Old Doctor Who - Part 3

[Norton Canes]

Maybe they got confused with 'Voord'.

[Replies From View]

Yeah they fucked that one up.

[kidsick5000]

It's 'VWORP' silly.

oh bollocks

[samadriel]

Is that a KRS One reference?

[kidsick5000]

Is that a KRS One reference?

Yes. As they used to say, I'll get my coat

[purlieu]

Next in the 'Fourth Doctor stories with unnecessary Fifth Doctor sequel novels' is The Sands of Time, which appears to be a sequel to The Androids of Mars.

This turned out to be excellent, a nicely unusual story with the Doctor and Tegan's plot being out of chronology from everyone else, a small, well-rounded and likeable set of characters, some interesting twists, and Nyssa asleep for the whole story. Only turned out to be loosely related to The Pyramids of Mars (why did I put Androids before??), but part of the same Egyptian mythology / Osirans concept.
Snakedance was a bog standard Dicks novelisation. Thankfully there are only four of these to go!

[gatchamandave]

Yes. As they used to say, I'll get my coat

Sorry but,

"I'll get me coat"

[Replies From View]

Why is everybody getting their coat?  Not especially cold is it?

[kidsick5000]

Sorry but,

"I'll get me coat"

[purlieu]

Goth Opera, then. Another Fifth Doctor story reprising a Fourth Doctor enemy (this time, vampires), although technically it's actually a sequel to a New Adventure, which meant a couple of elements went over my head. Despite my generally not finding vampires enjoyable in any way whatsoever, I enjoyed this one a lot - Paul Cornell is an excellent writer and the writing was pacey and engaging, with a wonderful aside for a chapter involving Romana and Sabalon Glitz, featuring pitch-perfect humour for Romana II's Adams-edited era. A rather epic plot involving turning the Earth to permanent night in order to convert humankind into vampires using some vampire DNA gas, a bunch of well-rounded and wonderful likeable & hatable characters, excellent stuff.

Followed by a very strong telling of Mawdryn Undead which injects a lot more humour, depth and vivid imagery than the TV version managed. Also features the least inspiring Target cover of all time:

[Norton Canes]

Man, those photographic Davison covers. What were they thinking? I'd post more but they're too dismal.

[edit: OK, they were clearly thinking 'no-one can draw Davison']

[purlieu]

Yes, they're all utterly terrible. Really flat, grainy looking photos and mostly just plonked on the cover with no real consideration for design. The Mawdryn Undead one is just particularly awful for its absolute beigeness and lack of anything actually happening in the photo.

Some other greats:


This one is wonderful, with its lazy use of publicity shot and staggeringly unnecessary caption "A BBC TV programme with Peter Davison as The Doctor"


And the placement of the photo on this I find utterly hilarious

[Replies From View]

Sharing the same physical space a bit there, lads.

[Phil_A]

But you missed the best one!



"Kev, I need you to cut out two of the actors from these publicity stills and stick them on a featureless yellow background the colour of vomit. No, it doesn't matter if you go a bit wonky. No-one will notice."

[purlieu]

I didn't think that one was quite so bad, but now you mention it

[Norton Canes]

the placement of the photo on this I find utterly hilarious

I actually think that's the only one they've got right. The photo's out the way and leaves plenty of space for one of the most fantastic illustrations of the range.

[purlieu]

The illustration is great, but why is Davison stood in the middle of the logo? They only did this on two books. It looks absurd.

[Replies From View]

I actually think that's the only one they've got right. The photo's out the way and leaves plenty of space for one of the most fantastic illustrations of the range.

Except the logo has been covered up, and there is literally no way of finding out what it is meant to say.  "DOOJOR WHO"?  It's anyone's guess.

[purlieu]

Terminus is another brilliantly fleshed out novel - running to 40 pages beyond the standard Target - but none of that helps change the fact that I actually don't really like the story. The two main concepts - the Lazars and the Big Bang - are great, but the plot itself never gets beyond tedious for me, particularly Turlough and Tegan going round in a circle and achieving almost nothing for the whole story.

[Deanjam]

Terminus is another brilliantly fleshed out novel - running to 40 pages beyond the standard Target - but none of that helps change the fact that I actually don't really like the story. The two main concepts - the Lazars and the Big Bang - are great, but the plot itself never gets beyond tedious for me, particularly Turlough and Tegan going round in a circle and achieving almost nothing for the whole story.

Does Nyssa still randomly strip off in the novel as well?

[Norton Canes]

IIRC she does what Gallagher intended in the original script and just drops a brooch.

[Replies From View]

IIRC she does what Gallagher intended in the original script and just drops a brooch.

"Tumultuous buffeting" causes her to do it, apparently.

[Norton Canes]

They've all...

[Replies From View]

They've all...

...dropped a brooch?  Or been tumultuously buffeted.

[purlieu]

Does Nyssa still randomly strip off in the novel as well?

Thankfully not.

Enlightenment took me about 45 minutes to get through, despite not being a Dicks novelisation. Generic.
And now an expanded version of The King's Demons. Why must these people torture me?

[Camp Tramp]

But you missed the best one!



"Kev, I need you to cut out two of the actors from these publicity stills and stick them on a featureless yellow background the colour of vomit. No, it doesn't matter if you go a bit wonky. No-one will notice."

Better than the actual story.

[Camp Tramp]

Terminus is another brilliantly fleshed out novel - running to 40 pages beyond the standard Target - but none of that helps change the fact that I actually don't really like the story. The two main concepts - the Lazars and the Big Bang - are great, but the plot itself never gets beyond tedious for me, particularly Turlough and Tegan going round in a circle and achieving almost nothing for the whole story.

I think most of the stories could be fleshed out to full length novels.

I want to see Resurrection of the Daleks by Neal Asher.

[Catalogue Trousers]

'Oh no, the cover logo is slowly descending to squash me. Best drop to me knees and hope for the best.'

[Norton Canes]

"Let's see... what picture can we find that really encapsulates what the Doctor is all about..?"

[Replies From View]

It's good because it shows a progression from Borusa aiming a gun at the Doctor in Arc of Infinity to the Doctor aiming a gun in Earthshock.