The Claws of Axos by: Bob Baker and Dave Martin and directed by: Michael Ferguson

 

The Claws of Axos stars Jon Pertwee as the Doctor, Katy Manning as Jo Grant, Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, and Roger Delgado as the Master with Richard Franklin as Captain Yates and John Levene as Sergeant Benton.  It was written by: Bob Baker and Dave Martin and directed by: Michael Ferguson with Terrance Dicks as Script Editor and Barry Letts as Producer.  It was originally broadcast on Saturdays from 13 March to 3 April 1971 on BBC1.

 

Terrance Dicks took over the position of Doctor Who’s script editor with 1968’s The Invasion and one script that made it’s way to his desk was from a new writing pair from Bristol, Bob Baker and Dave Martin.  A Man’s Life was a surprising script to end up with Dicks as it was a pilot for a sitcom and not at all what Doctor Who needed, but Dicks actually read the script and was impressed with the talent so called for a meeting with Baker and Martin early in 1969 where he commissioned a storyline for a seven episode serial entitled “The Gift” for Patrick Troughton, Frazer Hines, and Wendy Padbury, potentially to be used near the end of the sixth production block or held over for the seventh.  When it was apparent that Troughton would be leaving and Jon Pertwee would be taking up the role “The Gift” would be commissioned as a six episode story, however, Barry Letts disliked the draft for the first episode and the title.  “The Friendly Invasion” was used with Baker and Martin closely working with Terrance Dicks to adapt for a slot in Season Eight as a four part adventure, later titled “The Axons”.  The scripts would be commissioned in October 1970 the title being changed another time to the much more Doctor Who like title, “The Vampire from Space”.  Filming would begin in December under that title and only after the filming of Episode Two, during rehearsals for the final two episodes The Claws of Axos would come about because “The Vampire from Space” gave the game away about what Axos and the Axons are too early and there was some discomfort with vampire being in the title.

 

The Claws of Axos could easily be described as the quintessential Jon Pertwee four-parter.  It ticks a lot of the boxes which define the era: an alien invasion, a Conservative civil servant in the slot of a human villain, UNIT attempting to solve the problem.  And this is all with essentially the first Doctor Who script, Baker and Martin open with a tense sequence of the alien Axos sending a distress signal to Earth and crash landing causing freak weather conditions (in reality the weather wasn’t cooperating on the location shoot).  Axos promises the Earth an unlimited energy source and solution to the world hunger crisis in Axonite, and in return they simply want help with power so they can leave.  It almost immediately comes out to the viewer that they’ve captured the Master and American official Bill Filer and wish to drain the Earth dry.  That’s the central thrust, with Axos being an allegory for human greed as well as Mr. Chinn, our Conservative civil servant, being the representative of human selfishness.  Now unlike The Mind of Evil’s in depth exploration of the Cold War and xenophobia, The Claws of Axos suffers from not doing enough to fully explore its themes.  This isn’t that large of a problem as Baker and Martin do enough to make Axos a threat that mounts and grows, the Axons starting out as almost golden wingless angels before gradually becoming monstrous creatures leading to several action sequences.  The second half of the story shifts to accommodate the action and play around with the Doctor and the Master teaming up to escape a doomed Earth, although it doesn’t ever feel like the Doctor is going to abandon the Earth.

 

The Doctor is on edge through most of The Claws of Axos as this is the seventh story since Pertwee took the role set on Earth, and indeed the next story would be the first respite.  It’s not Pertwee being mean but the writing reflecting the Doctor needing to get away by this point, the story ending with an explosion at a nuclear power station and the TARDIS being dragged back to Earth while Axos is defeated.  Pertwee’s charm bleeds through whenever he’s with Jo or the Master, but with the Brigadier (and even more with Mr. Chinn) there is this anger that he’s being surrounded by bureaucrats.  Chinn, played by Peter Bathurst, is the one who takes ire from the Doctor and the Brigadier, with Nicholas Courtney showing that he can run circles around the bureaucracy, shutting Chinn off while he and UNIT get on with dealing with the situation.  The UNIT characters are very much support for the story, filing out the action sequences while the Doctor gets to be a scientist testing the Axonite to understand what it does.  Terror of the Autons and The Mind of Evil had confrontations between the Doctor and the Master, but this is the first story where Delgado and Pertwee have an extended period of screentime together with the banter sparking right off each other.  The relationship isn’t one built on hate, as this is the first time where the idea comes across that the Doctor and the Master are old friends, and the Doctor is much more intelligent than the Master ever would be.

 

Bernard Holley voices the Axons and Axos throughout the entire story and his performance is this incredibly eerie turn bolstered by the quick paced direction of Michael Ferguson.  Holley isn’t quite pitching his voice up, but is almost faking an up pitch while simultaneously slowing it down to give it this ethereal quality to make the viewer believe it’s an alien being.  It helps that Axos seems to appear out of every corner building the idea that it could be anywhere and the claws are making their way to the center of the Earth.  Michael Ferguson’s direction is unique for Doctor Who as like the other stories he directs, it is shot and edited not like a television serial, but as a film, at least whenever the multi camera setup would allow it.  There are several scenes which start right with the dialogue, no time lingering on establishment, and those scenes only start to pop up right when the tension needs it the most.  Episode One has the most establishing shots and lengthy pieces of model work to establish the spaceship and the threat, while Episode Four quickly cuts from scene to scene to keep the viewer engaged with the threat that Axos is close to winning, and eventually there’s going to be a massive explosion.

 

Overall, The Claws of Axos is a classic, but not a perfect classic.  It has all the elements that make the Jon Pertwee era of the show work wonderfully, though is lacking some of the textual depth as well as Katy Manning not being used nearly as much as she could, being in the standard ask questions companion role (probably due to the fact that this was originally written for Troughton and the writers didn’t know what the companion would be).  The performances from Pertwee, Delgado, and Nicholas Courtney are of special interest and it is incredibly odd that this wasn’t the serial to represent the Jon Pertwee years during the 50^th anniversary celebrations (they went with Spearhead from Space).  This may be overlooked in the modern day, but shouldn’t be for being a great gateway into the era and probably the classic series as a whole.  8/10.

