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Doctor Who Target Books (Numerical Order) #103
Doctor Who: The Twin Dilemma
The Doctor has regenerated, having sacrificed his fifth persona to save Peri's life. But things are not going well...
On this occasion the process of regeneration is by no means smooth, for the even-tempered, good-humoured fifth Doctor has given way to a rather disturbed and unsettled successor.
In a particularly irascible moment the new Doctor comes dangerously close to committing a shocking crime. Overwhelmed with guilt for his violent behaviour, the repentant Time Lord decides to become a hermit...
On this occasion the process of regeneration is by no means smooth, for the even-tempered, good-humoured fifth Doctor has given way to a rather disturbed and unsettled successor.
In a particularly irascible moment the new Doctor comes dangerously close to committing a shocking crime. Overwhelmed with guilt for his violent behaviour, the repentant Time Lord decides to become a hermit...
138 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
2 people are currently reading
231 people want to read
About the author
Eric Saward
24 books5 followersEric Saward worked as a writer and later script editor for Doctor Who during the 1980s.
Saward had a particular fondness for the Cybermen. He wrote stories with good action throughout them and stories that connected the Doctor to important events in Earth's history.
He also wrote the short story Birth of a Renegade and the radio play Slipback.
He served as script editor from Time-Flight, the last episode of season 19, to the penultimate episode of season 23 (The Ultimate Foe episode 1). He resigned his position due to a disagreement with producer John Nathan-Turner over the storyline (and particularly the ending) of episode 2 of The Ultimate Foe. Afterwards, he gave a notably scathing interview to Starburst magazine over his falling out with Nathan-Turner, and he became vocal in his criticism of Colin Baker's appointment as the Sixth Doctor.
Target Books failed to secure an agreement that would have seen Saward's two Daleks serials novelised either by Saward himself or by others, with Saward only novelising both of his Dalek stories in 2019. The 1989 publication of Saward's adaptation of Attack of the Cybermen actually post-dated his falling out with the Doctor Who production team by several years. His favourite snack is a chocolate hobnob
Saward had a particular fondness for the Cybermen. He wrote stories with good action throughout them and stories that connected the Doctor to important events in Earth's history.
He also wrote the short story Birth of a Renegade and the radio play Slipback.
He served as script editor from Time-Flight, the last episode of season 19, to the penultimate episode of season 23 (The Ultimate Foe episode 1). He resigned his position due to a disagreement with producer John Nathan-Turner over the storyline (and particularly the ending) of episode 2 of The Ultimate Foe. Afterwards, he gave a notably scathing interview to Starburst magazine over his falling out with Nathan-Turner, and he became vocal in his criticism of Colin Baker's appointment as the Sixth Doctor.
Target Books failed to secure an agreement that would have seen Saward's two Daleks serials novelised either by Saward himself or by others, with Saward only novelising both of his Dalek stories in 2019. The 1989 publication of Saward's adaptation of Attack of the Cybermen actually post-dated his falling out with the Doctor Who production team by several years. His favourite snack is a chocolate hobnob
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
July 11, 2019
This was the first Target book I ever owned!
Doctor Who Magazine had included a free book with ever issue. (DWM397)
Out of the 27 titles that were available, I’d happened to pick the story that had been regarded as one of the worst in the shows history!
This serial hadn’t been released on DVD by that point, so I experienced the joys of these novelisations like other generations of fans previously by reading the book first...
Just like many before me my expectations of this story was raised until eventually watching it.
I was aware of the problematic scene of The Doctor trying to strangle Peri and even though it still felt brutal and out of character on the page, I’m glad that Saward kept it in.
The main thrust of the novel exploring the traumatic experiences that Time Lord’s undergo during regeneration, it’s a fascinating concept that I wish the TV show delved into more.
The rest of the story is still weak but that is the case for many Doctors first outings, I felt we really started to get a handle on this incarnations personality more in this novelisation.
As a side note I listened to the audiobook as a fresher to add a review, it’s really worth seeking out as Sixie himself Colin Baker really helps to sale the story.
Doctor Who Magazine had included a free book with ever issue. (DWM397)
Out of the 27 titles that were available, I’d happened to pick the story that had been regarded as one of the worst in the shows history!
This serial hadn’t been released on DVD by that point, so I experienced the joys of these novelisations like other generations of fans previously by reading the book first...
Just like many before me my expectations of this story was raised until eventually watching it.
I was aware of the problematic scene of The Doctor trying to strangle Peri and even though it still felt brutal and out of character on the page, I’m glad that Saward kept it in.
The main thrust of the novel exploring the traumatic experiences that Time Lord’s undergo during regeneration, it’s a fascinating concept that I wish the TV show delved into more.
The rest of the story is still weak but that is the case for many Doctors first outings, I felt we really started to get a handle on this incarnations personality more in this novelisation.
As a side note I listened to the audiobook as a fresher to add a review, it’s really worth seeking out as Sixie himself Colin Baker really helps to sale the story.
August 7, 2021
This is a loose novelization from the twenty-first season of Doctor Who of the seventh (and last) serial which was broadcast in March of 1984. Curiously, it is the first adventure of the sixth iteration of the character, who had regenerated at the close of the previous episode from a pleasant (if perhaps a bit bland) Time Lord, and turned into a violent and unfriendly one. He dresses like a clown. His companion is Perpugilliam Brown, known as Peri, a young woman whom he immediately attempts to strangle. The teleplay was written by Anthony Steven, but Saward ignores much of it and instead offers summaries of many of the scenes and conversations and substitutes interior monologues, reminiscences, and speculations about the regeneration process. The plot is not a very good one, having the damaged Doctor dealing with evil twins and slimy slug monsters and silly bird beings. The story ends with the line: "But whatever else happens, I am the new Doctor. This is me whether people like it or not." Remembering the classic stories and lovable characters from previous books it's pretty hard to like.
