Review: Doctor Who Annual / Whodle / The Adventures Before

Three new Doctor Who titles from Penguin, and as usual these are all aimed at the younger set ... I'm never sure quite which age group that is, but I suspect it's the sort of 6-12 year old mark ... though of course fans of all ages may enjoy them!

First up is the 2025 Doctor Who Annual, and this year the book seems a little more 'together' than previous fare and is quite enjoyable as an overview of the previous season, plus assorted extras. We get a double page for each of the stories, written to tie in with the themes of those stories, lots of photos, some great puzzles (I loved hunting for the goblins hidden throughout the book) and other bits and pieces.

The design is smashing and really complements the written material. It's slight but visually rich and there's a lot for the young fan to enjoy here. I like the printed endpapers - very nice design - and the little novelisation by Steve Cole of Russell T Davies' Children in Need skit from 2023 featuring a non-Dalek Base-sitting Davros and the 14th Doctor getting to add a plunger arm to the first Dalek, is a nice addition.

So a great Annual this time around ... entertaining and visually exciting!

Next up is Whodle. Now I had no idea what this was, and it took me a little time to figure it out. Basically it's a book of logic puzzles. They range from Easy to Extreme, and do you know, I cannot figure a single one out!

So to take an Easy one for example: you have three 'Characters', three 'Enemies' and three 'Objects' and through a series of observations (like for example, 'Character A was holding Object B', 'Character B would never touch Object B', Character C is fond of Fruit'... you work out who was actually holding Object C (which is an Orange, for example), and this was Character C ... but you also have to figure out who is where, again through more observations. There's also a list of 'Character/Object traits' to guide you. The harder ones have more of each item, and more categories to work out.

So it's a sort of figure it out as you go thing ... ie there should only be one answer which matches all the observations and traits - ie one solution to each puzzle. It sounds tricky, and yes, I found it very tricky ... and time consuming. So if you're looking for something to make a young fan really use their grey matter and deductive skills to the max, then this might be the book for them!  There are 61 puzzles in here covering stories from every era of the show. 

It must be hard to sort this all out to create the book, and I pity the poor editor/proof reader who possibly had to solve every puzzle themselves in order to check it was all correct. And to add to the puzzlement, the authors say in the front that 'we have to deviate a little from canon', so having an encyclopaedic knowledge of Doctor Who won't necessarily help you!

Finally we have a new fiction anthology called The Adventures Before, and as it suggests, these are eight short stories which act as 'preludes' to 'the greatest adventures of the Doctor'. Hmmm ... a little hyperbole there perhaps given that the list includes 'Arc of Infinity' and 'Planet of the Dead'.

The tales are OK, but they are patchily written, and many aren't really 'preludes' at all, just another adventure which happens to be placed timewise before the one stated.

There's an odd mix here. Mark Griffiths contributes 'The Boy and the Dalek' which starts with the 2nd Doctor, Jamie and Victoria finding a lone Dalek on Skaro which shows them a story of its past, where it meets a young boy and helps it. We conclude with a surprise ending which leads into the start of 'The Daleks', the first ever Dalek story on television ... but it's a little clunky. Steve Cole's 'The Roots of Evil' is basically a retread of 'The Seeds of Doom'. A rather good tale about Scorby and a fellow heavy falling foul of another plant-based threat when they try to deliver it to Harrison Chase. Gary Russell brings us 'The Four Faces of Immortality' which is a prelude to 'The Five Doctors', and has Borusa having a sort of daydream about the other three Time Lords trapped on Rassilon's plinth at the end of the story in question. There's some nice ideas in here. Beth Axford's 'Becky's Impossible Day' is ostensibly a prelude to 'Rose', but is actually a straightforward little side adventure for the 9th Doctor. 'Smiley's Mirror Exhibit' is by Janelle McCurdy and prequels 'Planet of the Dead' and features the 10th Doctor visiting the titular attraction (which is in the same museum as Lady Christina steals the cup from at the start of said story) and rescuing a girl and her friend Jake. Finally, there's 'The Fall of Apalapucia', a prelude to 'The Girl Who Waited' by E L Norry. This is 'proper' science fiction, detailed and with alien creatures, things, environments ... all sorts. It's also hard to summarise simply: a story of the fall of a futuristic planet and its inhabitants. Probably the best in the book as it doesn't rely at all on anything from Doctor Who itself apart from the name of the planet the following story took place on.

There are two stories written by cast members. Janet Fielding (Tegan) contributes 'Little Did She Know' which follows a return trip to an evocatively described Australia by Tegan to see her father as a prelude to 'Arc of Infinity'. If anything it is more a prelude to 'Snakedance'. It also slips from past tense into present in the middle and then back again: maybe this is deliberate to try and up the tension, but it jarred with me. And Ingrid Oliver (Osgood) contributes 'The Morning of the Day of the Doctor' which pretty much tells you what it covers: Osgood's morning before the Doctor arrived on the scene in that story. Quite enjoyable, especially as The Curator (as played on telly by Tom Baker) makes another appearance.

Overall I found the collection slightly disappointing. The ideas are simple (apart from 'The Fall of Apalapucia'), and it really doesn't fulfil its stated aim of providing actual preludes to the specified stories. Again, it's aimed at young readers, so this might be the reason for the simpler plotting and writing ... but when I was young, I know I wanted material which was actually more complex to get my teeth into. 

As with the other titles reviewed here, this would make an ideal 'starter' for any young Who fan at Christmas, and as this is why Penguin are publishing this sort of book, then I'd say they succeeded!

Review: The Time-Travelling Almanac

Another title from BBC Books tying into Doctor Who is a smallish hardback tome called The Time-Travelling Almanac. 

This is something like the eleventh factual book to be authored or co-authored by Simon Guerrier, and as usual the depth of research is impressive. Simon really knows his Who and so at least we can be sure that the facts that are present are all correct.

But this is a strange beast ... it reminded me of the old Doctor Who Annuals where new stories and comics spinning off from the show sit side by side with articles on the Sun or Space Travel or Spaceships or whatever - material which actually has nothing to do with Doctor Who (aside from maybe some tangential references).

This is an Almanac, and as the introduction explains: it contains 'useful information and fun stuff to help enliven and illuminate your journey through 2025'. So we have the transmission dates of all the Doctor Who episodes to date (though a little frustratingly those with no episode number on screen have none here, so for most of the Hartnell stories, you need to know which episode title is which, for example, The Ark: 'The Steel Sky' or The Dalek Invasion of Earth: 'The Waking Ally'. It also includes the spin off series like Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood (and, pointing to the fact that the book is aimed at a young audience, there's a helpful note pointing out that 'Torchwood and Class are aimed at an adult audience and contain adult themes, violence and upsetting scenes' - just the same as Doctor Who does then ...)

There's birthdates of some of the cast noted, and also for some of the fictional characters (but the text doesn't distinguish between them) and also 'firsts' in Doctor Who, like the first appearance of the Daleks, of Vicki, of K9 and so on.

For the astronomy and science buffs, there's articles and entries for various real life meteor storms, comets and the like, phases of the moon, descriptions of the planets of the solar system and how and when to see them ... There's entries on decimalisation in the UK, on eclipses and equinoxes ... but there's also fiction from the worlds of Doctor Who, suggesting how the fire of London started, or when Auderly House was invaded by Daleks and Ogrons.  All of these things sit side by side ... any child reading this to perhaps research for their history homework could come up with some very interesting elements in their essays.

