Tag: Doctor Who review

Book review-Rose Target novelisation

Recently published are five new Target novels that include four adaptations of Doctor Who stories from the post-2005 era. These stories comprise Rose by Russell T Davies, Day of the Doctor by Steven Moffat, The Christmas Invasion by Jenny Colgan, and Twice Upon a Time by Paul Cornell. Additionally, a Target version of City of Death by James Goss is also available.

Doctor Who: Rose is a novel adaptation of the iconic first episode of the show’s revival in 2005. This book marks the first time that Russell T Davies has adapted his own work into a novel, making it a highly anticipated release for fans of the show. As an avid fan of the show myself, I can say that this novel did not disappoint.

Russell T Davies brings his trademark playfulness and wit to the novel, adding new colour and several new laughs to the story. The novel captures the excitement and energy of the original episode, transporting the reader back to the first time the Ninth Doctor takes hold of Rose’s hand and utters the immortal phrase – ‘Run!’

One of the highlights is the expanded backstory of Wilson, a character who was briefly mentioned in the original episode but never seen. The prologue of the novel provides insight into Wilson’s life and his involvement with the lottery pool, adding a new layer of depth to the plot. Davies expertly weaves in these new details, creating a more fully realised world that adds to the overall richness of the story. By expanding on the peripheral characters, Davies has created a novel that feels even more fleshed out than the original episode. Fans of Doctor Who are sure to appreciate these new details and the way they enhance the story as a whole.

The novel also includes several cameos that nod to the future of the show, post-Rose and even up to the present day. Davies also addresses Steven Moffat’s Pandorica and Crack in Time story arc, which explains the frequent Earth invasions in RTD’s era and why no one remembers them.

While there are a couple of areas where the added details don’t quite ring true, the novel is still a thrilling read that delivers on all fronts. The climax builds to an epic battle that could not have been achieved on a BBC TV budget, and the humour is firing on all cylinders.

Overall, Doctor Who: Rose is a delightful novel that will transport fans of the show back to the excitement of the first episode of the revival. Russell T Davies has once again proven himself to be a master storyteller, and fans of Doctor Who are sure to enjoy this adaptation. Highly recommended.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Episode 13: Midnight Cawfee

Professor Dave and Lilibet from Professor Dave’s Ark in Space stop by Bad Wilf Towers for some Midnight Cawfee. The four of us discuss the Doctor Who episode ‘Midnight’.

“Midnight” is the tenth episode of the fourth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was originally broadcast on BBC One on 14 June 2008.

The episode is principally set on board a small touring vehicle, which stops in the middle of a tour on the hostile surface of the planet Midnight and has its cockpit destroyed with its driver and mechanic. The unseen assailant is depicted only through sound effects and its possession of one of the vehicle’s passengers, Sky Silvestry (Lesley Sharp), who repeats the words of the other passengers on board.

The episode placed much more emphasis on the role of David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor than in the rest of the fourth series, with the Doctor’s companion, Donna Noble (played by Catherine Tate) playing only a minimal role. For this reason, Stephen James Walker has described this episode in his book Monsters Within as being “companion-lite”.



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Episode 08: Vincent and The Doctor

Vincent and The Doctor is discussed and Martyn reviews the Big Finish audio ‘The Boy That Time Forgot’.

“Vincent and the Doctor” is the tenth episode of the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who, first broadcast on BBC One on 5 June 2010. It was written by Richard Curtis and directed by Jonny Campbell and featured an uncredited guest appearance from actor Bill Nighy.

Intrigued by an ominous figure in Vincent van Gogh’s painting The Church at Auvers, alien time traveller the Doctor (Matt Smith) and his companion Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) go back in time to meet Van Gogh (Tony Curran) and discover that Auvers-sur-Oise has been plagued by an invisible creature, known as the Krafayis, which only Van Gogh can see. The Doctor and Amy work with Van Gogh to defeat the Krafayis, but in their attempt to have Van Gogh realise his legacy through bringing him to the future they ultimately realise that not all of the time can be rewritten and there are some evils which are out of the Doctor’s reach.

