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Post by elkawho on Aug 15, 2016 17:44:40 GMT
I finished Human Nature last night. I really enjoyed it. I've always been a big fan of the 10th Doctor Modern Series adaptation of it and was really interested to read it because of that. While I was reading the book, I was thinking about what worked for TV, what didn't, what I liked better in the book, what was better in the show, etc. I thought I'd post them here for some discussion.
This was my first 7th Doctor novel. In fact, it's only the third Doctor Who novel I've yet to read. I really enjoyed Benny in this, and I heard Lisa Bowerman's voice the entire time (as well as Sylvester's).
The changes that were made for TV were entirely understandable, and even preferable for a visual and faster medium as compared to some of the choices in the book. For example, the motivation of the Doctor turning human in the show was much more understandable to me than in the book. In the novel, he changes because he needs a "time out" from his life and chance to take a break. Now, I have a feeling that I missed something important from the previous novel; important and very bad. But without that context (and maybe even with it) it seemed a little thin and petty. The idea that he HAS TO change to hide from the family seems much more immediate and important, and more Doctor-ish.
"The Family" itself: In the novel, they have a name (The Aubertides) and a much more complex history. This works very well for the book and makes their actions more menacing, and understandable. Although it's way too complex for TV, and I think it was smart to make it a smaller group and give them more basic and straight-forward motivations. I wish the little girl was a little more menacing on TV, she's damn scary as written. They could at least have stuck with the idea that the balloon itself was a weapon. (and part of her)
Of course they couldn't have written Martha as John Smith's niece, as Benny is introduced. Not only because of her race, but I also believe it makes the flow of the story better if the companion is a part of the school staff, to keep an eye on Smith. Making Joan a nurse rather than a teacher also works well, considering that we rarely see her teach in the novel and she's constantly bandaging people up.
I loved some of the secondary characters in the book, especially Alexander and Timothy. I do wish that they had done more with Tim in the show.
So now, discuss. What are some of your thoughts?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2016 20:16:51 GMT
The Doctor's motivation in the TV version really puts me off that version. It makes no sense at all, he does all this to hide from the family, a band so fearsome he can defeat them in seconds without breaking into a sweat once we've reached the alloted running time.
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Post by Ela on Aug 15, 2016 20:19:28 GMT
I really liked the TV version when I first watched it, and still do.
But after reading the novel, I think I like the original novelization better.
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Post by Sir Wearer of Hats on Aug 15, 2016 21:26:30 GMT
I think the loss of the scene that renders the Doctor utterly terrifying* from the book, replacing it with Tennant prattling and falling about is what swings it in the books favour for me (and I don't like the book either).
* Smith has had his little finger bitten off, he fronts up to the Aubertides and begs for the survivors lives, only for the leader to ask him to take off the gloves he's wearing ... To reveal he's regenerated the missing finger, he's not Smith, he's the Doctor "run" he says and they do.
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Post by omega on Aug 15, 2016 22:42:39 GMT
You probably won't get some of the Doctor's motivation in the book without having read the previous book in the range, Sanctuary. The Doctor trying to understand Benny's emotions after her love interest in that book, who she had gotten very close to (her son Peter's middle name comes from this love interest btw), died. The events of the book help both Benny and the Doctor to work past previous romantic relationships with Guy and Joan.
I definitely recommend you guys read Sanctuary. It's not one of the pricier NAs and the only pure historical in the whole range. It's set in Medieval France with the Inquisition on the warpath with a religious commune at risk (and it's not like the Monty Python Inquisition either).
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Post by coffeeaddict on Aug 15, 2016 22:53:26 GMT
While I enjoyed the tv version, I personally preferred the book. As noted above it does help if you've read Sanctuary. I don't think it is absolutely necessary, but like a few of the NA's due to the connected story arc it will smooth out areas where you. I got otherwise be left asking what you missed.