I have to mention too, that the gravity/mavity joke is perpetuated, with it being called mavity throughout. Even when talking about how the moon affects the tides. Again, sitting somewhat uneasily with the 'real world' information that the book also contains. 

There's some factual items in here as well, for example about some Doctor Who spin off records, or about the Guinness World Record for William Russell having the longest time between appearances as the same character in the same show (57 years and 120 days), but as with the material from the fictional side of the show, and indeed science fact, there seems to be no rhyme nor reason why some things are included and some are not. It seems a little scattergun.

However.

Given that it's clearly aimed at the young set (those who might be upset or offended by Torchwood or Class), then it is a fun and diverting book to flick through. Day by day you can see what was transmitted (and maybe crank up iPlayer to rewatch those episodes) and it may spark an interest in children to turn their gaze to the skies and watch some meteors pass by, or to try and spot Mars or Venus or Mercury in the sky (at one point the text even suggests downloading an App to help them!). 

Probably an ideal Christmas gift for the burgeoning Who Fan!

Review: Doctor Who: The Gold Archive: Invasions of Earth: A Secret History

The latest large format hardback Doctor Who title from Ebury/BBC Books is a step up from some of the recent fare. True it still focusses exclusively on the 'in universe' information, but the presentation is attractive and the content raises a smile or two along the way.

What impresses me is the breadth that the show now encompasses. My area of favour is the so-called 'classic' series, but there's many, many more episodes now from the new series, and keeping track of them all is something of a challenge! Indeed, there are a couple of characters and plotlines outlined in this tome which I simply do not remember at all! I suspect that a rewatch of the whole of New-Who is in order! (I really need a TARDIS myself!)

The 'conceit' of this book is that it's a file pulled together by Kate Lethbridge Stewart of UNIT of all the available information on all the many and varied invasions, incursions, and alien monsters which Earth had encountered over history. There's some nice tie in with The Great Serpent, and that he (and his operatives) may have corrupted and changed information over the years, and so this is a complete review and brush-up of what is termed UNIT's 'Gold Archive'.

The book breaks all these alien incursions down thematically: Prehistoric Incursions; Recurring Threats; Pre-UNIT Incursions; World Extinction Danger: Nuclear Events; Falling to Earth; Biological Hazards; Rogue Time Travel; and more, and within each presents a 'dossier' written by Kate Lethbridge Stewart, or Shirley Anne Bingham, with contributions from Ace, Tegan, Mel, Rose Noble, Christofer Ibrahim, and the robotic Vlinx (who provides succinct summaries of the various incursions). There are further pieces by the Doctor, and the text is scattered with post it notes from Kate and the Doctor and others which comment on the information within.

Pictorially it's gorgeous, and this is probably where the book wins out. The illustration is well chosen and clever, as it also uses a particular love of mine: 'faked' newspaper cuttings, memos, transcripts and so on from people involved in the various adventures. These are smashing. I only spotted one which was (to my mind anyway) 'wrong' and this was a news report of someone in Devesham finding a cache of fake 50p pieces. This is all referencing the story 'The Android Invasion' and of course the 'fake' 50ps were in the till of the pub and were found there by the Doctor and Sarah ... but this pub and village were recreations of Devesham on an alien planet, not on Earth, and so the fake coins could never have been found on Earth. These documents are also a neat way of showing UNIT's involvement in providing cover stories and so on for the various alien (or home-grown) incidents and monsters.

At 312 pages, this is a chunky tome, and there is a lot to read and digest. As I say, I'm impressed at the 'whole world' knowledge of the writers, Steve Cole and Mike Tucker, and at how they draw it all together in the various dissertations and articles within. There's even some explanations for some of the obvious 'issues' with the show: like for example why the Silurians, Sea Devils and Zygons changed their appearance, motivations, weapons and abilities between the 'classic' and 'new' Doctor Who stories to feature them (other than the production team(s) just missing the point/not realising/getting it wrong).

Although I might be in the minority for not really liking the fairly plain 'graphic' approach cover, the book is perfect for the Who fan looking to find out and read more about the in-universe happenings of UNIT. And for the more knowledgeable fan too - a refresher course on all the various UNIT/Earth related happenings over the show's 60+ year history.

The Soul Thief - by S L Howe - Interview!!

BEWARE THE SOUL THIEF

We all love a creepy novel for the winter, and 2024 brings a new, terrifying book from S L Howe. The Soul Thief is described as a Gothic Thriller, and promises to chill the bones and get you looking back over your shoulder.

The author is no stranger to the horror genre. As Sam Stone she has penned over 20 novels involving vampires, alien invasions, space zombies, a series of Young Adult novels about a Victorian Steampunk heroine, and much, much more. As Samantha Lee Howe she penned the multiple-award winning, and USA Today Bestseller The Stranger in Our Bed (also filmed and starring Samantha Bond, Emily Berrington and Ben Lloyd-Hughes) along with the acclaimed espionage thriller series The House of Killers.

‘The Soul Thief came out of my love for Gothic literature,’ explains Samantha. ‘I have been particularly influenced by 19^th Century gothic writers such as Bram Stoker, Sheridan Le Fanu and Mary Shelley. Gothic means different things to different writers but one of the outstanding features in books traditionally described as ‘Gothic’ is a sense of place: the huge manor house; the dark and dreary parsonage; the crumbling and brooding architecture; all of which were elements that feature strongly in the city of Manchester where I was born.’

The book is set in and around Victorian Manchester, in particular the author uses the real life Heaton Hall. ‘Growing up I visited Heaton Hall many times. In those days the Hall was open every day to visitors but it is now only open at certain times a year and there have been many steps taken to protect the house and the land. There was, therefore, every chance that this influential location would appear in one of my books and it was perfect as one of the locations used for The Soul Thief.’

The book follows a gentleman detective, Mitchell Bishop, and his fiancé, Laura Carter, as they investigate the strange deaths of Laura’s brother Warren and their sister Sara. They realise there is nothing natural about these deaths, and Mitchell becomes haunted by demons from his own past which may well have an influence on the present.’

‘I love writing horror,’ smiles Samantha, ‘there’s something cathartic about the process of dealing with things that scare you. I’m not afraid of old houses and exploring abandoned places: in my childhood I did both frequently; but there’s something about ghosts from the past reaching out to influence the present which is very pervasive. One of the things that has always unnerved me is demonic possession: losing control of your own body and soul. This is an element, along with some invented horror folklore, that I wanted to explore in the novel.

‘Manchester was a pivotal city during the Victorian technological boom, but also there was a great deal of crime, as there is in any major city. In this book I wanted to explore that seedy side of Victorian Manchester: prostitution; gangs; and the rise of photography, which seemed magical, in an era ready to exploit it in all ways possible.’

The Soul Thief is by S L Howe and published on 5 December 2024 by HarperCollins One More Chapter.

Signed Copies are available from Samantha's website at www.samanthaleehowe.co.uk

Review: Trick 'r Treat (2007)

At this time of year (October) there's often people asking what the best film for Halloween is ... and my answer is usually Trick 'r Treat ... it's not a well known film, but deserves to be much well known, as it's simply awesome!

