your own, click on the item in question, then click the Vote link.
| What: | Pyramids of Mars (BBC classic series videos) |
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| By: | Olly, UK |
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| Date: | Saturday 13 September 2003 |
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| Rating: |  10 |
The best ever Dr Who story ever.... This is as good as it gets. Tom Baker and Liz Sladen show the best ever combination between Dr and Companion. Sutekh is "supreme" with excellent quotes, the mummies like superb, and Scarman is creepy. Based on Egpyt methology and early Hammer films, it shows what is best about Dr Who.
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 | An exciting first chapter! |
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Big Finish Productions has done it again with more of their enticing tale continuing the Dalek Empire saga! This time, it's six years forward into the future. The Daleks from the alternate universe are starting to show their cruel side in their "peacekeeping" techniques. Susan Mendes is NOT dead and the Dalek Emperor has put all of his conciousness into her! A thorough introduction into the new storyline with impressive sound effects and dialogue, as always! Well done, Big Finish! I can't wait to hear the next chapter! And thanks for the coming attractions at the end and the ad for the previous chapters.
| What: | Wolfsbane (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | EDL Foster, Invercargill, New Zealand |
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| Date: | Saturday 13 September 2003 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
A story worthy of the "Cold Fusion" tradition, where fate and circumstance bring together a past and future Doctor and various companions - and as before, the two incarnations chosen are perfectly matched due to current events. And the Eighth Doctor gets a decent bite of the action (no pun intended!).
Thoroughly recommended for both multi-Doctor and Loup Garoux fans, overall.
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| Good start, dull middle and fair end |
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Shadow starts of as a good read until about a third of the way through, then the rambling dialog and tardis, jumping backward and forward lost it all for me. A shame at is started so well, the end pulled it back a little but not enough.
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| A classic Doctor who Yarn |
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This story offers all what you would expect from a good doctor who ripper. Dark corridors, body count slowly rising, lots of screams and a realistic plot and monster.
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| Great cover is only the start |
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| What: | Father Time (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | David Sharpe, Woodland Park, USA |
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| Date: | Monday 8 September 2003 |
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| Rating: |  9 |
First, the book has my favorite cover of all time. The snow being woven into the baby's blanket is just SO cool! (pun not intented) The story is gripping and the Doctor having an adopted daughter is a wonderful idea, well suited to the "stranded on Earth" story arc. I do wish the relationship with the Doctor's lady friend had been worked out more, and the book is another example of the distressing trend I've noticed of killing off supporting characters. It reminds me, to a lesser extent, of the death-filled early 90s of the Legion of Super-Heroes. All in all, it's a great Doctor Who novel and I highly reccomend it!
| What: | The Witch Hunters (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Saturday 6 September 2003 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
What more can I say? This book is superior in nearly every way to most the other Doctor Who novels. Lyons has done his homework and writes convincingly about the actual events of the Salem withch trials. The Doctor and his companions are embroiled in a realistic way. The companions are characterized in a mature fashion. Ian, especially, comes to life as thoughtful and compassionate. Read this one.
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| Two, Two, Two Plots For The Price Of One |
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| What: | Bad Therapy (New Adventures novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Saturday 6 September 2003 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
Jones has written a thoughtful novel about gay experience and made it fully Doctor Who. That is a tough job well done. On top of that, he keeps two plots going that seem to have no direct connection until they collide about 2/3 into the book. This one makes me wish there were more Doctor Who novels from Matthew Jones.
| What: | The Death of Art (New Adventures novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Saturday 6 September 2003 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
The strengths of the book is a truly different sort of alien from what we normally encounter in Doctor Who, and good use of the Doctor 7 character. The bad points are an attempt to be "stylish" when writing from the aliens' point of view, and making Roz into the damsel in distress for most of the book, stripped naked for 1/2 of it, to boot.
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| Twice As Long As It Needs To Be |
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| What: | Shakedown (New Adventures novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Saturday 6 September 2003 |
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| Rating: | 4 |
The origin of the novel is the independent video of the same name. And like that video, the first 1/2 of the novel which retells it is compelling knock 'em off one by one murder mystery, like "Horror Of Fang Rock." The second 1/2 of the book is clearly added to make it novel-length, and as such is pure padding.
| What: | St Anthony's Fire (New Adventures novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Saturday 6 September 2003 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
Gatiss writes of aliens with sensitivity and a belief that they are, in their own way, people too. The villain in the book, such as it is, is the cult of St. Anthony. And here is where we see what Gatiss's concerns are. Cults, the military, nationalism, all are forms of bigotry because they rely on unthinking us vs. them mentality. When Ace is brainwashed by the cult of St. Anthony, that is an apt metaphor for how Gatiss sees these things - literally one gives up one's mind to the cause. The result is always tragic.
