The plot sees Doctor Who
and his new companion Jason going after his doppelganger, the Doctor and his
five previous companions. They are going
to lock them up in Galactic Prison, go to Earth in 2001 and depose the Queen so
they can make the Earth a better place.
Now the plot is extremely simple which really helps bring out the
characters which of course Steve Lyons is great at portraying as the story is
used to comment on the Virgin New Adventures and what it really means for the Seventh
Doctor and what he has become. We also
get closure for where the Sixth Doctor’s portion of the Doctor’s mind was in Timewyrm: Revelation in what is a
brilliant cameo from the Sixth Doctor.
Lyons of course does the traditional Virgin New Adventures route of
taking the Seventh Doctor and pushing him into the background for most of the
novel which really works here as it isn’t throughout the entire novel. There are points where the Doctor takes the
center stage with some great character moments with Mel to reflect on what he
has become. The idea that the Doctor has
lost his way and almost become the villain in his own story is of course great
as that is basically what has been happening with the Seventh Doctor. The man has manipulated those he thought of
as friends, committed genocide more than once and turned his closest friend
into changing into a hardened soldier.
Mel’s outburst on what he has become is completely accurate as Mel
represents the innocent portions of the Seventh Doctor’s life. Lyons nails the characterization of Mel here
as she is far from the screamer seen in Season 24, but still remains the
optimist. The Doctor crushes her spirits
now and her reactions to the new companions just make her go in disgust. The only person she seems to approve of is
Benny because Benny doesn’t put up with any of the Doctor’s bullshit. It really feels like Bonnie Langford could
portray this older Mel.
The current companions of
the Doctor are also portrayed in a brilliant way by Lyons. While Benny doesn’t get much to do later on
in the novel except to sympathize with Mel, she does shine in the early
portions of Head Games as she is
trapped in a comic book style plot with the White Knight from Conundrum which just has some amazing
moments and sees Benny against basically the Riddler from Batman. It allows Lyons a
chance to write Benny as the snarky archeologist we know and love. Lyons also succeeds on capturing Roz whose highlighted
as the soldier who will follow the Doctor implicitly which is basically who she
is. She is able to repress not only her
own emotions, but also Chris’s rather emotional side, but still cares enough
about the universe to see it put to rights.
Chris is a different story. Oh
Chris Cwej how much the emotional rookie you are. You refuse to allow the Doctor to sacrifice a
planet even though it is interfering with the Web of Time. Lyons is great at making him sympathetic even
if his actions are extremely irrational and Roz has to be the one to snap him
out of his delusions. He gets to spend most
of the novel with the villains which is great as it allows them to become a bit
more relatable.
Now this novel isn’t just
famous for the return of Mel, as it also features the return of another
companion who we haven’t seen since a rather good Kate Orman novel set in
Anceint Egypt. Yes Chapter 13: The Bitch
is Back heralds the return of Dorothy “Ace” McShane for one story only and
while that chapter title is apt if this was during the later Ace run of Virgin
New Adventures, Lyons actually has Ace be similar to the older version of the
character seen in the Big Finish run of audios featuring her and Hex. It is honestly a breath of fresh air as Ace
feels like the character I originally fell in love with on television and she
along with Benny actually get to sympathize with Mel who is of course
distraught with the Doctor’s actions.
Moving on to the actual villains of the piece with Dr. Who and
Jason. While Dr. Who is just an
amalgamation of Jason’s wishes to travel space and time fighting evil and green
things he looks like the Seventh Doctor as seen in Season 26 where he wore the
question mark jacket, he seems like it was meant to be Peter Cushing’s Dr. Who
from Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks: Invasion Earth, 2150 A.D. This is mainly due to some of the comments
made by Dr. Who which just sound better in Cushing’s voice but it still works
as a parody of McCoy’s Doctor. Jason is
also another of the villains in this story returning from Conundrum and he is honestly sympathetic as he wants to help people
but can’t. On one final note Brigadier
Bambara returns from Battlefield
which is a nice bit of continuity.
To summarize, Head Games is a novel that is difficult
to briefly sum up as it is the culmination of many different character arcs in
a piece of brilliance. It is a celebration
and analysis of the Seventh Doctor and his previous adventures as seen through the
lens of an innocent in the form of Mel Bush.
There are a couple of problems with a subplot not really being that
engaging and annoying continuity references that really aren’t needed but it is
still pretty good. 90/100
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