THE THREE DOCTORS

[Tony]

Here we are discussing Terrance Dicks' novelization of THE THREE DOCTORS! If you want to hear your review of or comments on this book read on the air, or you have a specific question about the book, please post it here by no later than 11:59pm CST on Thursday, November 28!

[T.E.]

A fun novel, that builds on the TV episode without the restrictions on budget or effects, while retaining a lot of the quirky feel of the episodes. The tone of the novel starts with the cover ripping off a Fantastic Four issue, and doesn't relent through out, this is bigger, bolder and more epic, with bren guns, legions of UNIT soldiers slicing their way through anti-matter blobs, (who are living lava monsters and not something Godzilla left in the corner of his cage), an alien world, and a villain who can be imposing and powerful, rather than very shouty and dressed in a costume that doesn't quite work.

It still feels a little odd that a story that sets out to be such a landmark: with the Timelords, multiple Doctors, and hints at the very origin of the powers of the Time Lord society, this rapidly seems to become a bit of a back and forth romp to meet an all powerful God who is, when the Doctor finally gets around to dealing with the plot, defeated almost out of hand, by a simple "don't look in the box" trick.

It feels like the Genesis of the Daleks was resolved in five minutes by the Doctor tipping over Davros's chair, and running away laughing, or defeated the Cybermen by unplugging their deep freeze and letting them spoil.

This gets bonus points in my affections for Katy Manning's breathless and enthusiastic reading. There are few Doctor Who stories I wouldn't give a second chance if it meant hearing Katy having fun with them.

3/5

[Michael]

T.E. wrote: "A fun novel, that builds on the TV episode without the restrictions on budget or effects, while retaining a lot of the quirky feel of the episodes. The tone of the novel starts with the cover rippi..."

The audio book of this one is superbly entertaining. I'd argue that the Terrance Dicks adaptation is a bit superior to the TV original simply because Uncle Terrance has the unlimited budget of our imagination. Hearing his world-building for Omega's world is a lot of fun and I can see why fans might have been disappointed to see the TV version without the expansive sky as described in this book.