First of all, it's an anthology film, telling four stories much in the same way as the old Amicus gems like The Vault of Horror, The House that Dripped Blood and Asylum.  There's a linking narrative which brackets the stories, and they're all set at Halloween.  But what Trick 'r Treat does so well is to combine the stories so that a) they're all taking place on the same night but also b) that they are intermingled with each other, so you see elements of a different story (the characters etc) while one of the stories is playing out ... it's a very clever way of bringing all the different aspects together into one satisfying whole. Director Michael Dougherty has done an amazing job with this, his first feature.

So we open with a couple, Emma (Leslie Bibb) and Henry (Tahmoh Penikett), returning from a party ... he is dressed as a Buck Rogers-like spaceman and she is dressed as a robot. They're being watched by something.  She blows out the candle in the pumpkin outside their house ... bad move as it happens as it leads to her being slaughtered and added to the Halloween decorations in the garden.

Then there's the local principal of the high school, Wilkins (Dylan Baker), who catches a lad, Charlie (Brett Kelly), destroying lanterns and stealing candy. He gets poisoned by some candy and then his head used as a gruesome pumpkin jack-o-lantern by Wilkins and his son Billy (Connor Levins). But the principal has another secret ... he likes to dress as a vampire and go out killing on this night ... wouldn't it be a shame if he came up against something bigger and stronger than himself ...

There's a group of gorgeous feisty girls, Laurie (Anna Paquin), Danielle (Lauren Lee Smith), Maria (Rochelle Aytes) and Janet (Moneca Delain), who are all out for a good time ... so they get costumes to party in and head off to pick up some boys, and then into the woods ... but what might be happening in the woods ... and why shouldn't you go down there ...

Next door to the principal is a grumpy old man, Mr. Kreeg (Brian Cox), who hates the season and hides indoors with his dog ... but he has secrets too, and Sam Hain (Quinn Lord) comes calling, wanting his candy treats ...

Finally there's a group of younger kids, Macy (Britt McKillip), Chip (Alberto Ghisi), Schrader (Jean-Luc Bilodeau), and Sara (Isabelle Deluce), along with 'Halloween traditionalist' Rhonda (Samm Todd), who head to a local sinkhole lake. Legend has it that years ago a busload of mentally disabled children was driven into the hole by the bus driver ... he survived but all the children were killed.  The youngsters descend into the sinkhole with jack-o-lanterns to summon the dead children ... and it seems their plan works!

But guess who the bus driver is?  You got it ... Mr Kreeg ... and his come-uppance will soon be with him ...

Overall it's a stylish and slick piece of filmmaking. I love how the stories interact and overlap, with characters from one seen in the backgrounds and interacting in others. The plots are smashing too and intersect neatly, allowing all the bad guys (and some innocents) to get their desserts ...

There's cracking performances from the main leads, in particular Brian Cox as Mr Kreeg ... but also kudos to little Sam: the pumpkin-headed kids romper-suit wearing wraith who moves through all the action. A great visual and very well realised.

If you're looking for a great Halloween watch, I highly recommend Trick 'r Treat.  Just keep those lanterns alight, and always have some candy to offer ...

Special Edition released 28th October from Arrow Films

4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

• Brand new 4K restoration by Arrow Films, approved by writer-director Michael Dougherty
• 4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
• Original DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Brand new audio commentary with writer-director Michael Dougherty moderated by James A. Janisse & Chelsea Rebecca from Dead Meat Podcast
• Archival audio commentary by Michael Dougherty, conceptual artist Breehn Burns, storyboard artist Simeon Wilkins and composer Douglas Pipes
• Becoming Sam, a brand new interview with actor Quinn Lord
• The Devil is in the Details, a brand new interview with production designer Mark Freeborn
• If Looks Could Kill, a brand new interview with director of photography Glen MacPherson
• Designs to Die for, a brand new interview with costume designer Trish Keating
• Bark at the Moon, a brand new interview with creature designer Patrick Tatopoulos
• Mark Freeborn Remembers Bill Terezakis, a new tribute to the late make-up effects designer
• Tales of Folklore & Fright, an archival featurette with Michael Dougherty, Breehn Burns and Simeon Wilkins
• Tales of Mischief & Mayhem: Filming Trick 'r Treat, an archival interview with Michael Dougherty on the making of the film
• Sounds of Shock & Superstition: Scoring Trick 'r Treat, an archival featurette with Michael Dougherty and Douglas Pipes
• Tales of Dread & Despair: Releasing Trick 'r Treat, an archival featurette with Michael Dougherty and Rob Galluzzo of the Shock Waves podcast, exploring the film's release and fandom
• Season's Greetings, a short film from 1996 directed by Michael Dougherty with optional director commentary
• The Lore and Legends of Halloween, an archival featurette narrated by actor Brian Cox
• School bus VFX comparison
• Deleted and alternate scenes with optional commentary by director Michael Dougherty
• FEARnet promos
• Sam O'Lantern
• Storyboard and conceptual artwork gallery
• Behind the scenes gallery
• Monster Mash comic book set in the Trick 'r Treat universe
• Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sara Deck
• Double-sided foldout poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sara Deck
• Six postcard-sized artcards
• Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Becky Darke and Heather Wixson

Review: The Exorcist II

ArrowVideo brings us a new High Definition release of John Boorman's The Exorcist II: The Heretic ... as usual it has some smashing features and lovely packaging (which sadly I don't get to see in the flesh as the reviewer - they just send the disks!

I was never that enamoured with The Exorcist II ... nor to be honest with The Exorcist. I feel it has been overhyped over the years and it just an ok film to be honest. I prefer my horror with monsters, and the 'possession' genre just doesn't do it for me.

In this film we have Richard Burton as the priest Lamont, who is suffering from a lack of faith when an exorcism of his own fails. The Vatican send him to investigate the death and life of Father Merrin (Max Von Sydow from the first film) due to his blasphemous writings. The film has Linda Blair as Regan again, four years on but suffering from the aftereffects of her possession.

The first part of the film is OK, following the impacts and effect of the possession on the people around Regan, but then it goes all trippy and explores belief and other surreal imagery as Lamont is tempted by the demon Pazuzu and goes on a sort of 'Walkabout' to explore the nature of religion and faith and locusts and how to banish the demon ... I guess Boorman was trying to do something different to the first film, and he certainly manages that ... but whether it's good different or bad different is another question.

The score is great - Ennio Morricone at his best - and the performances are good.  It's just that the film fails to engage.

I read that it was not well received at the time and I can see why ... it's just not what fans of The Exorcist were expecting.

However for fans of the genre and of the work of John Boorman, this is an excellent print with some great extra material.

Available 7 October 2024

LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

• High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentations of the 118-minute Original Premiere Version and the 103-minute International Version
• Original lossless mono audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Peter Savieri
• Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing by film critics Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Glenn Kenny and Matt Rogerson, plus an archival interview with cinematographer William Fraker

DISC ONE - ORIGINAL PREMIERE VERSION

• New commentary by film historian Lee Gambin and filmmaker David Kittredge, director of the forthcoming feature-length Exorcist II documentary, Heretics
• New audio commentary by screenwriter and author Kelly Goodner and film historian Jim Hemphill
• Archive audio commentary with director John Boorman
• Archive audio commentary with special consultant Scott Michael Bosco
• It's Okay, He's Gone, a new visual essay by film critics BJ and Harmony Colangelo
• What Does She Remember?, an archive interview with actress with Linda Blair
• Archive interview with editor Tom Priestley
• Theatrical trailer
• Teaser trailer
• Extensive image galleries

DISC TWO - INTERNATIONAL VERSION

• Archive audio commentary by film critic Mike White of The Projection Booth podcast
• Theatrical trailer

Review: ILLUMINART V3

Andrew Skilleter is one of the legends of Doctor Who cover art.  For many years in the eighties he provided the iconic illustrations for the covers of the novelisations, and expanded his remit into all manner of other Doctor Who themed items: from posters and prints and postcards to bookmarks and special books celebrating his own work and that of other artists.

