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Post by shallacatop on Apr 26, 2021 8:30:36 GMT
I finally bought and read The Good Companion, the final volume of the Titan Tenth Doctor run. Really enjoyed it and was surprised how much of it I remembered, given it's a good couple of years - maybe three - since I'd read the previous volume. I loved the build up and its own continuity it built throughout, to the point where the Doctor had assembled such a ragtag team that takes advantage of the comic format and couldn't really be done on screen.
Will be doing a re-read from the start at some point. It's a shame that the ending will likely never be picked up on now.
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lidar2
Castellan
You know, now that you mention it, I actually do rather like Attack of the Cybermen ...
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Post by lidar2 on Apr 26, 2021 9:03:08 GMT
Am reading the PDA Deadly Reunion between my viewing of Terror of the Autons and Mind of Evil on the Season 8 bluray - according to what I have found online that is where it goes.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2021 8:02:27 GMT
The Tomb of the Cybermen.
A Target copy rescued from being nibbled on by Cybermats. They bored their way right through the edges of the pages, the little devils. Happily, I can say the book is far from boring. Well-realised, a strong sense of motivation for each member of the expedition and... A lot of Cyber-stories from the Troughton era tend to rely on atmosphere (in some cases, quite literally). There's a strong aura of menace around the tombs. Quite impressive in prose. You can feel the influence of the Cybermen in everything, slowly building until they claw their way from their hibernation units.
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Post by grinch on Apr 30, 2021 12:27:31 GMT
The Suns of Caresh (Paul Saint)
A really interesting Third Doctor and Jo novel with some great ideas. Only real issue I have with it is the out of character behaviour for the science fiction fan who is perhaps the best character in the entire novel.
From what I can recall, this was also the first Past Doctor Adventures novel I ever read which is something at least.
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Post by grinch on May 8, 2021 11:40:35 GMT
Probably asked this before, but would anyone recommend giving Candy Jar’s Lethbridge-Stewart series a go at all? I’ve heard very mixed things about the series as a whole.
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Post by ollychops on May 8, 2021 13:02:38 GMT
Finally getting into the New Adventures with Timewyrm: Genesys.
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Post by constonks on May 8, 2021 23:54:15 GMT
Probably asked this before, but would anyone recommend giving Candy Jar’s Lethbridge-Stewart series a go at all? I’ve heard very mixed things about the series as a whole. I've only read the first but it's up there among my favorite Who novels. But your mileage may vary, as the TVTropers say, as I've seen negative things as well!
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Post by shallacatop on May 9, 2021 18:36:24 GMT
Finished Volume 2 of the Tenth Doctor IDW Archives. It’s not bad, but it’s quite hampered by being a string of one shots that don’t feel substantial or do much and some very questionable art in places.
It’s still a novelty to get a Donna story, as she’s always been very under served in the expanded universe until Catherine Tate reprised the role for Big Finish, but like Martha in the other stories, they’re defined by certain mannerisms and phrases rather than feeling like the whole characters they are on screen.
It does pick up in the last half with the introduction of some new, original companions and a pair of longer, interconnected stories. We have our favourite TARDIS teams on screen, but I do tend to prefer expanded universe stuff to take on original companions as it feels like a new era and it can help disguise shortcomings, such as the ones I mention above. Looking forward to Emily & Matthew’s continued adventures in Volume 3 when I pick it up.
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Post by Ela on May 10, 2021 3:45:03 GMT
Just this second finished Engines Of War, got to say, Wow, what a great read. I thought it was a blockbuster of a book, and highly recommmended. I picked up Engines of War and haven't gotten around to reading it yet. Very behind in my reading, currently reading Daredevil comics.
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Post by tuigirl on May 12, 2021 20:00:10 GMT
Absolutely loving the new Missy comics from Titan. They are well drawn and the voice of Missy is captured perfectly. One could do worse for some lighthearted fun.
