Doctor Who: Snowglobe 7

Doctor Who: New Series Adventures #23

by Mike Tucker

Earth, 2099. Globabl warming is devastating the climate. The polar ice caps are melting. In a desperate attempt at preservation, the governments of the world have removed vast sections of the Arctic and Antarctic and set them inside huge domes across the world. The Doctor and Martha arrive in Snowglobe 7 in the Middle East, hoping for peace and relaxation. But they soon discover that it's not only ice and snow that has been preserved beneath the Dome. While Martha struggles to help with an infection sweeping through the Dome, the Doctor discovers an alien threat that has lain hidden since the last ice age - a threat that is starting to thaw! Featuring the Doctor and Martha as played by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman in the hit series from BBC Television.

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook, Time Travel, Fantasy, Adventure

256 pages, Hardcover

First published May 29, 2008

About the author

Mike Tucker is a special effects expert who worked for many years at the BBC Television Visual Effects Department, and now works as an Effects Supervisor for his own company, The Model Unit. He is also the author of a number of original tv tie-in Doctor Who novels (some co-written with Robert Perry), and three books based on episodes of the television series Merlin. He co-wrote the factual books Ace! The Inside Story of the End of an Era with Sophie Aldred in 1996, and BBC VFX - The Story of the BBC Visual Effects Department with Mat Irvine in 2010.

Reviews

[Thibault Busschots · Rating 4 out of 5]

Earth in the future is suffering from the consequences of climate change. To preserve at least part of the melting ice caps, huge domes are built and stuffed with ice from the Arctic and Antarctica. But there’s something in the ice. And it’s starting to wake up.


Mike Tucker for me is the safety blanket of the Doctor Who book range. He takes an already established formula and simply executes it really well. This always provides us with a solid story that reads like a proper Doctor Who adventure. This story in particular feels inspired by The Thing and of course the classic Doctor Who serial The Seeds of Doom, but with a modern twist and quite a fast pace. The plot is pretty much a base under siege story, a classic kind of Doctor Who story I just can’t seem to get enough of.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic base under siege story as The Doctor and Martha must stop the spreading of an unknown disease through Snowglobe 7.

Tucker world building of a far future where global warming has forced governments to create various domes to be built around the globe is brilliant.
Initially intended for scientific discovery, most of the globes have become big business for winter holiday retreats.

Both The Doctor and Martha are well written at its nice that the companion who is a medical student is able to put her skills to the test in this adventure.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

By 2099, global warming is destroying much of the polar ice, so habitats are preserved in large glass domes around the world. Some of the giant snowglobes remain scientific preserves and others have been turned into recreation areas. The Doctor and Martha arrive at Snowglobe 7 in Saudi Arabia only to find that there is an epidemic going on. Not only that, but when they grabbed the ice to seal inside the dome, they also captured something else -- an alien creature. The creature has been dormant for centuries, but moving it inside the dome has started to wake it up. And....well, that's not a good thing. Not good at all.

This is an exciting and interesting Doctor Who adventure! Lots going on.....Martha running around doctoring and the Doctor running around fighting alien creatures. All inside a gigantic snowglobe. Very cool!

At just shy of 2 1/2 hours long, this is an easy listen. Georgia Moffett narrates. She reads at a nice steady pace and is easily understandable. As usual with BBC audio presentations, the production quality is high. Very enjoyable audiobook!

I have listened to several Doctor Who adventures in audiobook form lately. I am really enjoying them! Perfect length, and great stories!

[Jim C · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that is based on the television series with the Tenth Doctor played by David Tennant and Martha Jones as his companion. In this one, the Doctor and Martha arrive at a wintry landscape that is man made. In this landscape an alien has been frozen for centuries and this alien comes back to life. This is not good news for mankind.

This could have been an episode for the television series. I enjoyed every second of it. Firstly, the characterization of the two main characters was perfect. I had no problem picturing David Tennant's version of the Doctor with his adventurous, explorative nature with hints at his dark side. The author did a fantastic job with Martha and her making sure she was useful. Sometimes, companions seem to be just there but not in this book as Martha was vital and The Doctor used her accordingly. I liked the minor characters especially the robot Twelve and I would love to see more banter between him and the Doctor. As for the story we tackled all kinds of issues like climate change, capitalism, and obviously the monster of the week. I enjoyed the story with the monster and maybe because it was the wintry landscape but it kind of reminded me of the movie The Thing which is not a bad thing.

I have read many of these books that take place in this universe and this is one of the better ones. I felt like I was back with these two characters and I enjoyed the ride. I do wish this was an episode because I would have loved to have seen this story on the television screen.

[Emilija · Rating 4 out of 5]

2018 52 Book Challenge - 44) A Book Set In The Middle East

This is by far one of the best Doctor Who novels of the more recent batches. It was interesting and well written, and really quite an enjoyable read. I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated by Georgia Tennant, who was pretty decent.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

A proper monster story, though how the monsters use humans is quite gruesome. Martha is given something to do that requires her medical training, and the Doctor is running about as usual. This would make a good episode, it is a real page turner.