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Post by elkawho on Aug 16, 2016 0:00:14 GMT
I really did love the book, and I like the TV version as well. I think they both work for their intended medium, and that rarely happens. Sir Wearer of Hats I agree with you about that scene in the book. It's terrific. The scene in which he loses the finger is terrifying. @brians I believe he was only able to defeat them like that in the show because of the charade that he had set up. If they didn't think he was still human he would never have been able to enter the ship. That's how I like to think of it, anyway.
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Post by elkawho on Aug 16, 2016 0:00:39 GMT
You probably won't get some of the Doctor's motivation in the book without having read the previous book in the range, Sanctuary. The Doctor trying to understand Benny's emotions after her love interest in that book, who she had gotten very close to (her son Peter's middle name comes from this love interest btw), died. The events of the book help both Benny and the Doctor to work past previous romantic relationships with Guy and Joan. I definitely recommend you guys read Sanctuary. It's not one of the pricier NAs and the only pure historical in the whole range. It's set in Medieval France with the Inquisition on the warpath with a religious commune at risk (and it's not like the Monty Python Inquisition either). It's on the list!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 16, 2016 2:24:01 GMT
You probably won't get some of the Doctor's motivation in the book without having read the previous book in the range, Sanctuary. The Doctor trying to understand Benny's emotions after her love interest in that book, who she had gotten very close to (her son Peter's middle name comes from this love interest btw), died. The events of the book help both Benny and the Doctor to work past previous romantic relationships with Guy and Joan. I definitely recommend you guys read Sanctuary. It's not one of the pricier NAs and the only pure historical in the whole range. It's set in Medieval France with the Inquisition on the warpath with a religious commune at risk (and it's not like the Monty Python Inquisition either). It's on the list! A classic that. It forms a nice informal trilogy with Sanctuary leading into Human Nature and a bit of Human Nature carrying over into Original Sin with Zebulon Pryce where the Doctor discusses with him -- a convicted murderer -- whether killing is ever justified.
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Post by omega on Aug 16, 2016 2:51:42 GMT
A classic that. It forms a nice informal trilogy with Sanctuary leading into Human Nature and a bit of Human Nature carrying over into So Vile a Sin with Zebulon Pryce where the Doctor discusses with him -- a convicted murderer -- whether killing is ever justified. You mean Original Sin.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 16, 2016 2:55:45 GMT
A classic that. It forms a nice informal trilogy with Sanctuary leading into Human Nature and a bit of Human Nature carrying over into So Vile a Sin with Zebulon Pryce where the Doctor discusses with him -- a convicted murderer -- whether killing is ever justified. You mean Original Sin. Oh, this head cold is doing my brain in. That's the one. The release to be adapted by our own great John Dorney.
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Post by omega on Aug 16, 2016 3:00:56 GMT
Oh, this head cold is doing my brain in. That's the one. The release to be adapted by our own great John Dorney. You too? I'm stuck between soggy hankies and a bin full of tissues. Not sure that's better than a rock and a hard place. Andy Lane didn't have anything to do with So Vile a Sin (almost typed So Vila a Sin). Kate Orman wrote it and Ben Aaronovitch stepped in as co-writer when her hard drive crashed and delayed publication (event book+low print run=hard to find and expensive when you do).
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Post by Deleted on Aug 16, 2016 4:05:27 GMT
Oh, this head cold is doing my brain in. That's the one. The release to be adapted by our own great John Dorney. You too? I'm stuck between soggy hankies and a bin full of tissues. Not sure that's better than a rock and a hard place. Andy Lane didn't have anything to do with So Vile a Sin (almost typed So Vila a Sin). Kate Orman wrote it and Ben Aaronovitch stepped in as co-writer when her hard drive crashed and delayed publication (event book+low print run=hard to find and expensive when you do). At least you're covered whichever way you sneeze. it's a terrible mess at the moment, I think I've gotten to the halfway point where everything's just a dizzying, painful blur. I wrote a sentence where I had "just" every two words and hadn't noticed, so just the sentence just turned just out like just this. I'll never live it down. So Vila a Sin sounds quite a lot like a Cary Grant Hitchcock film about a murder at an Italian villa. I thought it was the other way around? Ben Aaronovitch wrote the outline and Kate Orman stepped in to stem the tide when everything went kablooey because she was one of a handful of writers who understood what the plot was about?