The Great Hunt by: Robert Jordan: The Ogier and the Flicker Sequence (Chapter 35 to 37)

 

“We Ogier are bound to the stedding, Perrin.  It is said that before the Breaking of the World, we could go where we wished for as long as we wished, like you humans, but that changed with the Breaking.  Ogier were scattered like every other people, and they could not find any of the stedding again.  Everything was moved, everything changed.  Mountains, rivers, even the seas…It was during the Exile, while we wandered lost, that the Longing first came on us.  The desire to know the stedding once more, to know our homes again.  Many died of it.” – The Great Hunt, p. 503.

 

Diaspora as a theme has often been attributed to minorities, specifically Africans through the slave trade and through ancient conquest the Jewish people.  It then becomes interesting when Jordan introduces the culture of the Ogier as spread out in small communities across the world which they cannot leave for extended periods of time for pain of death.  When Loial enters Stedding Tsofu, a stedding which is not his own, he is described as feeling at ease to be back at a homelike place, among his own people.  There are cultural explorations of the Ogier here, as well as the Aiel, and the society of Ogier very much sees people leaving the community as dangerous.  Loial leaves out his own stedding’s name out of introductions as male Ogier are often married off on the word of female Ogier who find them attractive.  Jordan doesn’t take anytime to evaluate this cultural aspect here, instead giving Loial a subject of beauty in Erith, which plays out like a schoolboy crush.  The quote about the longing above provides quite a bit of insight to Loial and the Ogier.  He’s been travelling with Rand for a long enough time that he’s felt the Longing already and this is something that he knows will eventually have to go back to a stedding, this buying him a lot more time.  Loial does have to convince the elders of Stedding Tsofu to be allowed to guide them through the Ways, even though they show a broken Ogier to stay them.

 

The Aiel as presented here also start immediately by attempting to murder the Sheinarans, though the stedding is a place of peace.  But this is the point where Mat immediately says that Rand must be an Aiel and Rand starts to break down about his own identity as a possible Aiel.  The Aiel have been looking for He Who Comes With the Dawn, and Mat becomes convinced it must be Rand.  “Mat told most of it, with Perrin putting in a correcting word now and again when he embellished too much.  Mat made a great show of how dangerous the Aielman had been, and how close the meeting had come to a fight.  “And sine you’re the only Aiel we know,” he finished, “well it could be you.  Ingtar said Aiel never live outside of the Waste, so you must be the only one.”  “I don’t think that’s funny, Mat,” Rand growled. “I am not an Aiel.”  The Amyrlin said you are.  Ingtar thinks you are.  Tam said . . . . He was sick, fevered.  They had severed the roots he thought he had, the Aes Sedai and Tam between them, though Tam has been too sick to know what he was saying.” – The Great Hunt, p. 509-510.

 

Rand is already losing a lot of his identity and that only becomes exacerbated by the Ways not being accessible as Machin Shin is waiting for them.  So what Verin does is knowing about the Portal Stones to get them to Tomon Head, manipulates Rand into grabbing saidin when something goes wrong.  Rand (and the rest of the party) are shown their alternate lives which for Rand all end with him insane or dead.  Among these lives are one where he stays in Emond’s Field and marries Egwene who becomes Wisdom before Trollocs attack killing them all, one where Egwene dies before their wedding and he flees to join the Queen’s guard, and one where he is gentled by the Red Ajah.  Each ending with the voice of the Dark One saying “I have won again, Lews Therin”.  Before this Verin actually consoles him that he won’t die from channeling ““You are the Dragon Reborn,” she said quietly.  “Oh, you can die, but I don’t think the Pattern will let you die until it is done with you.   Then again, the Shadow lies on the Pattern, now, and who can say how that affects the weaving?  All you can do is follow your destiny.” – The Great Hunt, p. 526.  The section ends with the arrival four months after the party has left, with everyone seeing things about possible futures.  While Rand still protests, this is the point where he cannot deny that he is the Dragon Reborn.  He has seen Aiel, he has felt the chill of entering the stedding where channelers are cut off from the One Power, and he has seen his alternate paths had Moiraine not come and found him.

Festival of Death by: Jonathan Morris

 

Season 17 of Doctor Who on television was one of those eras which was plagued by production problems, eventually leading to the big finale being cancelled due to industrial action at the BBC.  The shame being, it was a season with script editing duties tasked to the late great Douglas Adams, but that has made way from the Expanded Universe of Doctor Who to really explore a lot of Adams’s themes and style.  This was most prominently in Gareth Roberts’ excellent trilogy of Virgin Missing Adventures (The Romance of Crime, The English Way of Death, and The Well-Mannered War) which were released to universal praise.  So much so that when BBC Books took back the Doctor Who license they would stay away from this particular era of the show, with only one exception.  Festival of Death is the first Doctor Who work of one Jonathan Morris, who would later contribute numerous audio dramas, but this book is him shooting his shot.  This was his Doctor Who story to tell, and he was going all out because there was no guarantee of being commissioned again (though this would come to pass with Anachrophobia and The Tomorrow Windows).  As such this is almost a prelude to everything that Morris would be known for, being a blend of Season 17, Douglas Adams-esque comedy, the gothic horror of the Philip Hinchcliffe era, and what would become a staple of the revived series, time travel shenanigans.

 

Morris opens the book with a prologue of a family leaving old lives behind but the poor son, Koel, is left behind while the transport is destroyed.  This is a horrific scene to open a Doctor Who novel to and it eventually becomes a bookend where Morris makes the situation all the more depressing.  This is a book where every page ends up tying itself together right by the end as Morris has crafted an incredibly clever narrative around a simple story told almost entirely out of order.  The story begins and ends with the inciting incident and the resolution happens less than a third through the novel meaning for a very different reading experience.  Before this book really only Steven Moffat had done a story even kind of similar to this with “Continuity Errors” in Decalog 3: Consequences, but Morris essentially perfects the formula.

