I cheated with this book. I read it slightly out of order and wrote most of the review before seeing the last two episodes of The Romans.
I felt I had to in order to keep ahead of the game while we had no
working TV; purists will just have to lump it. As a result, though, I
hadn't seen how tightly The Romans links with The Web Planet,
so I am adding a paragraph to talk about that. Basically, this is an
adventure that shouldn't exist. It can't possibly be made to fit, and
McIntee doesn't even try. But - like the whole business of stories set
between seasons one and two, which are partly contradicted by clothing
and comments at the beginning of Planet of Giants - it also doesn't matter. A minor adjustment of dialogue would do the trick, and this is a story well worth having.
This is another tale by the author of Romans Cutaway, and it's an explicit sequel; but interestingly it makes reference to Byzantium!
as well. Which is confusing, but also not really a problem. We're back
in the land of repetitive Chesterfields again, but otherwise this is (to
my mind, at least) vastly superior to either of those stories.
This is really not a tale that could be told in 1965. Set in China in
1865, its main inspiration is the chop-socky kung fu craze of the 1970s -
it even quotes Carl Douglas' "Kung Fu Fighting", in a slightly lame
joke (which I nevertheless enjoyed) - and it has typically OTT levels of
martial arts prowess. The Doctor shows off his abilities in a fight
that resembles the one from All Roads Lead to Rome in that he
uses skill and cunning rather than brawn to win (and his opponent is
totally outclassed), but his moves are more in keeping with the genre in
which he now finds himself. There's one movie of particular relevance -
Drunken Master - which features some of the same historical
characters, and I suspect (despite not having seen it) that some of the
action may well be more faithful to the movie than history.
I'm not really very familiar with the genre, despite being around at the time. I enjoyed the David Carradine Kung Fu TV series, but most of my experience comes from comics rather than movies, and in particular Marvel's The Hands of Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu
- initially in it's UK black and white reprint version. I know I was
reading this in primary school, because I wrote a story called "Sir
Watermite's Ghost" which I illustrated (completely inappropriately) with
tracings from the comic!
What's that? Easily sidetracked? Me? I don't know what you're talking about.
Aaanyway, the genre and setting are well-presented. Of course, this
means that there's a high level of violence - but it's cinematic, almost
superhero comicbook violence for the most part, and that I can cope
with. There are a couple of exceptions: one person is tortured to death
quite horribly, only just off-screen; and a main character is very badly
beaten. The former is typical Who, just a bit more explicit in
the villain's description of what is going to happen. The latter hits
closer to home. Still, this was only a small bump in the road of my
enjoyment, and the injury is key to the plot.
There are two other links to the 1970s, one of which is a definite
spoiler; so if you don't want to know the identity of the alien threat,
walk away from this review now. The non-spoiler reference is to the
"stone tape" explanation for ghosts, named for a drama written by Nigel
Kneale (of Quatermass fame). This seems like a little sideplot,
but is eventually tied into the main story very cleverly. The other,
implied rather than stated, is that the alien causing all the
non-historical trouble is a certain helix first seen in a 1976 serial.
The nice thing about this is that if we spot it we are in some ways
ahead of the Doctor, but it doesn't matter if we don't. Which is one of
my favourite types of continuity.
All the characterisation is good, both of the regulars (with Vicki's
faith in the Doctor being highlighted again) and of the supporting cast,
oriental and occidental. The one thing I didn't like was the way Ian is
put through the wringer and then forced to kill an innocent man to save
Barbara. OK, so he doesn't succeed; but this is not through any
decision on his part. It's just not him, and I can see it scarring him mentally in a way that isn't shown in his later TV appearances.
Apart from that, though, it's a great story. The twin mysteries of the
Major and the Abbot are both engaging, and it's a nice touch that
despite all the martial action from the men it's Barbara who saves the
world through the power of her compassion and reason.
And then we have her proposal scene with Ian. For some reason this felt
just a bit too explicit - I expect (and want) them to get married, but
didn't really need it spelled out to this extent. Still, putting aside
my objection to the scene's existence, it's well-written too.
I wasn't expecting much after Roman Cutaway, but now I'm looking forward to McIntee's next book.
Published:
Date: May 2004
ISBN: 0-563-48614-7
Rating:
Mine: 7.5/10.
2012 Gallifrey Base Non-Dynamic Rankings: 8.10, 7th out of 73 Past Doctor Adventures, 31st out of 264 overall.
Next Time:
It won't be until Monday but
I'm taking a gamble with some more fanfic, writing a vignette that could
well be rendered incompatible by scenes I've yet to see in this
marathon. Join Barbara in the TARDIS as we learn The Wright Way to Start the Day...
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