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Post by omega on Aug 16, 2016 4:17:48 GMT
You too? I'm stuck between soggy hankies and a bin full of tissues. Not sure that's better than a rock and a hard place. Andy Lane didn't have anything to do with So Vile a Sin (almost typed So Vila a Sin). Kate Orman wrote it and Ben Aaronovitch stepped in as co-writer when her hard drive crashed and delayed publication (event book+low print run=hard to find and expensive when you do). At least you're covered whichever way you sneeze. it's a terrible mess at the moment, I think I've gotten to the halfway point where everything's just a dizzying, painful blur. I wrote a sentence where I had "just" every two words and hadn't noticed, so just the sentence just turned just out like just this. I'll never live it down. So Vila a Sin sounds quite a lot like a Cary Grant Hitchcock film about a murder at an Italian villa. I thought it was the other way around? Ben Aaronovitch wrote the outline and Kate Orman stepped in to stem the tide when everything went kablooey because she was one of a handful of writers who understood what the plot was about? At least two writers didn't know what the psi-powers arc was about, and it's fairly convoluted. It was Ben Aaronovitch who started it, but suffered either computer breakdown or writer's block. By all accounts Kate Orman was the one to pull it all together from bits and pieces that Ben Aaronovitch had. I've read it was also supposed to coincide with the release of Cold Fusion in terms of scheduled release.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 16, 2016 6:25:27 GMT
At least you're covered whichever way you sneeze. it's a terrible mess at the moment, I think I've gotten to the halfway point where everything's just a dizzying, painful blur. I wrote a sentence where I had "just" every two words and hadn't noticed, so just the sentence just turned just out like just this. I'll never live it down. So Vila a Sin sounds quite a lot like a Cary Grant Hitchcock film about a murder at an Italian villa. I thought it was the other way around? Ben Aaronovitch wrote the outline and Kate Orman stepped in to stem the tide when everything went kablooey because she was one of a handful of writers who understood what the plot was about? At least two writers didn't know what the psi-powers arc was about, and it's fairly convoluted. It was Ben Aaronovitch who started it, but suffered either computer breakdown or writer's block. By all accounts Kate Orman was the one to pull it all together from bits and pieces that Ben Aaronovitch had. I've read it was also supposed to coincide with the release of Cold Fusion in terms of scheduled release. It could easily have been one then the other, a hard drive failure that prompted a particularly heavy bout of writer's block. A cataclysm like that is enough to scramble anyone's brain, particularly knowing that all of your work has up and vanished into the aether with little means of recovering it. It's happened to dozens of people I know on numerous occasions, it's never a nice experience. Orman was a good choice to step in and perform some script doctoring, she has a prose style that looks how a novel should, but feels far more like you're reading a television script. The ending scene for one of the chapters for The Left-Handed Hummingbird where the Doctor is repeatedly stabbed stands out in that regard.
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bobod
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Post by bobod on Aug 16, 2016 8:52:32 GMT
Oh, this head cold is doing my brain in. That's the one. The release to be adapted by our own great John Dorney. You too? I'm stuck between soggy hankies and a bin full of tissues. Not sure that's better than a rock and a hard place. Andy Lane didn't have anything to do with So Vile a Sin (almost typed So Vila a Sin). Kate Orman wrote it and Ben Aaronovitch stepped in as co-writer when her hard drive crashed and delayed publication (event book+low print run=hard to find and expensive when you do). Scratch that and reverse it.
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Post by omega on Aug 16, 2016 9:23:24 GMT
You too? I'm stuck between soggy hankies and a bin full of tissues. Not sure that's better than a rock and a hard place. Andy Lane didn't have anything to do with So Vile a Sin (almost typed So Vila a Sin). Kate Orman wrote it and Ben Aaronovitch stepped in as co-writer when her hard drive crashed and delayed publication (event book+low print run=hard to find and expensive when you do). Scratch that and reverse it. I did. Check several posts ago.
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