Dr Who Books (and Audios) So Far Read (and Heard!), Part 8

And here is more from the most sustained series I’ve ever written on the blog here, (apart from the ‘Coffeehouse’ epic...)  Please see one of my earlier posts for a note on why I’m reading/listening in the odd order I am!

This segment has books and audios relating to the 3^rd, 5^th, 6^th, 7^th and 8^th Doctors.

INDISCRIMINATE SPOILERS FOR ALL STORIES HERE!

1. Doctor Who: And the Daemons, by Barry Letts (Target Original)
   (3^rd Doctor. I had real trouble reading this one – for a very silly reason: this was always my favourite Dr Who story EVER, growing up.  It had everything I always pick up books or watch TV or film for: demons or ghosts, possible supernatural occurrences, incredibly likeable main characters who must pit their wits [note, not brawn alone] against a distinct but localised threat, a small village setting with plenty of green to look at, superstitions which may have deeper meanings, villagers that are split by the occurrences – great commendation here to the brilliant Damaris as Miss Hawthorne, in the TV story, she was just wonderful!  I was really worried that the book might not live up to my memories of the oft rewatched episodes. 
   
   It did – specially towards the end, where the Doctor is vainly trying to get the soldiers to construct his energy drain box, and it eventually works – right when Damaris was about to perform a similar feat but magically – to bounce energy back on the Daemon and cause him to overload.  The repeated exchanges between her and the Doctor – “magic!”, “Science, Miss Hawthorne!” punctuating her attempts to understand how the daemon works, were very nicely handled.  There’s a huge conversation where she tries to explain energy manipulation to the Doctor, and he counters that the controlling of psychokinetic energy raised by negative emotions is how the Master channels power and controls the daemon.  Miss Hawthorne despairs, “for the life of her, unable to see where the difference lay” [between the science of the daemons and the magical ideas she has studied to the same end].  Its exchanges like that that I like – where 2 seemingly completely contradictory systems try to understand each other.
   
   There was also plenty for the excellent subsidiary characters to do here – Yates and Benton spend a lot of time in action mode, but also get some great lines, and though Jo spends a portion of the story knocked out, she does her Jo thing of climbing out of a window when Yates isn’t looking to attempt to save the Doctor [and thereby imperilling herself and moving the plot along nicely].  The Master also gives one of his best turns here, very pleasing to see him as a Devil Rides Out style villain, as well as his usual skulking off at the end.  The whole story was a joy – with no extraneous running about bits, I felt – there was sufficient info, character drama and plot action going on in all segments [the idea of the ‘elemental’ in the church; the many incidents with Bok] to keep the narrative flowing along.  Rattling yarn!!  With the usual joy I get from the Brigadier, too! ACTUAL BOOK.)
2. Doctor Who: Option Lock, by Justin Richards (BBC 8^th Dr Adventures)
   (This one had many elements I like, much like the last story reviewed: old houses, strange people in the old rambling house, historical research, mind control, possible supernatural things that turn out to be something else.  It’s funny because the first few pages were terrible – heavy and portentous, and caused me to stop reading the book for a couple of months.  When I re-engaged with it with a sigh, thinking to skim – I loved it, once the plot took off, and stopped talking portentously of the Kameiriens, getting down to the business of the Doctor and Sam.  I was less interested in the business about the invisible Star Wars Ronald Reagan era defence system, Station 9, and the elaborate – and suspensefully written – ruse that caused the Americans to reveal its location. The whole nuclear doom thing has been done enough times that it always causes part of my brain to wander off.  And I’ve never been a fan of political thrillers.  But it was done for good reason, plotwise, and when done again [yes, there were 2 mock nuclear doom incidents in this book], it oddly didn’t feel old. 
   
   Pickering was a good character here, and Sam had some good lines.  Though so far, she suffers as a companion of feeling to this reader as if she’s constantly on catch up, not knowing who she is – only that she idolises the Doctor somewhat [in a way, she’s a proto Rose, of new poo Who].
   
