DOCTOR WHO
▸ RELEASED OUT NOW! 160/176/224 pages | Paperback/ebook
▸ Authors Gary Russell, Mark Morris, James Goss
▸ Publisher BBC Books
Remember Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary specials? Have yourself checked for concussion if you don’t; it wasn’t exactly many moons ago. Ebook novelisations for each followed within a week of transmission; now all three are available in paperback, in the classic Target range format.
Safe pair of hands Gary Russell tackles The Star Beast .
In the tradition of Who writer Malcolm Hulke (his prologue to The Dinosaur Invasion springs to mind), he weaves a new character throughout – steelworks cleaner Stew Ferguson. Addressing how giant cracks across London miraculously heal themselves, meanwhile, he comes up with an economical gloss worthy of Target stalwart Terrance Dicks: “What happened next made no sense…”
Documents are scattered throughout, such as an MOD reply to a freedom of information request and a UNIT memo; some of this could be dismissed as padding, but a Shadow Proclamation article on the Wrarth Warriors neatly fleshes out these intergalactic cops (they were, we’re told, genetically engineered using parts from five species). We also learn that the TARDIS interior changes fragrance as well as colour, treating travellers to a whiff of mint or eucalyptus oil.
Wild Blue Yonder is Mark Morris’s first Target novelisation, but hopefully won’t be his last. He’s the most impressive stylist here, displaying a knack for a vivid simile: a room on the spaceship is “the colour of gloomy forgetfulness”, while aged robot Jimbo creaks “like an old castle door”. Equally evocative is the moment where he notes that Wilf smells of wool, Extra Strong Mints and army soap. Perfect.
There isn’t much in the way of new additions here, though (barring the unlikely revelation that Donna took up yoga), and plot points we’d hoped might be clarified remain a little hazy. For one: why exactly does the TARDIS twice blast out “Wild Blue Yonder”? Our assumption: to plant Mrs Bean’s funny name in the Doctor’s mind, giving him a question which would reveal Donna’s humanity. However, the length of the faux-Donna’s arms remains the only explanation given for his (eventual) correct identification.
James Goss takes the most creative approach, employing the villainous Toymaker himself as the narrator of The Giggle ★★★★☆ , using appropriate phrases (“go back two spaces”; “fallen down a long snake”), and scattering games here and there: a maze; a word search that’s all maniacal “HA HA HA”s. The book even takes on a Choose Your Own Adventure format for a while. Faced with the insurmountable obstacle of licensing lyrics, meanwhile, he wittily has a music copyright lawyer pop up just before the Spice Girls blast out in UNIT HQ.