 

The Doctor, Romana, and K9 arrive at the Festival of Death in the year 3012 where a man called Paddox has set up the Beautiful Death, a tourist attraction that kills, before bringing you back.  The idea attracts thrill seekers from across the galaxy, including a group of hippy reptiles who provide some comic relief for the proceedings.  The visitors to the Beautiful Death have been steadily increasing under Paddox’s orders until one fateful day when 218 people enter the Beautiful Death and don’t come back, at least not fully.  There is also a time corridor sending people back and forth between 3012 and 2815 while Paddox’s megalomania is slowly revealed, going against Metcalf, in charge of security of the station, and determined to still get more people in the Beautiful Death, even if they become zombies.  The attraction has been sabotaged by a galactic terrorist known as the Doctor who is determined to see it shut down, except when the Doctor arrives he hasn’t done it yet.

 

The Doctor, Romana, and K9 are characters Morris understands perfectly, filling each of their dialogue with witty one-liners ranging from pithy to incredibly serious, like the quip that the reason the Doctor leaves K9 in the TARDIS is so he can rescue him and Romana.  This leads to a comedy of errors when K9 leaves the TARDIS with the Doctor and Romana and they must rely on their future selves setting up an escape simply because K9 is with them.  Yet, when the primary motivation arises and it is revealed that the Doctor is already dead (okay it’s the future Doctor, but still) there is that level of severity from the Doctor that underpins a lot of the humor.  That darkness was something that was missing from the weaker stories of Season 17, Destiny of the Daleks and The Horns of Nimon especially, and Morris implements it here perfectly.  He also gives Romana an initially exasperated persona, but it is quite clear just how much she cares for the Doctor and she’s the one most affected by the news of his future death.  There isn’t an attempt from Romana to change history, she is far too intelligent, but she is determined to ensure history is maintained while still getting the Doctor out alive, though this is never outright stated.  K9 is perhaps the one with the least development here, though that is fine as he is more a supporting character, with the aforementioned gag being a perfect example of the sarcasm of the character.

 

Overall, Festival of Death is perhaps the closest thing we have to a perfect debut for a Doctor Who novel.  Jonathan Morris’ novel is full of thrills and chills with a beautiful supporting cast (I didn’t even get into the hippy lizards or the eco activist/terrorist Evadne or the depressed/comedically suicidal computer ERIC).  It’s a novel that paints a rich picture of the era, exploring the absolute best elements and really what makes it work.  It’s truly the successor to the Gareth Roberts trilogy and among the absolute best of Doctor Who novels.  10/10.

The Great Hunt by: Robert Jordan: The Game of Houses (Chapters 30 to 34)

 

““Hurin,” Rand said patiently, “you and Loial between you have explained this Great Game to me.  If I go wherever it is they’ve invited me, the Cairhienin will read something into it and think I am part of somebody’s plot.  If I don’t go, they’ll read something into that.  If I send back an answer, they will dig for meaning in it, and the same if I don’t answer.  And since half of Cairhien apparently spies on the other half, everybody knows what I do.  I burned the first two, and I will burn these, just like all the others.”  One day there had been twelve in the pil he tossed into the common-room fireplace, seals unbroken. “Whatever they make of it, at least it’s the same for everybody.  I am not for anyone in Cairhien, and I am not against anyone.”” – The Great Hunt, p. 435.

 

The title of Chapter 30 of The Great Hunt is “Daes Dae’mar” which is the name for the Cairhienin Great Game of Houses, the carefully crafted interpretation of every act of any person of any standing in Cairhien.  It is introduced fully at this point in The Great Hunt, though is mentioned when Rand, Loial, and Hurin arrive in Cairhien, and through to Chapter 34, “The Wheel Weaves”, is all to do with the Game and how even Rand is forced to play the game in his time there.  The above quote is Rand’s attempt not to play, the idea being that the only way to really win the game is not to play.  While this could be seen as making a choice, it’s much closer to Rand putting himself at the whim of circumstance and throughout this sequence the reader can see just how poor the outcome of this inaction.  If Rand was willing to play the game once he arrived in Cairhien it is implied that the end of the chapter, where the inn he is staying in is set aflame and the Horn of Valere and ruby dagger stolen.  Rand only left the inn to inquire after Ingtar and Selene where he is directly lied to by the guard “I am sorry, my Lord.  If there was a Captain Caldevwin in the guardhouse I would know.” – The Great Hunt, p. 440.  It’s heavily implied that this captain was simply inside the guardhouse, hiding from Rand.

 

It’s not the actual theft that is what flings Rand into action, it’s the inn being set aflame.  He rushes in to immediately try and save Hurin who was waiting for him and Loial to return.  Rand is acting here in what the ideal of a lord should be, Hurin having called him Lord since the very beginning of this book, and there is a choice made here that begins the thought process of Rand actually becoming a Lord.  In the flames is the chest with the Dragon Banner and this is Rand’s thought process “Let it burn, he thought, and an answering thought came as if he had heard Moiraine say it.  Your life may depend on it.  She’s still trying to use me.  Your life may depend on it.  Aes Sedai never lie.” – The Great Hunt, p. 443.  He may attribute it to Moiraine and the fact she would never lie, but it is an important step that Rand makes the decision to take the chest out.  And of course to punctuate the tragedy of losing the Horn, it’s at this point where Ingtar’s party arrives, complete with Mat, Perrin, and Verin.  Now luckily Hurin is a sniffer and it quickly leads to Bartharnes Damodred, one of the lords who have sent Rand invitations and one of two invitations not to be thrown into the fire.  Mat at this point is still in his problem phase, but before the reveal there are two important aspects to both Verin and Perrin.  Verin is the one to know what inn they should be going to, one she has stayed in before.

