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A review by andrew_j_r
Doctor Who: Timewyrm-Apocalypse by Nigel Robinson
1.0
So far, this series of books has been okay. The worst book so far still felt a bit like a Doctor Who story from that era. In this book, though, it goes spectacularly badly wrong.
So far, the Doctor has accidentally created the Timewyrm in book one, and prevented it from meddling in history in boom two. In this book, it tries to build a machine that has all the knowledge in the universe, and has experienced all the emotions, which therefore makes it as powerful as God. What? Really? Oh dear...
I won't bore you with the details, but this book makes two horrendous mistakes. Firstly, the characters are just badly drawn and unbelievable. There are the beautiful people, and the mutants (and as described, it is now hard not to think of Leela's race from Futurama!) The leader of the Kirithans, Lord Huldah, is so cardboard and unrealistic it is untrue. When he pushed the rock down the cliff to try and kill the Doctor you are either waiting for him to twirl his curly moustache or get his Acme kit for his next attempt to run the Doctor off the road.
And secondly, we have more pointless past continuity references. There are a couple of chapters set in the time of the Second Doctor, something they just could not have done on the TV show. So far in this series, we have had cameos from the second and fourth Doctors, and we have channelled the mind and expertise of the third, and a sequel to a second Doctor story. Just bloody stop it, okay? An original tale that stands on it's own with no pointless continuity references would be bloomin' lovely.
This story resolved nothing in the main plot (just like the third episode in a four part television story, come to think of it!) The Timewyrm escapes, ready for the (presumably) final showdown in the final book. Looking at the structure of the stories, it should have been a three part tale: creation, growth and destruction, as opposed to what we have by inserting this book - creation, growth, farting about for no apparent reason, then presumably destruction in the final volume.
Easily my least favourite of the range so far.
So far, the Doctor has accidentally created the Timewyrm in book one, and prevented it from meddling in history in boom two. In this book, it tries to build a machine that has all the knowledge in the universe, and has experienced all the emotions, which therefore makes it as powerful as God. What? Really? Oh dear...
I won't bore you with the details, but this book makes two horrendous mistakes. Firstly, the characters are just badly drawn and unbelievable. There are the beautiful people, and the mutants (and as described, it is now hard not to think of Leela's race from Futurama!) The leader of the Kirithans, Lord Huldah, is so cardboard and unrealistic it is untrue. When he pushed the rock down the cliff to try and kill the Doctor you are either waiting for him to twirl his curly moustache or get his Acme kit for his next attempt to run the Doctor off the road.
And secondly, we have more pointless past continuity references. There are a couple of chapters set in the time of the Second Doctor, something they just could not have done on the TV show. So far in this series, we have had cameos from the second and fourth Doctors, and we have channelled the mind and expertise of the third, and a sequel to a second Doctor story. Just bloody stop it, okay? An original tale that stands on it's own with no pointless continuity references would be bloomin' lovely.
This story resolved nothing in the main plot (just like the third episode in a four part television story, come to think of it!) The Timewyrm escapes, ready for the (presumably) final showdown in the final book. Looking at the structure of the stories, it should have been a three part tale: creation, growth and destruction, as opposed to what we have by inserting this book - creation, growth, farting about for no apparent reason, then presumably destruction in the final volume.
Easily my least favourite of the range so far.