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| What: | Verdigris (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Simon, Sydney, Australia |
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| Date: | Monday 22 July 2002 |
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| Rating: |   6 |
Very strange book, and you'll probably enjoy it if you like tahe sort of thing. I found it to be a bit too over the top. Started off well, just got freakier and freakier, and the ending was quite unsatisfying. I don't really like the Iris character, she was just plain annoying. However, the Third Doc wa well writen and I do have a soft spot for Jo Grant...
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| What: | Trading Futures (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | John Ellison, Atlanta, Georgia, USA |
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| Date: | Wednesday 17 July 2002 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
In my opinion Lance Parkin is probably the best Doctor Who novelist currently writing. He always seems to deliver something different than his previous offering and manages to find the Doctor as well as his companions when writing (sadly not every author does).
I found the plot to be very interesting and truly enjoyed the role Fitz ended up enduring. Just enough camp to offset the overall story! Also, the setting was haunting--one only need look to the headlines to see the growing rift between the USA and European nations.
Ultimately, Parkin delivers! I found it difficult to put this one down until I knew what was going on. How long until your next one Mr. Parkin?
This is the first Doctor Who book that I can honestly say surpassed my expectations. I have only read half a dozen at this point (all of them eighth Doctor) and each has had its ups and downs. This was the first that held me, enthralled, from begining to end! The writing style captures both the delicate and heart-breaking moments and the wonderfully funny and witty ones. The story is broad in scope, reaching farther into both the history or the Doctor and Gallifrey than any book or story I have read or seen. And it does it tastefully and carefully. I highly recomend this book to any Who fan (and even those who are new to the series). Keep an open mind with this. There is nothing to specify with complete accuracy which Doctor this is or even if this is an alternate reality Doctor. In the end, I don't think it matters. The story speaks for itself!
An excellent story, well told. The historical setting was protrayed perfectly. The ending packs quite an emotional punch. Highly recomended. This book is available for trade at www.sf-books.com
| What: | The Sun Makers (BBC classic series videos) |
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| By: | Mark Robinson, Belfast, N.Ireland |
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| Date: | Wednesday 10 July 2002 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
I enjoyed this story more than I thought I would.
The humour was just right and the acting overall was quite good. One thing I noticed was the relationship between the Doctor and Leela , did the Doctor have to take so long to rescue Leela from the steamer. I particularly liked the characters of The Gatherer and the collector - both make good villans. It's a mystery why this story took so long to come out on video when so many others far inferior stories have been released already.
Overall an enjoyable 8 out of 10.
| What: | Revenge of the Cybermen (BBC classic series videos) |
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| By: | Mark Robinson, Belfast, N.Ireland |
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| Date: | Wednesday 10 July 2002 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
Oh dear, I was very disappointed with this story. I remember it being very exciting and enjoyable but not unfortunately not this time around. The Cybermen were boring as were the Vogans (apart from the leader- their masks were very bad and fake).
The story was weak, although the location work was well done. What should have been a great return for the Cybermen , after a very lenghy absense, was very poor and what's with "Revenge of the Cybermen", surely Return would have been a better title.
On the plus side I enjoyed the Doctor, Sarah and Harry ( one of my favorite teams)and surprisingly the cybermats were quite effective.
Disappointing - 5 out of 10.
The musings of H.G. Wells and the climactic film imagery of "Independence Day" combine in this introduction to both the Eighth Doctor and a spin-off series for a former companion.
Like "Lungbarrow", the story is continuity-rich but nevertheless enjoyable and a monumental archive classic in itself - I am reading it from the exclusive website on the BBC Doctor Who Cult fanbase. I also think that the BBC should consider following up this successful development, with another e-book serial - perhaps even start a voting poll on which one?
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 | Two action thrilling tales |
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This tin, like the one issued in 1993 contains two great Dalek tales, both of which are action packed and thrilling and one of which is a 6-part story on one tape. The stories in this set are Planet of the Daleks and Revelation of the Daleks.
Planet concludes the theme, which began in Frontier in Space. The Doctor aids the Thals in their suicide to destroy the Daleks on the planet Spiridon where there are 10,000 of the creatures. Episode Three is in black and white. This story features appearances by occasional Who actors Bernard Horsfall, Prentis Hancock plus ‘Allo ‘Allo’s Hilary Minster.
