shutupbanks
Castellan
There’s a horror movie called Alien? That’s really offensive. No wonder everyone keeps invading you.
Likes: 5,688
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Post by shutupbanks on Jun 19, 2023 11:50:14 GMT
The Gunfighters
Long held to be one of the worst stories in the range, this is actually a lot of fun. Mr Cotton has clearly worked hard on this but it suffers from having too many characters with the same sort of voice as the narration. Good fun, though.
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shutupbanks
Castellan
There’s a horror movie called Alien? That’s really offensive. No wonder everyone keeps invading you.
Likes: 5,688
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Post by shutupbanks on Jul 1, 2023 4:24:26 GMT
The Savages
Begins with a seeming utopia and ends with the Doctor toppling a corrupt government and replacing it with something hopefully better. Perfect Doctor Who for this reader/viewer and told competently by someone who understands what the show is capable of.
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shutupbanks
Castellan
There’s a horror movie called Alien? That’s really offensive. No wonder everyone keeps invading you.
Likes: 5,688
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Post by shutupbanks on Jul 15, 2023 6:16:44 GMT
The War Machines
This was great: the characters are all well-portrayed, the plot unfolds at a really nice place and Black does a lot of work in fleshing out the expanded universe and making it feel effortless.
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Post by Sir Wearer of Hats on Jul 15, 2023 9:34:19 GMT
Planet of the Ood - I never liked Tennant as the (lead) Doctor on TV, but I do like him in literary form. I loved this story. ESPECISLLY… {Spoiler} The fact the literal title sequence is used in the narrative in the typical “see the TARDIS in flight….” scene.
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Post by thegreendeath on Jul 18, 2023 11:32:47 GMT
I’m on the last few chapters of Timewyrm Genesis. I have huge nostalgia for the New Adventures era as I got into them in their third year and followed them to the end (though I’ve probably only read half of them total) but even with that nostalgia this opening novel isn’t that great. Peel’s prose is good and readable but his attempts to make things more adult by adding prostitutes and nudity and talk of rape are flat out terrible and drag an otherwise decent story down for me.
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shutupbanks
Castellan
There’s a horror movie called Alien? That’s really offensive. No wonder everyone keeps invading you.
Likes: 5,688
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Post by shutupbanks on Jul 18, 2023 22:39:28 GMT
The Smugglers
A fairly by-the-numbers retelling of a “lost” Who story. The villains (pretty much anyone who doesn’t travel in the TARDIS) are a fairly two-dimensional crowd and the story, while filled with incident, doesn’t really do anything new. Fun, though, because Terrance Dicks is always readable..
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enofa
Full Member
Likes: 122
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Post by enofa on Jul 19, 2023 0:19:00 GMT
I’m on the last few chapters of Timewyrm Genesis. I have huge nostalgia for the New Adventures era as I got into them in their third year and followed them to the end (though I’ve probably only read half of them total) but even with that nostalgia this opening novel isn’t that great. Peel’s prose is good and readable but his attempts to make things more adult by adding prostitutes and nudity and talk of rape are flat out terrible and drag an otherwise decent story down for me. Yes, the sexual stuff is as good an example of the Torchwood S1-style edgy ‘adult’ stuff in the early VNAs as anything. The Doctor telling Ace to accept being molested because it was the attitude of the time is… well, a low point. That said, I don’t think it’s an especially great book anyway. Peel very clearly doesn’t have any fondness for the Seventh Doctor and writes him and Ace as if the book takes place between Dragonfire and Remembrance, with absolutely none of the growth of the characters, and goes so far as to literally replace the Seventh Doctor with the Third for the story’s climax. It doesn’t even do much interesting with Gilgamesh, who could be a fascinating character to explore. He writes well, and his Dalek novelisations are really good, but I strongly dislike all of his original books. Genesys always struck me as him getting in the first original Who novel for that alone, rather than because he wanted to actually carry on the story after Survival. My EDA run has finally moved on to The City of the Dead, which is a very strange one so far. A few highlights aside, I felt the early EDAs suffered from being mostly generic, mid-season style filler stories, but they’ve definitely become a lot more unusual as they’ve gone along. This one is practically VNA in tone so far: the Doctor is currently at a party full of goths, admiring sculptures of men having sex with skeletons, and someone has taken heroin and is throwing up in the bathroom. It’s certainly different.
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Post by newt5996 on Jul 19, 2023 0:28:54 GMT
I’m on the last few chapters of Timewyrm Genesis. I have huge nostalgia for the New Adventures era as I got into them in their third year and followed them to the end (though I’ve probably only read half of them total) but even with that nostalgia this opening novel isn’t that great. Peel’s prose is good and readable but his attempts to make things more adult by adding prostitutes and nudity and talk of rape are flat out terrible and drag an otherwise decent story down for me. Yes, the sexual stuff is as good an example of the Torchwood S1-style edgy ‘adult’ stuff in the early VNAs as anything. The Doctor telling Ace to accept being molested because it was the attitude of the time is… well, a low point. That said, I don’t think it’s an especially great book anyway. Peel very clearly doesn’t have any fondness for the Seventh Doctor and writes him and Ace as if the book takes place between Dragonfire and Remembrance, with absolutely none of the growth of the characters, and goes so far as to literally replace the Seventh Doctor with the Third for the story’s climax. It doesn’t even do much interesting with Gilgamesh, who could be a fascinating character to explore. He writes well, and his Dalek novelisations are really good, but I strongly dislike all of his original books. Genesys always struck me as him getting in the first original Who novel for that alone, rather than because he wanted to actually carry on the story after Survival. My EDA run has finally moved on to The City of the Dead, which is a very strange one so far. A few highlights aside, I felt the early EDAs suffered from being mostly generic, mid-season style filler stories, but they’ve definitely become a lot more unusual as they’ve gone along. This one is practically VNA in tone so far: the Doctor is currently at a party full of goths, admiring sculptures of men having sex with skeletons, and someone has taken heroin and is throwing up in the bathroom. It’s certainly different. If you read anything by Peel you realize he’s one of those Doctor Who fans that fully buy into the idea that Doctor Who became terrible after Season 14.
