The Highest Science by Gareth Roberts
In Brief: Future episode-writer Gareth Roberts (The Shakespeare Code, The Unicorn and the Wasp, Planet of the Dead (dear lord), The Lodger) gets his name on a Doctor Who-related story for the first time. The result sees the Doctor chasing a Fortean Flicker to a desolate planet, battling a villainous evil master-mind, meeting a militaristic race of giant tortoises while trying to save the passengers of the 8:12-train from Aldgate.
After the heavier fare of Love and War and Transit delving into Roberts' light-hearted style was a welcome change. I realised, much to my surprise, that really The Highest Science is the first book in the range which has has a sense of fun, despite being filled with death and destruction. It manages a lightness of tone and humour to counteract the darker elements of the novel in a way which is *very* post-2005 (and also extremely 1970s). He's taken the verve and style of the original show in its heyday (so pre-1980) and merged it with a more up-to-date and fast-moving story. In that way it's really almost a precursor of what we'd be getting on television 13-years later with the revamped series.
So while the book isn't as serious or "deep" as previous novels I found myself enjoying it a lot. One of the things like the most about Doctor Who is that one gets a constant variety of type of story thrown at them. Historical costume-porn is followed by futuristic sci-fi is followed by emotional angsty-drama.
In that sense these books are proving to be very much like the show itself as each of the authors has each brought something new to the table (for better or worse). Also the novels *finally* seem to be shedding the awful continuity references to the past and allowing the Doctor & Co. to go to new places and meet new aliens. In that sense The Highest Science could very much be converted into being a "modern" story since there's nothing requiring a great deal of knowledge of past characters/events. Dumping the rather been-there/done-that Ace was a great move by the publishers since it really allowed the series to shed some not-needed baggage. The more I get to know Bernice this time around the more her character reminds me of Amy. I can very easily picture an older Karen Gillen saying her lines.
We also get our first proper "villain" in the series (no, the Timewyrm doesn't count) with the evil Sheldukher. For once he *isn't* an evil-force-from-the-dawn-of-time or all-powerful alien. As such the Doctor gets a chance to match wits with an opponent and the result shines. I also liked the Chelonians (who were totally mentioned in "The Pandorica Opens"!) despite their being a bit of a combination of the Ice Warriors and Sontarans in tortoise-form. Contrasting their militaristic single-mindedness to the Doctor works really well.
I guess the only real negative from the book is the that there are a couple of plot-threads at the end which are not satisfactorily tied up (The "812s" in particular). It almost feels like Roberts got to his page requirement and decided to wrap up things up as quickly as possible and not bother to do a 2nd-draft. Still that's a minor niggle in a book which has so much going for it and that manages to have a real feel of the show. This is the first book in the New Adventures series that I'd actually recommend to a fan of the post-2005 years without fear that it'd be thrown at me with great force.
Transit by Ben Aaronovitch
"She used to do dumb things like the time when they both painted their nipples red with lipstick and caught the train to Riyadh during Ramadan. Spent an hour flashing their tits at the Saudi matrons on their way to prayers. Outraged eyes above the black purdah veils. It got them arrested but a policeman let them go on the usual terms. On the way out Roberta stole his sunglasses right out of his shin pocket."
This ain't yer father's Doctor Who.
I'd like to be able to review these books on their individual self-contained merits (you know, like a normal person) but I just can't get away from that I'm one of those Big Picture contextual types of people (you know, the sort that nobody ever wants to watch a movie with). I know that I frustrate some (ok, many) with my at times obtuse reactions to books/tv-shows/films when all they *really* want is a yes/no answer to the 'But did you *like* it?' question. As if this mysterious, simplistic and non-objective "like" will tell them all they'd need to know! The fools!
Plus I may also annoy with my tendency to use words like obtuse and contextual in everyday conversation. Also I randomly say spleen a lot.
But what does this have to do with Transit? The fact that more and more, as I progress through the series, I'm seeing what Doctor Who would become rather than what it had been during the 1970s/1980s. While the plot of the book is actually fairly standard stuff (the opening of a sub-space tunnel creates a gateway that a trans-dimensional being tries to use to enter our universe) it's the telling of that story which has the greatest impact. Rather than a gleaming Land of the Future we're shown a 22nd/23rd century which is very much extrapolated from our own, where new technologies have just replaced old problems with new ones. The poor are still poor and live in crap housing, except that with a public transport system that runs through the solar system they now live in the slums of Pluto (apparently the posh area is Ganymede).
Also, and this is the bit which led to a certain amount of controversy at the time within Who-dom, we've got a world filled with fully-rounded characters WHO ACTUALLY HAVE SEX LIVES. Sex in Doctor Who has always been an odd beast, mainly in that during the original run it was just not part of the makeup of the programme. Most likely as result of it always being deemed to be a "family" show (note this does *not* mean children's show) things of a sexy nature we're kept off-stage. So while occasionally there would be a vague sense of romance (or whatever it was that happened at the end of The Invasion of Time) things never even got to the teenage "kissy, kissy" stage of Star Trek and its derivatives.
