I Can Decide What Happens to Spike & Lynda!

That Was The Who That Was!

A round up of the Doctor Who that I have been watching, reading, listening to etc etc!

The King's Dragon

This was my first Eleventh Doctor novel. I will freely admit that chosing it as the first was determined by the fact that Leslie has secured an interview with author Una McCormack for TTZ9 but I do also own one of her Deep Space Nine novels (My second fave show after Who) which I've not finished yet but have enjoyed what I read.

I wasn't sure what to expect from the Eleventh Doctor in print. Like the Second Doctor so much of his performance is the physical; the shifting eyebrows, the baby giraffe gait, the hands all over the place. However McCormack captures it perfectly as there is the constant sense that not only does her Doctor sound right he moved right, an impressive feat given we're talking about prose. Also well captured are companions Amy Pond (With insight in to her insecurities and abandonment issues from childhood) and Rory (who is also quite a physical character).

The story is simple but not simplistic and echoes the fairytale feel of the Moffat season as we have a storybook town with a castle made of gold and natives in the sort of timeless psuedo medieval garb that they seem to have in such stories. Oh and there's a dragon of course!

I read the book almost in one sitting on a Saturday where very unusually I was working. The reason for that was to do with the beaurocracy of my job so I couldn't help but raise a wry smile at the scenes towards the end of the book where the Doctor leaves the fairytale world below and has to deal with space beaurocrats. Amy makes sure to steal a space pen for Rory.

All in all a great start for my experience of the Eleventh Doctor in print. Whilst I was a bit concerned that the size of the books have grown but the amount of pages seems to have shrunk, implying they're being aimed at an even younger audience still, as with the best children's novels they don't patronise and are thus rewarding for us tie wearing accountants who also wish for a space pen.

State of Decay

Wibbly Stoopid Timey Saywhatnow?!

Phantasmagoria

Leslie and I are very very very slowly working our way through Big Finish's back catalogue. This is only the second release so you can see how slowly!

The Fifth Doctor and Turlough are an interesting combination, they work so much better when the squabblesome Tegan isn't around. I also think that Turlough is a very interesting character who could have been used to greater effect in the series.

This seemed to me very influenced by Blackadder the Third, especially the episode Amy and Amiability. The setting was interesting though and the late Jacobean period isn't one that's been too often visited in Doctor Who.

I personally don't rate David Walliams much as an actor so his voice irritated me throughout as he played a cowardly gentleman but the rest of supporting cast were interesting enough to hold the interest. Peter Davison does sound a lot older than his onscreen incarnation but that's fine, his presence is greater and more Doctorish. I certainly imaged him as the Fifth Doctor from Time Crash rather than from Resurrection of the Daleks.

Conundrum

When the first of the recent tube strike occured I had to plan a route to work that took me southwesterly to Balham and then back north to Shepherd's Bush via national rail, rather than my usual route of north to Canada Wate and then west to White City on the underground. I rather naively thought I'd have time to read and so asked the Twittersphere to recommend two good Who novels for me to take on the commute. Jon Arnold of Shooty Dog Thing was first in with Conundrum and Managra.

Conundrum was always one of my favourite NAs. I first read it on holiday in Portugal six months after it first came out. Although I wasn't planning to I enjoyed rereading it so much that I ended up writing about it for TTZ8 in the New Adventures recommendation article in addition to The Highest Science and The Also People.

The colourful cast of characters is deliberate of course; the local white witch, the kid adventurers, the private dick, the comic book superhero... This is a Doctor Who story that can only work in print and is a worthy successor to The Mind Robber. See my review in TTZ8 for more on that but there's so much else from the scene where Ace gets attacked by flying copies of New Adventure novels to the Doctor playing scrabble in impossible ways, this is just a great book and despite being part of an arc, I think you can read it as a standalone.

Managra

I've not read this book since it first came out and I don't think I was the right age at the time (14) to fully appreciate it. Early this year I read Decalog 5 and enjoyed the two Stephen Marley short stories so was looking forward to rereading this and seeing whether I was not better able to get it, my 14 year old self having labelled the story boring.

Well yes is the short answer, I did enjoy this. The sheer imagination and attention to detail in creating 33rd Century Europa was amazing. I also have a better understanding of history and so could appreciate more the various historical "reprises" like Byron and Casanova, though I'm sure that there are many many more references that went over my head.

My only criticisms of the book are the rushed seeming ending but more importantly the character of the Doctor. He just doesn't sound like Tom Baker, even allowing that in his earlier years like Season 13 (This novel is set between Planet of Evil and Pyramids of Mars) he is a lot more moody and alien, the Doctor in Managra has the odd flash of humour but on the whole is very secretive and overly verbose. The rhythm just seems wrong and I couldn't hear Baker's fruity voice at all.

Given that criticism I would still nonetheless recommend this book, Europa ia a world I'd like to revisit.

As an aside, was it ever mentioned in the TV series that Sarah Jane's parents died or was that an invention of the novels? If the latter is the case then it's been canonised by The Sarah Jane Adventures.

Black Orchid

This was my first time seeing this and I always love watching a "new" Classic Who. This story is short and sweet but more importantly, it's fun! What comes across very strongly is how much potential this TARDIS crew had, which was squandered by endless scenes of them arguing all the live long day. Here they're all relaxed and all getting on with each other and having a whale of a time travelling. Tegan actually laughs and smiles throughout this! Sure Adric does whine but not in an annoying way and Sarah Sutton clearly relished the chance to get out of the confines of the straightlaced Nyssa and has a ball as Ann Talbot.

I loved that for once the Doctor having to prove his innocence for being accused of murder does so by showing the police officers the inside of the TARDIS. I actually really wanted Sgt Markham and PC Cummings to come aboard permanantly as companions. The latter in particular already had a catchphrase which could be used throughout his travels - "Strike me pink!"