   This was quite an enjoyable story, and felt as if it would have been a good Pertwee era story too – being so governmentally and nuclear policy focused…Oh yes, and there was some almost irrelevant but very interesting red herring plot stuff about a tortured painter in the middle of the book.  Another element I liked. ACTUAL BOOK.)
3. Doctor Who: The Fearmonger, by Jonathan Blum (Big Finish Audio Monthly stories)
   (An excellent adventure with the 7^th Doctor and Ace.  The first one I’ve really enjoyed.  Held together from beginning to end and was very well paced – proper cliffhangers [Ace gets shot!].  I knew all would be fine when Sylvester tried very hard to convince a frightened man by saying: “ You don’t have to do this.  We could just have a nice cup of tea and talk this over sensibly. Ohhh…doesn’t anyone want to do that anymore?” He sounded as if he’d never left the studio and there’d been no gap.  Ace sounded exactly the same in terms of speech inflections, but she’d been written with more calm and maturity – a very nice job.  She was properly helping the Doctor in his schemes and plans [a bit like Liz Shaw used to help Pertwee, as proper colleagues], and there was excellent banter between them. 
   
   The idea of the Fearmonger itself, an alien that hides within people causing them to act out of fear and hatred, and the placing of this within a political context – that was inspired.  Hearing the lovely voice of Jacqueline Pearce, as the persuasive face of the far right, that was quite inspired too.  This one had masses of atmosphere, I visualized it all, it wasn’t just abstract stiff voices – I felt it move and breathe and progress.  10/10!  ON DOWNLOAD.)
4.  Doctor Who: The Marian Conspiracy, by Jacqueline Rayner (Big Finish Audio monthly stories)
   (6^th Doctor.  This one was SUPERB!!  A proper old style historical set in the times of Queen Mary, and full of humour, wit, banter.  Easy characterisation of subsidiary characters, I got them straightaway, yet they felt like slightly more than just cutouts to move the action along.  The sound palette was lovely – music unintrusive but appropriate, and set place and time very well.  It added to both the humour and the drama.  The addition of an entirely new companion, never seen on TV: Evelyn Smythe, a feisty mid fifties historian, was excellent.  She bounced off Colin effortlessly, a strong character herself. 
   
   The only false note about her character was that for a historian, she seemed to have remarkably little obvious understanding of how to NOT create a time paradox – she spent one notable scene explaining to the Tudor characters all about cocoa [not introduced to England till the 17^th century, and then only among the rich]; metal zips on bags, and prescription analgesics – which was necessary as a plot device for later events, that last…but still, clumsy to have it there as an incident, as you’d think she would understand the importance of not changing history too much more than most.  This also applied to the lovely happy ending, where she persuades the Doctor to save 2 characters and their entire families from execution as heretics, plus gets him to tell them why its ok they leave the country and why they’ll be back later…This was a bit…annoying. 
   