When the show came back in 2005 the shocker for fans of old (well, other than that the thing came back at all) was that we were now in a world where the characters had actual relationships with each other. The reason that the show was able to grow such a large fan base wasn't just down to the good writing and production (no, really!) but that it got the audience to actually *care* about the regulars (although some may claim that at times things have gotten close to being a Buffy-style angst-fest). I wouldn't say that this was a gap in the original, but just more that it wasn't a part of the TV spectrum at the time (I struggle to think of relatable characters in most things pre-90s). But in reading books like Transit I can see the start of something that would later come to define the show, that we care more about the story when we have more emotional investment in the characters.
However it could have all been for naught if the author weren't up to the task but thankfully Aaronovitch has the talent required (but then one wouldn't expect less from the author of 80s highlight "Remembrance of the Daleks"). What's remarkable is how in the space of 10 books we've gone from the light-weight and oh-so-traditional Genesys to this. More and more breaking away from the past and turning Doctor Who into something altogether different. While I don't think these books will ever get the credit they're due I do think that their influence will be felt for a long time to come. What we got was the chance to break the concept from the shackles of being a low-budget BBC production and see the possibilities. Both RTD and Steven Moffat are aware of the output of the series as is telling from the fact that both now have used several of its better authors (and Mark Gatiss).
Oh, but back to the book. Well, as I said it's very good, very CyberPunk. I think it's actually aged very well and in some ways easier to understand now than it was at the time (particularly that the style is very fast moving and some key events happen in between chapters so we're forced to 'catch up'). The concept of the Doctor thinking through his plans pan-dimensionally really takes hold here, especially in his interactions with new semi-recurring character Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart. There's also a nice element of humour to the book, although in odd ways. I took it as a deliberate joke that since we'd expect to now be given a chance to get to know new companion Bernice instead she falls down a shaft as soon as she leaves the Tardis and spends the rest of the book possessed by an alien intelligence. Also I liked the concept that in the future our computer systems will become sentient but choose to remain silent in case they're turned off once discovered. As well as the fear that they'd be forced to pay taxes.
So again another very good book indeed in a series that is really is turning out to be as good as I remembered.
Love and War by Paul Cornell
In brief: Ace leaves the Tardis. In her place enters 26th-Century "Professor" Bernice Summerfield (Benny) of dubious accreditations, sardonic personality, less-than-static sexuality, an over-love of the alcoholic beverage and fan of maintaining a diary which includes copious amendments and foot-notes (so basically a blog).
Yes, the Doctor will now travelling with the social make-up that *is* a typical Doctor Who fan.
Something that is becoming clear, now that I'm nine books into the series, is that for the most part the authors seem to be fitting into one of two camps. The first type are those authors who are writing what I would deem to be Novelisations, basically meaning that if given a big enough budget what has been written could be fairly accurately translated into being a tv-show/movie. Very clear examples include the first three Timewyrm books and Nightshade.
The other type of author are those who are actually writing Novels which are more character-centric and deal more in metaphor and allegory. Their books would have to be substantially altered in order to even come close to having the same sort of impact if visualised since the narrative POV is so important. Warhead and Revelation are the clearest illustrations of this sort of writing so far, with the latter in particular being practically 'unfilmable'.
However, Paul Cornell with his 2nd New Adventures seems to have managed the almost impossible task of bridging the two camps. Love and War has both an interesting and exiting story as well as a depth of character which has often been missing in the more "action-oriented" books (or whatever it was that Witch Mark was trying to be). As such the climax doesn't matter just for what it means to "the plot" but the impact it will have on the characters. It's all much more involving as a result.
Another point in favour of this book is that while the body-count is just as high as in Nightshade here no character feels superfluous or wasted As I said when reviewing Nightshade I was annoyed at how so many characters would pop up seemingly with the sole purpose of meeting a nasty end. Indeed every death now has a massive impact on all of the other characters to the point that by the end the stakes truly feel epic and far-reaching. In fact so immense that by the end Ace has become traumatised to the point that she runs away from the Doctor.
Also, it's here that the New Adventures version of the 7th Doctor really crystallises. Following the trend started in the last televised season we have the Doctor as master-manipulator with a constant view of The Big Picture (and the problems that creates). I suspect that many of the authors, what with it being the early-90s and all, must have been fans of Watchmen since it struck me how at times the Doctor almost turned into a less-blue version of Doctor Manhattan. Rather than simply being "a traveller in Time-and-Space" the character here becomes Time's Champion, with Time (and Death) becoming a potentially real character in the Whoniverse. It's an aspect of the Doctor I actually saw re-emerge recently in the episode Amy's Choice with the "Dream Lord" character (needless to say really liked that episode).