November 28, 2023
"I am the new Doctor. This is me whether people like it or not."
April 24, 2012
Poll Doctor Who fans on what they consider to be the worst classic series story ever made and "The Twin Dilemma" will be at or near the top of that list.
In many ways, it's a bit unfair that "Dilemma" follows the instant classic "The Caves of Androzani." But the simple fact is no matter how matter how much you try and gloss over the limitations of the story, it's still one of the bigger misfires in the entire classic series run. A lot of that can be firmly chalked up to the fact that, in the end, it's the story of a giant slug trying to take over the universe with an incredibly ludicrous plan, even by Doctor Who standards.
Adapting the script to novel form, Eric Saward seems to understand this and tries to distract you from the script's shortcomings by beefing up Mestor as a threat, downplaying the titular twins and throwing in lots and lots of tangents and asides. The tangent and asides may be the best part of the story--one in particular that has the Doctor reflecting back on the fates of his companions was memorable for me at a young age, but that might be because it SPOILED the death of a major character--but like the script they can be hit or miss. The idea of the twins' father being scared of them is an intriguing one as is Saward's (controversial) attempt to explain the physiological reasons behind re-generation.
Unfortunately, those aren't all enough to save the story or somehow make the televised version any better in the final estimation.
But like most things associated with the sixth Doctor's era, the best part of this is the performanc of Colin Baker. Baker's reading of the story is spot-on and almost worth the price of admission alone. The only drawback is that his interpretation of Peri is pretty much a miss. But other than that, Baker's giving it his all.
In many ways, it's a bit unfair that "Dilemma" follows the instant classic "The Caves of Androzani." But the simple fact is no matter how matter how much you try and gloss over the limitations of the story, it's still one of the bigger misfires in the entire classic series run. A lot of that can be firmly chalked up to the fact that, in the end, it's the story of a giant slug trying to take over the universe with an incredibly ludicrous plan, even by Doctor Who standards.
Adapting the script to novel form, Eric Saward seems to understand this and tries to distract you from the script's shortcomings by beefing up Mestor as a threat, downplaying the titular twins and throwing in lots and lots of tangents and asides. The tangent and asides may be the best part of the story--one in particular that has the Doctor reflecting back on the fates of his companions was memorable for me at a young age, but that might be because it SPOILED the death of a major character--but like the script they can be hit or miss. The idea of the twins' father being scared of them is an intriguing one as is Saward's (controversial) attempt to explain the physiological reasons behind re-generation.
Unfortunately, those aren't all enough to save the story or somehow make the televised version any better in the final estimation.
But like most things associated with the sixth Doctor's era, the best part of this is the performanc of Colin Baker. Baker's reading of the story is spot-on and almost worth the price of admission alone. The only drawback is that his interpretation of Peri is pretty much a miss. But other than that, Baker's giving it his all.
February 7, 2012
I was never a fan of the Sixth Doctor on TV, but Colin Baker is one of the very best interpreters of Doctor Who audios there are. He does a tremendous job on Eric Saward’s story (imo one of the weakest in an already unpopular incarnation) and, once again, makes us mourn what might have been if he’d been given better material and direction and really allowed to shine as the Sixth Doctor.
I hated the original TV version of this story, never read Eric Saward’s Target novelisation (on which this CD set was based), but thoroughly enjoyed this audio adaptation. Yes, the science is a bit hokey, the story occasionally baffling with its odd twists of logic – but this is Doctor Who, after all. I’m sure that, in less deft hands, The Twin Dilemma could have been confusing, a silly tale of genius twins, kidnapped with the aims of destroying a planet, but Colin’s masterly narration keeps the action rolling, the characterisation interesting, brings out an unexpected streak of genuine humour, in short, he makes the entire listening experience a laugh-out-loud delight.
In fact, I recommend you ignore the (frankly dire) television original of this story altogether and stick to this audio instead; it’s a far more satisfying experience and 1000 times more entertaining.
I hated the original TV version of this story, never read Eric Saward’s Target novelisation (on which this CD set was based), but thoroughly enjoyed this audio adaptation. Yes, the science is a bit hokey, the story occasionally baffling with its odd twists of logic – but this is Doctor Who, after all. I’m sure that, in less deft hands, The Twin Dilemma could have been confusing, a silly tale of genius twins, kidnapped with the aims of destroying a planet, but Colin’s masterly narration keeps the action rolling, the characterisation interesting, brings out an unexpected streak of genuine humour, in short, he makes the entire listening experience a laugh-out-loud delight.
In fact, I recommend you ignore the (frankly dire) television original of this story altogether and stick to this audio instead; it’s a far more satisfying experience and 1000 times more entertaining.
May 26, 2023
What a weird doctor who story! I’d never read a classic era doctor who book and only seen old episodes from the 4th doctor so this was a bit of a departure. The Doctor is really wildin in this one. Cant say I love him. I thought the actual plot was fine haha. The most interesting part we’re the backstories of various characters rather the actual plot
May 6, 2019
I was never a fan of the Sixth Doctor on TV, but Colin Baker is one of the very best interpreters of Doctor Who audios there are. He does a tremendous job on Eric Saward’s story (imo one of the weakest in an already unpopular incarnation) and, once again, makes us mourn what might have been if he’d been given better material and direction and really allowed to shine as the Sixth Doctor.
I hated the original TV version of this story, never read Eric Saward’s Target novelisation (on which this CD set was based), but thoroughly enjoyed this audio adaptation. Yes, the science is a bit hokey, the story occasionally baffling with its odd twists of logic – but this is Doctor Who, after all. I’m sure that, in less deft hands, The Twin Dilemma could have been confusing, a silly tale of genius twins, kidnapped with the aims of destroying a planet, but Colin’s masterly narration keeps the action rolling, the characterisation interesting, brings out an unexpected streak of genuine humour, in short, he makes the entire listening experience a laugh-out-loud delight.