Revelation’s plot is about the Doctor landing on the planet Necros, where the Tranquil Repose keeps dead millionaires and politicians in suspended animation. Also, Davros, posing as the Great Healer turns dead people into Daleks and the rest into food. This story is probably Colin Baker’s best story as the Doctor. It features guest appearances by Clive Swift (Richard, Hyacinth Bucket’s husband in Keeping Up Appearances), City of Death’s Eleanor Bron, Alexei Sayle and William Gaunt.
In my opinion, Revelation is the better of the two. These 2 Dalek adventures are an ideal addition to any fan’s collection.
| What: | The Curse of Fatal Death (Miscellaneous TV spin-offs) |
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| By: | Tom Lingwood, Broseley, Shropshire |
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| Date: | Monday 8 July 2002 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
This is the 1999 Comic Relief special with Rowan Atkinson as the Doctor. This wonderful video includes special features as well as the story (which is shown in 2 parts as opposed to the 4 5-minute segments). Rowan Atkinson is like the Doctor: funny and yet at the same time serious. The story is hilarious and has a shock ending, which shocked us all on the broadcast 3 years back.
The Making of documentary is interesting and the comic sketches that follow are funny. You get your moneys worth out of this video.
Oh, and if Doctor Who comes back to our screens, Rowan Atkinson should be the next Doctor.
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| Everyone is wrong about this book |
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| What: | The Ghosts of N-Space (Missing Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Tom Lingwood, Broseley, Shropshire |
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| Date: | Monday 8 July 2002 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
The Ghosts of N-Space is a brilliant book and an enjoyable read. I can’t believe people hate it. In my opinion, it ranks alongside the radio serial, which almost everyone hates as well. Both are enjoyable. What is wrong with people these days?
I was expecting a more gothic tale than the one I got, but still it was enjoyable. It was a bit confusing at times with multiple Doctors and Romanas running around - a time-travelling cliche that the tv series managed to mostly avoid. But the bipolar computer, ERIC, made up for any shorcomings, even if he was modelled on Marvin the Paranoid android. This book is available for trade at www.sf-books.com
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| One of Pertwee?s best stories |
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This is one of Jon Pertwee’s greatest Doctor Who stories. It is a strong, thrilling tale and it 7 episodes long it doesn’t drag at all. It is my third favourite Pertwee serial (my first two being The Dæmons and Inferno).
The plot involves workers at a power station going mad after encountering a T-Rex in the caves under the station. There are breakdowns involving staff members. The Doctor soon discovers that the station has awoken the Silurians, lizards who occupied Earth before Man, who have been dormant for thousands of years and now want the Earth back for themselves. The Time Lord wants Man and Silurian to live in peace but something always crops up to ruin his attempts.
The guest cast is superb. Fulton MacKay (Porridge’s Mr MacKay) plays Dr Quinn (same name of Jane Seymour’s medicine woman!). Captain Hawkings is played by Paul Darrow (Avon in Blake’s 7) and comedy actor Geoffrey Palmer plays Masters. Peter Miles plays the sadistic Dr Lawrence, owner of the power station. His portrayal of sadistic characters landing him villainous roles in Invasion of the Dinosaurs and the 1993 radio play The Paradise of Death. However, he is best known for playing Davros’ henchman Nyder in 1975’s Genesis of the Daleks.
The BBC lost the story in its original colour form but in 1993 it was recoloured by combining the black and white prints with an American off-air colour copy. The colour is better than the colour on The Dæmons, though it’s not as good as the superior colour on Terror of the Autons.
Recommended to all Who fans.
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| Getting better with each page |
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| What: | Father Time (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Anthony V., Queens, NY, USA |
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| Date: | Monday 1 July 2002 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
I can't give you a full review now--get back to me by Thursday when I finished reading it!
| What: | The Scales of Injustice (Missing Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Tom Lingwood, Broseley, Shropshire |
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| Date: | Monday 1 July 2002 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
This is my second favourite Missing Adventure (my first being The Shadow of Weng-Chiang). The Scales of Injustice is a Doctor Who crossover between James Bond and The X-Files. This book captures the era of season 7 superbly.
The story sees a schoolboy going missing and a policewoman starts drawing cave drawings. The Doctor links this to homo reptilia and must track down these reptiles. Behind this plot is a conspiracy called C19 who want to exploit UNIT’s achievements. Meanwhile, the Brigadier has crises to deal with on his own.
