Venusian Lullaby
This is not a televised episode.
Back in the early days of the 90's after the classic series (we have to call it that now because of the new series with Christopher Eccleston that starts on CBC on April 5) ended, Virgin Publishing got a license from the BBC to make all new Doctor Who adventures. The initial run started with the ongoing adventures of the (then) current Doctor and his companion, Ace, but it was just a matter of time before writers would get a chance to go back in time and create new adventures for the Doctors and companions of the past. The first Doctor enjoyed five new tales, branded "The Missing Adventures", and Venusian Lullaby, byPaul Leonard, is one of the best. If we were going to examine every one of these adventures I would have already mentioned The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Christopher Bulis, which was actually set between the televised adeventures Marco Polo and The Keys of Marinus. The problem is the sheer amount of time that would take me, and I feel that some of the novels in that series didn't really do much to expand on the characters that we already knew and maybe loved; they were just books for the sake of themselves. I have chosen to mention stories that expand on an interesting point of Doctor Who lore, or go in an interesting new direction, such as the Telos novellas that served as prequels to the series.
In Venusian Lullaby it's just the Doctor, Barbara, and Ian now, and the dynamic on board the TARDIS has changed somehow. Without Susan around, the Doctor is a bit pensive, a bit withdrawan and Ian and Barbara feel they must tread lightly around him in case they set him off on some wild fit and he tries to take them back home again, which is really what they do want, but just not on those terms. Instead, the TARDIS takes them to Venus, billions of years in the past when it was inhabited, and somewhere the Doctor and Susan have been before, which ends the theory that the TARDIS cannot go back to the same place twice. The Venusians welcome the Doctor back and accept his new companions, and invite them to a funeral where they must eat the brains of the deceased to remember them properly. As for the Venusians themselves they are more alien-looking than anything else so far, with hoofs, tenatcles and many eyes on stalks. The cover illustration that depicts them is a bit frightening and might set any gynaecologist off in a fit. And amongst all this alien-ness, there is a plot afoot to relocate the Venusian people to Earth to ensure their survival, but it is a plot that will also ensure that the human race never evolves.
This is how I like to see these Doctor Who novels done when they are being inserted between existing stories from the past. The early years of the show did not have a huge technological presence in the stories; science was still being explored, computers were not a dominating feature of any adventure. Venusian Lullaby feels like one of those stories that could be visualized along the lines of the 60's production values with a painted landscape behind the actors and the odd shadow of a boom-mic on the floor (which is something more easily spotted on the DVDs I have noticed). Other adventures dropped into the midst of the formative years of the series tend to reek of present day influences, like a lot of technobabble, insanely huge spaceships, sex, those things, but it's nice to see the past treated with respect and the traditions of the day preserved.
NEXT EPISODE : THE RESCUE
Back in the early days of the 90's after the classic series (we have to call it that now because of the new series with Christopher Eccleston that starts on CBC on April 5) ended, Virgin Publishing got a license from the BBC to make all new Doctor Who adventures. The initial run started with the ongoing adventures of the (then) current Doctor and his companion, Ace, but it was just a matter of time before writers would get a chance to go back in time and create new adventures for the Doctors and companions of the past. The first Doctor enjoyed five new tales, branded "The Missing Adventures", and Venusian Lullaby, byPaul Leonard, is one of the best. If we were going to examine every one of these adventures I would have already mentioned The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Christopher Bulis, which was actually set between the televised adeventures Marco Polo and The Keys of Marinus. The problem is the sheer amount of time that would take me, and I feel that some of the novels in that series didn't really do much to expand on the characters that we already knew and maybe loved; they were just books for the sake of themselves. I have chosen to mention stories that expand on an interesting point of Doctor Who lore, or go in an interesting new direction, such as the Telos novellas that served as prequels to the series.
In Venusian Lullaby it's just the Doctor, Barbara, and Ian now, and the dynamic on board the TARDIS has changed somehow. Without Susan around, the Doctor is a bit pensive, a bit withdrawan and Ian and Barbara feel they must tread lightly around him in case they set him off on some wild fit and he tries to take them back home again, which is really what they do want, but just not on those terms. Instead, the TARDIS takes them to Venus, billions of years in the past when it was inhabited, and somewhere the Doctor and Susan have been before, which ends the theory that the TARDIS cannot go back to the same place twice. The Venusians welcome the Doctor back and accept his new companions, and invite them to a funeral where they must eat the brains of the deceased to remember them properly. As for the Venusians themselves they are more alien-looking than anything else so far, with hoofs, tenatcles and many eyes on stalks. The cover illustration that depicts them is a bit frightening and might set any gynaecologist off in a fit. And amongst all this alien-ness, there is a plot afoot to relocate the Venusian people to Earth to ensure their survival, but it is a plot that will also ensure that the human race never evolves.
This is how I like to see these Doctor Who novels done when they are being inserted between existing stories from the past. The early years of the show did not have a huge technological presence in the stories; science was still being explored, computers were not a dominating feature of any adventure. Venusian Lullaby feels like one of those stories that could be visualized along the lines of the 60's production values with a painted landscape behind the actors and the odd shadow of a boom-mic on the floor (which is something more easily spotted on the DVDs I have noticed). Other adventures dropped into the midst of the formative years of the series tend to reek of present day influences, like a lot of technobabble, insanely huge spaceships, sex, those things, but it's nice to see the past treated with respect and the traditions of the day preserved.
NEXT EPISODE : THE RESCUE
Labels: Barbara Wright, Ian Chesterton, The 1st Doctor
posted by Sean Hoover @ 11:39 AM
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