Twilight of the Gods
There's nothing like going back, is there?
The thing that I love about the print versions of Doctor Who is how authors are allowed to go back and revisit their favourite episodes, re-examine the past events, and get that chance to see how the Doctor's presence influenced the lives of the people he touched. It's not always pretty, when you consider how he says he hates goodbyes and likes to run out as soon as the evil has been vanquished and leaves the survivors to learn how to clean up the mess. But, there are other times when everything is going just fine, the Doctor has truly shown them the way... and something else comes along.
Take Vortis, the insect world of The Web Planet. Freed from the influence of the Animus, the world is alive again, the forests and flowers are back, and the Menoptera have made good on their promise to live in harmony with the Zarbi and be watchful for another Animus. They did not, however, account for an interplanetary war and a territory struggle that would see Vortis being fought over by two races. It seems that the Gods of Light are on their side when the Doctor returns with a new face and new companions, but there is more at stake with the rise of a second Animus, and the revelation that Vortis may just be a huge ant farm, the Gods themselves just observers who have forgotten how their experiment works and cannot handle how it has evolved.
I suspect that author Christopher Bulis was one of those fans who found the world of Vortis just alive with possibilities, and was annoyed with the banning of Web Planet writer Bill Strutton from working on the series again. It's evident in his writing that he likes the world of Vortis, and in some kind of homage to the original story has the Doctor and Jamie captures by the darker forces and Victoria befriended by the Menoptera as Barbara was years before. Victoria gets to recover some of her dignity and demands that the alien agressors laying waste to the planet address her as a lady, bringing her back from the edges of terror she has been subjected to in the previous adventures.
Twilight of the Gods was published in the Virgin Missing Adventures range years ago, and is out of print. Copies still pop up on eBay at an okay price; if you're a fan without, try getting yourself one of these. You won't be sorry.
How's about another?
NEXT EPISODE : COMBAT ROCK
The thing that I love about the print versions of Doctor Who is how authors are allowed to go back and revisit their favourite episodes, re-examine the past events, and get that chance to see how the Doctor's presence influenced the lives of the people he touched. It's not always pretty, when you consider how he says he hates goodbyes and likes to run out as soon as the evil has been vanquished and leaves the survivors to learn how to clean up the mess. But, there are other times when everything is going just fine, the Doctor has truly shown them the way... and something else comes along.
Take Vortis, the insect world of The Web Planet. Freed from the influence of the Animus, the world is alive again, the forests and flowers are back, and the Menoptera have made good on their promise to live in harmony with the Zarbi and be watchful for another Animus. They did not, however, account for an interplanetary war and a territory struggle that would see Vortis being fought over by two races. It seems that the Gods of Light are on their side when the Doctor returns with a new face and new companions, but there is more at stake with the rise of a second Animus, and the revelation that Vortis may just be a huge ant farm, the Gods themselves just observers who have forgotten how their experiment works and cannot handle how it has evolved.
I suspect that author Christopher Bulis was one of those fans who found the world of Vortis just alive with possibilities, and was annoyed with the banning of Web Planet writer Bill Strutton from working on the series again. It's evident in his writing that he likes the world of Vortis, and in some kind of homage to the original story has the Doctor and Jamie captures by the darker forces and Victoria befriended by the Menoptera as Barbara was years before. Victoria gets to recover some of her dignity and demands that the alien agressors laying waste to the planet address her as a lady, bringing her back from the edges of terror she has been subjected to in the previous adventures.
Twilight of the Gods was published in the Virgin Missing Adventures range years ago, and is out of print. Copies still pop up on eBay at an okay price; if you're a fan without, try getting yourself one of these. You won't be sorry.
How's about another?
NEXT EPISODE : COMBAT ROCK
Labels: Jamie McCrimmon, The 2nd Doctor, The Zarbi, Victoria Waterfield
posted by Sean Hoover @ 2:52 PM
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