Book Review: Prisoners of Time, Volume 2

Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time, Volume 2 by Scott Tipton

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


So we have four stories featuring the Fifth through Eighth Doctors in the Second Volume of Prisoners of Time

1) In Their Nature: The Fifth Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa, and Adric land in the middle of the Sontaran War against the Rutans. Mixed feelings on this one. On one hand, there's some profundity in the Story and the Doctor tries to help. On the other, he achieves very little. Then again, this was the Season 19 Doctor, so that's kind of in line with the character, I'll give this a grade: B-

2) Facades: The Doctor, Peri, and Frobisher (the only non-TV Companion to appear) are at a nature preserve and the Doctor ends up thrown into an insane asylum, though he does end up fighting Autons. I'm not certain they made use of old sixie, but there's a very intriguing clue at the end. Any story that has the Doctor traveling with a penguin has got some merit. Grade: B

3)Cat and Mouse: A Seventh Doctor story set in an old house with the Doctor and Ace. It's beautifully atmospheric particularly the shades and coloring. It's got some clever turns and a ghostly creature. A very solid tale. Grade: A-

4) The Body Politic: Here's what's weird about this story. The Eighth Doctor had only one full televised story and the character who was played by his co-star opted not to become his companion in the TV movie. However, since then, he's had hundred adventures in novels, audios, and comics. And so what do they do? They have the Doctor go back to pick up the sidekick from the TV Movie. Huh? The story itself is okay, but it's kind of disruptive to the theme and begs her to pretty please take a spin in the TARDIS. I mean if our mysterious villain has been kidnapping the Doctor's closest friends, why kidnap someone who didn't really want to travel with him anyways. It would have been a better had they'd paid a little money to get the rights to use Charley Pollard or Fitz. Still, it undermined the ongoing theme a little, so I'll give this one a Grade: C+



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