3 thoughts on ““Doctor Who” and the Space War (Classic Novels)”
Better than it’s supposed to be The Space War (AKA Frontier in Space) is a little gem from the latter days of Jon Pertwee’s tenure as the eponymous Timelord and the last story to feature Roger Delgado as The Master, due to his being killed in a car crash in Turkey shortly after the story was filmed. The opening in particular is superb – it is the year 2540 and someone seems determined to provoke a war between the two most powerful empires in the cosmos: Earth and Draconia. Arriving on board an Earth Spaceship, The Doctor and Jo are caught-up in these machinations, but see that the invading Draconians are really Ogrons – previously seen as brutal henchman of The Daleks. Someone is manipulating soundwaves to make people see what is not really there, in order to force the two governments into conflict and mutual destruction.The action switches between the ship, Earth and a penal colony on the moon; The Doctor ends up there after the warmongering Earth General, Williams, convinces The President that the Timelord is behind the attacks.The lizard-like Draconians are a great addition to Doctor Who’s canon of alien threats – they are essentially peaceful but once provoked make formidable adversaries. The Ogrons come across beter on audio as you can’t see their ape/clown looks, and their former masters even make a brief appearance towards the end…Overall it is a solid slab of 70s Doctor Who; the narration by second TV ‘Master’ Geoffrey Beevers is well-suited to the story and Malcolm Hulke’s writing retains its power.
A good reading of an average book… When watching Frontier in Space on which this book is based, I would not imagine that the novelisation would be so good. Malcolm Hulke was a great weaver of tales and this book is no exception; The narration on this release is provided by Geoffrey Beevers whose voice hits just the right spot to keep you interested throughout without a break!Highly Recommended
Malcolm Hulke was certainly one of the better Target writers, but sadly this is not his best story, amounting to little more than a preamble for the higher profile Planet of the Daleks by Terry Nation (novelised by Terrance Dicks). That said, Geoffrey Beavers is a great reader, and he seems to have made the best possible use of weak material (although it is arguably stronger than the televised version of the story). I would give Geoffrey Beavers reading Malcolm Hulke’s Doctor Who and the Doomsday Weapon a full five stars. Yet I feel I am being over-generous awarding this release just three…
Better than it’s supposed to be The Space War (AKA Frontier in Space) is a little gem from the latter days of Jon Pertwee’s tenure as the eponymous Timelord and the last story to feature Roger Delgado as The Master, due to his being killed in a car crash in Turkey shortly after the story was filmed. The opening in particular is superb – it is the year 2540 and someone seems determined to provoke a war between the two most powerful empires in the cosmos: Earth and Draconia. Arriving on board an Earth Spaceship, The Doctor and Jo are caught-up in these machinations, but see that the invading Draconians are really Ogrons – previously seen as brutal henchman of The Daleks. Someone is manipulating soundwaves to make people see what is not really there, in order to force the two governments into conflict and mutual destruction.The action switches between the ship, Earth and a penal colony on the moon; The Doctor ends up there after the warmongering Earth General, Williams, convinces The President that the Timelord is behind the attacks.The lizard-like Draconians are a great addition to Doctor Who’s canon of alien threats – they are essentially peaceful but once provoked make formidable adversaries. The Ogrons come across beter on audio as you can’t see their ape/clown looks, and their former masters even make a brief appearance towards the end…Overall it is a solid slab of 70s Doctor Who; the narration by second TV ‘Master’ Geoffrey Beevers is well-suited to the story and Malcolm Hulke’s writing retains its power.
A good reading of an average book… When watching Frontier in Space on which this book is based, I would not imagine that the novelisation would be so good. Malcolm Hulke was a great weaver of tales and this book is no exception; The narration on this release is provided by Geoffrey Beevers whose voice hits just the right spot to keep you interested throughout without a break!Highly Recommended
Malcolm Hulke was certainly one of the better Target writers, but sadly this is not his best story, amounting to little more than a preamble for the higher profile Planet of the Daleks by Terry Nation (novelised by Terrance Dicks). That said, Geoffrey Beavers is a great reader, and he seems to have made the best possible use of weak material (although it is arguably stronger than the televised version of the story). I would give Geoffrey Beavers reading Malcolm Hulke’s Doctor Who and the Doomsday Weapon a full five stars. Yet I feel I am being over-generous awarding this release just three…