‘Doctor Who and the Masque of Mandragora’ – Philip Hinchcliffe (Target)

 


Page Count: 122 Pages and about 5 Lines (yep, I'm in one of those moods...)

It felt like a little while since I’d last read an old Target ‘Doctor Who’ novelisation (although looking back down the list of books posts, not that long as it turns out…) and it also felt like one of those weeks where you just want to round things off with a light read so… I put those two feelings together, paid a visit to my pile of unread ‘Doctor Who’ books and ‘The Masque of Mandragora’ was the book that I came up with for last night’s reading.

I’ve never seen ‘The Masque of Mandragora’ (I was about a year old when it first aired so, maybe I did see it and just can’t remember…?) but I’ve got the vaguest memories of reading a library copy when I was little. From what I can remember, I didn’t particularly enjoy it back then (I’ll go into that later on) but when you’re looking through a pile of old ‘Doctor Who’ books and this one was only a fiver… You figure that maybe it’s time to give ‘Masque’ another chance. And that’s just what I did last night :o)

Forced off course by the Mandragora Helix, the Tardis lands in the province of San Martino in fifteenth century Italy. Here, the court astrologer, Hieronymous, has been taken over by the Mandragora energy form – Hieronymous, and the other members of his star-worshipping black magic cult, will be used as a bridgehead, enabling the Mandragora Helix to conquer the Earth and rule it through their chosen servants.

The Doctor has to defeat not only the Mandragora energy, but also the evil schemes of the murderous Count Frederico who plans to usurp the place of his nephew, the rightful ruler of the province.

As a much younger Graeme, I used to love picking up a ‘Doctor Who’ book and finding out what planet he was adventuring on this time round. If the Doctor found himself back on Earth though… It didn’t matter what point in history it was, I always felt a little disappointed; I knew what Earth was all about, I wanted him to travel somewhere I’d never been before. Which, when I think about how little of the world I’ve actually seen… Anyway ;o)

As it happened, I didn’t mind so much this time as being in fifteenth century Italy meant that the Doctor had plenty of opportunity to do a little swashbuckling and prove how good he is with a sword. Pretty good actually but then, we probably saw that one coming ;o) No-one dies at the end of the Doctor’s blade but Hinchcliffe makes it all look very exciting; I suspect probably better than it looked on the screen. Hinchcliffe is also very good at portraying one of my favourite things in Doctor Who, that bit where the villain takes their mask off/pulls their hood back to reveal that they have no face, just a blazing light. That never fails to get me and thanks to Hinchcliffe, it got me here too :o)

The story itself is a decent mix of ‘city state politicking’ (plenty of intrigue here, it’s all engaging) and otherworldly cosmic horror, with peasants and soldiers alike being terrified at the sight of the Mandragora energy form, for all of about five seconds before they’re burned alive. I really enjoy ‘Doctor Who’ when it strays into horror and while the plot itself is fairly straightforward, the moments of horror on display here make up for an awful lot. I also liked the hint of a return, for the Mandragora Helix, right at the end, and I’m not a hundred percent sure if that ever happened. I don’t know…

‘The Masque of Mandragora’ isn’t going to trouble my ‘Top Ten Doctor Who Novelisations’ (the story didn’t do quite enough to really convince me that the Doctor was up against it) but it’s still a brisk, enjoyable read and that was all I was after last night so, one for the ‘Win Column’ :o)

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