Friday 27 February 2015

Journey through TIME: concluding thoughts


I began my Doctor Who Books Project back when the universe was only half its present size, in September 2011 when I was aged three. Since then I have read over 50 stories between Adventures in Time and Space and Journey through TIME - a few of them have been very good, many have been average, too many have been diabolically awful, but most have just been disappointing in some way.

One of the interesting things about the books is that the writers and artists are never credited, which removes any temptation I might have to pre-judge a story based on who has written it. And even after having read a story I might think it has Terry Nation-like or Sawardian qualities, for better or worse, but I couldn't be sure they were the writers or if some other manny had written it in their style, either accidentally or on purpose.

One thing I can say is that, towards the end of Journey through TIME, the stories tended to be set on Earth in (or at least near) the present day, as though limited by the same budgetary constraints of the TV series. While seeking to emulate the source material is admirable in a way, the book took it too far and chose to emulate the wrong qualities of the series. The final result is that, one way or another, the fingerprints of Eric Saward and John Nathan-Turner are all over the Colin Baker-era stories, to their detriment.

Now for some awards.

First, the top 5 best stories in their order of appearance:
'The Vampires of Crellium'
Emsone's Castle
The Armageddon Chrysalis
Winter on Mesique
The Real Hereward

And now for the 5 worst stories, ones to avoid (unless they might just be so bad they're good), again in order of appearance:
The Sinister Sponge
The Planet of Dust (part one) (part two)
On The Planet Isopterus
The Greation of Gamelot
Class 4 Renegade

The Art Award for Characters Most Resembling Their TV Equivalents goes to:
The Oxaqua Incident

And the hotly contested Art Award for Characters Least Resembling Their TV Equivalents has been won by:
The Sinister Sponge

And finally, the Confuse-A-Cat Award (for the most confusing, insane, or downright weird story) goes to:
War on Aquatica

I hope you have enjoyed the Doctor Who Books Project, but all good things must come to an end. Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow.

But wait...

What's this?


Check out these pistols!

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