   However, it fit with the mood and tone of the story.  As did Colin’s slightly more mellow Doctor.  Not hugely more mellow, not unrealistically mellow – just more humourous and thoughtful, as if he was Bumptious Colin, but on a quiet day.  The pairing did work extremely well, and I look forward to hearing more.  And to more of Jacqueline Rayner’s work altogether.  The framing of the idea of a person disappearing because of events changing in the past – a la Back to the Future?! – was nicely handled here with the Protestant/Catholic Tudor politics and trying to right the balance.  A serious story, but told with a very clever light touch.  I also loved the Reverend Thomas Smythe – what a nice posh villain voice! ON CD.)
5.  Doctor Who: Paradise Towers, by Stephen Wyatt (Target Original)
   (7^th Doctor. I know a lot of people have a big problem with this story, and several others of Sylvester’s. I have never had any problem with this.  I like the setting, the Cronenberg like towerblock.  I like the Kangs and their Clockwork Orange style own slang.  I like the Rezzies, and their ruthless way of keeping alive – I think older people can be very ruthless indeed, much as children can…I like the Caretakers and their ingrained sense of obedience to their bible, the Rulebook, their sense of security and order.  I had no problem with Richard Briers portrayal in the TV episodes – I felt it was both restrained and wonderfully creepily true to several caretakers I’ve known [I’ve known quite a few – for many years my dad was a caretaker in an office block or two – I know the type of person that ends up in these jobs].  I liked the portrayal of what happens when you subtract the middle part of society [the parents, basically] and leave the children and the old to get by.  When you leave them in an environment that is hostile for its own reasons [the Great Architect of the building is disgusted by humans and views them as mess to be cleaned up…a perfectly respectable view, I feel, on my grumpier days – see, *I* could be a caretaker!].  I like the way events eventually cause all the parties to come together despite mistrust and work to free themselves from fear and suspicion, to take steps to becoming an integrated society again.  And I shed tears at the end for the fate of the last minute bravery of Pex – a character I felt a lot of sympathy with, being hardly brave myself!  ‘Pex Lives’ – sniffle.  I really do like this story; and not just because Fluffhead has made me watch it many times; I had no problem the first time round.  Its lots of archetypes together, learning a lesson due to a catalyst: the Doctor, of course.  And Stephen Wyatt’s clear and calm writing make this a good read, when it could have been played farcically. Very much enjoyed.)
6. Doctor Who: Red Dawn, by Justin Richards (Big Finish Monthly Audios)
   (5^th Doctor.  Ahhhh – The Icccccccce Warriorssssssss!  And Oh!  The treachery, counter treachery and greedof humans!  The nobility and honour of Lord ZZaal!  The coldness of Mars!  The brilliant idea of Peri landing a spaceship! [I do like the way the books and audios get her doing far more than she ever had a chance to do in the TV stories, where they underused/misused her, as simply a pretty but moany girl.]  This one had a good claustrophobic atmosphere, taking place entirely in small spaceship and space hangar areas, and switching focus back and forth between 2 main groups of people, all trying to do the right thing, except for one bad apple called Webster.  The music on this one was particularly nice too, a lazy and oddly emotional synth riff in the background, a good spacey sound; with an otherwise very quiet sound palette.  This on was very talky but very clear and a good lesson in what the Ice Warriors think of as honour and diplomacy.  A nice self contained adventure; and I have always liked the Ice Warriors.  ON CD.)
7. Doctor Who: The Spectre of Lanyon Moor, by Nicholas Pegg (Big Finish Monthly CDs)
   (Hmmm.  I was very happy to see Colin reunited with Evelyn again – but her character had significantly changed from the last story; she was quieter and somehow frailer, less acerbic but more boringly sarcastic – as were several of the characters.  This was an odd story, in that it had many elements I like in it: the moors, THE BRIGADIER!, strange little creatures running about, magic and references to the Golden Dawn, historical researches etc.  Yet I found it slow to engage me, though it then took off well.  I found there to be a bit too much straight exposition included, that maybe could have been handled differently.  I liked the line: “Are you telling me my housekeeper has entered into a Faustian Pact with a pixie from outer space?”  But on the whole, sound palette included, I found this one a little patchy.  And I had trouble taking the word ‘fogou’ seriously.  ON CD.)

The Dalek Special I promised you will be coming soon – I realised I had other stories to catch up with finishing and tell you about first!

Happy I’m enjoying the Big Finishes more now – odd how some grip instantly, and hold on; then others seem to slide off me…

Next Dr Who part coming shortly…

Doctor Who books read - Part 6 - first lot for 2014!