His 'Who Dares' company rose from the ashes a few years back, and Andrew has been working on releasing an annual calendar featuring his work, and also three books which together showcase much of his Doctor Who work.

Volume three of Illuminart has just been published, and this completes the set. Within this volume is art covering the Target Covers from 1984-5, which takes in some of my personal favourite pieces of his (and for which I own the original art) like 'The Caves of Androzani', 'Invasion' and 'Planet of Fire'. From there we move to the BBC VHS covers from 1993-1995, which section also includes items like the Dalek tin, the spines for the Key To Time VHS releases, and the cover for the W H Allen book The Key to Time. 

Next up are the Virgin New Adventures novel covers, along with other art from calendars and posters, before heading to 'The Race Point Years' and the art Andrew supplied for the books The Who's Who of Doctor Who and the Unofficial Big Book of Lists.

Then there's several private commissions (the book is peppered with these throughout) and the art for Telos Publishing's special edition of the novella Eye of the Tyger before we head to The Tripods, a lovely Amelia Ducat piece of art which was commissioned by Matt West of Miwk Publishing but ultimately unused on a book. There's the cover for a Knitting Pattern Book, more calendar art, a poster for the BBC, private commissions for Blake's 7, work for Star Wars and Thunderbirds ... the book is simply a panoply of fantastic art!

Along the way Andrew also reproduces early sketches of much of the art, showing how it developed from ideas to final work, and also provides a commentary against each piece giving origins, thoughts and memories of how it came to be commissioned and some of the challenges in producing it.

As a collection of a life's work (so far), the Illuminart trilogy covers practically all of Andrew's Doctor Who work, while also sidestepping into the other pieces he has created over the years. In the introduction he mentions that 2025 will see him  planning to release work looking at non-Who output and private commissions.

There's also a bibliography of books at the back which have been collections or which have extensively featured Andrew's art. Just in case you wanted to track down some which are missing from your own collections!

The trilogy of books is a fascinating work, and well worth looking into for any respecting Doctor Who fan with an interest in the artwork of Andrew Skilleter, and the many and varied ways in which it has been commissioned and used over the years.

There's a standard hardback edition of the books still available (though the first is sadly now sold out):

VOLUME 2: https://andrewskilleter.com/store-gallery/doctor-who/drwho-books/illuminart-book-2-the-doctor-who-art-of-andrew-skilleter/

VOLUME 3: https://andrewskilleter.com/store-gallery/doctor-who/drwho-books/illuminart-3-the-doctor-who-art-of-andrew-skilleter/

Review: THE OGRON OOO MONSTER BOOK and SCRIBBLOGRONS

Sometimes the innovation, humour and sheer talent of Doctor Who fans just astounds. Several years ago now, I stumbled across on Twitter (now called X of course) an account apparently being run by an Ogron called Gruntleigh. Now as any self-respecting Doctor Who fan will know, the Ogrons appeared in two seventies stories, 'Day of the Daleks' and 'Frontier in Space'. They were used as 'muscle' by the Daleks, and were basically low-intelligence ape-like creatures with limited vocabulary. 

If you're interested in seeing Gruntleigh's account, then it can be found here: https://x.com/OgronThe

He muses on life and happenings and what's going on in his life as he clashes with Davros and Adric and others ... basically it's hilarious.

So I was at the 2024 Whooverville event in Derby, and while perusing the dealer room, spotted a familiar cover on a table. But not quite familiar as it was a pastiche of the good old 1975 Doctor Who Monster Book - but this one was The Ogron Ooo Monster Book.  The cover pastiches that of the Monster Book beautifully and includes cartoon/art representations of Gruntleigh along with the third Doctor, Jo, Adric, Nyder, Daleks and even a Cyber-Ogron!  It's superb!  

But there's more. The whole book is a pastiche of the Monster Book - the same articles and layout, with cartoon images of Ogron-ified versions of the art and photos from the original, and a text which also spoofs and pokes fun at all the creatures covered.  Just magnificent!

It had me chuckling right away. 'The Silly Uns' (Silurians), 'The Whirring' (Wirrn) and 'The Suckers' (Zygons) are just some of the monsters you'll find here. All written by Ogwon Tel!

The back cover even features a selection of Ogron Ooo novelisation covers. From Ogron Ooo in Exciting Adventure with Some Mud (by Ogron Dave) through to Ogron Ooo and Puppet Monster Invasion (by Ogron Malc). Truly a work of genius.

This amazing book is the work of artist Martin A Holmes, and copies can be bought from Lulu here: https://www.lulu.com/shop/martin-holmes-and-martin-holmes/the-ogron-ooo-monster-book/paperback/product-p66r58r.html

Sitting on the same table, alongside the Ogron Ooo Monster Book was another, hefty, tome. This was called ScribblOgrons. At 208 pages this is not to be dropped on your foot, and, like the Ogron Ooo book, it focusses on Gruntleigh's adventures. It's a Cartoon Art collection, but there is text as well ... all in colour with cartoons, one-frame funnies, comic strips, features on Daleks and all manner of other Doctor Who creatures, a feature on 'Davros Tries on a Hat Day', life in the Ogron Army, letters from Gruntleigh, Adric features, as does Nyder ... it's a fast moving, incredibly detailed and fascinating collection of Ogron-related funnies.  It's actually hard to do it justice in a mere review!

If you have a sense of humour and like the madness which could arise from being an Ogron trying to get by in the world of Doctor Who then this might be right up your street. It's certainly the most original use of the Doctor Who universe I've seen in ages, and there's so much here that it's going to keep me occupied for months and months!

There's some pages looking at Og-TV - in other words, Ogron-ised versions of some television favourites like The Ogoodies, The Prisogner, Blake's Ogrons, The Ogod Life, Hey! Hey! It's the Gruntleighs ... and many more. Another page discusses politics on the Ogron planet of Ograviss. Another discusses the Master ... yet another looks at Davros' pets.  And the book goes on, page after page with incredible cartoons and funnies and just crazy stuff which is both head-shakingly weird but hilariously funny!

Look, just go and grab yourself a copy off Lulu and you'll see ... you'll see ...

Martin Holmes certainly wins the famous No-Prize for the most fun publications seen in an age!

Available from: https://www.lulu.com/shop/martin-holmes/scribblogrons-paperback/paperback/product-w44ppp9.html

Review: New Doctor Who Titles!

Hot on the heels of the last selection of Doctor Who books, we have some more!  Four new Target novelisations and an original novel.  So lets get to them!

First up, there is a paperback edition of the novelisation of 'The Church on Ruby Road' which I reviewed before. Lovely to have it in a paperback 'proper' Target edition as well, and the cover by Dan Liles is nice and works with the ideas of the book. These new Targets have reverted to a blue spine from the white previously but this is nice and helps delineate the books on the shelf.  I wonder if they're doing this by season or by Doctor, or if they've even thought about it in that way at all and that they'll all be blue now until someone randomly decides to change it.  

