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Doctor Who: Excelis Saga #3
Doctor Who: Excelis Decays
When the Doctor last visited the city of Excelis, its citizens were about to enter an age of enlightenment and reason. But some centuries later, he discovers a vicious totalitarian regime at war with the rest of Artaris, living off the efforts of a drugged and broken underclass.
Who is the mysterious Lord Sutton, and what hold does he have over the ruling classes? What are the Meat Puppets, and what role do they play in the eternal war? And why is the Doctor's arrival the final piece in a plan that has been centuries in the making?
Throughout his lives, the Doctor has fought legends. But some legends refuse to die.
Chronological Placement
This story takes place prior to the Doctor Who TV Movie.
Who is the mysterious Lord Sutton, and what hold does he have over the ruling classes? What are the Meat Puppets, and what role do they play in the eternal war? And why is the Doctor's arrival the final piece in a plan that has been centuries in the making?
Throughout his lives, the Doctor has fought legends. But some legends refuse to die.
Chronological Placement
This story takes place prior to the Doctor Who TV Movie.
Audio CD
First published August 1, 2002
42 people want to read
About the author
Craig Hinton
25 books7 followersCraig Paul Alexander Hinton was a British writer best known for his work on spin-offs from the BBC Television series Doctor Who. He also wrote articles for science fiction magazines and was the Coordinator of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society. He taught mathematics in London, where he was found dead in his home on 3 December 2006. The cause of death was given as a heart attack.
Hinton first was known for his articles about science fiction television programmes, including Doctor Who and Star Trek. These brought him to the attention of the editor of Marvel UK's Doctor Who Magazine, who offered him the job of reviewing merchandise for the magazine's Shelf Life section. Whilst writing for the magazine, Hinton had his first novel published. The Crystal Bucephalus was part of Virgin Publishing's Missing Adventures range. The book - which Hinton often jokingly referred to as "The Crystal Bucket" - was originally submitted for Virgin's New Adventures, and 50,000 words of this version were written before the change was made.
This novel was followed by a further Missing Adventure, Millennial Rites in 1995, and then by Hinton's only New Adventure in 1996, GodEngine, which features the Ice Warriors as well as oblique appearances by the Daleks.
Following Virgin's loss of their licence for Doctor Who merchandise, Hinton began submitting proposals to BBC Books. In 2001 they published his novel The Quantum Archangel as part of their BBC Past Doctor Adventures range. This was followed in 2004 by Synthespians™. This had started life as a proposal for the Eighth Doctor before being adapted to a previous Doctor. An image of the television show Dynasty was used on the cover: the cover's creators had arranged for permission to use the copyrighted image, but had neglected to get permission to alter it. At the last minute a replacement cover had to be produced. It is this that appears on the cover.
Hinton's Doctor Who novels often contain references to or explanations of elements of past continuity. He claimed to have been the originator of the term "fanwank", which he applied to his own work.
Hinton continued to work with Virgin, writing pseudonymously under the name Paul C. Alexander for their Idol range. He wrote three books in the range: Chains of Deceit, The Final Restraint and Code of Submission. These titles were a major departure from his science fiction. They explored aspects of his sexuality only suggested in his other works.
Hinton wrote for Big Finish Productions' Audio Adventures. The play Excelis Decays was produced in 2002 for their Doctor Who range and The Lords of Forever in 2005 for their The Tomorrow People range. Hinton also wrote short stories for their short fiction collections.
Outside of the science fiction world Hinton was a noted IT journalist in the UK. He edited magazines in the mid-1990s for VNU Business Publications in London and moved on to ITNetwork.com shortly afterwards.
Hinton first was known for his articles about science fiction television programmes, including Doctor Who and Star Trek. These brought him to the attention of the editor of Marvel UK's Doctor Who Magazine, who offered him the job of reviewing merchandise for the magazine's Shelf Life section. Whilst writing for the magazine, Hinton had his first novel published. The Crystal Bucephalus was part of Virgin Publishing's Missing Adventures range. The book - which Hinton often jokingly referred to as "The Crystal Bucket" - was originally submitted for Virgin's New Adventures, and 50,000 words of this version were written before the change was made.
This novel was followed by a further Missing Adventure, Millennial Rites in 1995, and then by Hinton's only New Adventure in 1996, GodEngine, which features the Ice Warriors as well as oblique appearances by the Daleks.
