This will probably be my last one of these, as it's the last series of four stories I can write about. Have I left the best till last?
Season 23 was one long 14-part Doctor Who story, The Trial of A Time Lord, where - surprise surprise - The Doctor was put on trial for his life. But it was split into several sections or 'stories', by several writers, and so these were all adapted as separate books (albeit branded with a Trial of A Time Lord cover flash). So we've got:
The Mysterious Planet, by Terrance Dicks
Mindwarp, by Philip Martin
Terror of The Vervoids, by Pip & Jane Baker
The Ultimate Foe, by Pip & Jane Baker
They weren't published together, or in story order either. But the real shame is that there's no editorial continuity, so each book exists both as an individual entity in its own right and yet still attempts to be part of the larger whole story.
But is that a bad thing, and does it work?
First up, but published second, is The Mysterious Planet, written by Robert Holmes and adapted by Terrance Dicks. This was a pretty flat and unremarkable four episodes on TV but I think it suits the page much better. This is Terrance Dicks' only Sixth Doctor adaptation and there's a real sense that he's relished the challenge and also that he very much respects Holmes' script. Holmes had died by this point, so perhaps for Dicks this was a kind of personal tribute. It suits the length (127 pages) and it's a pleasant, relaxed read that trundles along nicely. It sets the scene for the Trial well enough at the beginning, pitching the menage a trois inter-play between The Doctor, The Valeyard and The Inquisitor, and some of the dramatic high points that appear forced on TV are much easier to stomach on the page. It's an exceptionally verbal and witty script in places, and this comes across very effectively in Dicks' novelisation. For example Glitz and Dibber have a habit of talking about what they're doing or going to do, rather than just getting on and doing it - in a sort of witty self-promotional commentary. Whereas this can be frustrating on TV it suits the prose medium much better. Merdeen's duality also sits more comfortably on the page, giving us access to his thoughts, and there's more of a sense of Drathro's purpose and problem - the robot actually creates pathos at times! This is a great start to the season and Dicks has brought years of experience to a deceptively simple and unpretentious read.
Next up, but published last, is Mindwarp by Philip Martin. Again this was a great read, with a slightly longer page count (142 pages) and some effective development of the TV script in places. We now have Zon, Keeper of the Record of Time activating the Matrix screen and running the evidence, not the Valeyard himself. Mindwarp is a very uncomfortable story, with an unpleasant job to do - no less the case on the page than on the screen. This is possibly the adaptation where the story itself and its part within the Trial are most at odds. In the Trial we have to join the story when it's already underway, because it's being presented as evidence. The Doctor tells Peri (us, effectively) at the start that he's actively following up a mystery over arms supplies. The novelisation follows this, but there wouldn't be anything stopping Martin from adding a prologue chapter outlining the action we've missed. After all, he gives us an epilogue offering a (far more plausible) alternative 'happy' ending to Peri's story than the TV version did. Mindwarp is a very colourful, visual TV story and it's to Martin's credit that the novelisation also feels the same. It could be argued that there's too much going on; Sil, having dominated Vengeance On Varos the previous season, is a bit lost within the mix here and is reduced to a comedic supporting role, which is a shame. But since the story is so unpleasant the comedy is necessary to try to balance it. However, nothing can balance the horror of The Doctor abandoning Peri and allowing her to be operated on: it is the ultimate failure from the hero who fought death itself to save her from an infection just after they met.
The Trial scenes, inter-cutting the main action, are often lumpy and graceless as The Doctor rants and makes childish gibes at The Valeyard but this is as much symptomatic of the length of the Trial story as much as any failings by the writer. Needless to say Zon, Keeper of the Record of Time does not appear again after this book.
Despite the unpleasant storyline this is a great read that rattles along with pace and energy and occasionally wit, like The Mysterious Planet.
Third in line, but published first, is the case for the defence:Terror of The Vervoids, by Pip & Jane Baker. I was wary of this book, following my experiences last year with their Time And The Rani novelisation which was without equal the worst, most patronising Target book I've read. I managed to keep a relatively open mind, though, and I'm glad I did because this was another enjoyable read. Three out of three so far.
A trial is not necessarily the best setting for a Doctor Who story if evidence is being presented and you're trying to tell a story at the same time without giving everything away to the reader early on when some detail is challenged. That happens at least once here, where the Doctor has to answer 'the murderer', rather than giving the character's name. The Bakers do allow a moment for The Inquisitor to reveal that she's interested in the mystery being played out on the Matrix screen but there's definitely artistic licence being shown throughout all these books so far in that respect. There's an interesting attempt by the authors to treat this as a proper murder mystery novel, as well, with occasional comments from an omniscient narrator, and this adds to the charm and the readability of the book - particularly when building Professor Lasky's background just before her death. At 144 pages it's the longest of the four novelisations, and like its two predecessors it's an often unchallenging and fun read, with only occasional moments of verbal diarrhoea over the scientists and the specialist subjects of their studies.
