Doctor Who and the Ice Warriors

The world is in the grip of a second Ice Age. Despite a coordinated global effort, the glaciers still advance. But they are not the only threat to the planet. Buried deep in the ice, scientists at Britannicus Base have discovered an ancient warrior. But this is no simple archaeological find. What they have found is the commander of a spaceship that crashed into the glacier thousands of years ago. Thawed from the ice, and knowing their home planet Mars is now a dead world, the Ice Warriors decide to make Earth their own...Can the Doctor and his friends overcome the warlike Martians and halt the advance of the glaciers?

First thing to say is I was surprised to find that Brian Hayles novelised his own scripts. For some reason I thought Terrance Dicks had done it. Second thing I was surprised about was Hayles seemed confused about which Doctor he was writing for. The Second Doctor has a reputation for being impossible to capture in print, a lot of the success of his characterisation being down (and rightly so!) to Patrick Troughton's performance. In this book he call every second person "old chap" which sound more like something the Pertwee version would say (and indeed the Between the Lines section at the end suggests that may be the case), but constantly calling Jamie "lad?" I don't remember that ever happening?

Otherwise it was a very faithful novelisation of the TV serial. My only complaint is one of the best lines in the serial was cut (the Doctor's reply to Jamie's question about if the Ice Warriors came in a spaceship: "Well, I don't think they came by Shetland pony!"). But the other great line of story still survives (which I had forgotten about until Mark Gatiss - appropriately the introduction for this novel is written by the man who brought the Ice Warriors back recently in Cold War).

'Suddenly, one year...' Clent paused, still remembering the terrible event, '... there was no Spring.'

A more perfect and simple moment of exposition I've yet to find.

The Claws of Axos

"The claws of Axos are already embedded in the Earth's carcass."

I used to think it was around The Claws of Axos that the Pertwee era started to go downhill. However upon reviewing this (and having seen Colony in Space) I've changed my mind. The story itself is imaginative and original and the way it's realised is creative (especially the Axons in their various forms). But it has it's weak points (most notably Peter Bathurst's Mr Chin, possibly the most obnoxious character ever to appear in Doctor Who). It may not be brilliant but it's not too bad either. Maybe an average of what the Pertwee era was all about.

The Name of the Doctor

Okay, I'm in shock.

It was a good episode. Maybe not in the same league as The Angels Take Manhattan, but still good. The bits with all the old Doctors was great, the mystery of Clara is solved. But then ending... what the hell???

Roll on November 23!

Nightmare in Silver

When I heard that Neil Gaiman was writing an episode for this series I got very excited. Aside from being a fan of his work anyway, The Doctor's Wife was a classic and easily the best Matt Smith episode so far. So, did this episode live up to my expectations?

So, what's to like about Nightmare in Silver?

• The Cybermen: scarier than they've been in a while. And the latest "upgrade" looks great too.
• The nods to The Moonbase, Revenge of the Cybermen, Earthshock and Tomb of the Cybermen
• Matt. As ever. Especially having to play two different versions of the Doctor.
• Warrick Davies. For a while I thought Clara was going to marry him after all!
• And everything else really.

I short (sorry Warrick!) it wasn't quiet in the same league as The Doctor's Wife. But still a great episode.

A post-script. I was recently listening to the Splendid Chaps podcast Four/Comedy (and if you aren't following their podcast I urge you to do so). And one of the contributors was talking about a conversation he'd has with Neil Gaiman where he'd asked if Steven Moffat stepped down as Doctor Who producer, would he consider taking over. Gaiman initially said he'd decline citeing other commitments of his own. But when pressed if he could, his answer was "Hell yeah!" A Neil Gaiman produced Doctor Who. Now that would be something to see!

