'Doctor Who: The Christmas Invasion' – Jenny T. Colgan (BBC Books)


I bought this book back in August and left it on a TBR Pile (there is more than one in my flat) to await the best time to give it a go. Well, who would have thought it? Turns out that the best time to give 'The Christmas Invasion' a go is Christmas of course! I can't promise too much along these lines but I thought I'd try and read some 'Christmassy' genre fiction this month and it doesn't get a lot more Christmassy than a book with 'Christmas' in the title. Can it? Of course it can't, lets get stuck in shall we...?

Earth is under attack by power-hungry aliens. This is no time for the Doctor to be out of action.

When a British space probe is intercepted by a sinister alien vessel on the eve of Christmas, it marks the beginning of an audacious invasion of the Earth by the Sycorax – horrifying marauders from beyond the stars. Within hours, a third of humanity stands on the brink of death with not a single shot fired.

Our planet needs a champion – but the Doctor is not fit for service. He’s just regenerated, delirious in a new body and a dressing gown. Forced into his battered shoes is his friend, Rose Tyler, a girl from a London council estate. Will she save the world from this nightmare before Christmas – or see it destroyed?

As a long term fan of the 'Doctor Who' Target novelisations, I was very happy to see some of the newer stories get the 'Target Treatment' and that's what got me to pick up these books when I saw them. I'll be honest though, there was a hint of caution around this and a big part of the reason why I grabbed these in a charity shop instead of buying them brand new. The Target novelisations are a massive part of my childhood and the only way I had, at the time, of experiencing all of the Doctor's adventures. They're not great books though, lets be honest... They tell you exactly what happened on the TV but nothing more than that. Maybe that's all they need to do really, that's a discussion for another day though. In the meantime, how did 'The Christmas Invasion' fare in its transition from TV story to book...?

Well, not too bad actually. Actually... Better than 'not too bad', I thought it did very well as it happens.

In the spirit of those early Target books, 'The Christmas Invasion' does stick to the plot very faithfully and that's ok because there's a lot going on and Colgan attacks it with some verve. The result is a book where it's very easy to keep turning the pages. If you've seen it on TV already, the plot doesn't have any big surprises but it's as fun to read as it is to watch so no worries there.

I say 'no surprises' though... While the plot is there to be strictly adhered to (and why would you change it anyway?), Colgan really makes use of the gaps, the bits that you'd never see on the telly, to not only give us extra insights into the characters (especially what is starting to form between the Doctor and Rose) but also link to a wider universe. What was presumably a throwaway line on the TV show becomes a link that is expanded into a definite connection between 'Doctor Who' and 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'. Of course it doesn't work (and I won't tell you why, spoilers...) but who cares? In this book, the Doctor hung out with Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect and that is just the most wonderful thing. There's even a tragic love story that has nothing to do with the Doctor and Rose, I was into that more (than Doctor/Rose) to be honest. There is so much to get stuck into and it's really refreshing to come face to face with it in a novelisation of a Doctor Who episode. I loved it.

'The Christmas Invasion' is a great example of what Doctor Who novelisations could be like if you say to a writer, “tell me all the stuff that could have happened as well as the stuff that did.” If they're all like this then I'll pick them up, no question about it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

‘Deathworlder’ – Victoria Hayward (Black Library)

Image
Before I get into the review proper, thank you Black Library for sending me a copy of ‘Deathworlder’ in return for a fair and honest review. Talking of ‘fair and honest’… There will be loads of the latter but I enjoyed the hell out of ‘Deathworlder’ so… We’ll see how being fair goes ;o) That’s your only warning, lets talk ‘Deathworlder’… Lazulai is a world beyond the brink, its battle against the tyranids all but lost. Once-magnificent cities lie in ruin. The seas boil. The skies crack. Horrific alien bioforms devour. In mere days the planet will be consumed. The 903rd Catachan ‘Night Shrikes’ defend one of the last fortresses still standing. Led by Major Wulf Khan, to die fighting is all that is expected of them… until she is given one last mission: to lead a squad through the apocalypse and recover a piece of archeotech that may doom or deliver the entire Lazulai System. Facing insurmountable odds and zero hope for aid, the major must hold her squad together as they pick their way ...
Read more

‘Hellraiser 3: Hell on Earth’ (1992)

Image
Every time Halloween comes round, I promise myself that I’ll watch more horror films and read more horror fiction; we’re halfway through the month and you can see how that’s going so far… There’s still plenty of October left though so lets see how I do from now until the end of the month ;o) First up is ‘Hellraiser 3’ which I watched last night, mostly because I love it (you can tell how this post is going to go, sorry…) but also because it was cheap on Prime and I’m still just on the wrong side of payday. Here goes… TV reporter Joey Summerskill’s life is changed forever when she witnesses the horrific death of a teenager, torn apart by bloody chains. Joey’s search for a story leads her to the Lament Configuration Box but it has already been opened, waking an old evil from its slumber… Now Pinhead walks the earth once more, creating a new army of Cenobites from the transmuted flesh of his victims; his one desire to reclaim the Box. Even with help from an unexpected source, Joey Summers...
Read more

‘Cursed City’ – C.L. Werner (Black Library)

Image
I always have these vague ‘reading resolutions’, for the New Year and without fail, they all come to absolutely nothing. I still read loads, just none of the books that I meant to… This year is panning out slightly differently and I think I’m going to enjoy it. All the books that were originally ‘out of sight, out of mind’, in the loft at my old place, are now all over my new place and wherever I look, I’m constantly discovering books that I totally forgot I had but now quite fancy reading. Books like ‘Cursed City’ for example… I’m not going to tell you how long ‘Cursed City’ was sat in my loft, lets just say it was long enough for me to totally forget it was there and buy myself another copy… Oh well. I found it on the shelf the other day (only the one copy now) and figured it was way overdue a read, let me tell you about it… Ulfenkarn is a city of nightmares. Its vampiric rulers have indulged their bloodlust in every shadow-clad alley, turning the once-proud metropolis into a charnel...
Read more