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10 Sep 2006
The Resurrection Casket - Justin Richards - BBC Books, 2006
* * *
This is one of the new Dr Who books that have been produced as tie-ins to the TV series, and shares both its strengths and weaknesses. In particular, it is important to realise that Dr Who in its new guise derives more from SF films than SF novels. In the former, convincing plotting and characterisation are sacrificed to the “gosh wow” factor of the visuals and the scientific plausibility of the societies and situations depicted is generally laughable or non-existent. On screen this makes for colourful (if superficial) entertainment, but in book form it becomes distinctly painful. A competently edited film or TV show moves too quickly for you to have much time to say "yes, but...", but with a book the reader has time to stop to ask themselves whether they actually believe what they are reading. Sadly that's a problem here.
The story is essentially a pirates in space romp, based around an energy field called the zeg that causes all high tech equipment in the vicinity to malfunction (including the Doctor’s TARDIS). To get round this, the locals have developed a bizarre spaceship technology based on steam, enabling them to prey on the ships that encounter the zeg unexpectedly. Like the concepts of most of the stories in the TV series, the image of a steam-powered spaceship, engaging though it is, will cause serious pain to anyone with the slightest understanding of science (power to weight ratios? The insulation required to stop the engine literally freezing up?) and a constant mental effort is required to keep one’s disbelief at bay. That done, one can enjoy the strong but unsubtle characterisation (I especially liked the apologetic monster called Kevin and the half-human, half-robot Sally), the jokey interactions between Rose, the Doctor and the other characters and the occasional pleasing plot twist. What's missing, of course, is the emotional intelligence that the actors bring to their parts. Because we cannot see their expressions and body language, and because the author cannot really develop their relationship, Rose and the Doctor come across on the page as somehow bland and blank. Nonetheless, as a light read I am sure that children between eight and fourteen would enjoy it, and for adults the effort of accepting the implausibilities is a good mental workout.
The Resurrection Casket - Justin Richards - BBC Books, 2006
* * *
This is one of the new Dr Who books that have been produced as tie-ins to the TV series, and shares both its strengths and weaknesses. In particular, it is important to realise that Dr Who in its new guise derives more from SF films than SF novels. In the former, convincing plotting and characterisation are sacrificed to the “gosh wow” factor of the visuals and the scientific plausibility of the societies and situations depicted is generally laughable or non-existent. On screen this makes for colourful (if superficial) entertainment, but in book form it becomes distinctly painful. A competently edited film or TV show moves too quickly for you to have much time to say "yes, but...", but with a book the reader has time to stop to ask themselves whether they actually believe what they are reading. Sadly that's a problem here.
The story is essentially a pirates in space romp, based around an energy field called the zeg that causes all high tech equipment in the vicinity to malfunction (including the Doctor’s TARDIS). To get round this, the locals have developed a bizarre spaceship technology based on steam, enabling them to prey on the ships that encounter the zeg unexpectedly. Like the concepts of most of the stories in the TV series, the image of a steam-powered spaceship, engaging though it is, will cause serious pain to anyone with the slightest understanding of science (power to weight ratios? The insulation required to stop the engine literally freezing up?) and a constant mental effort is required to keep one’s disbelief at bay. That done, one can enjoy the strong but unsubtle characterisation (I especially liked the apologetic monster called Kevin and the half-human, half-robot Sally), the jokey interactions between Rose, the Doctor and the other characters and the occasional pleasing plot twist. What's missing, of course, is the emotional intelligence that the actors bring to their parts. Because we cannot see their expressions and body language, and because the author cannot really develop their relationship, Rose and the Doctor come across on the page as somehow bland and blank. Nonetheless, as a light read I am sure that children between eight and fourteen would enjoy it, and for adults the effort of accepting the implausibilities is a good mental workout.