 

Perrin gets a small section from his point of view after he mutters under his breath, Shadowkiller, about Rand.  It is important to note that Rand and Mat haven’t really gotten an explanation about the wolves, Mat even believing the lie of being a sniffer.  “Perrin grinned at him.  He was not the old Rand – he seemed to have grown into that fancy coat; it looked right on him, too – but he was still the boy Perrin had grown up with.  Shadowkiller.  A man the wolves hold in awe.  A man who can channel…I know about you.  It’s only fair you know my secret.  But Verin was there.  He could not say it in front of her.” – The Great Hunt, p. 450-451.  Perrin seems to understand the dark in the world, he and Rand don’t bat an eye that a lord could be a Darkfriend, while Mat does.  There is this parallel of trust, of Perrin and Rand genuinely finding each other.  Mat hasn’t quite gotten there yet (though with certain announcements about the adaptation I do wonder if that will be one of the changes).

 

With the Lord Barthanes giving Rand an invitation it means he must play the game.  Perrin, Mat, Verin, and Hurin can all enter as servants but the coat that Perrin remarked now fits Rand better means that he has to pose as a genuine lord.  Rand is forced to play the Game, all at Verin’s planning of course, she is the one who knows much more than she ever would let on.  And Rand plays the role very well, choosing just the right words like “We are who we say we are” and “I have met him” – The Great Hunt, p. 464.  The adoption of a very clipped way of speaking allows Rand the opportunity to play the game while sending the other lords into a tizzy, even when slightly thrown off balance by someone knowing things about him which shouldn’t have been mentioned, implying that much of the spies of Cairhien are everywhere, something which becomes apparent when it is revealed that the Horn and dagger have both been taken to Tomon Head, people are clearly working with Padan Fain.  Thus brings us to the point where The Great Hunt shifts towards its climax.

 

Now, that climax encompasses nearly 200 pages of the book before we reach the conclusion, but Jordan has begun moving things into place.  Rand and company are heading to the Ogier to access the Ways while Thom Merrilin has been given reason to find them.  This is because Dena has been murdered, and Barthanes is dead (Thom being able to play the Game himself to get information out of thugs sent by Galldrian, the other Lord interested in Rand that gets named).  Dena’s death is sadly one aspect of The Great Hunt which hasn’t aged well: it’s the classic case of fridgeing, that is killing a female character only to advance the plot of a male character.  Dena wasn’t a character the reader could get quite attached to and honestly it feels like Jordan didn’t quite know how he was going to integrate Thom back into the narrative (though I’d say he could easily have integrated Dena as a recurring character, at least to make the fridgeing feel less surface level).  There is also Fain, planting seeds that Rand is a Darkfriend among the Seanchan and is in control of Trollocs, something that is meant to continue Fain’s own descent into madness.  There is something inside Fain, using Machin Shin, the thing inside the Ways to terrorize our heroes.  He is playing his own game that only he and the Dark One only know the outcome.

Casualties of War by: Steve Emmerson

 

Steve Emmerson is a Doctor Who author who doesn’t quite have much information anywhere that I can find.  He has a website, but that hasn’t been updated since 2007, and outside of Casualties of War, the book I’m looking at today, there is only one other book he wrote (another Eighth Doctor Adventure), and he published nothing outside of these two Doctor Who books.  It’s odd, especially as Big Finish Productions was already publishing audio dramas at this point.  This makes it an even more odd that Emmerson’s debut, Casualties of War, is an excellent examination of shell shock and World War I, all wrapped in a zombie style B-movie.  The Doctor finds himself in a small Yorkshire village which has a hospital for shellshocked soldiers.  He sets himself up as a man from the ministry, here to inspect things in the vaguest way possible, in actuality investigating strange, almost paranormal events.  Emmerson’s setting of this village is incredibly evocative, with this deep dive into the mud and grime of the trenches without actually going to the trenches, but looking right at the aftermath and the effects of war.  There isn’t a an idea of being bogged down with the actual fighting, but sending the soldiers home and the idea of soldiers wanting to go back.

 

Emmerson evokes German expressionism with sleepwalking soldiers overseen by a mysterious doctor who doesn’t cooperate with the Doctor.  Charles Banham initially comes across as a kindly doctor genuinely trying to help these poor patients, letting them wander around at night with the idea being that it’s good therapy.  It’s eventually revealed that there is something nefarious, but for much of the book it is importantly seen as ridiculous that these sleepwalking soldiers could be doing something bad.  It makes the eventual reveal of the zombie like creatures, drawing from the Jewish Golem, rising from the mud to do its master’s bidding.  There are some red herrings as to who is actually controlling the Golems, but the villain is almost sympathetic.  There’s this definite idea of the horrors of war, there is this idea that Banham does want to have something good with stopping the people from their shellshock.  The villain is a doctor, after all.  It’s a story that evokes films like The Wicker Man with connections to ancient paganism and the Yorkshire setting tying in quite a lot with a woman, Mary Minnett, having connections to paganism.  There is this red herring that she could be a villain, but she and Constable Briggs are essentially pseudo-companions for the Eighth Doctor.  Mary has this relationship with the Doctor, not quite being romantic as the Eighth Doctor is asexual here (except one implication of a relationship with William Shakespeare), she is essentially the trope of a voodoo witch while the Doctor here is attempting to be as rational.  There is this lovely conversation near the end about the meeting with Fitz in 2001 and the hope that the Doctor has to keep going on.  The Doctor is still a wanderer, he doesn’t really fit in with the time, is questioned as to why he isn’t serving his time.  The audience knows that the Doctor is ancient, but he looks like he should have been.

 

Overall, Casualties of War is a standout book from a first time author which only falls flat with some of the pacing having points where it is unable to keep going.  The characters are utterly brilliant and the Eighth Doctor has just this new characterization which is a direct reaction to The Ancestor Cell and The Burning, as he has been waiting giving the reader something new and a new brilliant streak of books. 8/10.

The Great Hunt by: Robert Jordan: Seanchan and Aiel (Chapters 28 to 29)

 

““She is Aes Sedai?” he said disbelievingly.  He never saw the casual backhand blow coming.  He staggered as her steel-backed gauntlet split hi slip.  “That name is never spoken,” Egeanin said with a dangerous softness.  “There are only the damane, the Leashed Ones, and now they serve in truth as well as name.”  Her eyes made ice seem warm.” – The Great Hunt, p. 423.