Curtis, inspired by the fact that Van Gogh never knew he would be famous, had the idea for an episode centred on him. He left the script open to criticism from the crew and made many revisions as a result. Curtis wanted to portray Van Gogh truthfully, rather than being cruel by writing jokes about his mental illness. Most of the episode was filmed in Trogir, Croatia, and many of the sets were modelled after Van Gogh paintings. The episode was watched by 6.76 million viewers on BBC One and BBC HD. Reception to the episode was mainly positive. While the amount of emotion in the episode was debated, many reviewers praised Curran’s performance as Van Gogh, but that the Krafayis was not a sufficiently threatening “monster”.

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Episode 07: The Hungry Earth & Cold blood

The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood get discussed.

In the episodes, the Eleventh Doctor—a time-traveling alien played by Matt Smith—and his companions Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill) land in Wales in 2020, where a drilling operation headed by Nasreen Chaudhry (Meera Syal) is drilling deep into the earth and disrupting a civilisation of Silurians who dwell beneath the earth. The Silurians cause holes to open in the earth, one of which consumes Amy. The Doctor and Rory capture one Silurian, Alaya (Neve McIntosh), and the Doctor instructs Rory and a local family to not harm Alaya, as it could spark a war. He then takes Nasreen in the TARDIS to the Silurian civilisation to rescue Amy and kidnapped locals Mo (Alun Raglan) and Elliot (Samuel Davies).

Deep under the Earth, Amy and Mo escape from Silurian doctor Malohkeh’s experimentation and Mo discovers his son, Elliot, sedated in a chamber and under observation. The leader of the Silurian warrior caste, Restac, insists both the Eleventh Doctor and geologist Nasreen Chaudhry be executed and escorts them to a Silurian court; though Amy and Mo interrupt the trial with stolen weapons, they too are captured. Eldane, Restac’s superior, is called in by Malohkeh and demands a halt to the hostilities.

The Doctor makes contact with Rory; Mo’s wife, Ambrose; and Ambrose’s father, Tony, reminding them to keep their captive Silurian, Restac’s sister Alaya, alive. They are unaware that Ambrose has already killed Alaya because she would not help Tony, whom she had infected with Silurian venom. The Doctor arranges a conference between Eldane, Amy, and Nasreen; the three discuss how humans and Silurians can co-exist on the surface. Ambrose and Tony, worried about the Silurian reaction when they discover Alaya’s death, set Nasreen and Tony’s drill to burrow into the oxygen pockets of the Silurians’ underground city fifteen minutes after they depart, which would destroy it. Meanwhile, Restac has killed Malohkeh for his betrayal and awakened other members of the warrior caste, intending to stage a coup against Eldane.

The Doctor escapes with the humans and channels an energy pulse to the base of the drill before it impacts the city. Eldane returns the warriors to hibernation by initiating “toxic fumigation”; the humans escape, and Eldane hopes that in a thousand years, peace between humans and Silurians can occur. Tony, still affected by Silurian venom, opts to stay behind to be cured, and Nasreen stays with Tony. The Doctor, Amy and Rory find a crack in the cavern wall similar to those they have seen before. The Doctor surmises that the crack was caused by an explosion in time, which might have left shrapnel behind. He reaches in and pulls out an object which he wraps in a handkerchief. Restac, dying from the toxic exposure, crawls around the corner and fires at the Doctor, but Rory pushes him out of the way and takes the shot, dying in Amy’s arms. The crack absorbs Rory’s body, erasing him from existence and causing Amy to lose her memory of him. Returning to the surface, the Doctor takes out the object he pulled from the crack–a burned piece of the TARDIS’s sign.

“The Hungry Earth” was originally broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 22 May 2010 at 6:15 p.m.

“Cold Blood” was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One and simulcast on BBC HD on 29 May 2010.

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