Onto the first of the new titles, and we have 'Space Babies' novelised by Alison Rumfitt, a name I was not familiar with. Looking at what she's done previously, and I find she's written two queer-defined horror novels: Brainwyrms (Shocking, grotesque, and downright filthy, Brainwyrms confronts the creeping reality of political terror while exploring the depths of love, pain, and identity) and Tell Me I'm Worthless (Cutting, disruptive, and darkly funny, a vital work of trans fiction that confronts both supernatural and real-world horrors as it examines the devastating effects of trauma and the way fascism makes us destroy ourselves and each other) both published by Cipher Press (an independent publisher that amplifies writing by queer and trans-identified authors). Not really the back catalogue I'd expect for writing your first Doctor Who novelisation but there you go.

But what of the book? It's really good. Rumfitt takes the somewhat silly plot and moves it along at speed. There's some lovely asides along the way (like the AI editing out all of Nanny's expletives) and the characters all work well. What on television came over as a little daft (I enjoyed the episode though) is elevated by the writing into a novelisation of fun and charm. I feel it's the best of these three new books, and it would be great if Rumfitt was given more opportunity to play with the series and the characters again.

There's a nice expansion of the Bogeyman, and a little beautifully written prologue and epilogue about childhood terrors. One thing that this reminded me though was the ending of the episode where the Doctor does a DNA scan of Ruby ... this seems to come to nothing and, like in the TV episodes, we don't find out what the results are - except perhaps right at the very end of the series as a whole where there's a throwaway line that Ruby is completely normal in every way.

I'm not sure about the cover on this one though. It sort of works though the figures seem a little distorted. It just doesn't capture the story well.

Next up is '73 Yards' novelised by the series' story editor Scott Handcock. The television story promised much and was an interesting Doctor-free diversion into folk horror territory, combined with a strange dimension-shifting idea of living a whole life and then finding yourself back where it all started ... and it then doesn't happen at all. Very odd.

Sadly Handcock doesn't take the opportunity to explain anything here, and the book is a very competent, straight novelisation of what we were given on television. For the previous novelisations, one of the authors noted that he was told (by the publishers I assume) that he was not allowed to deviate from the TV Script (whereas other authors did nothing but) so there seems to be a strange element here that sometimes authors can, sometimes they can't. And the ones where they can are always better for it.

The biggest unknown in this story - aside from what the heck is happening in the first place - is just what does the strange female figure, always at 73 yards away from Ruby, say or do to the people who try and confront her to make them scream and run away and subsequently want nothing to do with Ruby at all. This includes her mother, and Kate Lethbridge Stewart and everyone else. It's a conceit that original scriptwriter Russell T Davies has said he will never explain ... and this could be because there is no explanation. And indeed in this book there is no explanation - it just happens. And at the end, Handcock taunts us when Ruby hears what she says: 'secrets which should never be shared'; but doesn't tell the reader. Just that Ruby forgives everyone for their reaction. Disappointing.

Sadly this weakens the narrative in my opinion as with folk horror (and just plain old telling a story) you do need a little rationalisation and explanation for it to be a satisfying tale. And in this case it all seems a bit pointless. The great big red RESET button at the end means the story never happened ... the politician Roger ap Gwilliam never became a threat to the world. Or did he as the Doctor knows and remembers what happened in the future? So is this a dimension jump? A fairy ring thing? A myth? A timeslip? A massive great paradox? We shall never know.

The cover here is nice: Ruby waiting for the Doctor with the figure in the background. Not more to say really, as that's what the story is all about!

The third novelisation is something of a surprising one as I would have thought that other episodes would have made better books. But it's of 'Rogue' by the original writers Kate Herron & Briony Redman. Now sadly this episode was probably my least favourite of the season. A slight tale of a bunch of cosplaying shape-shifters who gatecrash a Regency party and start pretending to be the various people there. It's very much riffing on the series Bridgerton - which Ruby namechecks a few times - but there's not much to it. Which may be why they also brought in a time agent-type character called Rogue, who is there to try and stop these shapeshifting aliens.

Basically Rogue is a Captain Jack Harkness clone, down to the invisible spaceship and gender fluid preferences. In the book, the authors add a lot of material, including opening chapters about one of Rogue's previous assignments, and there's bits and pieces added throughout. It's written light heartedly, with a few footnotes to add to the feeling that we're in some sort of Douglas Adams/Terry Pratchett territory (though not as good as either), but overall it can't overcome, for me, the central issue with the story.

This is where the Doctor and Rogue seem to fall for each other, holding hands and running about and then kissing, and giving each other proposals and so on and so on. This may be controversial but I prefer my Doctor to be above all that. He's an alien. From another planet. And should not be interested in all that soppy stuff. Whether it's for a girl, a boy or a blue furry creature from Alpha-Centauri. Sex should have no place in Doctor Who. It's just not relevant and not what the show should be featuring. This spoiled the whole thing for me. I suppose that if it had been Ruby who fell for Rogue (and vice versa) then it really would have been a retread of the whole Captain Jack/Rose/Doctor situation.

Another item of note is that in some of these new books, we see events from the point of view of the Doctor. This always used to be something you did not do. Maintaining the Doctor's alienness and keeping things grounded from the point of view of the companions, aliens or others who appear in the episodes. So to see that the Doctor really was falling for this Rogue character (rather than, as on television, he could perhaps have just been pretending to see what Rogue was after and to get the upper hand) just emphasised how out of place I found this episode.

The cover is ... not good. A very strange composition and of course feeding into the element of the story that I didn't like.

Sorry to all those folks who loved it. Just not for me.

A final note regarding the books, and generally speaking there is not much description of the Doctor or Ruby in the stories. Apart from the Doctor being characterised by his speech patterns ('Honey' et al) he could be any Doctor. I miss the Terrance Dicksian 'capsule description' which sums up the particular Doctor perfectly in one or two lines.

Moving onto the original novel published this month (which is August 2024 for those that are counting) and we have a book apparently written by Bonnie Langford, who played Mel in the TV series alongside the sixth and seventh Doctors. I'm all for these sidesteps from the actual actors who have been in the series. I think it's a great idea from a marketing point of view, and this time the co-author gets a proper credit (it's Jacqueline Rayner by the way). 

The book is marketed with a cover suggestive that it's a cosy crime (as that is all the rage at the moment thanks to the inexplicable success of Richard Osman's efforts in the genre) but actually it's not that at all. Not really.

What it seems to be is sadly somewhat throwaway. There's a story with Mel and Glitz on Iceworld (where we left them at the end of the story 'Dragonfire') and them having an adventure on a generational ship where they have been throwing people into a furnace to provide power to the engines to get to another planet due to a misunderstanding of the instructions (shades of 'The Face of Evil'). But then it morphs into an Agatha Christie-type whodunnit (the cosy crime element), but with an added AI interface who looks like the lead presenter from a kids' Saturday morning show (Saturday Starship, a real show which Langford actually did co-present) along with an AI generated squirrel who throws acorns at everyone. It's just silly. And pages and pages are spent on this stuff while the other characters act out something like Alien meets 'The Robots of Death'.

Maybe readers will love this strange take on Doctorless Doctor Who, but it felt like three or so ideas all kludged together because none of them alone would make a full book. Added to this, there's a list at the back of shows that Langford has appeared in, and the reader is invited to spot the references in the text. This emphasises the nature of the book, that paragraphs twist to try and include these references. It's all a bit daft. Added to which we have a pile of references to older Doctor Whos including planet names and all sorts. And when the whodunnit plot hinges on an item from a Doctor Who story from 1964, you know that this is not something that Bonnie Langford came up with!