 

As the previous section was devoted to providing the beginnings of Rand’s acceptance, this section and an introduction to the people of Cairhien, this section brings the audience our first glimpse of two different cultures, the Seanchan and the Aiel.  The Aiel are introduced first, but as that is an important chapter for Perrin and Mat, it will be discussed later.  The Seanchan are a culture from across the Aryth Ocean, the point of view of this chapter looking from Captain Bayle Domon, who until this point had not encountered the Seanchan.  He is surprised to find they own slaves, and even more surprised when the damane, the slaves, are all women who can channel.  This is already setup as an interesting look at what other cultures do with channelers, the Two Rivers being suspicious but Seanchan using channelers as slaves as an almost to the extreme version of the suspicion in the Two Rivers.  Domon is threatened several times when he asks about the damane on board, as he is a foreigner and the Seanchan already have plans to expand their empire.

 

Egeanin is the captain and is in charge of the single damane, whom she treats like a pet in a scene where Jordan truly gets under the reader’s skin.  The reader already is familiar with Domon as a character.  While Domon shares some traits with stock pirates, he isn’t a bad person.  He is entirely on thin ice with the Seanchan, attempting to pass himself off as a simple trader, which works, but only barely.  He’s in stark contrast to Egianin and the High Lord Turok who both act with superiority complexes and obviously own slaves.  They add a human villainy and it isn’t a coincidence that half of this chapter is from the perspective of the Whitecloaks, quietly making a parallel between their over the top zealotry making anyone who associates with channeling or Aes Sedai as Darkfriends, while the Seanchan have slaves of channelers, literally called the Leashed Ones.

 

The Aiel introduced before this, however, already has a different story “So the Wise Ones say…yet even a clan chief must have a strong belly to avoid doing as they want…I search for….someone.  A man…He Who Comes With the Dawn.  It is said there will be great signs and portents of his coming…It is said we will know them when we hear of them, as we will know him when we see him.  He shall be marked.  He will come from the west, beyond the Spine of the World, but be of our blood.  He will go to Rhuideian, and lead us out of the Three-fold Land.” – The Great Hunt, p. 411-412.  This Aiel, Urien, calls Verin both a Wise One and there is a cultural thing about not hurting women who are not wedded to the spear.  There is a lot of idea that the Aiel leaving the waste means that there are new threads in the Pattern.  The sequence is from Perrin’s point of view and upon seeing the Aiel this is what is immediately remarked by Mat ““He looks like Rand.”  Perrin looked around to see that Mat had joined them to.  “Maybe Ingtar’s right,” Mat added quietly, “Maybe Rand is an Aiel.” Perrin nodded, “But it doesn’t change anything.”” – The Great Hunt, p. 409.  Clearly, Jordan is attempting to connect the idea about Rand being the Dragon Reborn and a predicted Aiel figure in He Who Comes With the Dawn.  While Mat responds that he agrees Rand possibly being an Aiel wouldn’t change their friendship it is Perrin who makes the point that it doesn’t change anything.  Perrin is once again the one communicating with the wolves and being changed like Rand, while Mat is only deteriorating, with Verin having to heal him multiple times ad day at this point.  Verin leaves once the Aiel says nothing more, knowing that there are things changing with the Pattern,  The party also makes it to Cairhien implying that a reunion is going to be happening quite soon.

The Great Hunt by: Robert Jordan: Cairhien (Chapters 25 to 27)

 

“Twice and twice shall he be marked, twice to live and twice to die.  Once the heron to set his path.  Twice the heron, to name him true.  Once the Dragon, for remembrance lost.  Twice the Dragon, for the price he must pay.” – The Great Hunt, p. 387.

 

This section of The Great Hunt is the first time where this particular prophecy is uttered, and could be seen as the real moment where Rand al’Thor has to begin to accept the idea that he is the Dragon Reborn.  It is not the point where he takes up the mantle, but it is the sowing of the seeds to build to the point where he must accept his destiny.  This is a sequence where he doesn’t have to channel, he doesn’t have as much of the fear of encroaching madness, but there is still that undercurrent of being told he is the dragon.  The heron from his sword embedded its mark into his hand, and as the prophecy says this is the start of the path, the second will only confirm what the audience, Rand, and Moiraine already know.  “For the first time since Selene’s salve had done it’s work, he could feel it.  Not hurting, but he knew it was there.” – The Great Hunt, p. 387.  That single train of thought from Rand is something which is doing all the work to make the audience realize just what his destiny is.  This is important because the actual hunt of the title is essentially over, Rand has the Horn of Valere and he’s arrived in Cairhien, essentially is waiting for the rest of the party to catch up.  This three chapter section is essentially a lull in the action which allows for a reintroduction of one Thom Merrilin, a character who everyone but Moiraine and an innkeeper believed was in fact dead.

 

This sequence introduces an interesting bit of worldbuilding, that there are no female gleemen which is a very odd thing.  The Wheel of Time’s world has already shown itself to be mostly matriarchal with the White Tower and the Queen of Andor as the only real seats of power in this world, at least as of this point.  There are certainly places in the world where there are kings, but the idea that a woman couldn’t be a performer like that is an interesting little piece of old fashioned worldbuilding.  The character introduced here, Dena is one who is working underneath Thom as his apprentice and lover.  She’s a spunky character who is setup as if she is going to be some importance to the plot, but in these chapters she doesn’t end up doing anything.  She mainly remains in the background while there is quite a bit of worldbuilding of Cairhien, again implying the political games with Rand being thought of as a Lord and building up the idea that he is going to be treated as a Lord.  This section is essentially all foreshadowing to things that are yet to come, in this and subsequent books.