| What: | First Frontier (New Adventures novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Saturday 6 September 2003 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
Doctor Who and the flying saucers, with McIntee's personal addition to the Who bestiary, the Chinese-styled Tzun, and the Master up to his old tricks. The plot is full of action, but not of thought. There is nothing fancy, surrealistic, or philosophical here, just go go go action.
| What: | Blood Harvest (New Adventures novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Saturday 6 September 2003 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
Terrance Dicks is a much-beloved figure in Whoviana, and deservedly so. His opinions about all things Who are always worth hearing. His own original contributions,however, have been up and down affairs. "State of Decay" had clever dialogue, but too many vampire clichés and a preposterous denouement. This sequel is far superior in every way to the original. The vampires are scarier, the action more believable, and the dialogue equally crisp. This novel shows what is possible with Doctor Who in its new forms.
| What: | Legacy (New Adventures novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Saturday 6 September 2003 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
The maturation of the Ice Warriors, from stock baddies to honorable soldiers, has been very good to see. Treatment of aliens as intelligent and reasonable is one of the reasons that Doctor Who is so far superior to most American TV science fiction. Russell has kept Brian Hayles' creations intact, from the Ice Warriors to Alpha Centauri to the Peladonians. His own additions, the rat-like Pakha, and a complicated plot involving galactic politics and a lost icon, make the story eminently enjoyable. I am not sure that Benny's snogging an Ice Warrior was wholly necessary.
| What: | Superior Beings (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Saturday 6 September 2003 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Of the many companions of the series, Peri suffered from some of the worst characterization. The novels and audios have gone a long way to fix that error, and in this novel we get a Peri whose appeal is more than just sexual. The Doctor 5/Peri combination had only two stories to develop, so it is nice to see and hear it go further. They would have been an excellent combination had things worked out. About the novel itself, Walters writes an exciting story about the consequences of cult worship. The gods are not what they seem. His vulpine aliens are nasty, but nasty by nature, and certainly have redeemable traits. This is one definitely worth reading.
| What: | The Shadow in the Glass (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Saturday 6 September 2003 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
So, it had to happen at some point. We had to get the Doctor to meet Hitler. The virtues of the book are that, as with most books and audios about Doctor 6, it is better than most the stories Colin Baker got to act in during the regular run of Doctor Who. The authors use the freedom that novel-writing offers to go back and forth in time convincingly. The plot is perhaps more complicated than it needs to be. There is a nasty twist at the end of the book. Overall, it is quite entertaining.
| What: | The Quantum Archangel (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Saturday 6 September 2003 |
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| Rating: | 2 |
Craig Hinton is perhaps my least favorite of the Doctor Who novelists. And this is my least favorite of his books. The main problem is that Hinton tries to write big, really big. We are talking all the universe all of space and time big. But, his rather pedestrian approach to cosmic plots creates a huge dischord. I am always leary when mere mortals try to write about and in the point of view of gods or godlike beings. The earthly metaphors rarely match the immense powers that these beings are supposed to have. Furthermore, Hinton seems to be of the school of writers who presume that everyone whom the Doctor meets for any extended amount of time is made miserable by it. So our characters who return from "The Time Monster" all have had horrible lives. And Mel is furious at the Doctor for something that was not his fault. I thought the Doctor was supposed to be a hero. Flawed, yes, but heroic nevertheless.
| What: | Imperial Moon (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Saturday 6 September 2003 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
This is a really fun book. The idea is to set Doctor Who into a typical 1890s "scientific romance" as they used to be called. I have read several of these, most, except for Wells and Verne, unintentionally hilarious. Bulis does a good job of catching the spirit of these things (intrepid adventurers, honor of England, quirky scientist, stallwart scientist's daughter, amazonian maidens, giant bug-like creatures) while writing in a modern style. "Imperial Moon" is not a deep book, but it is a jolly good read.
| What: | Corpse Marker (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Saturday 6 September 2003 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Most the novel sequels to well-liked Who stories have been sad disappointments. I was not disappointed with this one. As usual with Boucher stories, the background is well-worked out so that characters move and act in believable ways. Also, Boucher chooses wisely not to write "Robots of Death" again, but to give a substantially new and different sort of story years after the events of the first. Overall, I am perplexed by the dissatisfied reaction of the fans to Boucher's books. In my opinion, Boucher's refusal to turn Doctor Who into comic-book silliness is refreshing and the right way to take the series.
| What: | The Final Sanction (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Saturday 6 September 2003 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
Since the Virgin novels days, Lyons has been working on the history of his pet monsters, the Selachians, the sharks of outer space. This is the final? book about them. In one sense it is, because it movingly and compassionately tells of the demise of their race. As with "Warriors of the Deep," the overall mood is not outrage at war, but sadness at the destruction, personal and social, that it causes. Lives are ruined in all sorts of ways. My one complaint is that this story may have been better not being Doctor Who, that is that the premise means that the Doctor is really not a major player in the events. Still, the book makes mighty good reading.
