Take a photo of a barcode or cover
andyshute 's review for:
I'm definitely a new(ish) Doctor Who fan, mostly from the rebooted series, though I recall The Curse of Fenric scaring the crap out of me in my early years and still remember the excitement of the 8th Doctor rebooted tv movie at the time. I've loved David Tennant's Doctor though I'm warming more and more to Matt Smith (I'm still on season 6). So I was keen to read this collection with all the 50th anniversary hullabaloo.
Like most short story collections, they're a mixed bag with a poor start. The First Doctor story felt weak and out of character (from what I know of him), more like a modern reading of the older style character. It didn't really work. The second through to fourth stories were better, feeling more like the doctors they portrayed, with a sense of wonder and magic and healthy science fiction at times. The little character quirks all seemed to work and I did quite like the 11th Doctor call back in the Roots of Evil.
I thought Patrick Ness wrote a great story for the Fifth but the Doctor himself is a reduced to a bit-part player which seems to have missed the point a little when you're celebrating a character.
I quite liked the sixth tale (the Doctor I'm least familiar with) but the seventh story really showcased the darker side to the Doctor. It contrasted nicely with the other 'monster of the week' stories and felt right for the era portrayed.
I quite enjoyed the eight tale - I'm a fan of McGann's take on the Doctor and would sorely like to see more of him on screen. Lost opportunities.
Probably the most disappointing for me was the 9th tale, with Higson catching the mannerisms of Eccleston's performance but misjudging the character. It just felt wrong.
Contrasted entirely by Derek Landy's magnificent 10th Doctor tale, capturing the mannerisms, speech pattern and soul of Tennant's Doctor perfectly. He even made me warm to Martha a little. We have a great, funny and frankly ridiculous storyland style romp which throws in some literary (and some less literary) references, characters and in jokes.
And then Neil Gaiman's final tale. Given that he's already written two of the recent episodes he captures Matt Smith's young old man perfectly at the same time given us a great baddie in the Kin. Scary and epic and wonderfully paced it just works really well and manages to highlight the compassion of the Doctor while not shying away from the steely menace and power. A great way to end the collection.
So yeah, good for fans, perhaps not that good for really hardcore Whovians (who are likely to pick more holes) but I liked it for the most part and there's a lot of fun to be had reading with all the different voices and mannerisms in your head.
Like most short story collections, they're a mixed bag with a poor start. The First Doctor story felt weak and out of character (from what I know of him), more like a modern reading of the older style character. It didn't really work. The second through to fourth stories were better, feeling more like the doctors they portrayed, with a sense of wonder and magic and healthy science fiction at times. The little character quirks all seemed to work and I did quite like the 11th Doctor call back in the Roots of Evil.
I thought Patrick Ness wrote a great story for the Fifth but the Doctor himself is a reduced to a bit-part player which seems to have missed the point a little when you're celebrating a character.
I quite liked the sixth tale (the Doctor I'm least familiar with) but the seventh story really showcased the darker side to the Doctor. It contrasted nicely with the other 'monster of the week' stories and felt right for the era portrayed.
I quite enjoyed the eight tale - I'm a fan of McGann's take on the Doctor and would sorely like to see more of him on screen. Lost opportunities.
Probably the most disappointing for me was the 9th tale, with Higson catching the mannerisms of Eccleston's performance but misjudging the character. It just felt wrong.
Contrasted entirely by Derek Landy's magnificent 10th Doctor tale, capturing the mannerisms, speech pattern and soul of Tennant's Doctor perfectly. He even made me warm to Martha a little. We have a great, funny and frankly ridiculous storyland style romp which throws in some literary (and some less literary) references, characters and in jokes.
And then Neil Gaiman's final tale. Given that he's already written two of the recent episodes he captures Matt Smith's young old man perfectly at the same time given us a great baddie in the Kin. Scary and epic and wonderfully paced it just works really well and manages to highlight the compassion of the Doctor while not shying away from the steely menace and power. A great way to end the collection.
So yeah, good for fans, perhaps not that good for really hardcore Whovians (who are likely to pick more holes) but I liked it for the most part and there's a lot of fun to be had reading with all the different voices and mannerisms in your head.