This follows on from Doctor Who and the Silurians and the book is back full of action. There are 7 chapters, all of which are episodes, to follow the trend of season 7. We see scenes not shown on TV, such as the Brigadier and his wife Fiona and the breakdown of their marriage. Their daughter Kate, who appears in this book, also appears in Downtime. We also see Liz Shaw leaving (which was never shown on TV), although she comes back for the BBC book The Devil Goblins of Neptune. In Episode 7, the Doctor is being taken around C19, where he sees many objects from his adventures on Earth and many alien victims. The question I ask is how come C19 have George Hibbert’s (Spearhead From Space) body? He was vaporised.
Gary Russell continues these themes in Business Unusual and The Instruments of Darkness, both BBC books, his trilogy. The Scales of Injustice is an enjoyable, powerful tale, which fits in well with season 7 and could have worked well on TV.
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| Weird review for a weird book |
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| What: | Speed of Flight (Missing Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Tom Lingwood, Broseley, Shropshire |
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| Date: | Monday 1 July 2002 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
I found this book weird. Although it’s enjoyable, it has strange names of people and places. If you buy this book, you’ll find it, um… weird.
| What: | Alien Bodies (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Simon, Sydney, Australia |
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| Date: | Monday 1 July 2002 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
This is the first 'new' Dr Who novel I've read (ie. non tv story). I found it to be very well written, with a great concept at it's heart. However, it was also very vague in places, and somewhat surreal. I found the flashbacks to be annoying and found myself skimming over them. perhaps I read it too quickly?? I was hoping to enjoy this novel more, but I must say some of the concepts were quite interesting...
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Well...it was innoffensive in the beginning and the premise was passable, though there are SO MANY stories that deserved a sequel more than the very average Planet Of Evil! Basically this book gets off to a fairly solid start, not exactly mind blowing excitement or anything but then NO book in the series has ANY of the pure excitement of the actual TV series, so...go figure! Is it just me or when you were a kid watching Dr.Who, did you not often say "Oh, wow, wouldn't it be great if the Doctor met...or if the Daleks did...or if they did a story where..." and yet the writers who now write the books, former fans who grew up with the show, seem to come up with ideas like...wouldn't it be great if the Doctor went to the home world of the Morestrans from Planet of Evil and it was like the catholic church? Well, pardon me, but that would have to be the LAST thing I was wishing and hoping for when I was watching the series. A clash between Daleks and Cybermen, yes, a return of the Terileptils, perhaps, a story where the Zygons used their shape changing powers to infiltrate Gallifrey perhaps...but THIS? Sorry! To say the first third of the book is okay is generous. But to be blunt it becomes painful to even read to the end after that. This could have been a lot better. Pity, as the opener of the Doctor dreaming of a tidal wave of black antimatter felt like it was going to actaully happen later in the story, but it did not. Bit sad, but THIS got published! Hmmm...
| What: | The Crooked World (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Joe Ford, London |
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| Date: | Friday 28 June 2002 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
A clever, thoughtful and most of all funny novel, continuing the excellent run the BBC books are having lately. This book could have been awful but in Steve Lyons careful hands the tale winds up being sensitive, unusual and a real blast to read.
All I can say is that this is Doctor Who at its finest. If you can get past the cheesy monsters (of course, if this were on television, we'd be overlooking them anyway), you find a very exciting, fast paced story that pits the Doctor and companions against human nature itself. Plot twists and turns on almost every page. The story just kept you guessing what will happen and just when you thought one thing was going to happen, something else does instead. and the surprise ending leaves you wanting to know more.
Kudos to the author on a job well done.
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| Obvious idea, but well handled |
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The idea of doing Doctor-less adventures is hardly a new one, indeed it was the subject of the first original Doctor Who novel ever written. However, McIntee handles the concept brilliantly, and the twist on the Master nicely mirrors the Ice Warriors' actions on Peladon. The prescence of Ian and Barbara is also nice although it stretches credibility a little. However, the really interesting idea thrown up by this novel is that of exploring the lives of companions before they met the Doctor, and it is a shame that Harry does not play a bigger role in this novel. At least his prescence is pefectly logical and credible. However, The Face of the Enemy still makes a very satisfying read, and works so well that it is a shame that we can't have more Doctor-less novels.
