I may not have finished the 'New Adventures' yet, but at least I've now caught up with where they started after finishing the Season 26 Target novelisations. Things were starting to head the way of the NAs in Season 25 as the 'Cartmel Masterplan' got underway. Season 26 is as much about Ace as it is the Doctor. This produced some great TV at the time, but what happened to them when they got turned into novelisations..? I think they served to steer the Virgin ship firmly into the NA harbour...
So, this time around we have:
Battlefield, by Marc Platt (from the TV adventure by Ben Aaronovitch)
Ghost Light by Marc Platt (from his own TV adventure this time!)
The Curse of Fenric, by Ian Briggs, and
Survival, by Rona Munro
General note: excellent cover illustrations all round - top marks Alister Pearson.
Battlefield. This was the last of the season novelisations to be published (no. 152 in the Target Doctor Who library). This may have had something to do with Ben Aaronovitch struggling with it and eventually giving up and asking Marc Platt to write it instead. I'd have liked an introduction from either of them just to know if the embellishments are all Platt's work or based on discussions between the two - credit where credit's due, after all. I struggled with the start of this book in all honesty, so I can sympathise with Mr Aaronovitch. As I struggled with it I recalled that I'd struggled with it years ago as well. I don't know why particularly; it all adds flesh to the characters and settings, so maybe it's Marc Platt's prose that I was uncomfortable with? Target are pushing the length boundaries at last - this book clocks in at 172 pages, only 50 or so short of the early NAs. There are clear moments when TV dialogue is missing or paraphrased, or the story is adapated slightly rather than followed religiously, and this is to the benefit of the novel so it's not just a script to page translation. All the characters benefit from Platt's distanced consideration of what Aaronovitch had given them to say and do. We don't need all the dialogue, necessarily, (it helps not to hear McCoy's shouting, which is embarrassing at the best of times) and many reading the book would (like me) have an off-air video taped copy anyway. One particular point reading this, which is true for most of the season, is that there is background and contextualising information given about the characters and settings which enhance the enjoyment of the TV programme, but which were missing on screen. This means you can enjoy the TV version more having read the book, but this shouldn't be the case so that's a slapped wrist to the production team.
Ghost Light. If I had any concerns over Marc Platt's prose they vanished with this novelisation. It is brilliant. I can't fault the book, but it does make me fault the TV version for the reasons specified above! And it's little things too, like calling Josiah the 'Survey Agent' a bit more, to clarify his position in the crew. Platt said at the time that he wanted the TV version to be 'definitive' but he felt the book would be instead. That's true. The TV version is gorgeous and brilliant to watch, and the book is gorgeous and brilliant as well - just with some necessary explanations thrown in.
The Curse of Fenric. Wow. This season is just getting better and better. Here we have another story that was wonderful to watch on TV but too dense and rich for its four episodes. The book allows Ian Briggs the room to let the story breathe (at a whopping 188 pages no less!) and, since the books have been getting more and more 'grown up' of late, the author can allow two of his main characters to be gay on the page where this was avoided on TV - presumably because TV drama just wasn't 'going there' at that time. Again, there are little touches which would have assisted the viewer of the TV version - like revealing that the mysterious word INGIGER that the Ultima machine prints off at the end of episode three is in fact the name of the Ancient Haemovore. That's fine, so somebody needs to call him/her Ingiger and not the Ancient One all the time!!!
The Curse of Fenric is easily the most adult book of the range since David Whittaker's first Dalek story novelisation back in the 1960s. It shows them confidently heading in a new direction, one that would need the NAs for further fulfillment. But there are factors which prevent this book from being perfect. I would dispute that anyone, ever, would actually say the line 'Cor, look, Professor! It's a sprog!' (page 57) seriously in conversation, no matter what their background. It's no wonder it was changed in the TV version to a line with some kind of integrity. Also whilst I applaud Briggs for developing the homosexual side of Judson and Millington's relationship it messes up the end where the 'pawns' start working together. Millington now shoots Vershinnin dead, then shoots Bates when he enters afterwards. Bates' line to Ace, as he lies dying next to Vershinnin's corpse is therefore meaningless - the pawns had previously joined forces against Millington. In this version they haven't, yet Bates still says it so Ace can still go to Sorin and unwittingly reveal the winning chess move. It would have been easy enough for Millington to have been shot, but come round later and drag himself off to die at Judson's side.
Survival. On TV this was probably the best story of the season because, besides being a great story, it fitted it's allotted length and didn't hide any secrets away from the viewer. It's the most disappointing of the season's novelisations, though, which is a shame. Rona Munro has little to add beyond what was said and shown on screen - the nameless planet of the Cheetah People is not described with anything like the brilliance with which it was realised on TV, for example. After the rest of the season in print this is something of a letdown, really. There are some additional scenes, some character-building moments - and the latter part of the story is far more brutal than could have been shown on screen, but that's about it. As it's somewhat iconic now, I don't see why Munro didn't include Andrew Cartmel's final speech as the Doctor and Ace walk off into the distance. Her own ending does the same job, but it's bland and lacks charm. Since Peter Darvill-Evans adds a post-script warning readers that although there's no new TV Doctor Who planned there will be a few more Target books (mopping up the odds and ends of yester-year) and then a whole new range of 'New Adventures' in a year or so, it seems even more of a shame that we lose the lyrical final speech about them having work to do.
Bring on the Timewyrm!
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