Following Virgin's loss of their licence for Doctor Who merchandise, Hinton began submitting proposals to BBC Books. In 2001 they published his novel The Quantum Archangel as part of their BBC Past Doctor Adventures range. This was followed in 2004 by Synthespians™. This had started life as a proposal for the Eighth Doctor before being adapted to a previous Doctor. An image of the television show Dynasty was used on the cover: the cover's creators had arranged for permission to use the copyrighted image, but had neglected to get permission to alter it. At the last minute a replacement cover had to be produced. It is this that appears on the cover.
Hinton's Doctor Who novels often contain references to or explanations of elements of past continuity. He claimed to have been the originator of the term "fanwank", which he applied to his own work.
Hinton continued to work with Virgin, writing pseudonymously under the name Paul C. Alexander for their Idol range. He wrote three books in the range: Chains of Deceit, The Final Restraint and Code of Submission. These titles were a major departure from his science fiction. They explored aspects of his sexuality only suggested in his other works.
Hinton wrote for Big Finish Productions' Audio Adventures. The play Excelis Decays was produced in 2002 for their Doctor Who range and The Lords of Forever in 2005 for their The Tomorrow People range. Hinton also wrote short stories for their short fiction collections.
Outside of the science fiction world Hinton was a noted IT journalist in the UK. He edited magazines in the mid-1990s for VNU Business Publications in London and moved on to ITNetwork.com shortly afterwards.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 2, 2024
Another solo Seventh Doctor adventure, but unfortunately this one fails to elevate itself above the previous entries in the Excelis sequence. Once again an incarnation of the Doctor must defeat Anthony Head's long-lived bad guy (last time Sixie, the time before that Number Five), but as with any sequence that relies on this sort of construction, the plots get rather samey. And one dark conniving dude arguing with another dark conniving dude (we're definitely in Dark Seven territory here) is only good listening for so long.
August 24, 2022
The Seventh Doctor, again traveling alone, arrives somewhere he’s visited before. The planet of Artaris, and the all too familiar city of Excelis, have a new dystopian threat and The Doctor will need to solve this Gordian knot of a puzzle or he and everyone on the planet will die. The biggest problem is that the fate of Excelis was already seen. Does that make this foreseen destiny a fixed point in time?
Previous adventures that took place in the city of Excelis, began for the Fifth Doctor in Doctor Who: Excelis Dawns and continued for the Sixth Doctor in Doctor Who: Excelis Rising. And the finale features Dr. Bernice Summerfield in Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Plague Herds of Excelis.
Previous adventures that took place in the city of Excelis, began for the Fifth Doctor in Doctor Who: Excelis Dawns and continued for the Sixth Doctor in Doctor Who: Excelis Rising. And the finale features Dr. Bernice Summerfield in Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Plague Herds of Excelis.
March 8, 2020
When The Doctor last visited the city of Excelis, the citizens were about to enter an age of peace and enlightenment but he returns two centuries later in his seventh incarnation to find the world in a state of dystopia. An old friend or foe of The Doctor's still lives and what he has planned could threaten not just Excelis but the entire universe.
This was an alright story with some solid ideas and performances. I do think however that Yee Jee Tso didn't really get into the role as The Major in this story. The Meat Puppets were an horrifying idea and The Seventh Doctor was great you could tell he's nearing the end of this incarnation and that he has grown tired of all the darkness. The ending was brilliant, defintely the best part of this story so bleak and tragic. Overall this trilogy has not been the best but it's certainly not been terrible and even though I feel Anthony Stewart Head's character was rather inconsistent he was defintely the best part of this trilogy with his solid performances. 6/10
This was an alright story with some solid ideas and performances. I do think however that Yee Jee Tso didn't really get into the role as The Major in this story. The Meat Puppets were an horrifying idea and The Seventh Doctor was great you could tell he's nearing the end of this incarnation and that he has grown tired of all the darkness. The ending was brilliant, defintely the best part of this story so bleak and tragic. Overall this trilogy has not been the best but it's certainly not been terrible and even though I feel Anthony Stewart Head's character was rather inconsistent he was defintely the best part of this trilogy with his solid performances. 6/10
December 29, 2017
And the downward slide of Excelis continues. While this trilogy was meant to be epic, it becomes plodding by the third installment, with tales of zombified meat puppets and totalitarian regimes. It's all been done before, and better. Anthony Stuart Head and Sylvester McCoy are great, but not given much to work with here. For more, visit www.travelingthevortex.com
December 13, 2025
It's an extremely bleak ending for the trilogy but damn, is it good. Really hits me, especially now. It's a shame that Craig Hinton died so young because he could really write this stuff and write it good.
