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 | At last! A full length novel! |
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| What: | The Power of the Daleks (Target novelisations) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 4 October 2011 |
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| Rating: |  10 |
When I first read the novelisation of The Power of The Daleks I was really well and truly hooked by the fact that here at last was a decent, more in depth novelisation at last, goodness knows what took the Target guys so long to realise that full decent sized books cant be all bad. Just from the fantastic illustration on the cover by stalwart ALister Pearson, I knew this tale was going to be great to say the least! And boy, was I right.
I love the opening rememberances of the Tenth Planet, they help set up the regeneration of the Doctor to a tee. The particular descriptions of the time lords pain is very well written, and makes you feel really sorry for the time lord. And of course, John Peel perfectly captures Pat Troughton's new Doctor brilliantly. I particularly like the final scene where Ben finally admit that the Doctor is the Doctor and not some wierd interloper, this is a great little added scene that rounds off the novel well indeed.
This has a staple kind of Who plot, where the Doctor tries to warn idiots of what they are dealing with, and is ignored and then the whole colony pays the consequence. one of the most memorable aspects of David Whitakers script of this story was the far deeper depth given to the Daleks at last, set as whispering schemers rather than just plain exterminators. The Doctor knows of this cunning of course, and his lamenting at the blindness of the colony is really portrayed well here in this book. But it is really really well done as Ive said, and the characters all possess a lot of depth that is capitalised within the novel, everyone has a back story and the dalek action is brilliant written by John. Aside from Evil of The Daleks, this is definitely the best Target novel of the lot. Its a great and gripping read from start to finish.
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| Very strong read actually... |
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As per usual, one has to put up with the severely limited page count in this story, but for once this story lacks nothing much at all from its screen counterpart, a clear credit to Stephen Wyatt's writing style.
I love the TV version, it is one of my all time favourite slices of Doctor Who. It is a story with a high amount of humour but also some very disturbing horror thrown in to upset the brew somewhat. It boasts all the staples for a brilliant show: creepy clowns, especially the unsettling Chief Clown, and the obnoxious and pious Captain Cook, played to perfection by TP McKenna in the TV version. Stephen's written Captain is very much the same as his TV counterpart, which is excellent. The character is one of those usual brilliant Doctor Who nasties..
I love the character of Mags, and her treatment by the Captain is disgusting and yet not unbelievable, its a male chauvinistic idiotic who has control of an apparaently weaker female alien from the planet Vulpana. In the book of course her transformation is going to be very hard to live up to the viewable screen, but actually Stephen does it again here, and I could see that frankly brilliant make up in the cliffhanger to part three all over again.
The other characters here too are well written and match up almost seamlessly to their TV personas, which as Ive said is not bad in such a short novel. And the story itself is eerie and something just a little different for a change, this story was the highlight of its TV season and it is a well written, ripely characeterised novel too. Well done Stephen, I cant wait til I get Paradise Towers, Im hoping that is of the same quality as this novel is. One of the best of the Target range so far.
| What: | Silver Nemesis (Target novelisations) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 28 September 2011 |
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| Rating: |  8 |
A perfectionist who loves the TV shows so much should always remember the Target writers all had a certain page count limit. For that case, a huge amount of Who tales have drastic cuts and barely any description that borders on the verge of a true full length novel. Often the novels just fall so short of being as good or better than the TV version that they are based on.
Silver Nemesis is on middle ground. While Im greatly pleased that Kevin's novel includes a lot of the untransmitted scenes in his novel, Im also at loss to explain how my favourite line in the TV version gets cut from the book entirely. "Dont thank them yet, you might live to regret it" along with Sylvester's grave look is one of my favourite scenes in the entire history of Doctor Who. Also, the scene of Lady Peinforte's amalgamation with the statue of Nemesis is described barely and far too briefly. But for once, these are the two only major shortfalls of this story.