Here’s the first lot of Dr Who books for this year.  Be excited!  (Some of you, that is.  The rest of you; lose the will to live, but be polite and English and just wait for the next post without much complaint.)  I seem to have got off to a very Target heavy start, full of the original adventures as seen on TV.  Only one exception this time – an 8^th Doctor segment, and a good one.  This instalment gives you treats of the first, second, sixth and eighth Doctors.

As always with these rambly reviews: SPOILERS ON ALL BOOKS IMMINENT!!!!

A note on order.  Target Originals are not read in order of publication (which was all over the place), but in order of each Doctor, and each Doctor is read in order of their stories broadcast on TV.  However, I jump about in terms of which Doctor I read at any given time.  The Virgin New Adventures for Sylvester will be read in order; as will the BBC 8^th Doctor series (as though they had been on TV, see?  I’m trying to get an arc flavour).  The BBC Past Doctors series and the Virgin Missing Adventures are simply read in terms of which one I fancy next, as they are stand alone adventures slotting in-between the TV ones.

Oh, and in case you forgot, I’ve taken to recording which books I read that are actual paper copies, and which are Kindle or other electronic.  I’m being social historical for my own benefit. I want to see how long it is before I just plug books straight into my brain, how many years before I’m a reading cyborg.

Off we go…

1. Doctor Who: Attack of the Cybermen, by Eric Saward (Target Original)
   (6^th Doctor. Apart from Eric Saward’s idiosyncratic way of telling a story, I finished this in an evening.  Oddly readable and one of those Dr Who stories that was filled with death.  Practically all the characters died, and in a way that felt sudden and almost unnecessary.  I wonder if real life feels like that in war zones: sudden and stupid unnecessary death of practically everyone.  The thing is: the Doctor regretted misjudging Lytton, but how else was he to have judged him?  He was only working on previous experience and current behaviour.  There was also no actual indication that Lytton was working for the Cryons for anything other than money; no hint of principle.  Just because he was on the right side for once didn’t mean he was on the right side for the right reason.  And does that matter?!  Well, it makes you think…ACTUAL BOOK.)

2. Doctor Who: Marco Polo, by John Lucarotti (Target original)
   (1^st Doctor. This was excellent, thoroughly enjoyed it.  For some reason the guest characters all struck me as very real, even Tegana the War Lord, who was really a bit of a walking testosterone stereotype.  I think its because I knew only sketchy information about the period and the characters of Marco Polo and Kublai Khan – the novel made me quite hungry to go and find out more; surely that’s what these historicals always intended – to stimulate 12 year olds [or in this case 42 year olds!] to go and off and learn more about a period. 
   
   I felt the passage of time keenly in this book – their journey across the desert hot by day and freezing by night, taking months, with stops here and there.  Time wasn’t glossed over with montage scenes.  I felt it pass.  Lovely feeling of reality.  Their three attempts at escape, punctuating the action.  The growing intrigues with Tegana, and the friendship between Susan and Ping Cho.  I almost don’t want to see these episodes were they ever recovered, in case my usual boredom with the BBC Hampstead style of acting at the time ruins what for me was a splendid page-turner of a book.  Then again, I do love watching William Hartnell’s face – one moment wise, the next sinister, the next grumpy or thoughtful…Anyway, only time will tell on that front.  Loved this one – 20/10!  ACTUAL BOOK.)

3. Doctor Who: Tomb of the Cybermen, by Gerry Davis (Target Original)
   (2^nd Doctor.  Much better than I expected it to be from watching the episodes of this one.  It’s that Hampstead school of static acting not doing it for me again.  Yet the book: whole different proposition.  Kaftan came across enigmatic but interesting, instead of snobby and stuffy.  Toberman became a tragic but noble figure.  Parry seemed to grow allsorts of personality I failed to see when watching.  Klieg was the only one who remained an unbelievable character for me – the minute he gets his hands on a cybergun he seems all shiny eyed and possessed…and I just didn’t buy it.  The people I liked the best though here were Victoria and the Doctor himself.  She was consistently painted as capable and  practical – not a pretty screamer, as she’s so often remembered; and the Doctor was infinitely thoughtful, his face described so well, with its changing expressions, its history. 
   
