"Tears, Sarah Jane? You mustn't cry. Remember, while there's life there's..."
My Target readthrough has gotten me through Planet of the Spiders and thus the end of the Third Doctor's era.
The Third Doctor's era, especially the first half of it or so, takes arguably more risks than any other era of the show. They largely throw out the whole space-and-time-travel aspect of the show by breaking the Doctor's TARDIS, they introduce a regular cast beyond the Doctor and companion(s) via the UNIT team (and also introduces the still-ongoing question of what, exactly qualifies a companion as a companion), they introduce a mostly-regular villain in the Master (and much as I love the Master it does get a little hilarious going through early-Three when almost every evil alien plot turns out to be the work of the Master), and for the first time (but not the last!) the Doctor goes full-blown James Bond action hero.
And those risks work, so well. Even the ridiculousness of every villain being secretly funded and wrangled by the Master (or else the Master in a rubber mask!) is worth it for the introduction of one of the series's best ongoing characters.
Also, Bessie. Can we bring back Bessie? Is that possible?
Three has three main companions: scientist Liz, hippie/spy Jo, and journalist Sarah Jane. There's also the continuing argument over whether the main members of UNIT (the Brig, Yates, Benton) should be counted as well. And the fact that Liz doesn't actually fit the in-universe requirements most people apply to companions (she never travels in the TARDIS on-screen!) but is obviously a companion anyway. I've gotten off-track. The three main companions really benefit from being dramatically different from each other. Liz is sensible, no-nonsense, and generally unimpressed; Jo is ditzy and charming and far-out; Sarah Jane is determined, headstrong, still a little unsure of what she's actually doing here. They all bring something new to their adventures and they all bring out different sides of the Doctor.
There's a lot of hypnosis and mind control involved in Three's stories. It's a running theme, and it kept surprising me every time I noticed just how much it was going on.
As novelizations go, Three's era is very uneven. Most of them are pretty middle-of-the-road, workmanlike adaptations, that get everything relevant in but do very little to improve on their source material or take advantage of the difference in format. There are some real clunkers (Day of the Daleks was a slog to get through) and a few shining gems (both the Peladon books were a delight...though I think I differ from a good chunk of fandom in enjoying the Peladon stories anyway). The awkwardness of the books being written out-of-order comes up a few times, too; notably, the Master gets two separate introduction stories, because the second one was written first and it was apparently assumed the earlier one wouldn't get done.
But overall, absolutely worth a few dull reads in the mix. I'm going to miss the Third Doctor and his team of soldiers, scientists, journalists, and hippies...and his fondness for Cool Cars. And hovercraft!
Next up: the longest-running Doctor to date!
The Third Doctor's era, especially the first half of it or so, takes arguably more risks than any other era of the show. They largely throw out the whole space-and-time-travel aspect of the show by breaking the Doctor's TARDIS, they introduce a regular cast beyond the Doctor and companion(s) via the UNIT team (and also introduces the still-ongoing question of what, exactly qualifies a companion as a companion), they introduce a mostly-regular villain in the Master (and much as I love the Master it does get a little hilarious going through early-Three when almost every evil alien plot turns out to be the work of the Master), and for the first time (but not the last!) the Doctor goes full-blown James Bond action hero.
And those risks work, so well. Even the ridiculousness of every villain being secretly funded and wrangled by the Master (or else the Master in a rubber mask!) is worth it for the introduction of one of the series's best ongoing characters.
Also, Bessie. Can we bring back Bessie? Is that possible?
Three has three main companions: scientist Liz, hippie/spy Jo, and journalist Sarah Jane. There's also the continuing argument over whether the main members of UNIT (the Brig, Yates, Benton) should be counted as well. And the fact that Liz doesn't actually fit the in-universe requirements most people apply to companions (she never travels in the TARDIS on-screen!) but is obviously a companion anyway. I've gotten off-track. The three main companions really benefit from being dramatically different from each other. Liz is sensible, no-nonsense, and generally unimpressed; Jo is ditzy and charming and far-out; Sarah Jane is determined, headstrong, still a little unsure of what she's actually doing here. They all bring something new to their adventures and they all bring out different sides of the Doctor.
There's a lot of hypnosis and mind control involved in Three's stories. It's a running theme, and it kept surprising me every time I noticed just how much it was going on.
As novelizations go, Three's era is very uneven. Most of them are pretty middle-of-the-road, workmanlike adaptations, that get everything relevant in but do very little to improve on their source material or take advantage of the difference in format. There are some real clunkers (Day of the Daleks was a slog to get through) and a few shining gems (both the Peladon books were a delight...though I think I differ from a good chunk of fandom in enjoying the Peladon stories anyway). The awkwardness of the books being written out-of-order comes up a few times, too; notably, the Master gets two separate introduction stories, because the second one was written first and it was apparently assumed the earlier one wouldn't get done.
But overall, absolutely worth a few dull reads in the mix. I'm going to miss the Third Doctor and his team of soldiers, scientists, journalists, and hippies...and his fondness for Cool Cars. And hovercraft!
Next up: the longest-running Doctor to date!