In fact, I recommend you ignore the (frankly dire) television original of this story altogether and stick to this audio instead; it’s a far more satisfying experience and 1000 times more entertaining.
I hated the original TV version of this story, never read Eric Saward’s Target novelisation (on which this CD set was based), but thoroughly enjoyed this audio adaptation. Yes, the science is a bit hokey, the story occasionally baffling with its odd twists of logic – but this is Doctor Who, after all. I’m sure that, in less deft hands, The Twin Dilemma could have been confusing, a silly tale of genius twins, kidnapped with the aims of destroying a planet, but Colin’s masterly narration keeps the action rolling, the characterisation interesting, brings out an unexpected streak of genuine humour, in short, he makes the entire listening experience a laugh-out-loud delight.
In fact, I recommend you ignore the (frankly dire) television original of this story altogether and stick to this audio instead; it’s a far more satisfying experience and 1000 times more entertaining.
April 15, 2019
Having seen every series of Doctor Who, every episode, I have only ever not been able to get through one story. The twin dilemma. The tv episodes were dreadful and I never ever thought I would read the book adaption.
However I was a little joke I bought this book for one of my friends who have similar feelings about the twin dilemma, its face was classic horror until he started reading it. He told me he was really enjoying it, And so I decided to try reading it as well.
I’ve got to say that this is a really good adoption of a truly diabolical episode. Even just taking the line ’thou craggy knob” Out of the dam thing makes it so much better.
This was an exorcism of the worst episode of Doctor Who ever made because the book is one the best adaptions of Doctor Who I have ever read.
I can’t give it five stars because there are a few lazy errors within this I think, the twins still annoyed the heck out of me but I am glad to see the back story and stuff with the father is brilliant and disturbing.
Don’t watch the episodes read this book instead and then maybe go and watch the episode. I’m actually going to try and give the absolute another chance having this knowledge with me Might help me with the story and the terrible acting choices that were made on The twin dilemma.
However I was a little joke I bought this book for one of my friends who have similar feelings about the twin dilemma, its face was classic horror until he started reading it. He told me he was really enjoying it, And so I decided to try reading it as well.
I’ve got to say that this is a really good adoption of a truly diabolical episode. Even just taking the line ’thou craggy knob” Out of the dam thing makes it so much better.
This was an exorcism of the worst episode of Doctor Who ever made because the book is one the best adaptions of Doctor Who I have ever read.
I can’t give it five stars because there are a few lazy errors within this I think, the twins still annoyed the heck out of me but I am glad to see the back story and stuff with the father is brilliant and disturbing.
Don’t watch the episodes read this book instead and then maybe go and watch the episode. I’m actually going to try and give the absolute another chance having this knowledge with me Might help me with the story and the terrible acting choices that were made on The twin dilemma.
Read
April 8, 2009http://nhw.livejournal.com/1065517.html#cutid1[return][return]It's not a big secret that the TV original of this is by far my least favourite Classic Who story. I am none the less utterly amazed by how much worse the novelisation is. Saward attempts to channel Douglas Adams by giving us lots of extra humorous background detail, but it doesn't work for two reasons: less importantly, because he does significant violence to continuity (especially in the back-story for Azmael) without putting anything more interesting in its place; but more crucially because he simply isn't very funny. The strangulated sentence structure and poor proof-reading ("gawdy" for "gaudy", "balk" for "bulk" and at one point "Meersham" for "Meerschaum") further detract from the presentation of what is an unattractive story to begin with. By the law of averages, there must be some turkeys among the various spin-off novels but I would be astonished if any were quite as bad as this. Doctor Who and the Visitation is so much better than this that I had difficulty believing that they were by the same author.
May 27, 2021
Unlike a friend of mine who has seen the corresponding episodes and can weigh in on how much better this is, I, can only go off the target novel. It's a fine story at a 3.5 star rating but the Doctor felt a little off for me in this adventure. Maybe I just don't know 6 that well, or perhaps that's part of 6 figuring out who he is but it just excite me as much as other stories. That said generally I enjoyed it.
September 10, 2018
Picked this up after having read that Saward goes for Douglas Adams-style humour, which wasn't something I'd expect. It's certainly true of the early chapters, which contain a lot of genuinely funny flourishes, though the jokes become blacker, clunkier and less effective as the plot progresses. A surprisingly lean, taut novelisation, though.
October 1, 2024
Another awful book from Saward. I gave up after 50 odd pages - there's whole chunks where he thinks he's Douglas Adams ( but not at all funny). I'm not even going to pick up 'Attack of the Cybermen'.
November 20, 2023
2.5/5
You can't polish a turd, but you can't blame Eric Saward for trying! The Twin Dilemma has been so maligned (perhaps a little unfairly - it's bad, but it's by no means the worst Classic Who had to offer) since it first aired that the Target novelisation, normally used to adapt a story and usually add some embellishment or tweak a few things, has become the published equivalent to a manuscript covered in pencil notes and liberal strikethrus. I knew to some extent that that'd be the case, it was what drove me to pick this to represent the Sixth Doctor in my little Target-reading project, but the extent to which Saward is constantly flustered by his past self is nigh unbelievable.
The opening of the book encapsulates this very well. The prologue to the story, wherein Romulus and Remus are kidnapped, is so heavily embellished that it might as well be an entirely new sequence. We are told of infidelity, hyperintelligent cats, and alcoholism, none of which particularly pertinent to the actual televised tale. The latter especially rears its head many times over in the story - Saward tells on himself in Freudian means by the fiftieth time he brings up fictional alcohol 'Voxnic'. Almost the entire cast either has drunk it or has desired to drink it - he had the sense at least to not promote child alcoholism THAT directly - by the end!