 

Thom’s reintroduction is important as there is the confirmation that he was helping the boys due to the guilt about letting his nephew Owyn, and apparently suspecting that one of the three boys could channel.  There’s also a message from Selene and Trollocs which attack to keep the characters on their toes, but this is one section where there simply isn’t a whole lot of things going on.  It’s interesting to note that it’s just Rand who has the reunion with Thom, as Mat and Perrin have remained mainly off-page as The Great Hunt, while expanding beyond just being Rand’s story.  We have had points of view from Nynaeve, Egwene, and Perrin, but this is something that isn’t actually expanding the world as much, as Perrin and Moiraine have each had one chapter, while Egwene and Nynaeve are only there to give us an idea of what’s going on in The White Tower.  This is still Rand’s story, but it’s on the cusp of becoming more than just Rand’s story.

Stars Fell on Stockbridge by: Steve Parkhouse with art by: Dave Gibbons

 

Stars Fell on Stockbridge is written by Steve Parkhouse with art by Dave Gibbons.  It was released in Doctor Who Monthly issues 68-69 (September-October 1982) and is reprinted in its original form in Doctor Who: The Tides of Time by Panini Books.

 

So here we have it.  After sixteen stories, three writing teams, and one regeneration, I reach the end of Dave Gibbons’ run on the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip with Stars Fell on Stockbridge.  This two issue story is different in that it serves essentially as an epilogue to The Tides of Time, moving the strip towards the next story which also features Stockbridge, and introduces the character of Maxwell Edison, introduced here as a one-off companion for the Fifth Doctor, but one who will reappear in the strip at several points much later down the line.  Max is a character who is just a lot of fun, he’s a bit of a nutcase who means well, investigating aliens and UFOs, but the night that stars fell on Stockbridge he meets the Doctor.  There is so much in the opening panels with Max picking up a reading on a machine that’s just some loose wires, showing immediately how the townsfolk look down on him.  The Doctor takes him to the signal which is an automated spaceship which enters the Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrates.  That is the plot of the two issues, but really Parkhouse excels in telling a little two hander between the Doctor and Max, the Doctor being his nice self (by this point all of Season 19 had aired so Parkhouse knew better how to write for Davison) and helping Max through ensuring the spaceship breaks up safely.  The story ends with this beautiful panel of Max riding his bike as the debris causes a meteor storm over Stockbridge, giving Max a little bit of respect.

 

Dave Gibbons’ art is really the highlight here, showing his skills at Earth landscapes with the town of Stockbridge being absolutely beautiful.  There’s real emotion on the faces, especially Max who has a design which could easily have fallen apart, but really works in making someone look like an ordinary guy, something that Davison’s television companions didn’t have outside of Tegan.  It suits Gibbons that something so focused on character work as he would move after this onto DC Comics working on Green Lantern and The Flash in 1983.  He would work for DC Comics throughout the 1980s, including providing the art for Alan Moore’s Watchmen which is one of the best selling graphic novels of all time.  Luckily he would not forget his roots with British comics and Doctor Who, coming back as one of the artists on the celebratory issue 500 story for Doctor Who Magazine in 2016, an extra long 20 page comic strip.  His work set the tone for the comic strip and is a landmark.

 

Overall, Stars Fell on Stockbridge is a very nice little two part story that really only falls flat in not clearly leading right to the next one as it implies that The Tides of Time was not the end of the Fifth Doctor’s troubles with Stockbridge and the forces of time.  Although it’s the second Fifth Doctor strip, it is truly the end of an era with Dave Gibbons retiring.  8/10.

Imperial Moon by: Christopher Bulis

 

Christopher Bulis has one major flaw in his writing style.  He often sets up a story that on paper sounds amazing, take the premise of Imperial Moon, Victorian space age hidden from history due to the Doctor’s interference as well as a time travel plot involving Turlough changing the future, and then doing absolutely nothing with said premise of consequence.  This is no more apparent than in the failings of Imperial Moon, a book which is bookended by some great scenes and interesting dilemmas, but the middle is some of Bulis’ weakest prose.  Bulis teases the idea that Turlough is going to change history and cause a cataclysm of events, but this is something that never happens.  The book opens well enough with the Doctor and Turlough finding a diary in the TARDIS, sent back in time by the Doctor’s future self, creating a paradox in the process (they don’t actually find the diary here as is implied), while the Doctor tells Turlough not to read ahead once they appear in the events of the diary.  This of course is setting up Turlough to read the diary about one third into the novel and by the end he ends up saving the day, which Bulis then lampshades at the end congratulating Turlough for making a choice that somehow didn’t create ripples.  This becomes even odder when the premise is that not only are there a group of Victorian spaceships going to the moon, but also the moon is habitable while having its own civilization of alien refugees who are under attack.

 

The civilization on the moon is a great plot on paper with the idea calling on the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and the descriptions of the spaceships come straight out of Jules Verne, all building up to a conclusion that ends with the moon being destroyed, something that can be seen right when the plot moves to the moon.  The alien invaders eventually are defeated, but then you realize there’s still about 50 pages left in the book so there is going to be a third act twist, which makes for some nice scenes involving Kamelion (who is in this book, more on that in a moment), but it’s something which just goes on for far too long without giving the reader anything.  The crew of the spaceships all come from stock Victorian characters: there’s the fearless chauvinist captain, the brilliant but doddering old professor, and the headstrong proto-feminist who ends up with the captain in the end (after not really sharing much in common, it’s a very weird thing that Bulis also lampshades), and our mutinous second in command who eventually goes insane.  These stock characters are fun initially when seen through the eyes of the captain, whose diary is what is read for several chapters and blithely commented on by the Doctor and Turlough, and the aliens are equally stock until the twist is eventually revealed in the end.

 

Somehow, Bulis manages to implement Kamelion into the book excellently.  As Kamelion is not a character who has really any television premise, here Bulis uses him sparingly at the beginning, in the middle, and right at the very end where he actually contributes to the plot.  Bulis understands both the shape shifting abilities of Kamelion (which is how history is put back on the right path without changing this timeline at all) as well as the uncanny valley nature of the prop.  There is this scene at the beginning where Turlough is reflecting on what his travels have been and why he keeps travelling with the Doctor, reacting to Tegan’s recent exit in Resurrection of the Daleks and attempting to setup Turlough’s exit in Planet of Fire (although there already has been a Fifth Doctor/Turlough audio from Big Finish and more were known to be on the way).  Kamelion is written as a robot, with no emotions nor a real understanding of the experience of emotions, though understanding what they mean to people.  Instead of being a clone of Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Kamelion is there to offer emotional support without having the emotions itself, it gives Turlough the opportunity to vent and show some of his own character.