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Post by tuigirl on Jun 17, 2021 19:38:01 GMT
Finished the new Missy comic episode. Still loving these. Yes, they are light-weight, but they are fun.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 18, 2021 7:53:24 GMT
Doctor Who and the War GamesLet me set the scene. It's 1979, the Target novelisations have just published Image of the Fendahl as their latest adaptation of a Doctor Who serial. Destiny of the Daleks is shortly due to come next, just two months after its debut on television. Malcolm Hulke has been commissioned to write up a paperback version of his and Terrance Dicks's mammoth ten-episode epic from 1969. With one proviso: it must fit within the span of 140 or so pages. This is a book likely the thickness of a pen or pencil from the drawer of your desk at work or home. Published not too long after Hulke's passing, sadly. How did he cut four hours worth of material down to such a size? Originally, I was going to post a "novel cut" scene breakdown on my fan-edit thread, but... Of all the later novelisations, Doctor Who and the War Games proves itself to be something of an anomaly. Hulke was never against adding a bit of extra texture or context to his stories. Sometimes to the point where it was just dripping with detail (a la The Sea Devils). His novelisation here isn't as wide a digression from the televised version as something like The Massacre or The Daleks, but there is very much an element of what imminent producer, John Nathan-Turner, would've described as memory cheats. The War Lords' strategies are as you remember them. All the major points -- the Doctor's execution, the discovery of the SIDRAT, the attack on the Central Zone -- all of it is there, but it's not verbatim. The result is a heavily concentrated dose of what made The War Games work. What's nice is that even with the limited word/page count, the little touches of worldbuilding Hulke became known for from as far back as Doctor Who and the Cave-Monsters are still present. The author's eye, while focused on the Doctor and his friends, wanders occasionally to survey a Greek chorus of cameos ranging from the Crimean War to the Spanish Civil War. They're never moments of great armies locked in Hollywood clashes to the death, but quiet two-handed scenes that show the nuance of the environment. From the lowest conscript to the highest officer. If there's a word I can use for the book, it's "pithy". Hulke had a particular fascination with the treatment of soldiers during and after war. That doesn't seem to have faded with age.
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Post by sexbombsimon on Jun 28, 2021 22:53:57 GMT
Finished The Ruby's Curse by Alex Kingston on Sunday. Enjoyed it immensely.
Have just started Wheel Of Ice by Stephen Baxter, which features the second Doctor, Jamie & Zoe
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2021 10:03:01 GMT
The TV MovieNow, here's an interesting curio from the Wilderness Years. Not necessarily exclusively for its subject matter, but also for its legacy. The TV Movie is one of the very few novelisations to be notably revised after its initial printing. Little typos and errors are remedied, alongside much broader details designed to fit into the wider cosmos of Doctor Who now rather than as it was then. As a result, there are two versions -- one from BBC Books in 1996 and one from Target in 2021. I've the former. Originally published on the same day as Happy Endings, celebrating fifty New Adventures at Benny's wedding, and The Sands of Time, an unexpected Fifth Doctor sequel to Pyramids of Mars. Coming when it did, it's interesting to see how well the 1996 version's held up over the years. The Seventh Doctor's penultimate story in any medium has yet to be told at this point and the telefilm runs very much like a speeding bullet. In fact, the entire middle section is almost exclusively on the run. Characters are met and discarded with the rapidity of this new incarnation's costume changes. Sadly, we don't get to know them particularly well. To compensate, what Gary Russell does is highly reminiscent of Terrance Dicks before him. Always one to weave together disparate threads, we get a novella that tells us as much about the world the Doctor is trying to save as this new man himself. We learn about the tragedy of Grace's childhood, Lee's relationship with his real father, the security guard Gareth and Prof. Wagg get their own small character arcs, and we even meet lovely additions like Mrs Trattorio, Grace's widowed neighbour with the cat. There's a definitive sense of permanence to the people of San Francisco. Whenever the Doctor regains a part of himself, he comes closer to entering that world. He's not so wide-eyed as the televised version. His amnesia frustrates him. This new life has a mind as sharp as his predecessors, but he just can't reach it yet. When he does, we see the Eighth Doctor we'd get to know over stories like The Dying Days, Endgame and Storm Warning. Two of which made efforts to connect themselves with preexisting parts of Doctor Who lore -- the Ice Warriors and the Toymaker, respectively. A similar impulse is carried over here. In overt ways, like the Eye of Harmony in the TARDIS being clarified as a link to the original on Gallifrey, to the more subtle like the koi pond in the console room being filled with gumblejack. All in all, a fun read. I enjoyed revisiting this one.