If you just want a Target novel that's different from the televised story, this is the finest choice of all. Sure, Exciting Adventure With The Daleks has funky early instalment weirdness and The Cave Monsters totally changes the story by the simple act of emphasising its support cast, but The Twin Dilemma is just wonderfully bizarre from beginning to end. Stories completely unrelated to the main one crop up and interrupt story beats (including the climax for some godforesaken reason), we spend half the story in characters brains learning more of what they thought than what happened, and Saward develops this weird compulsion to imitate fellow Who alumni Douglas Adams. The reading experience is hindered by only one thing - you still can't polish a turd.
You can't polish a turd, but you can't blame Eric Saward for trying! The Twin Dilemma has been so maligned (perhaps a little unfairly - it's bad, but it's by no means the worst Classic Who had to offer) since it first aired that the Target novelisation, normally used to adapt a story and usually add some embellishment or tweak a few things, has become the published equivalent to a manuscript covered in pencil notes and liberal strikethrus. I knew to some extent that that'd be the case, it was what drove me to pick this to represent the Sixth Doctor in my little Target-reading project, but the extent to which Saward is constantly flustered by his past self is nigh unbelievable.
The opening of the book encapsulates this very well. The prologue to the story, wherein Romulus and Remus are kidnapped, is so heavily embellished that it might as well be an entirely new sequence. We are told of infidelity, hyperintelligent cats, and alcoholism, none of which particularly pertinent to the actual televised tale. The latter especially rears its head many times over in the story - Saward tells on himself in Freudian means by the fiftieth time he brings up fictional alcohol 'Voxnic'. Almost the entire cast either has drunk it or has desired to drink it - he had the sense at least to not promote child alcoholism THAT directly - by the end!
If you just want a Target novel that's different from the televised story, this is the finest choice of all. Sure, Exciting Adventure With The Daleks has funky early instalment weirdness and The Cave Monsters totally changes the story by the simple act of emphasising its support cast, but The Twin Dilemma is just wonderfully bizarre from beginning to end. Stories completely unrelated to the main one crop up and interrupt story beats (including the climax for some godforesaken reason), we spend half the story in characters brains learning more of what they thought than what happened, and Saward develops this weird compulsion to imitate fellow Who alumni Douglas Adams. The reading experience is hindered by only one thing - you still can't polish a turd.
June 19, 2011
Another freebie included with a Who-related magazine a few years ago that I've just now gotten around to reading. I think I actually enjoyed it more than the New Who one (Made of Steel, featuring the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones) even though I don't think I'm much for 'watching' classic Who ... or for this incarnation of the Doctor. That said, the author does a really good job of conveying through the Doctor's behaviour and inner thoughts and those of his companion, Peri, how unstable he is after his regeneration and how much of an impact it is having on his abilities and on his relationships with those around him. Peri is also rather well developed and the novel gives a lot of looks inside her head, making her a lot more developed and likable than I would have thought, based on the character being in the television series as a way of adding "sex appeal." I also enjoyed all of the author's narrative/background info about the different planets, cultures, and people and the cultural commentary and humour they included. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but having someone accidentally turn into a giant bottle of their favourite beverage and then get drunk up by all his partying friends was quite amusing in a slightly dark way. Very good shorter read and a nice way of getting more exposure to classic Who.
April 10, 2012
This is a readalong with Paul's Target blogging which can be found here http://goldfishandparacetamol.wordpre...
I had only recently suffered the TV version of The Twin Dilemma. THis was going to be interesting. Would I prefer it to the dramatisation, which I didn't remember being anywhere near as awful as it was...
I found the story to be written with a slightly smug edge. The descriptions of the father character at the beginning is what highlighted this for me. It didn't seem to gel with what I expect from a novelisation of a children's story.
It probably didn't win any love from me as I was so let down by the DVD so soon before reading it.
The character of Azmael I expected to be fleshed out a little more. Made a little more like he can make a difference one way or the other. I don't think he ever gives enough oomph. No one in this story seems to fulfil a satisfying role. I think less characters, fleshed out more may have been a better idea. They all fail to scare me.
All in all, this book felt cluttered and not very satisfying. I can't see me watching or reading this story again any time in the near or middle future.
I had only recently suffered the TV version of The Twin Dilemma. THis was going to be interesting. Would I prefer it to the dramatisation, which I didn't remember being anywhere near as awful as it was...
I found the story to be written with a slightly smug edge. The descriptions of the father character at the beginning is what highlighted this for me. It didn't seem to gel with what I expect from a novelisation of a children's story.
It probably didn't win any love from me as I was so let down by the DVD so soon before reading it.
The character of Azmael I expected to be fleshed out a little more. Made a little more like he can make a difference one way or the other. I don't think he ever gives enough oomph. No one in this story seems to fulfil a satisfying role. I think less characters, fleshed out more may have been a better idea. They all fail to scare me.
All in all, this book felt cluttered and not very satisfying. I can't see me watching or reading this story again any time in the near or middle future.
May 20, 2012
The Twin Dilemma is another novel written by Eric Saward written in a sort of Douglas Adam style with lots and lots of supposed humour that doesn’t really raise much of a tickle for me, but it does has some quite interesting ideas about the nature of regeneration which I had forgotten about from when I first read this novelisation but apart from that it cannot really fail to disappoint much like the tv story that it was based upon.
I do have to admit though that the twins are much less annoying in this version than they are on screen but that is mainly because we don’t have to hear them speak and we can imagine other people playing the parts rather than the people who actually did.
The Jacondans are an interesting race, one of the few Avian races ever to be seen on Doctor Who and I think that they are better served in this novelisation than they were on screen as were the sets and the costumes, apart from Mestor which was just as crap on paper as it was on television.
I haven't got much else to say about this book apart from the fact that like the tv story it came from it is rather unforgettable.
I do have to admit though that the twins are much less annoying in this version than they are on screen but that is mainly because we don’t have to hear them speak and we can imagine other people playing the parts rather than the people who actually did.
