‘Doctor Who And The Face Of Evil’ – Terrance Dicks (Target)

 

Page Count: 126 Pages

If you see an old ‘Doctor Who’ book featured here, the odds are that a copy of it came home from the library with me, when I was a lot younger, and now I’m trying to find my way back to a time when things were a little more care-free (even if I didn’t realise it at the time…) What? Work has been a nightmare recently and a ‘nostalgia hit’ makes everything a little easier to manage ;o) That was definitely the mood I was in yesterday, that’s why I settled down with a copy of ‘The Face of Evil’ and tried to put a little distance between me and everything else. And it worked, that’s the main thing.

Setting the controls for Earth, the Doctor is surprised when the TARDIS lands in a primeval forest. Has the tracer gone wrong or has some impulse, deep in his unconscious mind, directed him to this alien planet? As he explores, the Doctor meets Leela, a warrior banished from the tribe of the Sevateem; through her, it gradually becomes apparent that the constant war between the Sevateem and the Tesh has been instigated by the god they both worship, Xoanon.

Xoanon may not be the god that the tribes believe but it is completely insane and will kill everything if left to follow its own path. Only the Doctor stands any chance of stopping Xoanon but is that actually possible? The Doctor is the whole reason that Xoanon is insane in the first place…

‘The Face Of Evil’ suffers slightly from Terrance Dicks habit of sometimes just writing what he saw play out on the screen. It’s an engaging tale (with a decent mystery playing out into an explosive finale) but one that falls into a very ‘matter of fact’ tone that proves a little bit of a barrier for those who are after something a little more immersive. To be fair, your mileage will likely vary on that score. That’s where I found myself and to honest, that was fine by me. If you’re after something familiar to take your mind off things then you can’t really complain when the TBR pile gives you exactly what you ask for ;o)

What I really enjoyed though was that while the ‘big reveal’ becomes apparent very early on, the plot actually takes us down a slightly different path, becoming an exploration of the ripples coming out of the Doctors journey through Time and Space. And when you’re that kind of traveller, those ripples will inevitably find you again. It’s a sweet reminder that the Doctors choice of lifestyle isn’t without consequences and that the Doctor himself will always face those consequences head on. The Doctor can be a heroic figure, but he is also one of the problems of the universe that he needs to sort out. The outcome is never in doubt but again, that’s the whole point. What’s interesting is a story that’s willing to take this route in the first place.

Not just that either… Dicks tackles it in his usual ‘say it as he sees it’ manner but it’s still a lot of fun to see the Doctor work with Leela, a companion whose life has been shaped by a hostile environment that forces her to ‘kill or be killed’. This is, of course, completely at odds with the Doctor’s approach and I think it will be interesting to watch this play out (if I can find more books, with Leela in them, that is…)

There was a lot to recommend ‘The Face Of Evil’ then. The story may well be ‘delivered’, rather than ‘told’ but it’s also willing to really examine the consequences of the Doctor’s habit of making it up as he goes. It was a trade-off that really worked for me.