Review: It was a little bit surprising to see Terrance Dicks return to BBC
Books' range of original Doctor Who novels, considering how widely his
previous work, The Eight Doctors, was reviled by fans and readers around the
world. However, Dicks was one of the architects of the mostly good Jon
Pertwee era of Doctor Who, originally broadcast between 1970 and 1974, and
it might be a little unfair to discount him completely as a writer. Though
many of Dicks' Target Books novelizations of Doctor Who television serials
over the years have been criticized for their simple, paint-by-numbers
nature, it's worth a reminder that the Target books were - much like Doctor
Who itself once was - considered a niche item for children. But, given
another opportunity to pen a full-length novel aimed at an older audience,
and given the chance to return to his own heyday on the show, Terrance Dicks
proves that he can still write good Doctor Who.
The book follows the team of the Third Doctor and Jo Grant as they
journey to the colony planet Katospheria, which has been handily renamed
Catastrophea by its human overlords. Four factions vie for power on
Kastospheria: the reasonably benevolent Earth government, the corrupt
commercial colonists who originally claimed the planet, the neanderthalesque
indigenous People (who were enslaved by the first colonists, and a small
group of ecologically-minded political rebels. Both the People and the
rebels assume that the Doctor is their personal savior whose arrival has
been prophesied. The Doctor naturally clashes with the barely-tolerated
leader of the original colonial forces, and simply by his association with
these other three parties, the Doctor finds himself in conflict with the new
local government. As if he doesn't face enough opposition, the Doctor must
also contend with the possibility that an orbiting ship full of Draconians
(stately, well-realized aliens introduced in the 1973 episode Frontier in
Space) may be the spearhead of an alien invasion of Katospheria. There are
other wild cards, including local drug lords and smugglers, and the People's
own history, which turns out to be bloodier than even the Doctor can
imagine.
The political complexities of the book make for a perfect playground for
the authority-defying Doctor, whose typical support of the underdogs in any
conflict backfires at least a couple of times. Terrance Dicks' unique
understanding of the characters of this era of Doctor Who keeps the Doctor
and Jo's respective character voices in perfect pitch - it's not hard to
imagine the late Jon Pertwee delivering this book's dialogue with his usual
thundering intensity. And despite the aforementioned complexities,
Catastrophea is not at all difficult to follow, making it easy to keep score
among the various parties trying to attain their own goals.
A worthwhile read, especially for fans of the Pertwee era and its dearly
departed leading man.
DOCTOR WHO and all related characters and placenames
are the property of the British Broadcasting Corporation. This document is not
intended to infringe upon the BBC's copyright in any way. The author(s)
make no attempt - in using the names described herein - to supercede the
copyrights of the copyright holders, nor are these files officially sanctioned,
licensed, or endorsed by the shows' creators or producers.