The Jacondans are an interesting race, one of the few Avian races ever to be seen on Doctor Who and I think that they are better served in this novelisation than they were on screen as were the sets and the costumes, apart from Mestor which was just as crap on paper as it was on television.
I haven't got much else to say about this book apart from the fact that like the tv story it came from it is rather unforgettable.
January 13, 2009
Poor Colin Baker. He was a great Doctor, but won't be remembered that way as he got some of the worst stories.
Some nice bits with him and Peri as they are both having trouble dealing with the regeneration of the fifth Doctor into the sixth and the star pilot character had the potential to be an interesting companion if they'd kept him around but the rest was a mess.
Giant evil slugs with a really stupid plan involving moving planets and a pair of genius twins were the best bad guy they could come up with?
Might have worked if they'd made either the main bad guy or his minions old familiar aliens like Sontarions or Ice Warriors ( most regeneration stories had at least one past element in them to kind of cushion the blow of such a major change), but this was such a jumble that the good parts are buried under the weak ones.
Some nice bits with him and Peri as they are both having trouble dealing with the regeneration of the fifth Doctor into the sixth and the star pilot character had the potential to be an interesting companion if they'd kept him around but the rest was a mess.
Giant evil slugs with a really stupid plan involving moving planets and a pair of genius twins were the best bad guy they could come up with?
Might have worked if they'd made either the main bad guy or his minions old familiar aliens like Sontarions or Ice Warriors ( most regeneration stories had at least one past element in them to kind of cushion the blow of such a major change), but this was such a jumble that the good parts are buried under the weak ones.
December 30, 2020
[I'm reading these as I rewatch the episodes.]
The first episode with the 6th doctor, this had a lot of problems on screen. But Saward has a nice writing style and, unlike Terrence Dicks, seems to care about what he's doing.
Includes the nice filler passage: "When the whole history of Earth is finally written, it will be shown that cats were the most intelligent creatures ever to have inhabited the planet. The fact they allowed human beings to run things for a while shows their tolerance. They knew the humans would cause havoc and fail, but the cats also knew they would be able to repair everything and make it right again."
Note: The story has nothing to do with cats.
The first episode with the 6th doctor, this had a lot of problems on screen. But Saward has a nice writing style and, unlike Terrence Dicks, seems to care about what he's doing.
Includes the nice filler passage: "When the whole history of Earth is finally written, it will be shown that cats were the most intelligent creatures ever to have inhabited the planet. The fact they allowed human beings to run things for a while shows their tolerance. They knew the humans would cause havoc and fail, but the cats also knew they would be able to repair everything and make it right again."
Note: The story has nothing to do with cats.
November 25, 2013
Not the best Doctor Who novelization, but it was a somewhat shaky episode to begin with. They never really got around to letting Colin Baker's Sixth Doctor develop much more than he is here, being a conceited jerk most of the time. His character did mellow out during the audiobooks/Big Finish stories that came later.
The story is just okay in terms of characterization, but even that's a lot better than the actual episode. The book does give you a lot more background information on everyone, but the plot is still a bit flimsy. Still, for a 45-minute read, it was okay.
The story is just okay in terms of characterization, but even that's a lot better than the actual episode. The book does give you a lot more background information on everyone, but the plot is still a bit flimsy. Still, for a 45-minute read, it was okay.
March 17, 2012
Not the strongest story for me. The tv version and the audio version did not work. I do not blame Colin Bakers reading of it because he shines brightly in Big Finish's stories. It was entirely the fault of a fairly weak story line. 2 stars is the best I could do.
July 30, 2012
I guess they were just searching for a title because there is very little of the 'twins' actually in the book. Of course, those people that are in the book are not very likable, doctor included. First one of Doctor 5.
June 22, 2013
As other reviewers have noted, the novelisation has a very Douglas Adams feel to it. It's not just a depiction of the TV series, which in this case is a good thing.
September 7, 2014
This was a fantastic book! Very Douglas Adams like structure. Much better than the serial it's based on.
September 14, 2016
Never a good sign when the chapters and asides that have been added are more interesting than the plot which is resolved by everyone involved suddenly remembering basic physics.
April 6, 2024
For starters I’d like to give this a 2.5 rather than simply 2.
I’d like to thank the novelizer Eric Saward for making me question my sanity. It’s always a healthy process, keeps me humble. Why did I suffer this crisis? Because he made me question if I’d completely misremembered the televised story. Thanks to Shannon Patrick Sullivan’s site, I now know the tv story’s troubled production. I also understand Saward needed to cobble together something for that timeline, and totally understand why he wanted to re-invent this once again when he novelized it a year or so later.
This is one of the few novelizations that rebuilds the televised story rather than simply retelling the same plot and character beats in book form. It therefore has the opportunity to begin and end at the same general places while making the journey more worth it.
Granted, simply reading the words “new weird Doc lets old friend sacrifice to defeat bad slugs” would have been a more worthy (and far shorter) journey than the tv story, so the bar is low.
What we get instead is something that heroically gives motivation to the main characters as well as provides scenes of actual action-as-it-happens as connective tissue that were mere offscreen mentions in the tv story. That is a necessary course correction, but takes effort, and for that the book should get 3 stars.
Unfortunately Saward over-corrects, and motivations become nasty, leaving us with nearly no sympathetic characters, just “pathetic” ones, to misuse a term as Peri does in the television story. Having one of these would have added some flavor to the story, perhaps dwelling on the father as the book does as the accidental prime mover of the plot, and having Azmael and Mestor’s motivations and backstories simplified. But Saward dumps in all the salt he can, killing this slug of a story before it can cr—oh no, now he’s got ME doing it!
These un-edited embellishments reduce my score to 2.5 stars.