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Post by sexbombsimon on Jun 30, 2021 16:55:12 GMT
Really enjoying your extended reviews Wolfie. Keep 'em coming! The TV MovieNow, here's an interesting curio from the Wilderness Years. Not necessarily exclusively for its subject matter, but also for its legacy. The TV Movie is one of the very few novelisations to be notably revised after its initial printing. Little typos and errors are remedied, alongside much broader details designed to fit into the wider cosmos of Doctor Who now rather than as it was then. As a result, there are two versions -- one from BBC Books in 1996 and one from Target in 2021. I've the former. Originally published on the same day as Happy Endings, celebrating fifty New Adventures at Benny's wedding, and The Sands of Time, an unexpected Fifth Doctor sequel to Pyramids of Mars. Coming when it did, it's interesting to see how well the 1996 version's held up over the years. The Seventh Doctor's penultimate story in any medium has yet to be told at this point and the telefilm runs very much like a speeding bullet. In fact, the entire middle section is almost exclusively on the run. Characters are met and discarded with the rapidity of this new incarnation's costume changes. Sadly, we don't get to know them particularly well. To compensate, what Gary Russell does is highly reminiscent of Terrance Dicks before him. Always one to weave together disparate threads, we get a novella that tells us as much about the world the Doctor is trying to save as this new man himself. We learn about the tragedy of Grace's childhood, Lee's relationship with his real father, the security guard Gareth and Prof. Wagg get their own small character arcs, and we even meet lovely additions like Mrs Trattorio, Grace's widowed neighbour with the cat. There's a definitive sense of permanence to the people of San Francisco. Whenever the Doctor regains a part of himself, he comes closer to entering that world. He's not so wide-eyed as the televised version. His amnesia frustrates him. This new life has a mind as sharp as his predecessors, but he just can't reach it yet. When he does, we see the Eighth Doctor we'd get to know over stories like The Dying Days, Endgame and Storm Warning. Two of which made efforts to connect themselves with preexisting parts of Doctor Who lore -- the Ice Warriors and the Toymaker, respectively. A similar impulse is carried over here. In overt ways, like the Eye of Harmony in the TARDIS being clarified as a link to the original on Gallifrey, to the more subtle like the koi pond in the console room being filled with gumblejack. All in all, a fun read. I enjoyed revisiting this one.
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Post by shallacatop on Jul 6, 2021 20:21:54 GMT
Finished The Eyeless. I was really enjoying the first half of the book and raced through it. The second half I’ve stalled on for the last couple of weeks. I just lost interest as soon as the Doctor got to the fortress and the Eyeless appear. I think it’s because I couldn’t really picture what was happening and it was causing me to lose track at points.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2021 13:03:07 GMT
Invasion of the OrmazoidsBit of an obscure sidestep, but nevertheless, a fun one. Back in the mid-1980s, with a fresh new incarnation of the Doctor on-screen, the programme was suffering from an eighteen-month hiatus in production. A period where it was fighting for its life with resources that seemed to be dwindling everywhere in the production office. Yet, almost in reaction to this, the Sixth Doctor's life leapt off into all manner of other mediums. Comics, books, even short stories, he was there, and one of these outlets produced this novella. Can you and the Doctor thwart the second wave of an assault on the Earth by the monomaniacal Darval and his Ormazoid thralls? This novella is a Choose-Your-Own Adventure story published in the same month as Mindwarp first aired and was written by a (then current) author on the series, Philip Martin. His entry to The Trial of a Time Lord is something I could easily pitch as Ridley Scott's Flash Gordon and the Temple of Doom. It's a fascinatingly grim story about revisionism and doublethink. You might expect, then, that this novella follows in a similar vein as it was written roughly at the same time. In truth, though, this is a tale that wouldn't look too out of place in a Saturday morning matinee cartoon. It embraces its flying cars, deformed geneticists and sacrificial altars with suitable aplomb. This is a peak mid-1980s sci-fi romp. Likewise, while the planet Tokl, where you first land, does get a mention on Thoros Beta (as Pyro Shika from Race Against Time does in Terror of the Vervoids), the Sixth Doctor is put centre stage. Heroic as he was in Vengeance on Varos. If not more so. There are times where you can almost hear the gears turning in his head as he mulls something over. He may be only a step ahead of his enemies at times, but he's squeezing those few precious seconds for everything their worth. That said, he's not invulnerable. Martin goes to great pains to show that the Doctor is not indestructable and the shape of his fate may often be down to you. You, in this case, being Ixio. Quite an ordinary human being who answered the phone at a public booth and fell down the rabbit hole. Your player character's name is taken from a line of jargon on one of the TARDIS monitor screens, but there's something else that makes them stand out. Rather than their choices being dictated by observation and shrewd cunning (as in other novellas), there's a deliberate choice to focus on your character's nerve. Their mettle. Whether or not they acquiesce or hold out and sometimes the answer isn't as obvious as it firsts appears. However, when it works, there's a lovely sense of accomplishment, as you do get a sense of the character's internal battle to conquer their own fear. Invasion of the Ormazoids is a bit heavier on its set pieces than its counterparts with its Raygun Gothic action-adventure, but all in all, it makes for a nice way to spend an afternoon unwinding.
