http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1984788.html[return][return][return]This is a good Who novel, and a decent Baxter novel. The vast emptinesses are temperhttp://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1984788.html[return][return][return]This is a good Who novel, and a decent Baxter novel. The vast emptinesses are tempered both by the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe's experiences (and all three get some excellent stretching as characters) and by the internal dynamics of the human colony (a classic Troughton-era base under siege, with added marital discord and stroppy teenagers). Yet at the same time he has ancient, weird aliens, and a mystery stretching across millions of years, which entirely convince the reader that this is a Stephen Baxter novel. There are also various pleasing references both to Who continuity and to Baxter's other work, none of them crucial to enjoying the book. Much much better than the last Who book I read set in this corner of the Solar System, and recommended both to Who fans and readers who find Baxter interesting; and indeed to SF readers generally.[return][return](Though I must point out that "The Wearing of the Green" is not a Jacobite tune. Wrong island, and more than half a century out.)...more
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2033779.html[return][return]a tale of the Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe on a frontier planet where various factions are ihttp://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2033779.html[return][return]a tale of the Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe on a frontier planet where various factions are in conflict with each other, and really little of much interest happens. There is a brief framing narrative with Ace and the Seventh Doctor, who intervenes at a crucial point to help his former self. Prose style starts off rather badly but settles down to reasonable standards with occasional info-dumps. Not really recommended except for completists like me....more
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2053145.html[return][return]A slightly unusual Past Doctor Adventure here: the Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe end up in a http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2053145.html[return][return]A slightly unusual Past Doctor Adventure here: the Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe end up in a future which is based very strongly on the work of the late Gerry Anderson, the Tracy family of Thunderbirds fame translated into the Sharon family with their Lightning rescue craft, and various other adaptations from parts of the Andersonverse that I don't know as well.But this future is a dystopia where society had collapsed globally, and which is under threat from the Myloki (who combine attributes of both the Mysterons and the attackers of Earth in UFO). It is lovingly drawn, and my lack of familiarity with the source didn't spoil my appreciation of the detail. Messingham also has the Doctor and companions go through hell - the Doctor so badly injured before the story starts that he almost regenerates, Zoe drawn into a doomed love affair, Jamie traumatised and distrustful - which is not at all true to the series of the time, but does take the characters to interesting places. However, though I liked the setting and what was done with the regulars, I wasn't really grabbed by the plot such as it was, and too many of the borrowed Anderson characters - especially the women - were simply background coloration....more
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2079089.html#cutid1[return][return]This is the first of Terrance Dicks' three novels about the Players, a mysterious rachttp://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2079089.html#cutid1[return][return]This is the first of Terrance Dicks' three novels about the Players, a mysterious race of manipulators of human history for the sake of a grand Game, reminiscent of Roger Zelazny's "The Game of Blood and Dust" (a favourite short story of mine). Anyone who wondered why Ian McNiece's character seemed so chummy with the Doctor back in 2010 can find the answer in this book, which is largely about the Sixth Doctor and Peri encountering Churchill in the Boer War and then in 1936, though with a brief flashback to an adventure of the Second Doctor with Churchill in 1915, in which the future prime minister is rescued from capture by the Germans.[return][return]Dicks is of the generation who knew Churchill as a genuine time-travelling hero, in that he progressed from a young officer in the British army's last meaningful cavalry charge at Omdurman in 1898 to being the man in charge of a nuclear power. It sort of seems obvious in retrospect that Churchill and the Doctor should meet, and it's almost surprising that it hadn't happened on screen or page before.[return][return]The plot itself is thrilling stuff, ending in confrontation with Joachim von Ribbentrop and a direct intervention into the 1936 abdication of Edward VII, where the Doctor and Peri successfully keep history back on the right lines despite the efforts of the Players. Fun, if not profound, told in Dicks' characteristically clear prose, and bringing in plenty of references to Dicks' other Who work - The War Games, of course, but also Dekker from Blood Harvest and off-screen references to the events of Timewyrm: Exodus. Interested readers can pick up a brand new edition, as it is one of the 11 books reissued by the BBC for the 50th anniversary....more
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2067118.html[return][return]I found this rather a confused and slightly tedious tale, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe landing http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2067118.html[return][return]I found this rather a confused and slightly tedious tale, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe landing on a planet where medievalish humans are dominated by an anti-science cult and various subterranean alien races emerge to do battle or otherwise prop up the plot. The is one nice scene with Jamie and Zoe driving a hovercar together. And there is a nice continuity touch: the I in IMC originally stood for Issigri....more
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2016156.html[return][return][return]This is an exceptionally violent Who book, taking the Second Doctor, Jamie and Victohttp://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2016156.html[return][return][return]This is an exceptionally violent Who book, taking the Second Doctor, Jamie and Victoria and dropping them into a vicious colonial conflict which is pretty clearly based on the Indonesian conquest of West Papua. This amount of sex and gore isn't really my thing (and seems wel out of place for a Who novel of the black and white era), but I found it a compelling read none the less - clearly the author is passionate about the setting (one of the more miserably botched decolonisations of the 1960s) and the story is tightly plotted and well told with compelling guest characters. Not yer typical Who novel, and not necessarily in a bad way....more
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1999423.html[return][return][return]The script of what is still the best Cyberman story, published in 1989 at a time whehttp://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1999423.html[return][return][return]The script of what is still the best Cyberman story, published in 1989 at a time when the episodes were still lost. There's a brief introductory interview with Davis (and a few words also with script editor Victor Pemberton) pointing out the roots of the story in Erich von D�niken, and the advantages of using very few sets and of not giving too much away. Though actually what struck me was that this is partially a reboot, the first time a season had opened without William Hartnell, and so there are a couple of background information moments - the Doctor's age, and his thoughts about his family - that we don't often get. Victoria also gets more action than usual, though Jamie is more comic relief and Doctor's boyfriend. Interesting to approach it from a different angle....more
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