Maybe I'm being unkind. I don't know. But it's not a novel I enjoyed reading. It's just not Doctor Who. If I was going to try and place it within the spinoffery of Doctor Who, I'd suggest in the pages of TV Comic. One of those totally out there and crazy stories that the magazine used to run which were so far from the show as to be unrecognisable. And even, perhaps, written by people who had never actually seen the television show.

I don't think this is the case here, though of course I have no idea whether Langford has watched any Doctor Who at all. Maybe she has, maybe she hasn't. Maybe this whole book was based on her ideas. Maybe she did write it all. I've no idea. It's competently written, just not very engaging, and for the most part just silly.

New Literary Award: The Noose

 

As part of a new literary endeavour launched by USA Today best-selling author Samantha Lee Howe, the annual Noose Awards will celebrate the best Horror and Crime novel, and Short Story published in a given year.

Howe created the annual Sykehouse International Film Festival in Spring 2024 to great acclaim, and has decided to expand the remit with a second Festival on the 24 and 25 October 2025. But this has been combined with a Writer's Conference, mixing film directors, producers and actors with the writers who provide the core material for them to work from, allowing networking and discussion.

'I'm a massive fan of film and writing and to put them together seemed an obvious thing to do,' explained Howe. 'We have a networking session as well as a day of films and writing panels and discussions, all capped by a Red Carpet, three course Gala Dinner with celebrities and Awards Ceremony on the Saturday evening. Our inaugural Noose Awards are part of that: an opportunity to award the best writing in the year.'

The three Awards are being judged by panels of experienced reviewers and readers, and the results will be announced at the October Festival.

‘The Noose Awards are a very welcome addition to the literary landscape,' commented Crime/Thriller novel judge Tim Rideout. 'New writing is always worthy of celebration. The Noose Awards will be such a celebration, bringing the spotlight to bear on the very best contemporary thriller and horror fiction.’

'Great writing is in my bones,' added Horror judge Adele Maddison, 'and I'm excited to be reading some of the great books submitted by so many talented authors and publishers. The 'Slipknot' award will be a celebration and accolade for all the hard working writers out there.'

In charge of judging for the Short Story Award is Mike Linane. 'To be able to write a short story that is a thumping good read requires a special skill,' says Mike, 'and I am delighted that authors that manage to pull this off brilliantly will be celebrated by the new 'Silken Rope' Award.'

For more information on how to submit books and stories for the Awards, as well as details of the festivals, please visit www.slhfilmfest.com.

Samantha Lee Howe (Pic by Andy Barnes)

Review: Doctor Who: I, TARDIS

I, TARDIS is the latest book from BBC Books tying into the Doctor Who franchise. As with all the current non-fiction books published by the BBC and related to the show, it's a volume which focusses on the fiction of the series, rather than anything factual about behind the scenes or how it was made.

This time, we have Steve Cole taking the conceit that the book is being narrated by the TARDIS, and so it progresses through the various Doctors and adventures, describing things from the TARDIS' point of view.

Along the way we take in the companions, which the TARDIS refers to as 'Strays', and in almost every case they are given a new name rather than the name of the character. So Ian becomes Schoolmaster, Barbara is Miss History, Vicki is New Susan, Jamie is Kilt Boy, Jo is Miss Grant ... and so on with Donna being Runaway Bride and Ruby being The Foundling. It's actually impressive how this works, but I feel that Cole must have felt he made a rod for his back in doing it - why not just use their names!!

Along the way there's various nice touches where the TARDIS explains apparent contradictions and continuity errors on-screen as aspects of its own handling of events ... I liked this as it shows a lateral way of thinking about what we see, and a veiled warning not to just jump on things and claim they are wrong, when in fact there is an explanation - just not one that you thought of or that we were given in the show!

Where the book scores highly is in the photographic content. The printing is good and rich and there are a great many photos here that I have not seen before ... it's a smashing selection and highlights the richness of Doctor Who over the years. I did however spot one which is mis-labelled as a BBC shot when it's actually from the story's designer, Roger Cheveley (a lovely colour pic from 'The War Games', page 42). 

The book is a smart little tome, and I sort of wish that rather than being couched as a 'TARDIS tell-all' it had actually been a straightforward episode guide - one that covered the whole series. We're long overdue one of those!

For the new fan, coming to the show with Ncuti Gatwa, this will hopefully appeal! There's lots to look at, lots to think about and consider, information about older stories and Doctors and companions. For the dedicated fan who has already got all the information to hand in other books, it's all a little 'seen it all before'. Even if you are trying to figure out who 'Pease Pottage' and 'Basher' are in the text (it's not hard!) Nothing is cross referenced as well ... so if you want to find out which story is being talked about because you fancy watching it on iPlayer or shiny disk, then you'll need to make use of Google Search, or possibly one of the other books which do list the story titles. Maybe the Journey Log should have referenced the actual story titles in a smaller font.

The Children In Need skit 'Destination: Skaro', where the 14th Doctor meets a minion (Castavillian) of Davros, is included in the Journey Log, but 'Dimensions in Time', 'The Curse of Fatal Death' and 'Time Crash' are not. 'The Night of the Doctor' is also included, but the side-trips as seen in The Sarah Jane Adventures are not ... it seems a little hit and miss on these various 'side adventures'.

The book uses the new word 'mavity' in place of 'gravity' throughout ... perhaps that joke is growing a little thin? Wouldn't the TARDIS - a 'construct' outside of Space and Time - be unaffected by things like that? Wouldn't every dimension generate different words for things? Different terms and speech patterns? Different languages? We know the TARDIS can translate anything into something the occupants can understand (and I flip through the book to the entry for Vortis to see if there's a reason why the travellers could not understand the Zarbi ... and there is no reason given) so why would gravity become mavity?

One element which is disappointing is that the events at the end of the fifteenth Doctor's first season are not covered. I suspect the inclusion of Sutekh and the fact that Sutekh had been parasitically clinging to the TARDIS ever since 'Pyramids of Mars' was not divulged to BBC Books, and they had to pen those sections of the book pre-transmission and with the scant information they were given. The events of that final story actually inform and potentially change the way the TARDIS would have reacted and looked at things ... and yet the book is written without any reference to them ... But I guess this is the peril of a time travel series where anything in the past can be completely upended and rethought by someone in the future. It's a shame it had to happen so quickly though, making the book effectively out of date before it was published!

There is also an audio of the book available. This intrigued me as I wondered how you could do an audio of, effectively, an episode guide. It's read by Lizzie Hopley and, yes, it is an audio reading of the book, Journey Logs included! To my taste it's a little dry, and of course you don't get all the lovely photographs which for me are the best part of the book. The production does well with TARDIS sounds and effects and different vocal effects added for titles and so on, and I guess there's a market for it so why not!

They have cast the TARDIS as a she ... both in the book and of course with the choice of reader. A million years ago when I was involved in developing a never-released telephone game based on Doctor Who, I had the TARDIS voiced. But I wanted Nicholas Courtney to do the voice. I reasoned that if the TARDIS had a voice, then it would want something authoritative and something that the Doctor might listen to and trust - so why not the voice of the Brigadier! But then again, when the TARDIS was manifest as a person, it was in a female form, and it's traditional for modes of travel (ships, cars etc) to be referred to as 'she', and indeed the Doctor has often referred to the TARDIS as she, 'old girl' and so on ... So maybe this is the definitive word on the subject. Until a future story overturns all that of course.

