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Adventuress is definitely a very controversial book- some fans love it, some fans hate it, and some fans get caught in between. Since the point of a review is to tell a prospective reader to read the book or not, any readers will be extremely confused about whether Adventuress is a masterpiece or not worth their time.
My personal feelings on Adventuress is that it was okay, because most of my complaints are intermingled with compliments.
The narrative is slow and monotonous, meandering around vaguely when interesting things start to happen, but it paints a mystical, broad picture which would be otherwise unattainable. The beginning gets a bit grueling, but the ending is distressing and epic. The side-characters are a bit boring, but the enemies are extremely original.
Still, this is definitely a book that every person will feel differently about, as is evidenced by the opinions expressed here.
| What: | Atom Bomb Blues (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Will Barber, Hull, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 22 March 2011 |
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| Rating: |   9 |
What a brillaint book! A mad book yes, but a fantastic book! The whole flying through dimensions is a bit......Weird but still it is a great book! An awesome book! Now you may think I'm an excitable 20 ish old but truelly this is a great book. Fantastic even!
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 | Could See the Plot A Mile Away |
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| What: | The Claws of Axos (BBC classic series videos) |
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| By: | Paul Williams, New Brighton, United States |
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| Date: | Tuesday 22 March 2011 |
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| Rating: | 4 |
One of the most contrived stories in the Pertwee era. It seems like everyone phoned in the acting.
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| So Close To Being An Absolute Classic |
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| What: | The Dæmons (BBC classic series videos) |
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| By: | Paul Williams, New Brighton, United States |
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| Date: | Tuesday 22 March 2011 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
Excellent movie, only negatives is that the sound quality is annoying and the ending is a bit abrupt and trite.
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| Episode Falls On Its Face |
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| What: | The Web Planet (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Paul Williams, New Brighton, United States |
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| Date: | Monday 21 March 2011 |
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| Rating: | 2 |
Episode Falls On Its Face
Having been a fan of Moorcock for years, I grabbed this book from the supermarket shelf as soon as I first saw it. I was really interested to see how Moorcock handled the Doctor Who genre, and couldn't wait to get home and start reading.
When I had finished, I lent the book to another Moorcock fan and when he had read it, discussed it with him.
We both agreed that it could have been better. It seems that Moorcock has attempted to merge two different universes, the Doctor Who universe and his own. This leads me to suspect that Moorcock is not thoroughly versed in the intricacies of the Whoniverse. It feels wrong that Judoon should play games, and Frank/Freddie Force and his Antimatter Men sound like something from a kids cartoon, not Doctor Who. The whole thing just didn't feel right.
This book also has Matt Smith's 11th doctor and his companion Amy Pond, which unfortunately wasn't captured satisfactorily by the author. Having read many Doctor Who books, I often find that the book captures the mannerisms of the characters so well that you can really imagine the actors
saying those lines. It seems that this book didn't quite manage that, and in most cases, it could have been any Doctor and any companion.
Having said that, for anyone who doesn't know Doctor Who very well, this is a gripping read, in which the whole universe is at stake and seconds from annihilation, a scenario that works for The Doctor.
I don't think there is any Doctor Who book that should be avoided, but if you are a die-hard fan who knows everything there is to know about Doctor Who, then you will find this book hard to swallow.
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| The good, the bad, and Time and the Rani |
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| What: | Time and the Rani (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Huw Davies, Taunton, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 10 March 2011 |
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| Rating: | 1 |
'Time and the Rani' is quite frankly god-awful. The story is boring and ridiculous, the dialogue is unrealistic and over-long, and the production values are not anything to shout about, either.
As an introductory story, this is like 'The Twin Dilemma' on steroids. 'TTD' had an old Time Lord friend of the Doctor, 'TATR' throws in a Time Lord, but oh wait she's the Doctor's enemy, and she's female! 'TTD' had child geniuses, 'TATR' also has geniuses, but oh look there's Albert Einstein! And 'TTD' had a rubbish effect in Mestor - need I mention the giant (paper) brain.
Pip and Jane Baker's story is utter madness and doesn't really make a lot of sense most of the time. The characters are also poorly acted at times, Mel especially!