 

Overall, Imperial Moon is a book which could have been great, it has a brilliant premise, and stock characters which could have been fun if Bulis did any deconstruction of those sorts of stories.  As it stands there are some good things to enjoy, but they are few and far between as Bulis’ incredibly dry prose doesn’t make the book an easy or enjoyable read.  5/10.

Doctor Who and the Giant Robot by: Terrance Dicks

 

Doctor Who and the Giant Robot was written by Terrance Dicks, based on his story Robot.  It was the 13^th story to be novelized by Target Books.

 

The Target novelizations for Doctor Who really only became a continuous series in 1974 after the 1973 test reprints of Doctor Who and the Daleks, Doctor Who and the Zarbi, and Doctor Who and the Crusaders with two stories from Jon Pertwee’s first season as the Doctor, followed up by two stories from Season 8 and two from Season 9, the year ending with one novel from Patrick Troughton’s run as the Doctor.  In December 1974, Tom Baker debuted as the Fourth Doctor with a story penned by Terrance Dicks who had already contributed three to the new novelization range, the story ending mid-January 1975.  Terrance Dicks would have less than two months until the publishing of Doctor Who and the Giant Robot, his adaptation of his own scripts.  These two months follow what Dicks would accomplish later in adapting Doctor Who and the Time Warrior, mainly adapting the story into something which doesn’t actually change much of the television script.

 

The biggest change is the description of the robot itself is described differently (partially due to not being restricted by the rather odd costume making the arms flop), Sarah Jane finds herself fainting more often here, and the opening sequence is from the perspective of the robot.  By the perspective of the robot, Dicks describes it in a very clinical in its process as it kills the sentry and takes the plans for the disintegrator gun, something only done with a point of view shot.  There’s also some more graphic descriptions which help make this book feel more than just something quick for children (indeed it would be adapted into another novelization aimed at even younger children).  The Doctor’s regeneration is also recapped by the Brigadier, getting some perspective from him, though he is portrayed as the more bumbling version of the character like he was in the later television stories which is true enough to the original script.  It’s telling as this was released nine months before Doctor Who and the Planet of the Spiders.  There’s also an excellent additional scene at the end of Harry entering the TARDIS for the first time, getting something that never occurred on television (indeed Harry never had any scenes in the TARDIS console room).

Overall, Doctor Who and the Giant Robot may not do much to expand upon the original story, it follows the television script almost to the letter, including some of Tom Baker’s ad libs, but it does manage to make the story more gripping and through the addition of a couple of scenes feel like a real step up from what was essentially an average televised story.  7/10.

The Rage of Dragons by: Evan Winter

 

The Rage of Dragons is revenge fantasy, pure and simple.  Evan Winter’s debut novel is one that takes several standard tropes and puts them under the microscope of war and how war can warp a person.  It follows Tau, a young man who offends a nobleman who retaliates by killing his father in his stead, on a world which is perpetually at war with a greater colonial power.  Many other reviews set up The Rage of Dragons as a standout debut novel, and those sentiments are something which I must echo.  Winter’s prose is excellent and really gives this impression that Tau is clearly not meant to be in the right, the reader following his rise to power giving himself over to an army.  The story and series seems to be projecting itself to be a war centered story, but that doesn’t actually appear much until the climax, setting itself up for a sequel.  A lot of the book is dedicated to Tau’s personal journey towards committing an act of revenge and the many pitfalls he faces.  Tau is not a character who the reader is supposed to completely agree with, he’s incredibly impulsive and young enough that he is going to have to prove himself, the entire novel dealing with him proving himself and securing a place in the army.

 

Tau is a character who can be defined by his insistence on being impulsive, his entire life being basically destroyed with the death of his father.  His childhood sweetheart is taken away to join an order of magic users, the Gifted, as Winter sets up a gender based magic system taking its roots from both European and African pieces of myth.  The mixing of myths helps set Winter apart from other fantasy novelists, writing a book that he wished he had in a childhood, as stated in the rather touching dedication to his son.  The magic system is perhaps where much of The Rage of Dragons has its issues, mainly in that the explanations don’t ever come satisfactorily and the title feels a bit more metaphorical than literally involving dragons (which don’t appear right until the end of the book).  It’s a metaphor that doesn’t quite work as the rage of dragons isn’t really an idea that’s explored, the sequel’s title The Fires of Vengeance almost feeling more fitting for this first book, though that doesn’t sound as much of a fantasy book as the actual title.  Winter’s format of the book is odd.  There are chapter breaks, but each chapter has essentially subsections which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does make each chapter feel a lot longer than it is and causes some of the pace to drag.  That is especially bad with the prologue feeling a lot like a completely different story, though it does eventually come back around at the end in the setup for the sequel.  It’s these little ticks that makes The Rage of Dragons feel a lot more complicated then it actually is.

 

Overall, The Rage of Dragons is a great debut fantasy novel which deserves much of the praise that it’s gotten.  Winter’s tale should be a trailblazer in opening the fantasy genre up to settings that aren’t simple analogues for medieval/Renaissance Europe, blending cultures into a completely new setting from his own experiences.  The book is a great revenge tale building up towards what is going to clearly be a war story for the rest of the series.  An engaging read all around with some minor problems that keep it away from being the perfect story some of the hype would imply.  8/10.

The Great Hunt by: Robert Jordan: The One Power and Testing (Chapters 22 to 24)

 

““Do you remember the first time we met, Lan?”  She was watching for some sign, or she would not have seen the quick twitch of his eyebrow.  It was not often she caught him by surprise.  This was a subject neither of them ever mentioned; nearly twenty years ago she had told him – with all the stiff pride oof one still young enough to be called young, she recalled – that she would never speak of it again and expected the same silence of him.  “I remember,” was all he said.  “And still no apology, I suppose?  You threw me into a pond…Every stitch I had was soaked, and in what you bordermen call new spring.  I nearly froze”” – The Great Hunt, p. 321.