What is a shame, and it's difficult to pinpoint if this is the fault of the Bakers or producer John Nathan-Turner who 'created' the character, is that Mel Bush only comes across as a cipher and never as a proper believable character. She is whatever the situation requires her to be and spurts words in a way that no one would ever naturally speak. Little character traits are shoe-horned in and accompanied with brief, clumsy explanations just so the audience knows. Fortunately this doesn't ruin the book because the Sixth Doctor is possibly the best he's ever been on the Hyperion III: wonderfully understated, calm and at times scheming. Unfortunately this cannot describe the courtroom sequences which continue to break up the story without feeling that they add much to the over-arching story. Regardless, at this point I'd have welcomed a volume that combined all three books and told the whole story (moving the Mindwarp Epilogue to the very end, of course).
With only two episodes left, it couldn't all go wrong with the final book The Ultimate Foe could it? This was the third of the four books to be published, and it's well known amongst fandom what a tortured birth the story had. The novelisation is again by Pip & Jane Baker, although the first half of the story (episode 13 of Trial) was written by the ailing Robert Holmes and script editor Eric Saward. Saward then had a falling out with producer JN-T and withdrew his episode 14 script. So the producer had to bring in another writer to try to finish the story in a different way to what Holmes & Saward had planned, but using the same characters and sets. Having been reliable in the recent past JN-T brought in eccentric Bakers who did their best to pick up from the episode 13 cliff hanger and bring things to a happy conclusion in a way that met JN-T's wishes. Tough call.
Having had such a messy conception what The Ultimate Foe really needs is a completely different writer to adapt it as a novel, someone who can look at it all dispassionately and even it out. I'm reminded of Terrance Dicks novelising Season 7's The Ambassadors of Death, rather than David Whittaker or Malcolm Hulke who were too close to the pain of it. But we don't get that here. Terrance Dicks would have been the obvious choice too. No, instead we get the Bakers practically crucifying Holmes and Saward's work, which takes up about a third of the 126 page book, before developing their own ending which met JN-T's requirement and resolves everything happily.
The story can't help but feel uneven, but is it any good? Terror of The Vervoids leaves us with a cliff hanger, where The Doctor is charged with genocide. Then lots of things happen at the beginning of The Ultimate Foe - probably too many things. The Master appears in the Matrix having the time of his life, The Valeyard is revealed to be a future evil incarnation of The Doctor, Mel and Glitz are transported to the Courtroom to help The Doctor and things suddenly move inside the Matrix, recalling 1976's The Deadly Assassin. It all sounds a bit nuts really. Sabalom Glitz was previously a strong, proactive character in The Mysterious Planet, with a dim side-kick. Here, solo, he becomes a comedy stooge both for The Doctor and The Master. Mel is served no better as a character here than she was in Terror of The Vervoids. Even worse for her, as she's officially the new companion, Glitz is taken into the Matrix by The Doctor to help him with the main action leaving her standing around looking up The Master's nose on the Matrix screen. It's all a bit of a mess and it's not clear what The Valeyard is looking to achieve from hiding away in the Matrix.
Unenviably, the Bakers pick up this mess but their solution is to throw a dictionary at it while the characters wander around for pages not really doing anything and continually avoiding each other so they can spurt ridiculous dialogue. They have a lot to squeeze in - except they don't in fairness; it's virtually all padding, going nowhere and explaining nothing. It could all have been a lot simpler and the ending much less hurried but they procrastinate and prevaricate and it all gets very rushed at the end which is not to the story's benefit.
A word of advice to P&J from an experienced reader from a young age: there is a difference between educating or inspiring young people to improve their vocabulary through an entertaining read, and an author coming across as being utterly pretentious and conceited. That's how the Bakers appear here, with their attempts at minimal word count but maximum syllable count. I could cope with thremmatologists and agronomists in Terror of the Vervoids, even The Mark of The Rani's 'apposite epithets', but The Ultimate Foe takes this to a whole new level and the bottom line is that nobody speaks that way in real life, or in the established worlds of Doctor Who up to that point or since! Such is their quest for long or silly words to try to confuse the readers with, and increase dictionary sales, that they give us a 'megabyte modem' which The Valeyard is using inside the Matrix to try to assassinate the Courtroom jury - presumably he's going to shock them with the disgraceful images he's downloading off the Internet. Hmmm.
It's not as bad a read as Time And The Rani, but it's still a shame because up to now the books detailing The Trial of A Time Lord have been really enjoyable. Unfortunately this final instalment is just a wordy mess and is a really unsatisfactory conclusion.
Perhaps it's because this season came at a time of (and as a result of) massive upheaval for the TV series, or perhaps there wasn't a procedure of heavy editorial involvement in the Target range at the time, but for four linked books telling one long story I can only see it as a shame that there's no stylistic consistency throughout all the books, no conscious attempt at narrative continuity between them and only very little attempt to expand on what was seen on TV. They are, in the main, very enjoyable reads, but in keeping with the TV episodes themselves the Trial story over all lacks cohesion and punch - never more so than in its conclusion.
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