Overall, a very weak story, my least favourite ever!
| What: | Lost in Time (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 10 March 2011 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
The BBC had no brains at all, when it came to scrapping so many of the early Doctor Who episodes. Especially when so many casualties were some of the very best Doctor Who stories ever in the history of Whodom.
The Crusade has some incredibly strong moments, and this is more character driven than action packed, and tis the better for it. Jean Marsh and Julian Glover and Bernard Kay are all cast perfectly in their respective roles, and William Hartnell is on top form indeed. The tension of the scnes between Joanna and her brother are palpable and very well directed indeed. A pain in the neck that so much of this story is lost to us these days. Really is a backsife pain.
The Daleks Masterplan is an epic, and these are special and engaging and climatic episodes, that go along at such a good pace and are never lagging for anything along the whole ride. Three episodes survive of this tale and again this is such an annoying thing. Kevin Stoney is excellent as Mavic Chen,and the Daleks are at the height of their powers, with plenty of menace and lack of humanity from the word go. Nick Courntey gives a brilliant first performance as Bret Vyon. And Jean Marsh is again incredible as Sara Kingdom. Such a sad twist with her death at the end of the story, which makes this story so memorable.
The Celestial Toymaker is a delight. Michael Gough is tremendous as the charming and crepy Toymaker, and Cyril is an excellent school boy mischief maker. Its good to have this on audio even if only one episode remains to be seen.
The Pat Troughton stories all possess such charm and endless brilliance. Even the unfairly maligned Underwater Menace is memorable for Joseph Fursts totally over the top portrayal of Zaroff, surely trhe most dippy idiot to ever appear in the series up to this point. The Moonbase has many good moments and the cybermen are brilliant. The Evil of The Daleks is a classy tale, one can see that just from the remaining episode two. Good to have this story on audio too. The Yeti are brilliant creations, although they are rather cuddly in The Abominable Snowmen.
The Wheel in Space has always been maligned, but I love it. Its one of my best Pat stories. It has such good character parts, and one really gets to know all the characters well along the way. And the cybermen are really emotionless here, one set tone of voice which is perfect!
The Space Pirates is a classic Who story. Aahh, flipping heck BBC! Whatw ere you thinking getting rid of all these amazing stories? I love the chracter of Milo Clancey, a brilliant character one expects from the pen of Robert Holmes.
All the extra clips from many other stories are a lovely treat and great to watch. This is definitely an excelllent release, just so sad these stories all suffer from being incomplete on TV. Lamentable...And an insult to the memory of two very fine Doctors.
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| A very interesting intro... |
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| What: | The Leisure Hive (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 10 March 2011 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
Its a lie that John Nathan Turner brought about the slow death of the classiuc Doctor Who. He actually injected some vital life back into the series. it is true that for the most part Tom was pretty funny for season 17. But now we have the intelligent, brooding fourth Doctor from his first three seasons, and its a nice return. This actually begins what I consider Tom's finest season as the Doctor. The comedy isnt totally lost, but iuts toned down rather a lot.
I love Lalla Ward here too. Shes given a decent chunk of script to get her teeth into and she goes with it so well. And I love her school girl outfit, which suits her so well indeed!
Pangol is a really brilliant character, a real psycho. And the foamasi look rather impressive. And the cliffhanger to part one is another David Fisher triumph, by giving us something totally unexpected. I love the fact that the Doctor is aged to 1000 here. Tom acts so brilliantly. And the resolution of this story is one of the best climaxes to any Doctor Who.
K9 is rather sidelined, flipping his lid in the sea. Sad. I love K9! I love the fact that the Foamasi hide in restricting skin suits, and its done better here than in that moronic slitheen episode. So, John Nathan Turner made his presence felt, as did all the new production members involved with this season. This is a great start to a highly interesting season. There is more real science in this season I feel.
| What: | The Visitation (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 10 March 2011 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
Doctor Who pseudo-historicals are always very entertaining. It helps too if the setting feels the era in which its meant to be set. And The Visitation achieves this very well. It looks for all the story like this is Victorian times or earlier.
The terileptils are a very interesting race. In the fact they are actually given a decent back story, which comes across rather sympathetically all in all. And they dont look too bad either. The final face metling climax is excellently achieved,and looks frankly skanky in the extreme. And the android when its disguised as The Reaper is really quite creepy, shame about the cricket gloves though! Not that I really care about that sort of thing.