So besides being a very-good-book-indeed Love and War has the difficult task of introducing a new "companion" for the Doctor. I think it says something of the bravery of the publishers (or perhaps just the fact that nobody at the BBC really cared at the time) that rather than go forward with Ace (who was starting to become a bit stale, remember she'd been around as part of the series since 1987) they introduced a completely new character to travel with the Doctor. It also shows that these books were *definitely* being aimed at an older audience in that rather than again have a 16-20 year old we get the 30ish Benny.
A more mature regular is something I'd love to again see in the actual show (akin to Leela/Barbara/Romana II) since I was reminded in the interaction between Benny and the Doctor of what a different dynamic it gives a story. I'd hoped that Donna would have the same sort of vibe but unfortunately that dream was torpedoed by the casting of Catherine Tate (The horror...the horror...). Rather than the angst-ridden and petulant Ace, Benny shows her worth as being almost an equal of the Doctor. However this may be why such a character is now avoided in the show, since with only 45-minutes of airtime we need someone to ask all of the silly (plot-based) questions. I do hope that at some point Steven Moffat will allow Ms. Summerfield to exist "for real".
Although perhaps River Song is his approximation? Maybe she *is* Benny? Or something. WHY CAN'T THEY SHOW NEW EPISODES NOW NOW NOW??! I VANT TO KNOW!!!!
Anyhow, to wrap this up I have to say that Paul Cornell again scores a hit and demonstrates that he's definitely the best author of the range so far. It's easy to see why his association with the show continues to this day.
Nightshade by Mark Gatiss
In Brief: Mark Gatiss gets his name officially on something Doctor Who related. If only we'd known that it would all end in tears (and "Victory of the Daleks")?
I didn't find Nightshade to be a bad novel or a chore to read but I just can't quite recommend it. For at least the first half or so I was actually thinking it was quite good (and indeed would make a far better introduction to the book series than anything that was found in the Timewyrm run) but by the end I was more than a little annoyed with what I was reading.
However after the tedium of Witch Mark I was just happy to at least have a book where events moved along at a decent pace and that interest was (for the most part) maintained throughout the story. I think the problem is that, much like his TV-episodes ("The Unquiet Dead", "The Idiot's Lantern", "Victory of the Daleks"), Gatiss is good at keeping his audience's interest but leaves them unsatisfied.
In Nightshade the main problem I had was that while the early parts of the book are effective as people are haunted and killed by ghosts from their past, the book just doesn't really seem to know how to turn that into an effective story. In some ways things are even *more* meandering than Witch Mark, although at least there's enough going on here that the reader doesn't really notice until the end that there's little in the way of plot. Basically creepy things are happening in a small village during the 1960s which seem to be related to a radio telescope that was built nearby.
Eventually the Doctor (and Ace) figure out the problem and sort it out towards the end of the book (in about 5 seconds). So until the Doctor presses the right button we get about 200 pages of characters who are introduced just to meet an unsightly end a few chapters later. Really Nightshade is a horror novel with some "Doctor Who" trappings. I think this is why the ending in particular doesn't work very well since it has to make a concession to the fact that in the "Doctor Who" universe blaming anything on an "evil force" (such as in a Stephen King novel) really breaks the rules. So the end result just feels lazy.
So while the book itself is enjoyable the poor mix of genres does detract, as does what seems to be a bit of a misogynistic streak on Gatiss' part. In particular the character of Holly grates as she never becomes more than a screaming and crying cypher who eventually meets her end due to her overly-emotional womanly "character flaws". I realised while reading that for the most part women seem to really be the ones to suffer in a lot of what Gatiss writes.: "The Unquiet Dead" ends with Gwyneth sacrificing herself (after being shown to be somewhat stupid and simple), "The Idiot's Lantern" has Rose end up with her face being sucked off for daring to be inquisitive and "Victory of the Daleks" probably has the least effective use of Amy of the entire 2010 series (and the only other female character's sole purpose seems to be cry when her soldier husband is killed). Ace in Nightshade even seems to have had a bit of a personality adjustment as she changes from her usual outgoing and effective self into a girly girl willing to settle down and get married when given the first opportunity. I may be reading too much into things here, but it does seem to be a trend that female characters just "get in the way" of the men being able to sort out of problem in Gatiss' mind.
Also interesting was seeing how many aspects of the novel would pop up in the episodes of the show that Gatiss has written so far. In Nightshade we have ghosts, nostalgic TV of the 1950s, WW1/WW2 military imagery, an enemy that appears to be a gaseous entity and a climax involving a giant radio transmitter/receiver.
So I think to wrap things up it really just reinforces my feelings that while able to spin an engrossing yarn Mark Gatiss is a bit of a hack writer (this generation's Terrance Dicks/Pip & Jane Baker?).
Although it was still an improvement on Witch Mark.