We get a few tantalisingly short flashbacks to Aces past in Perivale which seem inherent in the seventh doctor novels, such as Ghost Light and The Curse of Fenric, which are brilliant. Its nice to get at least a snippet of a background story for one or any of the characters. And the scene in the TV version where she fights the Cybermen is greatly expanded here, as she runs from several houses, barely escaping a nasty death by the Cybermen. The descriptions here are of a far more worthy amount, and add real meat to the climax of the tale.
My only other sadness would be the removal of the "Ace, duck, no DUCK!" scene too. Huh? That was a simply great scene that should have been kept in the novel, but its cut again. Also, maybe the descriptions of the cyber speech may just be too emotionally written for me, could have got away with just the Creature intoned emotionlessly, not all the emotional words we are given here. But maybe this is a race of Cybermen who all werent processed fully eh?!
But otherwise, this is a strong little novel, I particularly the way Richard is written, as a central and weak servant, but capable of moments of sheer bravery and force that are palpable even in written form. So not at all bad, this book. It just suffers the same as many other target books in being too rediculously short! Only Power and Evil of the Daleks escaped this and are the finest books in the genre. But considering the restraints, overall Kevin has done a sterling job here. This is one of the better Doctor Who novelisations, there is no doubt of that.
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| Good start turning to utter drivel |
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| What: | The Taking of Planet 5 (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Clive T Wright, St Lawrence, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Sunday 25 September 2011 |
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| Rating: | 1 |
Starting off as a strange but enjoyable plot which weaves the strangeness of love craft into a complex story. But this strangeness quickly just feels like rambling madness the huge plot recreating a new universe,world which seems to turn everything on it's head but feels unbelievable.
After a while so many super human creatures with tentacles who can't die just leaves you with a sense of total confusion, as the Dr and his companions seem to escape death at the hands of these impossible beings far too often.
The worst 8th Dr book I've ever read.
| What: | Tales from the Vault (The Companion Chronicles audiobooks) |
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| By: | Clive T Wright, St Lawrence, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Saturday 24 September 2011 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
What do you do with all the left Overs and cast offs from every Dr Who plot. Stick it in a whole in the ground and use it to kills aliens.
A great story which leaves to the open for an endless number of future stories as UNIT explore the collection. Looking forward to the next one.
| What: | The Lost Stories: Animal (The Lost Stories audio dramas) |
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| By: | Clive T Wright, St Lawrence, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Saturday 24 September 2011 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
Somehow this all comes together to form a great enjoyable story with some clever twists. Ace seems to take a back seat and the new companion comes to the front, pleasingly as she is actually puzzled and amazed about the future. Almost two stories linked together both on their own enjoyable but put together make a clever plot.
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| Special Edition - Fancy Effects Day |
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| What: | Day of the Daleks (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Graham Pilato, Washington D.C., United States |
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| Date: | Thursday 22 September 2011 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Day of the Daleks was never a classic story. It was notable for the return of the Daleks after their "final end" in Evil of the Daleks, five years before. Also, this is the first time we see Ogrons as their servants. However, these Daleks needn't be in this story at all, except for the purpose of old Who continuity, to say that Earth is under their evil regime in the middle of the 22nd Century (as established in 1964's Dalek Invasion of Earth). This plot is really not about Daleks at all, but time travel paradoxes and a little bit of a play with good intentions.
The final episode is where almost all the really satisfying parts are, as the realization comes that this paradox is occurring, and the people who seemed to be good guys turn out to be the opposite.
The story does work, but has some very skaky acting, especially on the part of some of the marauding time guerrillas, and way too much simple exposition is used to tell of what the future is without an image to recognize as a pitiful future, as in Dalek Invasion of Earth. (Classic drama criticism: if you can, show, don't tell). Aubrey Davis does something approaching a good job as the Controller, but he's burdened with impossible lines and the most uninteresting Daleks ever to communicate with.