The only big uugh of this story is the TARDISized Nyssa. I love Sarah Sutton, her character is far more likeable than most of the Doctor's companions, with her high moral tone and kindness, she makes a change. And having her relgated is really bad. But even in the scenes she is in shes excellent and charming.
One slight flaw too: what happened to all those poisoned rats left back at house at the end? No plot tie up there. But aside from these minor completes, this is yet another great Peter Davison story. I love the character of Richard Mace too, he's as witty and funny as Jago in The Talons of Weng Chiang. This is overall a very strong scripting debut from Eric, who gives us a classic old fashioned great Who storyw ith pace and plenty of good actions bits and even a little bit of horror too.
What I like about Petewr's time is his doctor was not so perfect all the time. He made mistakes, even if they were accidental, and this makes his Doctor all the more likeable. One last niggle is he seems to go totally against character at the climax of this story, by just brushing off ther fact that he's started the great fire of London even if this too was an accident. Just a little odd.
But like I said, this story is lkargely very good and engaging and a worthy story to add to your collection.
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| Patrick Troughton makes this.... |
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| What: | The Three Doctors (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 10 March 2011 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
Its such good stuff to see Pat Troughton back again after he left the role. And here in this tale Bob and Dave get his character totally right. He has all that endearing bumbling that has made him definitely my favourite Doctor of all time. "And this horrible great jelly..." makes me reel with laughter every time. I love the fact that his recorder holds the key to defeating the slightly very deranged Omega. Mind you I think Id be mental after spending 10000 years in a black hole!
Its sad that William Hartnell really is in poor health here, but the fact that even he still is written very well indeed and makes his presence really felt is a credit to the fine actor. "Now stop dilly dallying, and cross it!" is another brilliantlhy delivered order from the grumpy original first Doctor.
But what is a little jarring here is that for me is that Jon isnt as good as his two previous selves here. I dont know if its just me, but he just seems a little lost for the most part of the story. And that fight scene at the climax of part three really is rather poor as well. Gladly he gets better after part two, and I particularly like his anger of "Take it!"
Nick Courtney really was written brilliantly here too. "Im pretty sure thats Cromer" made me wet myself. I love Bob and Dave's writing here! And even Benton gets to be a laugh. So for on the most part, this celebratory story is very good indeed. And the Gellguards arent that bad at all actually, they actually look organic and realer than a lot of Who villains.
Stephen Thorne is cast so well as Omega!! The right choice indeed! Steals the show with his total insane performance!
And the other weak point is Katy as Jo, given nothing at all to do for the whole story. Sad, she was a great companion and its bad seeing her wasted so totally as she is here. But the good points still greatly outweigh the bad in this story and it is nevertheless memorable and achieves most of what it sets out to do!
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| Not all that much to write home about... |
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| What: | Earthshock (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 10 March 2011 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
One of the things I hate about this story is the totally background slot given to Nyssa. She always has been my favourite companion of the fifth doctor, along with Tegan. And I hate seeing Sarah Sutton reduced to staying in the TARDIS for most of a story, it happened in the Visitation and here too. Kinda was only pardonable on this score for the story was excellent. But Earthshock doesnt live up to expectation. And to be quite honest, I prefer the Cybermen of Revenge, even with the wobbly heads!
There are a few good moments in this story, such as Adric's very poignant demise, and its a bold step to have the final credits run in silence, which has never happened before in the shows history. And the Doctor's sunset speech is a good piece of dialogue, but otherwise this story is really forgettable and BORING. The cybermen look really good but this isnt a patch on Attack of the Cybermen. And the episode endings arent all that much to write home about, except maybe the third episode.