   The end was remarkably sober: an apology, an acceptance…all very low key.  The entire story was structured beautifully too: its pacing was excellent, I wasn’t bored for a moment, it all flowed, one thing to the next.  I even felt sorry for the CyberController by the end.  Jamie was his usual punctuative self: creating breaks in an otherwise serious story with his questioning and quips.  Very well done; to make me interested, properly in the cybermen.  I felt their We Will Survive mantra.  Something they wouldn’t understand at all, of course…ACTUAL BOOK.)

4. Doctor Who: The Keys of Marinus, by Phillip Hinchcliffe (Target Original)
   (1^st Doctor.  This might be an unpopular choice from all I’ve read in Who fan forums, but I enjoyed this one on TV and I enjoyed the book even moreso!  I liked the way it was stories within a story, and yet they did all flow together as part of one narrative.  I enjoyed the introductory segment with the acid sea and the meeting with Arbitan; the ‘whispering jungle’ and the creepers with their accelerated growth. I enjoyed fearing for Barbara during the section with the brutish Trapper; the resourcefulness of Susan in the ice cavern section, helping to rebuild the bridge.  The whole Ian getting framed for a murder and the odd trial with its guilty till proven innocent basis was enjoyable too.  There was something clean, uncomplicated and neatly flowing about this story.  Lots of little opportunities explored and then moved on. 
   
   Looking back, I can’t exactly put my finger on why I enjoyed this one so much: maybe such healthy does of Ian and Barbara: I do really enjoy them as companions.  Maybe also the puzzle solving motif; the orderliness of solving the mystery of where the micro circuits are.  I can’t say.  But in bed reading this, after Fluffhead slept, I had to make myself only read a couple of chapters a night and not just rip through it.  I kept seeing William Hartnell’s smiley yet sinister face in my head.  It made me smile. ACTUAL BOOK.)

5. Doctor Who: Vengeance on Varos, by Philip Martin (Target Original)
   (6^th Doctor. Oddly, I really enjoyed this one on TV, greatly sympathised with its themes – yet there was something oddly soulless in the reading of it.  I don’t think this was a fault of the writing, which moved along just fine.  I’m not sure what it was.  Perhaps simply that this theme – still so obviously relevant today, with its reality TV show vibe and the endless piping in of disasters via predatory 24 hour news; the whole blood and circuses at one remove, that of the screen…maybe this group ofthemes simply work better on screen than off?
   
   I also found I had several problems: I don’t think they plotholes as such, just a skimming over the surface of issues that if you put the book down and consider for 5 minutes, would immediately occur to you.  This: why was Varos so poor?  How on earth did they not know the value of Zeitan 7? Surely if you’re going to export something, you’d do a bit of market research?  Even if you never considered exporting and someone came to you with a pittance offer – wouldn’t you still double check??  After all, no one does anyone any favours in the business world – the metal had to be worth something if Sil’s company wanted to buy it!  You wouldn’t accept the first company that came along with an offer – especially if the offer is terribly low and the person fronting the company is as obviously odious and untrustworthy as Sil???!  Please.  It would be like David Cameron trying to sell me shares in the Post Office.  Alarm bells going off all over.
   
   And also: if Varos is busy, as its other export, selling what is effectively torture porn and snuff movies…well…that would have a HUGE market [even if it had to be a huge underground black market].  It would make money the way drugs do…I think the Officer Class in charge of Varos would have to be extremely idle and rubbish businessmen to not be creaming it off everywhere…and even though they did seem to be in luxury whilst the ordinary people were not, the ordinary people seemed to have no clue: were the servants of the Officer Class not recruited from the ranks of the ordinary people, and have families of their own…be a bit better paid…would tell their families of the lifestyles of the other half of the planet??  There’s an invisible Middle Class here somewhere, not written.  [Stanley looked over my shoulder at this point and said I had gone mad the way Who fans can, searching for continuity in a childrens TV show.  I responded with a sniff that lazy plotting is lazy plotting, and you especially shouldn’t dupe children; also – I expect continuity in any scifi world I buy into, I’m just as anal with Charmed, and Star Trek and ehem, loads of other things…]
   
   Lastly: Quillam.  Very underused yet interesting possibilitied character.  Wonder why they didn’t do more with him?
   