The Waters of Mars

I rewatched this as research for my Adric article in TTZ8. The article has been brewing for almost a year because the seeds were born the first time I watched this. The fantastic scene where the Doctor talks about fixed points in time to Adelaide I immedietely wondered if the Doctor had always known that Adric would die.

Opinion on this episode is split here at TTZ Towers. I love it, Leslie hates it. Then again I also love The Fires of Pompeii and she doesn't and I think the two stories have a lot of thematic similarities. I like episodes that are future historicals and that the Doctor can't just save the day because a future fact is every bit as significant as the Great Fire of London.

I was a bit wary of The Time Lord Victorious as the end and you can't help but wonder that if the Doctor was inclined to take this route he'd surely have done it sooner (not letting Rose slip through his fingers for example) but on the whole I think it made sense.

Earthshock

It's been years since I rewatched this and again it's down to the memory of it being quite boring. The memory cheats as it did end up being quite watchable but it was far from a fantastic story.

I think because I had rewatched every Adric story prior to this as background to my article I was really looking for stuff to back up my theory and so a lot of scenes took on greater significance for me, like the argument the Doctor and Adric have in the TARDIS followed by the Doctor seemingly desperate to keep Adric close by at all times.

As ever the Cybermen are pretty rubbish and the crew of the freighter were all pretty poorly acted. I also didn't get why if the Cybermen had already been to Earth and planted a bomb that they didn't therefore plant several bombs in case one failed? I also had cause to wonder just how much uncharted caves there will be left for archeologists to explore in the 26th century...?

I've never been a fan of Adric and think that his only great performance is in Full Circle, though he's not bad in Black Orchid. His death in Earthshock just doesn't have that much of an impact upon me but maybe I'm as cold hearted as the Cybermen.

The Lodger

I don't usually watch the repeats on BBC3 so soon after a series has aired but I was home alone one evening and this was a pretty funny so I sat down for it. I do enjoy Gareth Roberts work (Will he be the next producer after Moffat?) and this was a fun little episode and the perfect calm before the storm of the finale.

I've never seen Gavin and Stacey so only know James Corden as the fat kid from Teachers. I therefore didn't have any preconceptions about him as an actor and thought he nailed the part of Craig perfectly. Matt Smith was at his comedic best with the air kisses and the various faux pas, and yet the Doctor is not so blind that he can't see Craig and Sophie are in love with each other.

When the episode first aired I did have cause to wonder whether the Doctor really would be so clueless about day to day life as a human, even ignoring that it's his favourite planet and he has a preference for travelling with humans, he was exiled to Earth for quite some time in the 1980s (Yes, that's where I sit on the UNIT dating debate). Did the Third Doctor never socialise with his colleagues? Did he never sup a pint with Benton or have a curry with Jo? Surely he didn't lock himself away in his laboratory the whole time?

Of course that's overthinking things and I do think the Doctor works better as an alien than when he seems like just a very smart human.

I can't wait for Meglos to come out on DVD, that's another classic Who I've not seen.

Made of Steel

I know it's fashionable these days for Who fans to bash Terrance Dicks but I have really enjoyed most of the original novels he's written like Timewyrm: Exodus, Blood Harvest, Shakedown and Players. I can see from my rereadings of the novelisations (they're easier to carry on the tube) that they can at times be formulaic but they served their purpose at the time.

However Revenge of the Judoon was one of the worst Who novels I've read and I was thus wary of Made of Steel. I finished it very quickly and whilst it's not terrible, it is very boring.

The plot, such as it is, sees a few surviving Cybermen trying to lure the Doctor in to a trap so he'll reopen the Void and restore the Cyber army. Snooze!

I appreciate and applaude the Quick Reads initiative and love that Doctor Who is a part of that but I don't see that as excuse to just rattle off something quickly. The only other Who quickie that I've read was The Sontaran Games and that was a lot more interesting and whilst not Earth shattering at least felt like a decent if short read. This just seemed rushed, as though Uncle Terry wasn't even trying.

Ace! The Inside Story of the End of an Era

This is a fantastic full colour hardback book by Sophie Aldred with Mike Tucker that forms something of a memoir to the final two and a bit years of the original series of Doctor Who. Aldred covers the anecdotal side of things in a friendly and enthusiastic manner with everything from rehersals to filming and all her co-stars. I remember she used to write semi regularly for DWM with her remanicess of the show and I do remember Ghost Light being a particular favourite (No, not because of the topless bit!). It comes across that she was a young actress who'd finally made her big break and who whilst excited remained very humbled by it and tried not to take it for granted.

Tucker comes from a different angle and is all about the special effects. This is technically interesting and you have to admire his skill in coming up with all these things on Who's microbudget but it can read a little dry in comparison with Aldred.

The main draw of the book though will be the gorgeous photos, many published here and nowhere else, coming as they do from Aldred's personal collection. There's also a few done especially for the book from the great Rememrance-esque cover to Ace in her space bitch gear as seen in the New Adventure novels. Although Aldred looks dang hot, you can appreciate that had the NA's ever been filmed, she would have ended up looking pretty silly in the long run.

Thanks for reading. The next TW3 should be shorter as I'll aim to do these once a week. Next time we'll definitely have a review of Head Games, Silver Nemesis and issue 2 of Fish Fingers & Custard fanzine. I hope to also watch Revenge of the Cybermen and The Five Doctors this weekend and there's been talk of Underworld and Planet of Giants. Oh! I recently watched The Rescue, how could I forget! Ok that'll go in next time, plus I just bought my second Eleventh Doctor novel Night of the Humans.