And I dont like the fact that such a cool character as Kyle is killed off so soon. Doctor Who always had a penchant for doing this. So for these reasons this story really doesnt hold any magic for me. It is probably the least interesting story to feature the Cybermen: and add to that the fact that the plot is almost identical to Revenge of The Cybermen: Using a bomb, then using a flying object to try to destroy a planet! That is rather similar isnt it? And this story doesnt have the wry humour of Revenge either. So nah, I dont really like this one. (Even the strong performance of David Banks cant save this, its just so bad)
| What: | Oblivion (Panini graphic novels) |
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| By: | joe dredd, san pablo, ca., United States |
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| Date: | Thursday 10 March 2011 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
Buy this book for children of the revolution featuring the Daleks (a sequel of a 2nd doctor adventure, power of the daleks) thats it. in the future i will endeavor to supply a more descriptive review
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| Love the Hardcover Graphic Novels!!! |
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| What: | The Only Good Dalek (Miscellaneous graphic novels) |
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| By: | Adam Regula, Horseheads, NY, United States |
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| Date: | Wednesday 9 March 2011 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
Aesthetically speaking this book is above and beyond. The hardcover format is great, and the dust jacket is very sharp looking. The colors and paper quality are also top notch.
The story itself is also very good, and the artwork has a great style (although you can notice the computer generated Daleks sometimes). The plot is very fast paced with plenty of old series references. If you look close in the very beginning you can see a chart on the office wall with the evolution of the Daleks, including the special weapons Dalek!
More BBC hardcover format Graphic Novels please!!!
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| The Doctor in Another Museum... |
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| What: | The Forgotten (IDW graphic novels) |
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| By: | Adam Regula, Horseheads, NY, United States |
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| Date: | Wednesday 9 March 2011 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
I actually picked this up in individual issues as I found them very cheap. This is a great series! The only problem with the collected paperback is you don't get all the wonderful covers of the 10th doctor with all his other selves (Please feel free to correct me if the trade has all the covers- haven't ever seen it). This series has a great plot line and the whole thing is packed to the gills with old series references.
I also noticed in pictures of the new Doctor Who Experience in London, that the room in the book and the room in the Experience of all the doctors clothes on stands was very close, which is great.
I especially love when all the Doctors are together at the end and they are picking on Colin Bakers Doctor.
Great read; Highly recommend!
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| A (Not So) Delightful bit of Nonsense |
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I really, really wanted to like this book more. I have been a huge fan of Michael Moorcock for years, love the Elric series, and was very excited to head he was doing an 11th Doctor Novel. Almost all of the new series novels I wish were longer... this one was making me wish it was shorter. The book drags on with allot of unnecessary detail about things which are more or less Alice in Wonderland style frivolous nonsense. This book does come off as The Doctor being shoe horned into an Eternal Warrior novel. It did have some good points but they kind of drown in a too - slow plot and the odd characters.
Bit of a let down, sorry.
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| The Pylons Are On the Move! |
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| What: | The Ring of Steel (New series audio originals) |
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| By: | Adam Regula, Horseheads, NY, United States |
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| Date: | Wednesday 9 March 2011 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Arthur Darvill did a pretty good job narrating this one. The plot was interesting and moves along well; another great listen on a short car trip. My only problem with this one is that the alien's voice was way too loud and piercing (for a race that craved silence - lol ) and was annoying to listen to for long.
| What: | The Runaway Train (New series audio originals) |
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| By: | Adam Regula, Horseheads, NY, United States |
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| Date: | Wednesday 9 March 2011 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
I already listened to this a couple of times in the car, and I like it more each time I hear it. Matt Smith is just great as narrator and for a really short (~ 1 hr.) audio adventure it has great pacing and action. Highly recommend for the short car drive!
| What: | The King's Dragon (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Adam Regula, Horseheads, NY, United States |
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| Date: | Wednesday 9 March 2011 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
I found this book to be a bit of a comment on certain parts of our current materialistic (Bling! Bling!) culture, which I always like in Doctor Who novels. The idea of a almost hypnotic effect from a metal was cool, and the descriptions of the Gold- Covered culture of un-dieing slaves was chilling.
Overall a great read and well paced plot with great character development for a short new series novel.
| What: | Nuclear Time (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Adam Regula, Horseheads, NY, United States |
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| Date: | Wednesday 9 March 2011 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
The plot of this book was well thought out, but can be slightly confusing to follow at times. I really liked the idea of traveling backwards through time as a plot device but I found my self going back and re-reading sections to understand what was going on from different characters point of view. Great pacing overall but some of the characters were a little weak.
Good concept for a book, and a fun read even if it had me scratching my head at times.