   Ohhhh…no, really lastly: the Transmogrification Machine.  How in heaven’s name would that work????
   
   For some reason, my inner skeptic was very irritated with this story and my suspension of disbelief only partial.)

6. Doctor Who: Kursaal, by Peter Angelides (BBC 8^th Doctor Series)
   (I had a massive break in the middle of reading this.  Not because it was bad or uninteresting – on the contrary, it was hooking and absorbing.  I just got called away to other things.  It’s a mark of a good book though, that I came back after an absence of 2 months and picked up just as interested, and not forgetting where I was or the details of the characters. 
   
   This was a werewolf story, based around the idea of a parasitical and sentient virus, the Jax, that had lain dormant a long time and awaited rediscovery.  This happened when a predatory company came to turn the planet they were on into a theme park. Issues of environmentalism, terrorism for conservation, the rights and responsibilities of companies – and the blurring of all lines addressed here were all dealt with through character viewpoints.  Which makes it sound preachy or polemical, when it didn’t read that way at all.  The characters on both sides of the ethical divide on what to do with the planet come off as unlikeable.  In a way, the Jax is more likeable even when it infects Sam: after all, it’s a virus, it does what it needs to do, and it follows its imperatives; just with more brain than a cold. 
   
   I enjoyed this one, I had a good think about the issues [I would be on the HALF side, the naïve people fighting for the supposedly indigenous Jax, I think; what a surprise!].  I enjoyed the Doctor’s pragmatism as well as his principles.  And I enjoyed Sam’s increasing resourcefulness.  I’m wondering if the experience of being infected by the Jax will haunt her [as being wounded haunted her and was examined in such rigorous emotional depth in Vampire Science by Orman and Blum…or as Tegan was haunted by possession by the Mara, to go back to the TV series…]??  Or will it just be glossed over?  ‘Spose I’ll have to wait and see…ACTUAL BOOK.)

As if all this weren’t enough (and I still seem to be going strong), I’m also trying to get going on the Big Finish audio…not all of them, they seem to have experienced an exponential explosion.  I did review the first two of their past Doctors stories way back near the beginning of these reviews, but they will hopefully start popping up more once I get the time to listen (I plan to walk up and down the living room power exercising – heh – some mornings while Fluffhead is at nursery, while listening to these.  I’ll start including them in the reviews here.  I’m planning to try out their past Doctor range as well as the newer 8^th Doctor range.  We’ll see how I go. 

It’s odd you know, it’s an ever expanding universe; there seems room for so much in it…science fiction is great that way, so inclusive and so endlessly imaginative.  I realised, as well, that I’d left out an entire category of Dr Who books: the Big Finish Short Trips short story collections.  I’m a great fan of the short story as a form when 

done well: pithy mini explosions.  So I’ve started collecting those (hello ebay; they are out of print and can go for silly money, some of them).  In time, you’ll see them start to pop up too, here; but I’m not sure whether to mix my short story reading in with my novel reading or not…am I going to confuse my brain?  Or stimulate it with the change of pace?!  Should I leave them till last, after all the novels? (Alllllllllllllllllllllllllll those novels?  How OLD will I be?!)

Anyway, till next time.  I have a bad cold and am going to cough myself away now, with Halls Soothers and some of that nice cough syrup I make.  I shall probably nap briefly.  See why I read science fiction?  A life of absolute fast lane thrills and intellectual rigour here!