So! I, TARDIS ... a new book and a valiant attempt to retell Doctor Who through the 'eyes' of his longest serving companion. Available now!

Review: Doctor Who Novels: Ruby Red and Caged

 A new Doctor ... and so BBC Books brings us a couple of new original novels tying into the new series ...

The first two are Ruby Red by Georgia Cook and Caged by Una McCormack. There doesn't seem to be an order to them, but I decided to start with Ruby Red ...

This is Cook's first novel, and it's a slight affair. The Doctor and Ruby answer a distress call and arrive in 1242 Russia, at the time of a conflict on Lake Peipus between the Estonian and Novgorad armies. There they find an alien called Run, who is undertaking a coming of age challenge. It was she who sent the distress call as she wanted out, but instead her two sisters arrived to try and ensure that she completed the challenge.

There is an evil alien creature, the Genetrix, hiding under the ice, and the creature has been creating parasites to take over and control the armies - ultimately it wants to take over the world!  And of course the Doctor and Ruby have to stop it!

Although I have literally just finished reading the book, I'm struggling to actually remember anything about it. There's lots of action, but not much happens, and the book is quite simplistic. The Doctor and Ruby are not described at all - they could be any incarnation/any companion - which is a shame as I would have thought that you'd want to establish them more firmly in the readers' minds. The Doctor does have a couple of turns of phrase which would only suit the fifteenth incarnation though.

The TARDIS groans at one point at the end and so I suspect this establishes the events as taking place prior to the end of Season One ... but there's nothing else in the book to place it in the Doctors' timeline.

Caged is much more enjoyable. Written by experienced author McCormack, it's slightly shorter at 190 pages (Ruby Red has 200 pages) but feels far more complex and adept. Here we have an alien called Chirracharr who lives with her fellows on a planet. The race is completely happy and content and they seem to be living a perfect life. There's also a couple of other aliens called Tixlel and Raxlil who are monitoring some Experiment ... and of course the Doctor and Ruby who arrive on a planet which seems to be uninhabited. How all these characters and their stories intersect is the meat of the book - and I don't want to give it all away as it's well written and evolves nicely with some surprises along the way.

I really liked how McCormack gives you no clues - a very Iain Banks type of writing where you just immerse in the alienness with no explanations - the Doctor and Ruby are as off guard as the reader is, and it worked nicely in this book. The alien Chirracharr is a great character - an innocent who just trusts everyone as no-one has ever shown her any harm.

Interestingly, there's still no descriptions of the Doctor or Ruby, so this might be a deliberate editorial ask on the part of the publishers (or from the Doctor Who office). Space Babies and Ambulances are referenced which places this book after those television adventures, and Ruby also mentions that she 'outran a Shreek' and I'm not certain what that refers to. Maybe an unseen adventure?

Overall I enjoyed the two titles ... a nice introduction to the fifteenth Doctor in print, and two adventures which seem to 'fit' into the overall themes and way that the show has been presented on television. The covers are well done and dramatic, the artist appears to be Lee Binding There's a third novel, Eden Rebellion by Abi Falase, coming later in the year.

Review: Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (2018)

If Korean horror is your thing, then you might get a kick out of this new release from Second Sight ... It's being promoted as the scariest film ever ... but I don't think it's that!

The basic idea has been done many times before. A group of teens - in this case they run some sort of a Haunted Podcast show - decide to enter and explore Gonjiam, an old creepy asylum which is said to be haunted. They want to capture the ghosts and scares on video, mainly to increase their audience, as there's some sort of conceit where the more viewers they have, the more money they make.

So one chap stays in a tent in the forest outside, while the others head into the asylum to explore.

The film takes an age to get there ... we see the teens meeting up, drinking, eating, packing, travelling ... for goodness sake just get to the action! And so they enter the asylum and spend ages creeping around, scaring themselves, finding all sorts of strange artefacts like old photographs, creepy dolls, torture boxes, hospital areas and the like ... It also appears that the chap running the Podcast is faking much of what happens ...

But then, of course, things start happening which cannot be faked. Ghosts are seen, water drips, the rooms' doors open and close by themselves, and before you know it, the two girls are racing away in terror ... and then one of them gets possessed by something ...

There are a couple of nice jump scares, but there's really nothing here that I've not seen before. The setting is familiar from films like Session 9 or Silent Hill, with elements from Return to House on Haunted Hill or the remake of Thirteen Ghosts cropping up ... It's also like any film you've seen where the protagonists are trapped and being stalked in a creepy old house/asylum/hospital/underground bunker. There's the usual Korean tropes of girls with long black hair, strange noises and the like ... but it's not really scary. Entertaining, yes, if you like this sort of film, as I said, but this is the issue with promoting your film as 'Genuine Scares' and 'the perfect horror movie' ... there's too much out there which genuinely meets that sort of description, and the film you're promoting needs to deliver on every element to meet that.

There's also a 'found footage' element to the narrative in that the visuals come from the cameras and such like that the team have with them ... but it's not really 'found' in that we're seeing this in 'real time' ie as shown to the unseen watchers of the Podcast.

Overall it's not bad. It's overlong, takes too long to get to the asylum, and sadly too predictable to be really scary.

Available from: https://secondsightfilms.co.uk/products/gonjiam-haunted-asylum-blu-ray-pre-order-available-june

Director: Jung Bum-shik

Starring: Wi Ha-joon, Lee Seung-wook, Park Ji-hyun

Special Features 

• New audio commentary by Mary Beth McAndrews and Terry Mesnard
• Fear the Unknown: Zoë Rose Smith on Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum

Archive featuerettes: 

• The Beginning of the Rumours
• The New Faces
• The Sanctum of Horror
• The Truth of the Ghostlore
• The Live Recording
• The Press Conference
• Trailers

Catalogue number: 2NDBR4215

Certificate: 15

Region: Region B

Language: Korean

Subtitles: English

Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1

Review: Doctor Who: The Devil's Chord

I have a lot of problems with 'The Devil's Chord'. It's a very atypical Doctor Who story in many senses, and while it is enjoyable to watch, the moment you start to look more closely, you realise that there's actually not much substance here.

It's a mishmash of scenes which have been put together in order to service a few key elements which, while they sound good on paper, actually don't make an actual story.

There's the Beatles, of course, one of the most popular singing groups of all time. 

Let's have the Beatles in the show, but they don't look anything like the Beatles from 'real life', and (presumably) because we can't use any of their actual music, we'll make them be affected by the world having lost music - and that's what the Doctor needs to try and fix.

So why has the world lost music? Seems to be because back in 1925, a music teacher played something called the Devil's Chord ... which summoned an entity calling themself Maestro, who proceeded to remove/destroy all music from the world as a precursor to trying to destroy all music everywhere.

Interesting, though, that in 1925, there's a knowing child called Henry Arbinger (Harbinger) who is a prelude to Maestro's arrival - so the Gods knew that this teacher would play the chord? Or did they make this happen somehow - was Maestro ALWAYS going to appear at this point? And the Doctor was ALWAYS going to have to sort it out?

