Doctor Who Travels Through the Pages

Article first published as Book Review: Latest Doctor Who Tie-Ins on Blogcritics.

With BBC's Doctor Who back in full swing on the tele, one can be forgiven for thinking that 45 minutes or so of time spent with the Doctor every week just isn't enough. Broadway has you covered, having recently released three tie-in novels, set in the Eleventh Doctor's universe.

The first is called Plague of the Cybermen and is written by Justin Richards. The Doctor arrives in a remote village hundreds of years before the present day, wherein the residents are dying of a mysterious plague. It doesn't take our hero long to discover that what they actually have is radiation sickness, owing to a crashed Cybermen ship nearby. But when bodies begin going missing, the threat is suddenly a lot greater than some leaking radiation.

Second up is The Dalek Generation by Nicholas Briggs. The Doctor responds to a distress call and finds three recently orphaned children. He attempts to return them home and discovers a series of worlds ruled by benevolent Daleks. Knowing that the Daleks are never benevolent, the Doctor investigates further, trying to figure out what scheme his oldest enemies are up now, not realizing he is being manipulated by an old foe.

Lastly, we have Tommy Donbavand's Shroud of Sorrow. The Doctor, with Clara in tow this time, arrives in Dallas, Texas just after the assassination of JFK. The whole world is grieving. Suddenly, they begin seeing the dead faces of their loved ones appearing in the strangest places, saying the meanest things about them. Along with some new friends, the Doctor and Clara identify the cause as the Shroud, parasitic aliens who will feast on sadness and leave their human meals reduced to a single emotional element. They plan on doing the same to Earth, that is, unless the Doctor can stop them.

The first two novels seem to be set during the Amy and Rory era, even though the two companions are not in the story at all. The Doctor isn't depressed, and while he isn't completely eager to jump into caring for children, he is fine with helping out worlds, which is not the case after losing his friends to the Angels. They could also possibly take place after he meets Clara, but before she begins traveling with him. We don't yet know if Clara goes home in between missions, so I suppose it's possible that they may happen during Clara's time, but certainly not during the post-Amy/Rory time thus far portrayed on screen.

All three authors do a pretty decent job of capturing the Doctor's voice and spirit. Briggs has it best, perfectly balancing the wacky with the day-to-day, while the other two struggle from going taking the titular character too over the top. But some of the trademark catch phrases and mannerisms are present in all three novels, and even when the Doctor is being too enthusiastic a time when it feels inappropriate to be so, he is still, at heart, the Doctor.

I'm not as certain that Clara's tone is captured. She only appears in one of the books, and we've only seen her in a few hours of the show at this point. It also seems that she has a pretty tricky personality to capture, so while I don't think it's quite right here, it's hard to pinpoint exactly why. Of course, some sympathy can be given to the writer, who penned this before the most recent episodes aired, and had even less to go on.

However, Clara is the least of the problems with Shroud of Sorrow. The volume has some obvious and definite weaknesses. There are a plethora of plot holes and many things don't make sense. At one point, during an action sequence, enemies are suddenly further away than they were a moment ago. Americans use British slang. There is a military character who is nothing but a stereotype. Plus, somehow there are a bunch of clowns in the story, which seems too strange and silly for what is trying to be accomplished.

As you may be able to tell, I liked Shroud of Sorrow least of these three. Having only recently caught up with the modern Doctor Who, I have devoured dozens of episodes in the past six months, and I just don't feel this story, and the way that the characters act, match what one would expect from the series. As such, I didn't care for it very much.

Richards, who wrote Plague of the Cybermen and edits the book series, recently talked about capturing the tone in an interview he gave, describing it as an "indefinable quality." I think he captured such a spirit in his entry; Donbavand, sadly, fell a bit short, in my opinion.

There is one redeeming part of Shroud of Sorrow, and that's the end. I didn't like that the author chooses Astrid as the woman the Doctor misses most at this point, considering how many much more important people he has lost, including, recently, Amy and Rory. But the finale of the book revisits and touches on many of the past Doctor incarnations and companions in a great way.

The other two books, though, were much more enjoyable. Plague of the Cybermen has sort of a Frankstein-y vibe. It's kind of dark and mysterious and medieval, which is a setting that the Doctor thrives in, even if he only stops there occasionally. There are enough surprises to keep one guessing, and it's pretty well thought out. The descriptions are nice, and I really feel like I can picture the landscape and citizens of the town.

The Dalek Generation is my favorite. We occasionally get to see the Doctor interact with children, but not often, and Briggs takes full advantage of the premise. Not only does he capture the Doctor on the page, he also captures the Daleks, and makes the children into fleshed-out, vivid portraits. The entire thing just flows seamlessly, and with perhaps a few minor tweaks to make it feel more seasonal, I could easily see this making a wonderful stand-alone Christmas episode of Doctor Who.