Doctor Who and the Abominable Snowman

The Doctor has been to Det-Sen Monastery before, and expects the welcome of a lifetime. But the monastery is a very different place from when the Doctor last came. Fearing an attack at any moment by the legendary Yeti, the monks are prepared to defend themselves, and see the Doctor as a threat. The Doctor and his friends join forces with Travers, an English explorer out to prove the existence of the elusive abominable snowmen. But they soon discover that these Yeti are not the timid animals that Travers seeks. They are the unstoppable servants of an alien Intelligence.

First thing to say is I liked the Stephen Baxter's introduction. It's probably the most exciting thing he's ever written!

Sooner or later a novelisations written by Terrance Dicks was going to appear. Aside from being Doctor Who's script editor from the late Troughton to the end of the Pertwee era, Terrance wrote the majority of the Target Doctor Who novels.The influence he had on today's Doctor Who writers is profound (Paul Cornell, for one, is a huge fan). For me, one of the earliest novels I can remember reading from cover to cover was his adaptations of Robots of Death and The Invisible Enemy.

Doctor Who and the Abominable Snowmen was one of the his first novelisations. Alas I can't compare it to the TV original as only one out of the six episodes exits in the BBC's archives. But the novelisation itself is vintage Dicks; well-written and a joy to read.

Doctor Who and the Cybermen

"In 2070, the Earth's weather is controlled from a base on the moon. But when the Doctor and his friends arrive, all is not well. They discover unexplained drops of air pressure, minor problems with the weather control systems, and an outbreak of a mysterious plague. With Jamie injured, and members of the crew going missing, the Doctor realises that the moonbase is under attack. Some malevolent force is infecting the crew and sabotaging the systems as a prelude to an invasion of Earth. And the Doctor thinks he knows who is behind it: the Cybermen."

Sadly, I didn't enjoy this as much as the previous three novelisations. Maybe it was because it's based on a story - The Moonbase -  that isn't that well regarded (and I'm sure what exists of this story was on the Lost in Time DVD, but I don't remember seeing it. So it really was memorable!) but it seemed to me to be really sloppily written. Seems to me Gerry Davis didn't think much of this story either.

Good introduction by Gareth Roberts though!

The Crimson Horror

And wasn't that enjoyable? Very classic Doctor Who.  Lots of mystery and black humour. Easily one of Mark Gatiss' best episodes.

And next week we've got Neil Gaiman. It'll be interesting to see if he can top The Doctor's Wife.

Doctor Who and the Tenth Planet

The TARDIS brings the Doctor and his friends to a space tracking base in the Antarctic - and straight into trouble. A space mission is going badly wrong, and a new planet has appeared in the sky. Mondas, ancient fabled twin planet of Earth has returned. Soon its inhabitants arrive. But while they used to be just like the humans of Earth, now they are very different. Devoid of emotions, their bodies replaced with plastic and steel, the Cybermen are here. Humanity needs all the help it can get, but the one man who seems to know what's going on is terminally ill. As the Cybermen take over, the Doctor is dying...

First thing to like about this ebook was the introduction by Tom MacRae (he who wrote Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel and the wonderful The Girl Who Waited) where he recounts a conversation he's had with an 8 year old fan. And this fan is astonish to discover we lived in an age before DVDs, iView, Red Button, BBC3 (or ABC2 or UK-TV), downloads... an era where you saw a Doctor Who story once (maybe twice if it was repeated) and then it was never seen again in the case of some stories, forever). So it you missed it, that was it... until the novelization was published (and sometimes that was years after the original broadcast). Which goes to show just how important these books were.

But what of the story itself? Having seen the three and a bit episodes that exist of The Tenth Planet I can say that Gerry Davis' novelisation of his and Kit Pedlar's scripts is faithful and enjoyable. He tweaks a few things here and there (like when Ben's watching a Roger Moore James Bond in the projection room. Remember the TV story was broadcast several years before Moore took on the role) but not the extent that David Whittaker did in Doctor Who and the Daleks and Doctor Who and the Crusaders. But that's not a criticism. Doctor Who and the Tenth Planet is a cracking read and a faithful retelling of one of the most important stories in Doctor Who's history (being the first story to feature the Cybermen and the first regeneration).