A 40th anniversary special that's not very special
Written: Aug 10 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Wonderful characterization of the regulars
Cons: Plot holes, cliches
The Bottom Line: 2 stars for the non-Who fan. Recommended once for fans of the Third Doctor. If you're not a fan of his, this one won't win you over.
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| hist's Full Review: Doctor Who: Deadly Reunion Books |
Deadly Reunion by Terrance Dicks & Barry Letts
(Note: There are a couple of hints at the ending of the book in this review, which most intelligent people will be able to use to deduce what happens. Personally, I don't think that would destroy any enjoyment you may get out of this book, but I thought I would warn you)
A Brief Description of Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a science fiction adventure series about the Doctor and one (or more) of his companions. They travel around in the TARDIS, which looks like an English police box, but is really a time travel machine. It's bigger on the inside then on the outside. The Doctor is a Time Lord, a race of beings who can regenerate when their current body is dying. So far, the Doctor has regenerated seven times, which means he's on his eighth incarnation.
The book series consists of two lines: a line about the Eighth Doctor and his companions, and a line that consists of "past Doctors" (Numbers 1-7). The past Doctors are from the TV series that ended in 1989, while the Eighth has only been seen on television in a movie on the Fox network in 1996.
Deadly Reunion is a novel starring the Third Doctor, Jo Grant, and UNIT
One of the staples of "trad" (traditional) Who fiction is Terrance Dicks. He first joined the show in 1968, was the script editor for the entire Third Doctor era (1970-73), and has written many of the classic Who episodes. He's even written some of the new Dr. Who fiction since the television series ended. Barry Letts was the producer for the entire Third Doctor era. So you'd think that, writing a Third Doctor book, they could do no wrong. Right? Well, sort of.
Deadly Reunion is a 40th anniversary Who special, and in doing that Dicks and Letts have written a wonderful homage to the TV show. Unfortunately, what they forgot to do is make an interesting book. Sure, there's a lot of Who nostalgia in it, especially Third Doctor nostalgia. However, considering that Third Doctor fans are only a small part of a rather small to begin with fan base, you have to wonder who they're trying to cater to? And why they couldn't write a good book on top of the nostalgia trip. It can be done. Not this time.
Deadly Reunion starts out with an extended prologue, with Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart (then a 2nd Lieutenant) on a mission in post-war Greece, around 1946 or so. He's on a mission to show the flag, demonstrating that Britain has not abandoned them to the Communists. He and his fellow officer see a rampaging black bull kill a man, and then stumble on a house with three rather strange people in it. They turn out to be aliens who once passed themselves off as Demeter, Persephone, and Hermes, back in the golden days of ancient Greece. Lethbridge-Stewart falls hopelessly in love with "Sephie," who is then kidnapped by Hades, who is attempting to start a third world war to bring more chaos to the world. Lethbridge-Stewart saves Sephie, but then is given some water from the river Lethe to make him forget everything.
Years later, the Lethbridge-Stewart, now a brigadier and commander of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT), is investigating a series of murders and violent incidents. The Third Doctor, stranded on Earth by the Time Lords, takes his companion, Jo, to the village of Hob's Haven to get tickets for the massive pop concert that's going to be held there. But something sinister is happening in the village, and they get caught up in everything. Something that could bring the end of civilization as we know it, if the Doctor can't stop it.
Deadly Reunion throws in bits of Dr. Who clichés all over the place. There's the companion, running from the bad guys, tripping and injuring her ankle. There's Sergeant Benton threatening to "thump" somebody. There's the Third Doctor's Venusian Aikido. There's the Doctor's penchant for name dropping (he talks about running with the bulls with Ernest Hemingway, or "Ernie" as he calls him). An old friend stopping by (though he's really inconsequential and obviously just in there for the anniversary). Sedate English village where trouble is brewing. It's all there, in point form. Unfortunately, Dicks has also acquired some new, somewhat distasteful clichés as well. There's the numerous references to the possibilities of rape (first Sephie and then Jo), which just gave me the willies. It's like your elderly uncle sitting down and telling you sexual stories. Ick.
Then there are the structural problems. In fact, there's one huge internal continuity problem that I don't know how it was missed. When Jo and the Doctor are going down to Hob's Haven to get tickets for the festival, it's supposed to take place "next week." Then, events happen, but they're all confined to one day. All of a sudden, they're talking about the festival beginning "tomorrow night." Huh? There's no mention of it being moved up. In fact, the timeline is a bit suspect no matter how you think about it. All of the sequences involving Sergeant Benton and Captain Yates seem like they would have to take place over a matter of a couple of days, but given the text of the book, it's impossible for them to have done so. It all has to happen the same day. It was enough to tax my mind as I was trying to figure out just what was happening when.
I also had a problem with Lethbridge-Stewart falling in love that quickly. He sees Persephone and he's immediately in love. This is not like him at all. However, there is no indication there was any kind of mind-control, even unconsciously, on Persephone's part. She talks like she's instantly in love with him too. It was just too unbelievable, even more so if you know Lethbridge-Stewart's character like most Who fans do.
There are some good parts to the book, though. With the exception of Lethbridge-Stewart falling in love so quickly, all of the main characters are tremendous. These two authors know their Third Doctor and friends, and it's like old home week. The Doctor is wonderfully arrogant but also kind-hearted. He's offended when he's mistaken for one of the pop stars that are coming to the festival. He's witty and I can almost hear Jon Pertwee's voice when he's thundering at the policeman who can't seem to realize that somebody cannot cut their own head off cleanly with a scythe. Deadly Reunion was a wonderfully cozy book on this front.
Unfortunately, as the book was drawing to a close, I couldn't see any way out of it but the obvious deus ex machina. Granted, this was what the Doctor was trying to do in the first place, so I guess it doesn't totally fit that expression. I was hoping, though, that he would fail and figure out some other way to defeat the menace. I was wrong. The ending is trite, and more importantly, doesn't even use the "love" that's between Persephone and the Brigadier. When you think about it, there's no point for the love story between them, as it's only responsible for setting the brigadier off on a macho military plan that he ultimately would have decided to do anyway, even without the love story. Why was this in there? There's no "Aha!! Lethbridge-Stewart! So we meet again!" confrontation between the Brigadier and Hades. They never even interact again! I was left shaking my head.
I've gone on longer than this book probably deserves. It's a bit of nostalgic fluff, and it won't amount to any more than that. Thankfully, it doesn't try to. It won't be of interest to anybody but a Who fan, as it's not well-written enough to attract anybody else. Even a Who fan will see all its flaws. The question will be: are you so much a fan of Dicks and the Third Doctor that you will overlook it? I'm glad I read it, but I won't be racing to read it again.
Recommended:
Yes
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Member: David Roy
Location: Vancouver, BC
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