November 29, 2021
Sylvester McCoy is great form. Love 7!
Anthony S Head, is too good at these sort of roles.
Great set of stories!
Anthony S Head, is too good at these sort of roles.
Great set of stories!
February 21, 2022
Not quite as good as the others, and kind of an abrupt ending.
February 12, 2023
I was so hoping that a relisten would change my star rating. Sadly, it must remain a two star story. After a promising start and an entertaining follow-up this suffers from the same problems that dogged the Doctor Who: New Adventures books of the 90s. Its just too dark in overall tone but Anthony Stewart Head's character seems to have devolved into something too arch in comparison. It's a mess and one of the bleakest endings of a Doctor Who story ever and especially an arc... Although that leads us nicely into a side step into the Bernice Summerfield coda...
September 15, 2010
It isn't surprising that a story with the 7th Doctor sometime just prior to the TV Movie would be the darkest of the Excelis Trilogy. I mean, this is the Doctor that destroyed an entire planet to kill off the race of his greatest enemy (although the Last Great Time War suggests he didn't completely fulfill that mission). This time round another familiar face arrives through Lord Vaughan Sutton (as played by Anthony Stewart Head) a man with a history tied to Excelis almost as long as the Doctor's own. But, if Sutton's plan succeeds, Excelis will be trapped in eternal war.
Unfortunately, the story moves too fast and rests too much on the laurels of the previous two plots. That along with a secondary plot that gets lost in the chaos of the climax, the story isn't as good as it could have been. Still, McCoy is on his best game. The Doctor who is “far more than a mere Time Lord” can be felt, the TARDIS is newly remodeled into its TV Movie incarnation, and there are more Rs rolled in this audio than in some full episodes of the series. It could have been better, and doesn't quite live up to the previous two stories, but this conclusion is well worth the ride.
Unfortunately, the story moves too fast and rests too much on the laurels of the previous two plots. That along with a secondary plot that gets lost in the chaos of the climax, the story isn't as good as it could have been. Still, McCoy is on his best game. The Doctor who is “far more than a mere Time Lord” can be felt, the TARDIS is newly remodeled into its TV Movie incarnation, and there are more Rs rolled in this audio than in some full episodes of the series. It could have been better, and doesn't quite live up to the previous two stories, but this conclusion is well worth the ride.
September 15, 2024
The third main part of the Excelis Saga (three stories featuring the Doctor and a fourth acting as a coda and featuring Bernice Summerfield) sees the Seventh Doctor drawn back to Excelis. This time, three hundred years after the previous story, he finds a totalitarian state reminisant of 1984 or Communist Russia. Grayvorn has managed to survive and has taken the name of Vaughn Sutton. He is in charge of the military and, using beings called meat puppets that have been animated using the souls contained in the relic, plans to take his everlasting war off-world and into time. Anthony Head does well as Sutton and Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor does great in this sort of story. It's a bittersweet end to the main story as the future seen in the first story becomes a reality at the end. That said, it's still an enjoyable listen with a mostly (sorry Yee Jee, you just seem so wooden here) good cast.
Read
April 8, 2009Excelis Decays is rather looked down on by fandom, but I think it is one of Sylvester McCoy's best performances, matched once again by Anthony Stewart Head and also Ian Collier, Mark Gatiss and Penelope MacDonald (sadly not so much by Yee Jee Tso). The Excelis sequence has done well on portraying settings, and the totalitarian militarised society is utterly convincing, as is the Doctor's outrage at the situation and his bleak acceptance of the generally tragic ending to the story, and the wrap-up to the overall plot arc. Somehow it really grabbed me; I find McCoy as beak!Doctor compelling.
January 21, 2016
This is even weirder than the last 2. Grevon is back as another person and stealing people's souls to reanimate bodies. Trying to start a huge war with the rich against the poor. Can the doctor stop him.
June 9, 2015
The Seventh Doctor again visits Artaris and is finally able to resolve the mystery that two of his incarnations have encountered.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews