‘Doctor Who: The Invasion’ – Ian Marter (Target)

 

Page Count: 159 Pages

Remember the really cool TBR pile that I made the other day…? Well, the plan is still to read them all but this week has been a tough one (insert usual stresses here) and after polishing off ‘Conan and the Living Plague’, nothing else from the pile grabbed me and demanded to be read. It happens, I’m hoping that the weekend will be a little kinder and let me choose something.

Anyway… In the meantime, it wasn’t like I was just going to read nothing at all ;o) And there is a small pile of unread ‘Doctor Who’ books for this kind of situation… I picked up ‘The Invasion’ a few weeks ago and so it was at the top of that pile, waiting to be read. And that’s exactly what I did.

‘The Invasion’ didn’t exactly make it easy for me but still ended up being a decent way to put a little space between me and the day I’d just had…

Materialising in outer space, the TARDIS is immediately targetted by a missile fired from the dark side of the moon.

Back on Earth, the newly formed United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, led by Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, is disturbed by a series of UFO sightings over southern England.

Meanwhile, a large consignment of mysterious crates is delivered is delivered to the headquarters of International Electromatix, the largest computer and electronics firm in the world.

Three seemingly unconnected events – but in reality the preparations for a massive Cyberman invasion of Earth with one aim – the total annihilation of the human race, Can the Doctor make the connection in time to thwart his old enemies…?

Long time readers of this blog (and recurring AI-Bots, I know you like to pop in as well, even if you never comment…) will know that as much as I love the ‘Doctor Who’ Target novelisations, it does tend to bug me when certain writers just recite the TV serial verbatim with no embellishments. You know who I’m talking about by now ;o)

I love it then, when a writer decides to put their own little stamp on the proceedings and this time round, a ‘hat tip’ must go to Ian Marter. I’ll admit that I’ve never actually seen ‘The Invasion’ but I’m willing to bet that some of the detail Marter adds never made it anywhere near the screen. I don’t normally add quotes but here are a couple for you…

‘The next moment, half the drivers head had been blown off all over the inside of the cab.’

‘Vaughan winced as a deafening crack split the air. Routledge remained standing like a waxen dummy for several seconds. Then he vomited a stream of blood and pitched forward onto his face at Vaughan’s feet.’

Add one sadistic (yet strangely ineffective) henchman, along with instances of soldiers being burnt to death by Cyberman gun fire, and I have to say; if there is a gritter novelisation of a ‘Doctor Who’ story, I have yet to read it :o) I like it when writers add their own little spark and what Marter does here was particularly refreshing, just because I really can’t recall it happening anywhere else.

As far as the actual story itself goes, there is a lot of ‘running backwards and forwards’ which is necessary, to the plot, but did leave me wishing they’d all just stop running around and get to the good stuff (especially as the book is only just over 150 pages long). There is a mystery to be solved here but it sounds like the Doctor had a vague idea the whole time, they could have saved a lot of time if the Doctor had ‘gone with a hunch’.

The end-game is brilliant though with everything a race against time punctuated by close quarter encounters with Cybermen. If you have ever thought, to yourself, that you wouldn’t want to be caught in cramped sewers with Cybermen, Ian Marter not only agrees with you but will show you exactly why. Honestly, Ian Marter is becoming one of my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ writers with stuff like this, once the story lets him have his head a little. He is also really good at bringing out the Second Doctor’s sense of mischief as well as brother/sister relationship between Jamie and Zoe. Marter demonstrates a happy knack of not only spotting the dynamic but making it clear, on the page, as well.

I’ll be honest, there were moments (in the early stages of the plot) where I wasn’t sure if I’d continue with ‘The Invasion’, I’m really glad that I did though. I wish the whole book could have been as energetic, as the closing stages, but ‘The Invasion’ comes through when it really counts.

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