‘Doctor Who: Warrior’s Gate and Beyond’ – Stephen Gallagher (BBC Books)


Page Count: 249 Pages

I’ve always had a little bit of a soft spot for the ‘Warrior’s Gate’ novelisation (one of the first ‘Doctor Who’ books that I picked up way back in the eighties) so when I heard that an expanded novelisation was in the works, I settled down and commenced waiting patiently. I mean, I already had the original book but I’m a sucker for anything that’s ‘expanded’ and there were also a couple of extra short stories that piqued my interest 😉 I finally grabbed myself a copy, back in August last year, but me being me, I didn’t get round to reading it until yesterday. I would say that it’s funny how often that happens but…You knew that already 😉

Anyway… If you want to read my thoughts on the televised serial then you’ll want to be clicking right Here. If you don’t, or you have and just got back, keep reading/scrolling ever downwards and I’ll tell you about the book… There are a few demands on my day (and that’s not including tidying up after the girl’s pet rabbit when I get home, that creature is on a mission of destruction) so quick thoughts are how this one is going down. Apt really, considering the page count 😉

Warriors' Gate
In this new-to-print, expanded novelisation of the classic 1981 adventure, the TARDIS is caught in a collapsing void between two different universes - and the 4th Doctor, Romana and Adric must enter into a dangerous alliance with the Tharils - a race of enslaved, time-sensitive aliens. The consequences are explored in two further short stories...

The Kairos Ring
Now allies of the enslaved across all creation, Romana and the Tharil Laszlo ride the time winds in search of the sinister Sluagh - aliens who retool the dead as deadly warriors.

The Little Book of Fate
Searching for the source of a scream across time, the Eighth Doctor investigates a most unusual carnival freak show in the north of England - where a figure from his past awaits him.

Nothing against the two shorter stories, I’ll come back to these in a few moments, but what I was really here for was the expanded novelisation of ‘Warrior’s Gate’. I’ve said it before but it’s worth saying again… Doctor Who novels were a great way to catch up on serials that I’d missed back in the day (although with it all being on iPlayer now…) but the really special ones were those that went beyond a simple retelling of the plot and added something new to the mix. A little more characterisation, that kind of thing.

This new version of ‘Warrior’s Gate’ certainly delivers on that score but I couldn’t help but wonder if it went a little too far in the opposite direction. I’d need to go back to the DVD/original novelisation to be certain (and I’ve barely got enough time, to get everything done, as it is) but I’m sure that while additions are clearly present, there are also bits that didn’t make the new edition. Nothing too important but I knew it was missing… Gallagher gets the balance right, this is still ‘Warrior’s Gate’ but it feels like it’s walking a fine line and is one more omission from being an ‘alternate Doctor’ re-telling. I’m probably just being picky as it’s a favourite story of mine and I wanted my favourite bits to make the cut 😉 ‘Warrior’s Gate’ is still a lot of fun to read and the expanded bits flesh things out in all the right places.

‘The Kairos Ring’ and ‘The Little Book of Fate’ offer us a chance to see what Romana gets up to, after leaving the Doctor, and on the whole, it’s a chance worth taking as they’re both easy to get into and fun to stick with. The stories were more ‘nice to have’ for me, I was really there for the main event, than ‘crucial’ but they were no less enjoyable for that. Were they stories that needed to be told though…? I’m not sure, they tie up a loose end but I’d say that sometimes, it’s good to have a loose end or two floating around. It makes it feel like the universe is continuing to tick over in the background, even though the main plot is done. That’s just me though, I’m sure that your mileage will vary.

I think it’s fair to say that the more into ‘Doctor Who’ you are, the more you’ll get out of ‘Warrior’s Gate’ and that’s fine; not every book has to be a ‘jump on’ story and ‘Warrior’s Gate’ was never going to be that, given the Doctor we’re travelling with (4) and where this tale sits in the overall continuity. If you’re a fan though, I think there’s plenty here for you to get your teeth into.

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