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Post by constonks on Jul 25, 2021 16:01:56 GMT
Back in the mid-1980s, with a fresh new incarnation of the Doctor on-screen, the programme was suffering from an eighteen-month hiatus in production. A period where it was fighting for its life with resources that seemed to be dwindling everywhere in the production office. Yet, almost in reaction to this, the Sixth Doctor's life leapt off into all manner of other mediums. Comics, books, even short stories, he was there, and one of these outlets produced this novella. It's true! There's Slipback - the only audio drama in the 1980s - the six Find Your Fate books, two computer games and the Sixth Doctor's fantastic DWM run... Then by the late eighties, Colin returned to the role on stage and three of his "missing episodes" had been novelised - Sixie has always been an EU Doctor! (And, many years later, the missing Season 23 ended up being TWELVE audio stories long!) The only one of the FYF books I've read is Search for the Doctor by Dave Martin - starring Sixie, Drax, K9, Omega and YOU! Obviously not the deepest, richest narrative in all of Who but a fun little adventure (with some really ridiculous impossible choices where you die no matter what path you take!)
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2021 2:23:50 GMT
Back in the mid-1980s, with a fresh new incarnation of the Doctor on-screen, the programme was suffering from an eighteen-month hiatus in production. A period where it was fighting for its life with resources that seemed to be dwindling everywhere in the production office. Yet, almost in reaction to this, the Sixth Doctor's life leapt off into all manner of other mediums. Comics, books, even short stories, he was there, and one of these outlets produced this novella. It's true! There's Slipback - the only audio drama in the 1980s - the six Find Your Fate books, two computer games and the Sixth Doctor's fantastic DWM run... Then by the late eighties, Colin returned to the role on stage and three of his "missing episodes" had been novelised - Sixie has always been an EU Doctor! (And, many years later, the missing Season 23 ended up being TWELVE audio stories long!) The only one of the FYF books I've read is Search for the Doctor by Dave Martin - starring Sixie, Drax, K9, Omega and YOU! Obviously not the deepest, richest narrative in all of Who but a fun little adventure (with some really ridiculous impossible choices where you die no matter what path you take!) Yup! And how. Just in his own decade alone, putting all those stories produced with Sixie between 1984-1989 together, we have a very healthy: Not too shabby at all. Oh, I have some good memories of Search for the Doctor. I think it was the first I read from the FYF books, back when I could scoop up almost literal handfuls of novelisations, there were so many on the shelves. I'd never been atomised in so myriad a way before that book! They're a bit tricky to track down, but the highlights of the range for me -- outside of Ormazoids -- were Race Against Time and The Garden of Evil. They both had that cosy Target Books feeling when you open the pages and just let the story carry you along on its way. My favourite's got to be Garden, but I ended up writing a post here a while ago for Race Against Time, I was so charmed by it.
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Post by tuigirl on Jul 28, 2021 18:38:02 GMT
The latest Doctor Who/ Missy comic. I absolutely adored these and is is a nice finale. This was no deep or memorable story, mainly Missy/ Master/ Doctor banter. But is was wonderfully done and very enjoyable. It puts a smile on you face. Sometimes that is all you need. Soulfood, this is the comic equivalent of a nice hot chicken broth.
Plus, to get my excitement up for the next series- announcement that the Eighth Doctor returns to Titan! I am hoping they keep up the quality of art and writing, because the previous 8th Doctor series was a bit disappointing.
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