And to play the character of Maestro (they/them) we have a larger than life Drag Queen character, Jinkx Monsoon (she/her), who, frankly, is superb! Her (Jinkx's) lips curl and quiver and she eats up the scenery like no other! No mention that the character of Jinkx is actually performed by a person called Hera Hotter (they/them), but then this is no different from any other actor who has changed their name for a screen persona (like John Pertwee, Peter Moffett, Percy James Kent-Smith, David McDonald or even Mizero Gatwa to name a few). Whatever the reasoning, the performance is amazing, over the top, and a joy to watch!

Maestro, presumably because they own and can control music or some such, plays the Doctor Who theme on the piano and we go into the titles with that. Then as we come out of the titles, the theme is playing on the record player on the TARDIS. This is very Meta, and this 'meta-ness' is something which isn't really Doctor Who!

Anyway ... Back in 1963, the Doctor and Ruby have arrived to see the Beatles perform, but realise quickly that they can't as there is no good music. The news in the newspaper is wrong as well (and one-to-watch actress Susan Twist is playing a member of the canteen staff!) - something has changed history. I liked the use of a proper sixties song here - Marlena Shaw singing 'California Soul' (which was released on the 1st January 1969 - so we're a few years adrift from 1963).

The Doctor gets Ruby to play the piano (why it had to be up on the roof I don't know) which summons Maestro as they own all the music, which terrifies the Doctor as he realises he can't fight them. I liked that Maestro announces their presence with the Giggle - a seven note refrain which the Toymaker used in 'The Giggle' to send everyone on Earth mad.

But there's June Hudson, ex BBC Costume Designer famous for designing the Fourth Doctor's iconic outfit, here playing an old lady, and she gets killed by Maestro for daring to play the piano.

In a show which is currently wall to wall Murray Gold music - which is actually very intrusive. Can't we have some quieter scenes sometimes without the music 'telling' us what to think and feel at every turn? - it was a breath of fresh air when the Doctor uses his sonic device to dampen all sound, and we have scenes in complete silence. Very well done! Even Maestro applauds this move! I did say the episode was enjoyable!

Then we learn that Maestro is one of the pantheon of Gods, like the Toymaker is/was, and is all powerful. Cue a rerun of a scene from the seventies story 'Pyramids of Mars' where the Doctor takes Ruby back to her own time, which is now a nuclear wasteland - this is what will happen if they don't stop Maestro.

But ... wait ... hang on ... in the very last episode didn't we see the Doctor basically warning that we cannot change history - stepping on a butterfly in the past can change the future? Well this is the same thing isn't it? Maestro has killed music and so changed the history that the Doctor and Ruby knew. But a lot of other things could be a lot better perhaps? Maybe the Doctor is happy to change history if he doesn't remember or know what that history should have been or resulted in in the first place? So he's shaping history to fit his own memories is he?

Another thought. If all this Gods business is because the Doctor spilt some salt at the edge of time in 'Wild Blue Yonder' as has been suggested, then why not take the TARDIS back there and clean it up? However, Susan Twist (her again) cropped up in a prelude to 'Wild Blue Yonder' as Newton's maid, so maybe the salt-spilling actually has nothing to do with any of this!

But the Doctor doesn't have time to consider these history changing actions as he and Ruby are taken into the Maestro's realm (much as he was whisked into the Toymaker's realm in 'The Giggle') and the Doctor realises that a different chord would banish them. (Incidentally the TARDIS is groaning by this point).

So the Doctor is off to try and find the chord, but Maestro captures Ruby using some 'living' notes and annotated staves, and the Doctor and Maestro then have a music battle. I'm not making this up, honestly.

This is The Mask crossed with Tom and Jerry as the Doctor and Maestro slug it out, with physical notes hanging in the air and Maestro using a stave as a whip ... the piano is thrown into the corridor with the unfinished chord hanging above it while Ruby is trapped in a double bass and the Doctor in a drum!

Just when we think it's all over for the Doctor, John Lennon and Paul McCartney arrive and play the chord on the piano, adding the missing note. Maestro is dragged into the piano again and leaves with a warning that 'The One Who Waits is almost here!' and then they're gone!

Music is back, and on a big billboard on top of the building there's a poster advertising Chris Waites and the Carollers' new single (this is a reference to the very first episode of Doctor Who in 1963 where Susan (the Doctor's granddaughter, who they spend a long time setting up and explaining in this episode) was listening to a single by John Smith and the Common Men (John Smith was the stage name of the Honourable Aubrey Waites. He started his career as Chris Waites and the Carollers).) We don't know what was on this poster before the music returned as we didn't see it.

You can hear that single online here: https://youtu.be/WVrH0SRTDUY. It's quite good.

Anyway ... Music is back and the episode is over ... except ... for an inexplicable reason, the Doctor and Ruby break into song and dance with a hoard of dancing extras, including people in wheelchairs, all hand jiving and dancing and flipping themselves over and over - it's like the start of Austin Powers International Man of Mystery! The song is 'There's Always A Twist At The End' ... but on this occasion, there isn't! Is that ironic? They are doing the dance The Twist though, so maybe that's what it's about.

But wait ... watching from a doorway is Henry Arbinger - but wasn't he killed/vaporised/vanished by Maestro back in 1925? There's something strange going on ... if he's back ... Maybe he's the twist?

The song and dance is over, and the Doctor and Ruby return to the TARDIS, where the Pelican Crossing is inexplicably now musical and lights up with sounds as they cross it.

So.

It's entertaining. It's watchable. But there's barely a plot in there. Maestro removes music from the world and the Doctor has to defeat them to bring it back. It's sort of the same in a way as 'The Giggle' where the Toymaker has filled the world with the Giggle, and the Doctor has to defeat him to return peoples' sanity. Along the way stuff just happens

There are numerous fourth wall breaking winks and asides from Maestro, not to mention the aforementioned Doctor Who theme music element ... plus the spontaneous song and dance. It's all great fun, but it's not Doctor Who! They just about got away with it with the Goblin Song in 'The Church on Ruby Road' as there was an in-story reason for that to be there ... but here? It's just tacked on the end as though they were running short by 3 minutes or so and needed to fill the time!

Doctor Who always succeeded over some other science fiction shows because while some of what it presented was, frankly, ridiculous, everyone always played it straight. Consider certain episodes of Lost in Space where the cast can't keep straight faces and Jonathan Harris is increasingly hamming it up (I love that show too, by the way)! There were no real instances of knowing overacting in Doctor Who (Derek Francis in 'The Romans' or Paul Darrow in 'Timelash' perhaps? Your mileage may vary) and the drama always came first. Here we have a story where the spectacle comes first, with the drama way down the list.

Maybe this has something to do with season arcs or whatever. Maybe it's the nature of these 'Gods' to want to behave over the top and manic, to the extent of twisting the Doctor's reality so that he is an actor in a TV show ... maybe? But that's not explained on screen. At least not here. Maybe it's the Toymaker's influence? Maybe it's that ridding the world of Maestro has brought music back, but all in a bang, so people can't help dancing and singing, and that the physical elements on Earth become infused with the 'magic' and take on musical life of their own? Again, not explained.

Overall its not my favourite episode of this new series by a long chalk, but there's still an awful lot to enjoy about it. Traditionally a series would try and 'bury' less successful episodes somewhere in the run - ie not putting them first or last - and maybe that's what happened here. Place this second, and hopefully people will have forgotten it by the time the end rolls around. I've no idea!