All of these are, obviously, stand-alone adventures. Although Richards works with BBC to match the books to the television show, meaning he often sees scripts and rough cuts of episodes before the public, the larger arcs would likely date the books too much and limit the potential readership, whereas they can currently just be picked up and enjoyed by themselves, even if one is not a regular Doctor Who viewer. While I do prefer more serial arcs on television, that probably wouldn't translate as well in the novels, given their constraints of doing a tie-in, and so appreciate the tales they tell on their own.

A balance is definitely achieved here, with the books not contradicting or stepping on the current episodes; being complimentary without getting in the way. That is a difficult thing to do, and Richards has ushered three books that manage it.

They are also a great length for a quick read. I finished each in about two and a half hours, which, while longer than the series, is a good amount of time for a short snack of a book.

Overall, I would definitely recommend checking out at least the first two of these releases, as they not only help provide an in-between episodes Doctor Who fix, but are pleasantly exciting stories in their own right. Plague of the Cybermen, The Dalek Generation, and Shroud of Sorrow are on sale now.

Doctor Who plants "The Seeds of Death"

One of the latest Doctor Who serials to get the Special Edition DVD treatment is the fifth serial of season six, "The Seeds of Death." Originally aired in six installments from January through March of 1969, "The Seeds of Death" is set only about a century into the future, at the end of the 21st century. On this Earth, transportation has become so simple due to the invention of the T-Mat, a teleporting device, that mankind has grown lazy, and stopped exploring space. This spells bad news when the T-Mat system goes down, stranding people on the moon.

The stranding is actually part of a larger problem, though. The Ice Warriors, a scary group of Martians led by the Ice Lords, have returned, and are planning on using the moon as a launching pad for a full-scale Earth invasion. The valiant moon crew try to hold off these baddies until help can arrive, but this is easier said than done, and there are grave consequences to the attack.

The Martians have a smart plan: infest Earth with a fungus that will make life unsuitable for humans, but ideal for the Martians. In this way, the Ice Warriors can force the natives out of the way without risking their own lives in combat. Taking control of Earth's weather system allows the Ice Warriors to make conditions great for the fungus, ensuring the best rate of growth possible, and a quick take over. It's a shrewd plan, and one that people are not prepared to defend themselves against.

Luckily, The Doctor (Patrick Troughton), Jamie (Frazer Hines), and Zoe (Wendy Padbury) have found another way to bring help to the embattled moon base. Professor Daniel Eldred (Philip Ray, Z Cars, Little Big Time) runs a museum of rockets, and has maintained the technology necessary to leave the planet via means other than the T-Mat. The Doctor and his companions arrive on the moon, and it isn't long before they understand the scope of the problem.

Can the Doctor and his friends save the day? Or is Earth doomed? Does anyone who has ever seen a sci-fi series not know the answer to that question?

 The solution to stop the fungus, SPOILER, it can be killed by rain, is a little too simplistic for my taste. Even if the Martians control the weather, can they really hold off water falling from the sky forever, a natural part of the planet's process? And if they do, what kind of widespread, devastating effects might that have on the globe as a whole? Perhaps the Martians don't need such liquid to survive, and don't care about other life. Maybe the fungus will make permanent changes, and it won't matter if it's destroyed after a certain period of time. But the way that this conclusion is presented doesn't seem to hold up to scrutiny if one stops to analyze the larger implications.

The T-Mat seems to be pretty plainly borrowed from the American Doctor Who contemporary series, Star Trek, which began using the transporter in 1966, over two years before "The Seeds of Death" aired.

That being said, "The Seeds of Death" is a solid story. It's hard to go wrong when delivering a clear villain to root against. This is a typical hero tale, with the good guys fighting against evil. They suffer losses while doing so, but the major characters live to fight another day, and the enemy is repelled. The environmental overtones, which may not have been intended, but are present when viewed with modern sensibilities, as well as the distasteful caste system of Martian society, further separates "us" from "them," providing a serial as black and white as the film of the day.

So perhaps "The Seeds of Death" isn't as complex and deep as other Doctor Who adventures, but it's a fine mix of the usual sci-fi adventure ingredients. A lot can be said for entertaining popcorn entertainment, especially when it is presented with the quality of the Doctor Who brand.

"The Seeds of Death" was already released on DVD back in 2003. This edition, though, has remastered picture and sound, a welcome update. There are also a wealth of DVD extras, including an audio commentary with Hines, Padbury, script editor Terrance Dicks, and director Michael Ferguson. Present on the two disc set are the customary PDF materials and photo gallery.

Besides the standards, "The Seeds of Death" Special Edition contains a number of specialized featurettes. "Lords of the Red Planet" is a thirty minute special about the Martians, discussing various aspects of the fictional civilization, and how the characters were developed for Doctor Who. "Sssowing the Ssseedsss" is slightly shorter, and concentrates on the behind the scenes story of this particular serial. Director Ferguson presents a three minute "Monster Masterclass," and Peter Ware and Nicholas Briggs talk about recurring Who monsters for sixteen minutes.

Doctor Who "The Seeds of Death" Special Edition gets a recommendation from me. Check it out, as it is on sale now.

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Article first published as DVD Review: Doctor Who - The Seeds of Death Special Edition on Blogcritics.