One particular addition that had intriguing possibilities simply confused me, as it had zero knock-on effects to the rest of the story, when it could have led in a very interesting direction. Saward goes into detail describing the miracle of the “teleporter” device, and fixes/simplifies its use as an escape in a later scene. But he then makes it seem as if there’s a The Fly scenario between Mestor and Azmael with that device, after a goofy aside about it creating a human-alcohol bottle mutant. If he wanted to make it that Mestor uses this device to meld with Azmael incrementally and then take over at the end, the story could have supported it. It could have made Mestor’s interactions with his minions change throughout, where one eventually defects after the grip has loosened. It would have made an even more difficult decision for the Doctor to stop him at the end. Azmael’s “possession” wouldn’t have to be as much of a last-minute power, and his sacrifice would seem more unavoidable. Argh! Saward! Quit making me do your job!
Overall, a story that has no idea how planetary / gravitational physics work, wants me to hate most if not all of the characters, and goes down weird rabbit holes that aren’t funny enough to warrant them deserves a much lower rating. It doesn’t deserve my time, once over, twice over, or thrice over to make sure I didn’t misremember the first time!
But Doctor Who makes it worth it. This “show” makes so many weird choices out of a desperate necessity to survive its own random luck that every last one of the outputs is fascinating to me. Does that make me crazy? Ask a better writer than Saward, dunno, maybe Harlan Ellison.
I’d like to thank the novelizer Eric Saward for making me question my sanity. It’s always a healthy process, keeps me humble. Why did I suffer this crisis? Because he made me question if I’d completely misremembered the televised story. Thanks to Shannon Patrick Sullivan’s site, I now know the tv story’s troubled production. I also understand Saward needed to cobble together something for that timeline, and totally understand why he wanted to re-invent this once again when he novelized it a year or so later.
This is one of the few novelizations that rebuilds the televised story rather than simply retelling the same plot and character beats in book form. It therefore has the opportunity to begin and end at the same general places while making the journey more worth it.
Granted, simply reading the words “new weird Doc lets old friend sacrifice to defeat bad slugs” would have been a more worthy (and far shorter) journey than the tv story, so the bar is low.
What we get instead is something that heroically gives motivation to the main characters as well as provides scenes of actual action-as-it-happens as connective tissue that were mere offscreen mentions in the tv story. That is a necessary course correction, but takes effort, and for that the book should get 3 stars.
Unfortunately Saward over-corrects, and motivations become nasty, leaving us with nearly no sympathetic characters, just “pathetic” ones, to misuse a term as Peri does in the television story. Having one of these would have added some flavor to the story, perhaps dwelling on the father as the book does as the accidental prime mover of the plot, and having Azmael and Mestor’s motivations and backstories simplified. But Saward dumps in all the salt he can, killing this slug of a story before it can cr—oh no, now he’s got ME doing it!
These un-edited embellishments reduce my score to 2.5 stars.
One particular addition that had intriguing possibilities simply confused me, as it had zero knock-on effects to the rest of the story, when it could have led in a very interesting direction. Saward goes into detail describing the miracle of the “teleporter” device, and fixes/simplifies its use as an escape in a later scene. But he then makes it seem as if there’s a The Fly scenario between Mestor and Azmael with that device, after a goofy aside about it creating a human-alcohol bottle mutant. If he wanted to make it that Mestor uses this device to meld with Azmael incrementally and then take over at the end, the story could have supported it. It could have made Mestor’s interactions with his minions change throughout, where one eventually defects after the grip has loosened. It would have made an even more difficult decision for the Doctor to stop him at the end. Azmael’s “possession” wouldn’t have to be as much of a last-minute power, and his sacrifice would seem more unavoidable. Argh! Saward! Quit making me do your job!
Overall, a story that has no idea how planetary / gravitational physics work, wants me to hate most if not all of the characters, and goes down weird rabbit holes that aren’t funny enough to warrant them deserves a much lower rating. It doesn’t deserve my time, once over, twice over, or thrice over to make sure I didn’t misremember the first time!
But Doctor Who makes it worth it. This “show” makes so many weird choices out of a desperate necessity to survive its own random luck that every last one of the outputs is fascinating to me. Does that make me crazy? Ask a better writer than Saward, dunno, maybe Harlan Ellison.
May 14, 2022
This is a weird novelization. The Twin Dilemma is essentially in the fandom the ‘worst’ Doctor Who story according to many of the polls. It closed the 21st series which was the last series to be produced without insane production issues and well on the way to the 1989 cancellation (and just a year before the 1985 hiatus). The budget was running out as it almost always did for the final serial in a given season, The Caves of Androzani immediately before it was hailed as nothing short of brilliant, and Anthony Steven (a television veteran who had never worked on Doctor Who) gave increasingly insane excuses as to why scripting the story was taking so long (he claimed his typewriter literally exploded at one point). So the chance for a novelization means that there was an opportunity to improve things, especially since it was novelized by script editor Eric Saward. However, there are a lot of problems, a lot inherent to the original story, and some due to Eric Saward’s writing style and opinions on this particular era find there way into the novelization. The Twin Dilemma takes so much time to get through the first two episodes of the four part serial it is honestly astonishing that the rest of the plot even makes it to the page. I can only theorize that Saward had no idea how to improve the stuff after the second episode so he just rushed through it and gave a very weak ending.
It’s almost weaker due to certain aspects of the characterization. Peri especially has the already weak television characterization taken down a notch as the trauma which is dropped immediately after it happens, is only reinforced. Saward includes several scenes from her perspective, including the scene where she is strangled by the Doctor, and that trauma is lasting. It is framed as a good thing that she refuses to leave and almost implied the Doctor wouldn’t let her leave even if she asked. Saward is trying to make the Sixth Doctor an outright villain and upping all of his outbursts and problematic qualities simply because Saward did not like the fact that Colin Baker was cast in the role and he left the show on bad terms, which would have begun at this point (this was published in March 1986). This distaste permeates the novel as the Doctor’s appearances are also scaled back so his lack of appearances only serve to highlight when he does appear how badly he is written. The one thing improving The Twin Dilemma outside of not being restricted by poor production values is that the twins themselves are intentionally written as insufferable, to the point that there are whole added sections with their father that how his life is now so much better with the twins being kidnapped, including the first few chapters being devoted to how terrible they make this man’s life.