 

While Twitter of Time is rightly losing its mind on the release of the Amazon Prime adaptation’s teaser trailer this week, the section of The Great Hunt on the docket is three chapters, all from different perspectives, finally opening up the worldbuilding and seeing the White Tower, testing to move up in the Aes Sedai ranks, and characters whose point of view had been lacking in The Eye of the World.  “Watchers” is an exploration of Lan and Moiraine’s relationship.  Lan as a character didn’t actually get much depth outside of certain parallels to The Lord of The Rings and his budding relationship with Nynaeve.  This particular chapter gives the reader an actual explanation as to what the bond between Aes Sedai and Warder entails, though not without some obfuscation.  It is a bond with the One Power, one that can be moved if necessary from Aes Sedai to Aes Sedai.  This is the first time where Moiraine gives some of her plans for Lan’s bond moving to somebody else, preparing for the possibility that she will not somehow not make it out alive.  “Myrelle…yes, she would have to be a Green or else some slip of a girl just raised to full sisterhood…Not a pet but a parcel.  Myrelle is to be a – a caretaker! Moiraine, not even the Greens treat their Warders.  No Aes Sedai has passed their Warder’s bond to another in four hundred years, but you intend to do it to me not once, but twice!” – The Great Hunt, p. 323.  Lan’s emotional state her is incredibly important, giving the reader a real sense of how deep the Warder bond goes, moving it would cause pain but is something that Moiraine clearly has a plan for.  She’s already seen just how Lan is around Nynaeve, and Myrelle has promised to pass the bond to one who suits Lan better.  Lan’s outrage here is completely justified, and could easily be explained if Moiraine made her plans known, she sends him away and the rest of the chapter discusses the possibility of the Forsaken having made it out of their entrapment.  The Eye of the World already establishes this as something which is happening, as well as discussing the numerous false Dragons, obviously Logain being captured but another by the name of Mazrim Taim.  There is also the whisperings of the Black Ajah, an evil group of Aes Sedai who have not been confirmed to exist, yet.

 

“Nynaeve shivered. “And you want me to walk into this one?” The light inside the arches flickered less, now, but she could see what lay in it no better.  “We know what this one does.  It will bring you face to face with your greatest fears.” Sheriam smiled pleasantly. “No one will ask you what you have faced; you need not say, no more than you wish.  Every woman’s fears are her own property…”“I just walk through one and out another? Three time’s through, and it’s done?”” – The Great Hunt, p. 336.

The second chapter is “The Testing,” all about Nynaeve being tested to become an Accepted, the middle rung of the Aes Sedai while Egwene has already had her name placed in the Novice book.  While there is an opening description of the White Tower, the main event here is the testing and what it reveals about Nynaeve.  She must enter a ter’angreal, a power wrought artifact, three times, as there are three archways.  Each archway makes Nynaeve face her fears of the past, present, and future.  The Aes Sedai, lead by Sheriam, Mistress of Novices, know exactly what emotionally they will be putting her through, Sheriam even offering her one last out, but Nynaeve insists on going through the testing.

 

Each vision she is shown tests a different part of her.  The past looks at her recent past and some unspoken trauma she experienced at the climax of The Eye of the World, with Aginor appearing and threatening her life.  Nynaeve is a woman who doesn’t wish to be helpless when she or those she loves are in danger, and with a Forsaken, while she can attempt to fight Aginor, she gets through only when she realizes that she needs to run away to fight another day.  The second fear is of those who she left behind at home, with the woman who she left in place when she chased after the boys has left and been replaced essentially by an evil Wisdom, representing her fears of the Aes Sedai.  Mavra Mallen, a name that immediately calls the idea of malice and evil, is essentially the stereotype that was in Nynaeve’s head about Aes Sedai from the very beginning.  Remember that this is the woman who refused to believe she could channel and believed Moiraine wanted to spirit away Rand, Mat, Perrin, and Egwene for her own evil purposes, and letting go of those prejudices is something that she will have to overcome, when she finishes the test she screams that she hates all Aes Sedai.  The final test is what brings her to this, but this second one is what’s putting her near the edge, the final test seeing herself and Lan happily married and with children.  She has to confront that she could have any real feelings for Lan, and this final test leaves her scarred with thorns in her hands.  Jordan has included several instances of religious imagery, and invoking the stigmata here is an interesting choice connecting Nynaeve to Jesus, already planting the seeds that she is going to be a healer and protector, something which runs through each of the visions of the testing.  She doesn’t see her connected to the Aes Sedai, but the chapter ends with this line, “You are sealed to us, now.” ­– The Great Hunt, p. 354.  Nynaeve has made her fate and while she may not yet accept it, she’s taken the first steps towards that acceptance.

 

““My name is Elayne,” she said.  She tilted her head, studying Egwene.  “And you are Egwene.  From Emond’s Field, in the Two Rivers.”  She said it as if it had some significance, but went right on anyway.  “Someone who has been here a little while is always assigned to a new novice for a few days, to help her find her way.  Sit, please.”” – The Great Hunt, p. 356.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back Elayne Trakand, daughter air of Andor.  Elayne is assigned to Egwene, showing her the ropes of the tower, and both of them have been put to work doing several chores.  This isn’t really a big let’s move the plot forward chapter, but Jordan uses it to really make the reader know that he isn’t going to be doing a love triangle between Rand, Elayne, and Egwene.  It’s the lightest of the three chapters, and does also reintroduce Min, who reveals in a small point of view section at the end reveals that Elaida, the Aes Sedai advisor to Queen Morgase who has a way of getting some information about who Min is (she was called to the Tower by Moiraine) and the three girls here are all essentially outsiders.  Elayne shows her royal sensibilities here, though is good natured, while Min is just adamant that she shouldn’t be here under so many Aes Sedai.  It’s essentially people becoming friends while Min has another vision vaguely foreshadowing things that we don’t learn until much later.