April Books 9-11) Three more Who novelisations
Three more books in my ongoing project, based on the last few stories of the 1964-65 season.
9) Doctor Who - The Space Museum, by Glyn Jones
The only one of these three to have been written up by the original author of the TV script. Unfortunately it's not a success; writing decades after the first broadcast, Jones seems to have the same problem as the average viewer of the time in explaining what the story is actually about. His prose style doesn't exactly sing either. He does inject an extra note of characterisation by having Ian quarrel with the Doctor all the time, but that too gets rather tedious. You can skip this in good conscience.
10) Doctor Who - The Chase, by John Peel
I was pleasantly surprised by this one, I think my first Peel novelisation (and certainly his first). The original story is one of the sillier efforts of early Who, including a comedy Dalek, not one but two very silly monsters (the Mire Beast and the Fungoids) and lots of utterly unconnected settings. Peel has used Terry Nation's original scripts, plus some of his own historical research on the Mary Celeste, and come up with rather a good narrative, moored into later Who continuity (with references to future incarnations, the Draconians, etc). It ends up being rather fun.
11) Doctor Who - The Time Meddler, by Nigel Robinson
I have been underwhelmed by Robinson's previous efforts, so I wasn't especially looking forward to this. But in fact Dennis Spooner's script is irrepressible, and for once Robinson rounds off a few corners without grinding the story down. Unexpectedly enjoyable.
I've already read Doctor Who - Galaxy Four so next are the intermingled narratives of the Myth Makers and the Daleks' Master Plan.
9) Doctor Who - The Space Museum, by Glyn Jones
The only one of these three to have been written up by the original author of the TV script. Unfortunately it's not a success; writing decades after the first broadcast, Jones seems to have the same problem as the average viewer of the time in explaining what the story is actually about. His prose style doesn't exactly sing either. He does inject an extra note of characterisation by having Ian quarrel with the Doctor all the time, but that too gets rather tedious. You can skip this in good conscience.
10) Doctor Who - The Chase, by John Peel
I was pleasantly surprised by this one, I think my first Peel novelisation (and certainly his first). The original story is one of the sillier efforts of early Who, including a comedy Dalek, not one but two very silly monsters (the Mire Beast and the Fungoids) and lots of utterly unconnected settings. Peel has used Terry Nation's original scripts, plus some of his own historical research on the Mary Celeste, and come up with rather a good narrative, moored into later Who continuity (with references to future incarnations, the Draconians, etc). It ends up being rather fun.
11) Doctor Who - The Time Meddler, by Nigel Robinson
I have been underwhelmed by Robinson's previous efforts, so I wasn't especially looking forward to this. But in fact Dennis Spooner's script is irrepressible, and for once Robinson rounds off a few corners without grinding the story down. Unexpectedly enjoyable.
I've already read Doctor Who - Galaxy Four so next are the intermingled narratives of the Myth Makers and the Daleks' Master Plan.