Overall, The Twin Dilemma may improve things slightly from the television story, but it is still telling a story that is fundamentally weak. There doesn’t actually seem to be any attempt to make the characters any more interesting, and Eric Saward clearly dislikes writing for these characters and this era. It goes against what he thinks Doctor Who is. 3/10.
It’s almost weaker due to certain aspects of the characterization. Peri especially has the already weak television characterization taken down a notch as the trauma which is dropped immediately after it happens, is only reinforced. Saward includes several scenes from her perspective, including the scene where she is strangled by the Doctor, and that trauma is lasting. It is framed as a good thing that she refuses to leave and almost implied the Doctor wouldn’t let her leave even if she asked. Saward is trying to make the Sixth Doctor an outright villain and upping all of his outbursts and problematic qualities simply because Saward did not like the fact that Colin Baker was cast in the role and he left the show on bad terms, which would have begun at this point (this was published in March 1986). This distaste permeates the novel as the Doctor’s appearances are also scaled back so his lack of appearances only serve to highlight when he does appear how badly he is written. The one thing improving The Twin Dilemma outside of not being restricted by poor production values is that the twins themselves are intentionally written as insufferable, to the point that there are whole added sections with their father that how his life is now so much better with the twins being kidnapped, including the first few chapters being devoted to how terrible they make this man’s life.
Overall, The Twin Dilemma may improve things slightly from the television story, but it is still telling a story that is fundamentally weak. There doesn’t actually seem to be any attempt to make the characters any more interesting, and Eric Saward clearly dislikes writing for these characters and this era. It goes against what he thinks Doctor Who is. 3/10.
January 28, 2022
The Twin Dilemma by Eric Saward
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Liked it
*
This book was so exciting that I read it in 2 days.
-Exciting because I purchased it at a used bookstore in Pasadena @bookalley while my boyfriend was at work. I had time for the book shop, the comic shop, and then someplace to hangout and read while he had his half shift. They had a very small selection of Doctor Who books, and of course it was on the top shelf so I needed help reaching. But I was still very happy with my find.
-Exciting because I forgot how much I LOOOOVE mass market paperbacks. They’re the right size to hold open with one hand, there’s just the right amount of words on a page that I don’t get lost with too many words. Even my lame nerve-damaged hand has an easy time holding this. Yes its a very thin/short book, but it’s perfect when I’m in a reading slump and need something fast.
-Exciting because I haven’t seen this episode yet of Classic Who so it was new to me. 6th Doctor - I haven’t seen his episodes yet. I only got up to beginning of 4th Doctor but I’m waiting for boyfriend to catch up and he’s on 2nd Doctor. Twins - I happen to be a little obsessed with twins. Another Time Lord - I started watching Doctor Who with Eccleston in 2005. I really hadn’t seen any episodes until Blink which I watched on DVD with my cousin in 2008 I think. I liked it so much that I went back and binged everything and have kept up ever since. Anyways. In the New Who, Gallifrey is destroyed, so any interaction or acknowledgement of other Time Lords/Ladies is few and far between. Here’s Azmael, an old friend of the Doctor who also left Gallifrey for his own reasons.
Upon finishing the book, I’m finding a lot of poor reviews because people didn’t like the 6th doctor, they didn’t like the writing of the episode, they didn’t like the plot/characters, they didn’t like the novelization compared to the episode… they didn’t like a lot of things. Maybe I would feel different if I had seen the episode. But I do like the book.
*
#DoctorWho #MediaTieIn #ScienceFiction #fiction #Timetravel #6thdoctor
#bookstagram #books #booksofinstagram #goodreadschallenge2022 #ilovethesmellofbooks #ireadbooks #ilovebooks #lovetoread #booknerd #addictedtobooks #bibliophile #stories #loverofstories #givememorestories
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Liked it
*
This book was so exciting that I read it in 2 days.
-Exciting because I purchased it at a used bookstore in Pasadena @bookalley while my boyfriend was at work. I had time for the book shop, the comic shop, and then someplace to hangout and read while he had his half shift. They had a very small selection of Doctor Who books, and of course it was on the top shelf so I needed help reaching. But I was still very happy with my find.
-Exciting because I forgot how much I LOOOOVE mass market paperbacks. They’re the right size to hold open with one hand, there’s just the right amount of words on a page that I don’t get lost with too many words. Even my lame nerve-damaged hand has an easy time holding this. Yes its a very thin/short book, but it’s perfect when I’m in a reading slump and need something fast.
-Exciting because I haven’t seen this episode yet of Classic Who so it was new to me. 6th Doctor - I haven’t seen his episodes yet. I only got up to beginning of 4th Doctor but I’m waiting for boyfriend to catch up and he’s on 2nd Doctor. Twins - I happen to be a little obsessed with twins. Another Time Lord - I started watching Doctor Who with Eccleston in 2005. I really hadn’t seen any episodes until Blink which I watched on DVD with my cousin in 2008 I think. I liked it so much that I went back and binged everything and have kept up ever since. Anyways. In the New Who, Gallifrey is destroyed, so any interaction or acknowledgement of other Time Lords/Ladies is few and far between. Here’s Azmael, an old friend of the Doctor who also left Gallifrey for his own reasons.
Upon finishing the book, I’m finding a lot of poor reviews because people didn’t like the 6th doctor, they didn’t like the writing of the episode, they didn’t like the plot/characters, they didn’t like the novelization compared to the episode… they didn’t like a lot of things. Maybe I would feel different if I had seen the episode. But I do like the book.