With the souped up FX of this special edition, we now have the same story with very impressive gunshot explosions and time travel tunnels. It doesn't feel outrageously dated anymore, and is actually a lot more palatable for the uninitiated to 70s Who. However, it really wasn't the FX that made this a bit of a ho-hum story and a minor disappointment, it was the stuff I just mentioned in the previous paragraph.
Still, I'd love to see the dinosaurs of Invasion of the Dinosaurs updated like this. For that matter, the Loch Ness Monster of Terror of the Zygons would benefit from a good FX updating also.
| What: | Ten Little Aliens (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Friday 16 September 2011 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
"Ten Little Aliens" starts out like "Starship Troopers," but then shifts to "Aliens" and then into Devil-possession story. The story itself is pure gory science-fiction movie stuff. A group of trainee elite space soldiers get trapped on an asteroid and spend the rest of the novel pursued by a deadly menace. If a reader does not think too hard about matters, then the excitement and tension are enough to carry the reader along to the end. On that level, Cole has scored well. At that level it is better than the somewhat similar "Fear of the Dark" by Trevor Baxendale.
The demerits are these: the science of the Schirr is basically an excuse to try to make magic seem like technology; the Schirr science makes no sense; for example, how does one get enough power to move an asteroid from crushing people?; Cole forgets that since this is an asteroid it is unlikely to have Earth-level gravity; the background is not worked out enough, so that it is difficult to tell the exact relationship between Schirr, Morpheians, and humans, or what the war is really all about; the soldiers are all too "soldiery," more like cliché movie soldiers than real ones.
To summarize: If one wants taught, action-packed adventure, this novel delivers.
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| 4 stories getting better and better |
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| What: | Recorded Time (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Clive T Wright, St Lawrence, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 13 September 2011 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
Starting with a king and a magic pen, this collection of story gets slowly better and better. the final is a strong clever story on a dying research station with a great twist.
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| One thing that truly grates... |
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| What: | Day of the Daleks (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 13 September 2011 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
What is it with the the Who theme tune playing for a few seconds after each episode reprise? It is rather annoying, and it makes the editing look jerky and a mess. I much rather the BBC have put special effects on the abridged un episodic version, then we would have had that annoying jumping and Who theme that spoilt the effect for me somewhat.
The Special edition could have been any better in other ways though too. Overall the new edition is far more bold and the ending is far more epic in feeling, although even here one can rather tell which ogrons are the original and which are the new, and the effects of the newly shot scenes do rather jar with the older footage, as the slight grain to the old footage is all but absent from all the new shots. Its rather like a hodge podge that could have been done a bit better. But the ending is more grand, and gives rather more of a sense of scale than the original ending.
But I still prefer the version that is abridged, without those annoying who theme few seconds refrains. What were the producers thinking of on this one? I would wish that the BBC read this and put the effects on this version, one wonders why they didnt, as Battlefield got the abridged treatment, so why not here?
Otherwise this tale does work very well, and the new version does cut out a few fluffs inherent in the original, very clever editing. Overall i like the new effects version, but its not the best by far.
The New dalek voices are the best thing. At least they dont jar or grate, and they make the daleks all the more menacing and impacting along the way. The best added piece of dialogue, is the single added exterminate to the end of part two, which makes it more of a traditional and good ending, not just the silent dalek we're treated to in the original version. Nick Briggs again does a great job. Although to be honest Im one of the few fans who thinks that the original voices werent all that bad as many make out, they were distinctive and decidedly different from all the dalek tales before.
Grrr! If only the special edition had been of an abridged nature! Then my mark would have been nearer to ten for sure.
The acting in the tale is excellent, and the scripting is very strong, making this story one of the strongest Jon Pertwee tales. The fact that the Guerillas become involved in their own history is excellently described and explained. There are no plots threads hanging loose and its all very well rounded overall. And the good Doc does get fired at first in opart two, so his shooting of that Ogron isnt as rather heartless as it appears in the original tale. So, not too bad, just not a out and out winner either.
| What: | Borrowed Time (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | David Morgan, Liverpool, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Monday 12 September 2011 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
WOW!
| What: | Dead of Winter (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Adam Regula, Horseheads, NY, United States |
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| Date: | Sunday 11 September 2011 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
Not bad, but a Bit slow at times...