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shutupbanks
Castellan
There’s a horror movie called Alien? That’s really offensive. No wonder everyone keeps invading you.
Likes: 5,688
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Post by shutupbanks on Jul 26, 2023 12:31:55 GMT
The Tenth Planet
There’s the introduction of the Cybermen, the first regeneration seen on TV, a cracking plot, characters who are on the same side but with varying degrees of fanaticism and a sound that gets described as “radiophonic”… what’s not to love here?
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Post by sexbombsimon on Jul 29, 2023 23:13:06 GMT
The Tenth Planet There’s the introduction of the Cybermen, the first regeneration seen on TV, a cracking plot, characters who are on the same side but with varying degrees of fanaticism and a sound that gets described as “radiophonic”… what’s not to love here? Just to say that I am really enjoying your posts about reading the TARGET books in order.
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shutupbanks
Castellan
There’s a horror movie called Alien? That’s really offensive. No wonder everyone keeps invading you.
Likes: 5,688
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Post by shutupbanks on Jul 30, 2023 0:49:25 GMT
The Tenth Planet There’s the introduction of the Cybermen, the first regeneration seen on TV, a cracking plot, characters who are on the same side but with varying degrees of fanaticism and a sound that gets described as “radiophonic”… what’s not to love here? Just to say that I am really enjoying your posts about reading the TARGET books in order. Cheers, mate. Much appreciated.
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Post by thegreendeath on Jul 30, 2023 2:29:29 GMT
Finished “Timewyrm: Exodus” yesterday and while it’s a huge step up from the previous installment, the whole “Hitler was as bad as he was because he was possessed by a monster that the Doctor accidentally gave power to” is in poor taste and knocks it down a few points. Still the lead’s voices were all on point. I also appreciated that the number of locations and characters worked for a novel rather than a novelization of a story that was never made and the first chunk in the alternate history post-WWII England was fantastic.
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Post by thegreendeath on Aug 1, 2023 14:11:21 GMT
Timewyrm: Apocalypse was next on the list. I know this one gets a lot of stick but I actually think it’s a decent story, gets Ace right and basically feels like a good 7/Ace three parter from TV that was never filmed. It kind of needs actors to bring the side characters to life as on page they’re a little dry and the story isn’t a classic, but it’s solid.
On a side note I follow Nigel Robinson on Facebook and looked in on his FB after reading this and was really saddened to see he’s going through a terrible time with mental health, his last post was incoherent and very troubling. If any of you on here know him, I’d check in if you can.
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shutupbanks
Castellan
There’s a horror movie called Alien? That’s really offensive. No wonder everyone keeps invading you.
Likes: 5,688
|
Post by shutupbanks on Aug 3, 2023 12:14:21 GMT
Power Of The Daleks
After taking what feels like an eternity to get there, this has a really exciting climax. The characters are nicely fleshed-out and the idea of the Daleks acting like servants is terrific. It just feels a lot longer than its 250 pages. A bit of a slog but worth it.
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Post by shallacatop on Aug 5, 2023 15:59:45 GMT
The latest DWM Special on the post-2005 action figures. Quite a few omissions and mistakes in it, unfortunately.
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Post by sherlock on Aug 11, 2023 8:21:37 GMT
60th Marathon: Seventh Doctor - Favourite: Human Nature
”being me is a state of mind. Six other people apart from you and I had a go. You were rather good at it.”
In part sweet, in part tragedy, this book deserves its place as a cornerstone of Who’s expanded universe. It’s full of heart and is unafraid to pull its punches when it counts.
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shutupbanks
Castellan
There’s a horror movie called Alien? That’s really offensive. No wonder everyone keeps invading you.
Likes: 5,688
|
Post by shutupbanks on Aug 11, 2023 19:27:13 GMT
The Highlanders
The last pure historical story for about 15 years starts quite grippingly but turns into something a little more cuddly and swashbuckling by story’s end. Not that it matters: it’s a total hoot from start to finish. Great fun.
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shutupbanks
Castellan
There’s a horror movie called Alien? That’s really offensive. No wonder everyone keeps invading you.
Likes: 5,688
|
Post by shutupbanks on Aug 13, 2023 13:23:42 GMT
The Underwater Menace
Very easy to read but moves wildly fast without giving the reader a chance to take in the ideas properly: the fish people, for example, could have been a wonderful opportunity for some classic body horror, but they are dealt with only fleetingly without the scale (sorry) of what they’ve been through properly examined. Fun but disposable.
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Post by aussiedoctorwhofan on Sept 2, 2023 1:39:27 GMT
New book release.
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enofa
Full Member
Likes: 122
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Post by enofa on Sept 2, 2023 11:02:11 GMT
Now up to The Book of the Still in my EDA run… this is a weird one so far.
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