Four Tales From ‘Doctor Who: The Target Storybook’

This week has been a good week for reading and it’s not over yet :o) I’ve finished one book that I’ve wanted to finish for ages, got another excellent read on the go (not the one I was planning on but I’ll take it) with another couple lined up that look like they’re going to be good reads as well. I really need to take annual leave more often ;o)

While all that is in play, I’ve also been reading some ‘Doctor Who’ short stories, just to fill in the gaps between reads. All of these can be found in the ‘Target Storybook’, blurb below…

In this exciting collection you’ll find all-new stories spinning off from some of your favourite Doctor Who moments across the history of the series. Learn what happened next, what went on before, and what occurred off-screen in an inventive selection of sequels, side-trips, foreshadowings and first-hand accounts – and look forward too, with a brand new adventure for the Thirteenth Doctor.

Each story expands in thrilling ways upon aspects of Doctor Who’s enduring legend. With contributions from show luminaries past and present – including Colin Baker, Matthew Waterhouse, Vinay Patel, Joy Wilkinson and Terrance Dicks –The Target Storybook is a once-in-a-lifetime tour around the wonders of the Whoniverse.

What I love about collections like this is that I don’t have to start at the beginning and work through to the end, not if I don’t want to. Nope, I’ve got the freedom to pick and choose where I go :o) And that’s exactly what I did with my first trip into this book, going for the authors and stories that I was most intrigued by. And the one thing I learnt overall? The more ‘Doctor Who’ you’ve read or seen, the more this book will reward you. A couple of the stories I read were spin-offs from serials that I’d already seen but I hadn’t with the other two so I lost out a little. Not the stories fault though, they can’t help it if I’m not up to date with it all. So, lets have some quick thoughts then.

I went for ‘The Slyther of Shoreditch’ (Mike Tucker) as I loved the novelization of ‘The Dalek Invasion of Earth’ as a kid (still do actually) and that very much included those moments of the Slyther hunting in the darkness. I wondered if I’d be back in the same setting but nope, we’re here for a little side-trip from the events of ‘Remembrance of the Daleks’. I love that story too so was more than happy to take a trip with the Doctor here. The plot is a very straightforward affair but when you’re dealing with a Slyther on the hunt, well… You can’t expect a lot else and that’s fine, Tucker knows the score and makes sure that there’s plenty of tense moments to make up for it. And it works, ‘The Slyther of Shoreditch’ knows its strengths and plays to these very well.

Next up was ‘Save Yourself’ by Terrance Dicks; I know what Dicks is like adapting ‘Doctor Who’ TV serials but I didn’t know what he was like with an original tale of the Doctor. Here was my chance to find out…

Not a bad tale but I was a little hamstrung in that I had no idea who the Warlord was (I haven’t seen many Second Doctor serials in my defence) so it wasn’t as engaging as it could have been. That ending though… Wow, I didn’t realise the Time Lords could be such bastards, especially to one of their own. Dicks wasn’t afraid to go to a really dark place here and that really made ‘Save Yourself’ stand out for me.

Is a ‘Doctor Who’ story really a ‘Doctor Who’ story if the Doctor isn’t actually in it…? Well… I’ll give Matthew Waterhouse’s ‘The Dark River’ the benefit of the doubt as Adric and Nyssa were trying to find him ;o) Here’s another story that you’ll benefit more from if you’ve experienced the story leading up to it. The thing is… I have no idea what that story is! I don’t think it’s ‘The Visitation’, I really want to say that it’s a Big Finish story but I’ve got nothing to base that on. Anyway… There’s still a lot to get out of ‘The Dark River’, in particular that the Doctor isn’t the only Time Lord to get lonely. I liked that :o)

And last up… Colin Baker’s ‘Interstitial Insecurity’. I had to read this because, well… It’s Colin Baker :o) This is another ‘side-trip’ moment as Baker’s Sixth Doctor looks to get his defence in order during ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’. And there is nothing like reading the Doctor as written by someone who played him. Baker gets the character because of he does and it really shows here with the Doctor’s reaction to a particular revelation. Baker gets us right inside the Doctor’s head and shows us that there is a lot more to the Sixth Doctor than what we saw on the screen. I liked the story, which gives us a lot more context to the trial and some interesting insights into the Matrix itself, but it was that characterisation that I was there for and I wasn’t disappointed.

I’ll be dipping in and out of this book as the mood takes me. More stories to follow then ;o)