Ten Little Aliens
Wow. This was a great story, complete with creepy little devil-monsters on the cover of the book.
Stephen Cole totally dismisses the notion of The Smugglers leading right into The Tenth Planet in Ten Little Aliens, and goes so far as to have Polly and Ben allude to having had many more adventures with the Doctor so far. This would certainly account for how tightly-knit the three regular characters have become in such a short amount of time. Or maybe it's just the Doctor, who is looking a bit worse for wear these days, his initial outrage at having two new companions thrust upon him now fading so fast he is almost welcoming of their presence. Together they step from the TARDIS in full space gear into a chamber on an asteroid with no air. That is, until the life support systems kick in, and it becomes clear that this is not just an asteroid but a trap and a half. A platoon of space marines from Earth's empire have also come to this place on a training mission, to find not only the Doctor and company but ten of the most wanted alien terrorists all preserved in their final moments of death behind a stasis field. Coincidence? Surely not - there's no such thing in Doctor Who. And then people start to die, in horrible ways.
Stylistically this is one of those novels that I have trouble dealing with when placed back during the old black and white days of the program. What's my problem? The sheer scale of the science fiction in it. In The War Machines, the Doctor examines supercomputer WOTAN with an expert eye and some glib phrases that had Jay and I laughing our asses off, seeing as there is more power in my PC now than WOTAN could have ever posessed. Here now we have the Doctor totally adept to technology that allows users to experience each other's thoughts on a closed neural network. Okay, so it's just because times have changed, and there should be no dumbing-down of stories set during the series' early days just to accomodate my gripes. There's also the military unit itself that is unlike any other seen in Doctor Who to date (and I speak in a linear sense now, from having just viewed stories made in 1967); they're all misfits, they're all mean, and they're all desperate to survive. My heart went out to the horribly scarred and voice-boxed character of Frog. Poor girl, she got a raw deal growing up.
The TARDIS team are done magnificently. Cole has nailed Ben and Polly's characters flawlessly, even touching on their dubious flirtation with each other (Polly seems to be a bit of a party girl in her days hanging at The Inferno club, and has a few wild nights under her belt, and she was apparantly fancying her chances with Ben that fateful night she took Dodo out) in much the same way that Ian and Barbara's relationship was brought to light in The Eleventh Tiger. This time, though, times have changed and even though it's only been a few years since Ian and Barbara first arrived on the scene, social dynamic has changed to an extent where Ben and Polly's attraction can be a bit more pronounced, and even a bit on the lusty side. Cole craftily makes a future reference to The Caves of Androzani from 1984, and in an early exchange between Polly and Ben on the subject of cat people and dog people alludes to events to come in Gary Russell's novel Invasion of the Cat People. And the Doctor? Close to perfect. He's fading, though, getting older. He still musters up his indignant pride and takes control of situations, even sits back and chuckles a bit watching those who would know better fumble their way along until it is time for him to admonish them and put things right. But he's still feeling the strain of his adventures, and appears to need a rest. He assures Ben, though, that soon he will feel a completely new person.
So I liked it. A lot. If anyone else is going to try and add more adventures to this era of the show I really hope they look to this book as a guideline of how to proceed, at least where the characterizations are concerned.
And now, back to the TV series. And into TV history...
NEXT EPISODE : THE TENTH PLANET
Stephen Cole totally dismisses the notion of The Smugglers leading right into The Tenth Planet in Ten Little Aliens, and goes so far as to have Polly and Ben allude to having had many more adventures with the Doctor so far. This would certainly account for how tightly-knit the three regular characters have become in such a short amount of time. Or maybe it's just the Doctor, who is looking a bit worse for wear these days, his initial outrage at having two new companions thrust upon him now fading so fast he is almost welcoming of their presence. Together they step from the TARDIS in full space gear into a chamber on an asteroid with no air. That is, until the life support systems kick in, and it becomes clear that this is not just an asteroid but a trap and a half. A platoon of space marines from Earth's empire have also come to this place on a training mission, to find not only the Doctor and company but ten of the most wanted alien terrorists all preserved in their final moments of death behind a stasis field. Coincidence? Surely not - there's no such thing in Doctor Who. And then people start to die, in horrible ways.
Stylistically this is one of those novels that I have trouble dealing with when placed back during the old black and white days of the program. What's my problem? The sheer scale of the science fiction in it. In The War Machines, the Doctor examines supercomputer WOTAN with an expert eye and some glib phrases that had Jay and I laughing our asses off, seeing as there is more power in my PC now than WOTAN could have ever posessed. Here now we have the Doctor totally adept to technology that allows users to experience each other's thoughts on a closed neural network. Okay, so it's just because times have changed, and there should be no dumbing-down of stories set during the series' early days just to accomodate my gripes. There's also the military unit itself that is unlike any other seen in Doctor Who to date (and I speak in a linear sense now, from having just viewed stories made in 1967); they're all misfits, they're all mean, and they're all desperate to survive. My heart went out to the horribly scarred and voice-boxed character of Frog. Poor girl, she got a raw deal growing up.
The TARDIS team are done magnificently. Cole has nailed Ben and Polly's characters flawlessly, even touching on their dubious flirtation with each other (Polly seems to be a bit of a party girl in her days hanging at The Inferno club, and has a few wild nights under her belt, and she was apparantly fancying her chances with Ben that fateful night she took Dodo out) in much the same way that Ian and Barbara's relationship was brought to light in The Eleventh Tiger. This time, though, times have changed and even though it's only been a few years since Ian and Barbara first arrived on the scene, social dynamic has changed to an extent where Ben and Polly's attraction can be a bit more pronounced, and even a bit on the lusty side. Cole craftily makes a future reference to The Caves of Androzani from 1984, and in an early exchange between Polly and Ben on the subject of cat people and dog people alludes to events to come in Gary Russell's novel Invasion of the Cat People. And the Doctor? Close to perfect. He's fading, though, getting older. He still musters up his indignant pride and takes control of situations, even sits back and chuckles a bit watching those who would know better fumble their way along until it is time for him to admonish them and put things right. But he's still feeling the strain of his adventures, and appears to need a rest. He assures Ben, though, that soon he will feel a completely new person.
So I liked it. A lot. If anyone else is going to try and add more adventures to this era of the show I really hope they look to this book as a guideline of how to proceed, at least where the characterizations are concerned.
And now, back to the TV series. And into TV history...
NEXT EPISODE : THE TENTH PLANET
Labels: Ben Jackson, Polly Wright, The 1st Doctor
posted by Sean Hoover @ 6:47 PM
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