Capaldi’s Daemons: The Crawling Terror Reviewed

Andrew Reynolds is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Tea and terror – the ‘cosy catastrophes’ of John Wyndham.

We have Brian Aldiss’ ire to thank for that withering description – a not entirely fair dig at Wyndham’s entitled characters perceived blasé attitude to the end of the world, which rather handily, lends itself neatly to describing a whole subgenre of books.

In fact, as author Jane Rogers pointed out, if you take away Aldiss’ assertion that: “…the hero should have a pretty good time (a girl, free suites at the Savoy, automobiles for the taking) while everyone else is dying off”, it basically reduces the books that match that description down to two: The Day of the Triffids and The Kraken Wakes.

However, if we take the word ‘cosy’ to mean familiar and add global implications to ‘catastrophe’,  then we start to see how Aldiss assertion really does lend itself to hundreds of Sci-Fi ideas – ideas that are imbedded in the foundations of Doctor Who.

It bears repeating that Wyndham was one of a number of authors discussed in the 1960 report into Science Fiction in BBC Drama, a report that described him as ‘the best practitioner’ of homespun sci-fi, that led to the creation of Doctor Who – so it’s no wonder that variations on his ideas appear for each incarnation of the Doctor.

The most famous of which is The Daemons.

Needless to say, it’s a serial that occupies a beloved position for two reasons. Firstly, its story, while being very much of its composite parts: The Midwich Cuckoos, The Quartermass Experiment, the works of Dennis Wheatley – it has enough interesting background material: black magic rituals, science vs superstition; to create something truly memorable.

But more importantly, it’s the quintessential Third Doctor serial: UNIT, the Master, Barry Letts, “Five rounds rapid”- this is the stuff of childhood memories and enduring nostalgia.

So you can imagine the lure of pitching Capaldi’s Daemons; here’s a chance to modernise a classic serial, steeped in sci-fi lore, by throwing in a new, incendiary Doctor into the ‘village under siege’ serial.

It must be something of a poison chalice being asked to writer for a Doctor Who, to use a Steven Moffat phrase, is ‘still cooking’. You’re reliant upon the scant information provided by sneaky on location photos to paint a picture of who this Doctor could be but, on the other hand, you have free reign to craft an idealised Doctor Who tale – it’s no wonder that the rich world of The Daemons would prove to be such fertile ground.

Only with Mike Tucker’s The Crawling Terror, it’s neither here nor there.

The Doctor is lacking that trademark snarl; he’s very much at the service of the plot, which, sees the TARDIS drawn to the town of Ringstone, where the mysteries of ley lines and a local standing stone, soon unravel a plot involving humungous insects stalking the tranquil meadows and a riddle dating back to the Second World War (which very much serves to replace black magic as the impeccably researched mystery at the heart of this tale; and it certainly is a fascinating piece of real life history).

Tucker captures Capaldi’s professorial airs but it’s never taken to its logical conclusion. Unlike myriad examples from the series, he never places that curiosity ahead of his concern of the lives of the townsfolk – he immediately abandons most of that burgeoning curiosity once the invasion begins and sadly without that spark that makes Capaldi’s Doctor such a magnetic onscreen presence; he gets lost in the machinations of the plot.

Clara fairs better; you get a sense of how their relationship will develop without drawing too much from the, then yet to air arch awaiting viewers. She knows of the Doctors reluctance to be associated with soldiers and what that means for her relationship with Danny Pink. However it doesn’t really factor into this story allowing Clara to be her spikey, forceful self.

Speaking of the plot, cast your mind back to The Time of Angels and that wonderful speech about the dangers of building a trap around the Doctor – it’s clear that he doesn’t suffer fools gladly, especially ones that attempt to outsmart him.

Here the plot hinges on so many coincidences that you never get a sense of the Doctor being backed into a corner or that he even acknowledges events drawing to a deadly conclusion. Instead, it feels like he’s being manoeuvred into position by the author’s hand. There is a sense of plans being laid but never do you get the feeling that the Doctor or Clara are in any jeopardy.

What this does is expose some of the structure to great scrutiny than a fast paced, engaging story would necessarily give you space to ponder.

While it isn’t necessarily a criticism of the novel itself, more the need to capture the rhythm of the show, but there are chapters contained within that can easily be seen as cutaways. Take for example the short section where a helicopter is scrambled to the town; Tucker does an excellent job of adding a little character to the faceless pilots but, in the show this would be dealt with in a quick smash cut in between the action, here, within the constrictions of a novel, where escalation comes from character, the exposition feels rather forced.

Then of course, going back to The Daemons once again, what of those fantastic elements that make it such a warmly remembered serial? The story is crying out for UNIT’s presence and their absence, explained away by ‘punk rock robots’ emerging from El Hierro, is perhaps the biggest coincidence in the entire book.

Why not create a tension from the fact that UNIT, an organisation well versed in alien threats, cannot deal with this threat, rather than concocting such a glaring coincidence tcontrive the scenario of ill-equipped soldiers dealing with that same threat? In the end, which one would have more resonance? As for delivering a threat to match the irrepressible Master, our villain is sadly lacking.

It’s a problem that permeates The Crawling Terror. Mike Tucker does a good job of cherry picking from the best sci-fi that Britain has to offer, into a cohesive plot but sadly it lacks the requisite tension, foreboding and, indeed, the magic to make it truly standout. It’s a quick enjoyable read but without the prickly, irascible Twelfth Doctor at the heart of it, its flaws are glaring.

Mike Tucker’s The Crawling Terror is just £5.24 on Amazon!

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