‘Doctor Who: The Time Meddler’ – Nigel Robinson (Target)

Page Count: 141 Pages

I actually managed to get a couple of books read over the weekend, go me :o) I’m going to leave ‘The Last Shield’ a little longer, just to let it percolate in my head, but a ‘Doctor Who’ novelization is always little more straightforward so, here we are.

The further back I go with the Doctor’s stories, the less experience I have of them; go right back to the first Doctor and I’ve seen/read ‘The Dalek Invasion of Earth’ and read ‘Doctor Who and the Zarbi’ & ‘Doctor Who and the Tenth Planet’. Not a lot then, considering just how many stories there are. When I saw ‘The Time Meddler’ in the shop then, I had to buy it so I could fill in that gap, just a little bit more.

When the TARDIS materialises on an apparently deserted Northumbrian beach, Steven disputes the Doctor’s claim that they have travelled back to the eleventh century. The discovery of a modern wristwatch in a nearby forest merely reinforces his opinion.

But it is 1066, the most important date in English history, and the Doctor’s arrival has not gone unnoticed. Observing the appearance of the TARDIS is a mysterious monk who recognises the time-machine for what it is. He also knows that the Doctor poses a serious threat to his master plan – a plan which, if successful, could alter the future of the entire world.

The closest I’d ever come to experiencing ‘The Time Meddler’, prior to picking the book up, was a trailer on one of my DVDs, I was pretty keen then to see what the whole story was like. And… You know what? I wouldn’t mind seeing this story, on the screen, but the book was a bit of a slog to get through. Not that it’s a bad read, just a bit heavy going for a book that’s only 141 pages long.

I enjoyed watching the monk’s plans slowly become clear along with the fact that he doesn’t seem like a ‘typical villain’ here. The monk is adamant that his plans will benefit humanity, the impact that they may have, on the rest of the universe, is of no concern to him. You have to ask what the benefit is for him, something that the book doesn’t really go into, but even that was interesting to me, these hints of another Timelord (not confirmed but, we all know) doing his own thing.

The actual plot though, that didn’t translate onto the page so well. I can see this story playing out well over four fairly fast paced episodes on the TV (thanks Wikipedia) but it doesn’t quite fill out this book and it just feels like there’s a fair bit of padding here. There’s a lot of walking back and forth between the monastery and the forest, or the monastery and the beach, which got a little bit much for me. As much as I enjoyed the characters (the monk and the Doctor in particular), you couldn’t help but feel like they were rattling around in this book, with a plot that maybe should have stayed on the small screen. And I’m kind of at a loss as to what the point of the villagers was, other than to keep the Doctor fed and watered.

I think that if you can get past the padding, there isn’t a bad story here but as it is, well… I’m not going to say it all again ;o) Having said all of that though, I wouldn’t mind watching ‘The Time Meddler’ now so I guess the book did what it set out to do.