*
#DoctorWho #MediaTieIn #ScienceFiction #fiction #Timetravel #6thdoctor
#bookstagram #books #booksofinstagram #goodreadschallenge2022 #ilovethesmellofbooks #ireadbooks #ilovebooks #lovetoread #booknerd #addictedtobooks #bibliophile #stories #loverofstories #givememorestories
January 23, 2023
The book is more of a 2.5. I've tried to reduce giving starts under 3 because anyone who has written book has put a lot of effort into it. However, when you are trying to novelize one of the worst Classic Who stores, it can be a challenge.
If you are curious about the plot, it is about a set of twins who are mathematical genius to figure out a math problem to move two planets into the same orbit as another planet so a bunch of giant slugs can be sent to populate other planets. The Doctor gets involved accidently and saves the day, while go through the effects of a regeneration gone wrong. The only redeeming part is the unique position of showing regenerations are not always smooth.
Eric Saward already had to turn the plot, from a different writer, into a book. He does clean up the plot somewhat, but he still can't change it too much. He does add some extra fluff to it in a manner of him trying to write like Douglas Adams.
For me, I just plowed through the book so I could mark it off my list to read. How Eric Saward wrote it, might make it interesting for other people. For me, it just felt like he was trying to hard. If you are really curious, then give this book a chance. The only other reason to read it is to just complete reading all the Target books. I think the only other Target book worst than this is The Myth Makers.
If you are curious about the plot, it is about a set of twins who are mathematical genius to figure out a math problem to move two planets into the same orbit as another planet so a bunch of giant slugs can be sent to populate other planets. The Doctor gets involved accidently and saves the day, while go through the effects of a regeneration gone wrong. The only redeeming part is the unique position of showing regenerations are not always smooth.
Eric Saward already had to turn the plot, from a different writer, into a book. He does clean up the plot somewhat, but he still can't change it too much. He does add some extra fluff to it in a manner of him trying to write like Douglas Adams.
For me, I just plowed through the book so I could mark it off my list to read. How Eric Saward wrote it, might make it interesting for other people. For me, it just felt like he was trying to hard. If you are really curious, then give this book a chance. The only other reason to read it is to just complete reading all the Target books. I think the only other Target book worst than this is The Myth Makers.
June 30, 2021
Between a 2 and a 3 for me - a combination of two things I don't like, that somehow combine to make a better story than if was solely one of the things I don't like :)
The first is the TV story itself - a really bad way to start the Sixth Doctor's run, that after the end of one of my favourite Doctor's run, really put me off the Sixth, and certainly when originally watching the series a long time ago I never really warmed to him, whereas these days I'm more able to enjoy his run, and in Big Finish stories he is great. Here though, he is immediately being arrogant (a trait I never like), strangles Peri, acts all over the place - cowardly at times, weird behaviour quirks that while settle down by the end of the story, to just being somewhat brash and arrogant, don't set the stage well - similar to how Castrovolva started off the Fifth Doctor's run with showing him as being potentially on the frail side. Interesting way of doing showing the issues regeneration can have, but really made the Doctor into a dislikeable character, which I think was a major mistake. As a result of all this, Peri is mainly having to try and deal with the Doctor's many flaws, and you wonder why she would want to stay on really.
The other is the writing style - it felt padded, and dialogue was skipped in favour of more humorous elements, somewhat in the style of Douglas Adams' writing, but doesn't really come off well. As a result, the one off characters come across as quite one dimensional, and don't bounce off the Doctor and Peri well.
However, the combination of the two seems to remove some of the bad elements from the TV story, with the padding out allowing for some of the bad dialogue / scenes to then be removed instead, potentially helping prop up the story. Does feel like the style was deliberately employed to try and mitigate the problems of the TV story, and it does seem to work here, such that I could still enjoy reading the book.
The first is the TV story itself - a really bad way to start the Sixth Doctor's run, that after the end of one of my favourite Doctor's run, really put me off the Sixth, and certainly when originally watching the series a long time ago I never really warmed to him, whereas these days I'm more able to enjoy his run, and in Big Finish stories he is great. Here though, he is immediately being arrogant (a trait I never like), strangles Peri, acts all over the place - cowardly at times, weird behaviour quirks that while settle down by the end of the story, to just being somewhat brash and arrogant, don't set the stage well - similar to how Castrovolva started off the Fifth Doctor's run with showing him as being potentially on the frail side. Interesting way of doing showing the issues regeneration can have, but really made the Doctor into a dislikeable character, which I think was a major mistake. As a result of all this, Peri is mainly having to try and deal with the Doctor's many flaws, and you wonder why she would want to stay on really.
The other is the writing style - it felt padded, and dialogue was skipped in favour of more humorous elements, somewhat in the style of Douglas Adams' writing, but doesn't really come off well. As a result, the one off characters come across as quite one dimensional, and don't bounce off the Doctor and Peri well.
However, the combination of the two seems to remove some of the bad elements from the TV story, with the padding out allowing for some of the bad dialogue / scenes to then be removed instead, potentially helping prop up the story. Does feel like the style was deliberately employed to try and mitigate the problems of the TV story, and it does seem to work here, such that I could still enjoy reading the book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 3, 2019
Eric Saward's novelization of Anthony Steven's script for the TV serial is quite different from most Target novelizations that just reproduce the script with a few sentences of filler to make it seem like a novel. Saward tries hard to rescue a dreadful script, but just cannot do it. The problem is that the main story makes little sense and has more holes than a golf course. Saward tries to knock some sense into the story by adding quite a bit of back story, particularly at the beginning. He also removes large sections of the dialogue, replacing either with different lines or with brief paraphrases of what was said. And to give it some pizazz, he throws in a few "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" sidebars about goofy scientists being destroyed by their own inventions in absurd ways. The problem is that Saward is still stuck with the story as broadcast, and no matter how much explanation he adds for motivations, it just does not hang together.
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