Some very odd and interesting characters though if you stick with it.
Wasn't my favorite of the 11th doctor novels but not the worst either.
Good read for a slow and rainy afternoon.
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| Blood sport on a lunar Wasteland |
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| What: | Hunter's Moon (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Adam Regula, Horseheads, NY, United States |
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| Date: | Sunday 11 September 2011 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
This was a fun read and had a good pacing, although some of the human characters act in ways that made me want to yell at them at times!
Very good portrayal of Rory I thought; I love him as a character more and more!
The setting of a industrial wasteland re-purposed by alien gangsters for their own personal hunting grounds was a very cool aspect of the book I thought.
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| In Some Ways Better Than The Real Thing |
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| What: | Republica (BBV Audio Adventures in Time and Space) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Wednesday 7 September 2011 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Republica is an interesting "what if" exercise. Before there was Big Finish, BBV launched this pseudo-Doctor Who that was pretty much Doctor Who in all but a few particulars. Ace and "The Professor" travel in time, land where they do not expect, then quickly find mischief. As other reviewers have noted, McCoy plays the role nicely understated, in many ways more like "The Doctor" than his usual portrayal. The story itself presents us with an alternate history in which the British Protectorate did not fall and the Restoration never happened. Now in the early 21st century, England is a cleaner, more efficient society, but on the verge of war as the latest Charles attempts to retake the crown and a mysterious Frenchman plays both sides for reasons of his own. It is classic Who in its fashion, not brilliant, but enjoyable.
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| Not what I was hoping for... |
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| What: | The Krillitane Storm (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Darek Pilař, Pardubice, Czech Republic |
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| Date: | Saturday 3 September 2011 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
I was really look forward to this book. And I must said that it was disappointment. Premise of the story is great, first chapter is exactly what i was hoping from this book and then it took bad spin. Krillitanes make in more then half of the story just play second fiddle. When they finally take over the book from themself it's almost end of the story.
It was good book, but I was really long looking forward for this and then... well disappointment
| What: | Independence Day (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 31 August 2011 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
An okay sort of book. What happens to Ace interested me more than what happened to the Doctor.
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| There should have been another way... |
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| What: | To The Death (Eighth Doctor Adventures audios) |
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| By: | Quanna Moulmans, Brussels, Belgium |
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| Date: | Tuesday 30 August 2011 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
There should have been another way...
My first Targetnovel!
| What: | Heroes of Sontar (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Quanna Moulmans, Brussels, Belgium |
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| Date: | Tuesday 30 August 2011 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
Heroes of Sontar is fantastic. It's the perfect mix between comedy and drama. The story is great, fast paced and action packed. I was never a great fan of the Sontarans, but the ones in this particular story had my attention within seconds, especially the one who lost his tongue. He has to be my favourite Sontaran ever.
As for the TARDIS team, they were all given the chance to take central stage. The dialogue between Tegan and Turlough is fun in the beginning, but does get a bit repetitive in the end. Snappy comment from Tegan, snappy comment back from Turlough. And so on. That scene between Tegan and Nyssa however, was brilliantly done and really emotional. The Doctor was great, but then he is the Doctor.
A brilliant story performed by a brilliant cast. Well worth a listen!
| What: | The Sun Makers (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Friday 26 August 2011 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
The Sun Makers is one of the very best 4th Doctor storys complete with a womderful, witty script by the late great Bob Holmes.
Sparkling OTT performances from Henry Woolf as the collector & Richard Leeech as Hade make this a must see.
If you have not seen this you are in for a teat, if you have remind yourself of a gem.
The DVD has a couple of good items "Running From The Tax Man" is an indepth making of Docu & "The Doctor's Composer part Two " continues an in depth look at the work of Dudley Simpson.