[Anwesh Ganguli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Is my first Dr Who novel and I loved it. I was under a bit of doubt when I bought 7 Dr Who's from a thrift book sale. I was doubtful if I would like this or not. I was not sure. But now I can definitely and positively say, I Am a Fan of the Charismatic, Enigmatic Flamboyant, and ever-ready with a solution Doc! And not to forget Martha Jones, the no-nonsense sidekick, who surely knows how to work as Second to the Doc and during times of need can kick a butt or two, human or alien.

The book is very fast-paced and for someone who is reading the series for the first time, it has a way of explaining things that don't make the reader feel that he or she is missing out on the context or the plot! If you are a Science Fiction lover, this is a series of stand-alone novels, that will take you on a wild ride through different dimensions of time and space.

[Hidekisohma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Welp, another 10th doctor/martha book down and...i have to say, this was the one i liked the least out of all the ones i've read. (having read sick house, wishing well, forever autumn, and last dodo before this)

This was your very stereotypical plot. Something ancient is in the ice, it gets out and it starts killing people. it's like 1950's B movie schlock that was old back then.

The story itself goes on just as stock. Evil spider creatures, martha and the doctor split up. Martha does a whole lotta nothing for most of the book in the infirmary being not really able to help people and the doctor runs around figuring out how to save the day. There were 2 main side characters. One of them was the director and was KIND OF important to the plot, but then there was this other side character. oh my god. it was this guy who was a thief and trying to use the craziness going on to steal money. they spent WAY too much time on this guy and his story literally amounted to absolutely nothing. you could have gotten rid of his entire segment and nothing would have been lost.

The biggest issue i had with this book was, i didn't care. The writing style was fine, the characters were in character, i just didn't care for this story. this book took me about 4 days to finish and i kind of forced myself through a good 2/3 of it. thank goodness it was so short. I think the best way to describe this one was that...i just didn't have fun with it. it was violent, and a little mean spirited to characters who didn't deserve it.

I just didn't have fun with this one. I think it was just too dark and had this air of.... non-whimsy. This was the first tennant book which it felt like a chore to get through. it's hard to pinpoint the reason except other than side character shenanigans that amounted to nothing, but it felt kinda drab.

2.5 out of 5 rounded down to a 2.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm afraid of spiders, and most insects, especially the larger they get. So having the monsters here be massive hairy, toothy, telepathic, ruthless murdering and breeding prehistoric spiders is pretty much guaranteed to give me all the nightmares. Truly scared me, and I had to sometimes stop reading so I could try and sleep. Frightening, and another fun romp with Martha and The Doctor.

[Isabella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3 stars

This is like a better execution of the Orphan 55 concept, which was a terrible episode. It's not a carbon copy, but it was a similar idea, just done waaaaay more nuanced.

[Kirstie Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 stars

Initial Thoughts Upon Finishing
This was such a weird yet awesome adventure that I really enjoyed! I loved David Tennant in this one and thought it was such a spot-on representation of how his Doctor tackles all the problems (basically, in a totally ridiculous manner). I'm definitely glad that these monsters weren't on screen because oh my god they would be terrifying!!



Snow globe 7
Snowglobe 7 is set in the not-too-distant future where the earth’s climate has gone haywire and there are these domes, called Snowglobes, which are designed to preserve parts of the icecaps as they’re melting. Snowglobe 7 is where the Doctor and Martha find themselves - of course, having set out with the intention of going to the beach - and they quickly realise that these people have a problem on their hands.



It’s a really interesting set up and pretty believable seeing as everyone is telling us now that climate change is happening etc - and that definitely boosts the fear factor in this story because you’ll catch yourself thinking, oh god, what if?



The problem that the Doctor and Martha find is that there are several people in quarantine who are gravely ill. On top of this, there’s something in the ice and before we know it things are getting out of hand with a really terrifying threat to mankind if the Doctor can’t save the day.



The fun thing is that all of this is meant to be kept under wraps because the Snowglobes are like super expensive holiday resorts for those with more money than sense - and god forbid the fun should stop! So BRING ON the lies and illegal proceedings.



Doctor Who-y-ness
This definitely had a good Doctor Who vibe going for it. In this story, the Doctor and Martha are separated from each other pretty quickly which divides the story quite neatly. Martha ends up tackling the medical crises and making unlikely friends as she saves the world, and the Doctor pokes the scary things with a stick.



I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - I really enjoy Martha as a character within these books. For whatever reason, being inside her head has made me love her character so much more. The best thing about Snowglobe 7 in comparison to the other Doctor/Martha stories was the number of snide comments Martha makes about Rose. I admit that I laughed a lot in the moments during the TV series when the Doctor goes on about Rose in front of Martha and I���m so pleased to have a couple of moments like that in this story.

"'World's tallest hotel should be that way. The Rose Tower.'
'It would be called that,' Martha muttered under her breath."

The monsters in this book were fabulous. They’re a bit funny looking - something along the lines of a mutated spider thing - and they have telepathic abilities. Which is probably the only thing worse than spiders who can fly. There are plenty of those classic moments when the Doctor is trying to convince everyone not to kill the terrifying creatures and him promptly insulting the army and their trigger-happiness.


*everybody loads guns anyway*

In fact, that brings me on to the point that David Tennant’s Doctor is really good in this book. He was written superbly and I thoroughly enjoyed all the eyebrow quirking and mutterings to himself. Alongside the spiders that the Doctor is fighting off, there’s also a bit of corrupted activity happening amongst the directors of the Snowglobes which definitely keeps us busy, as readers. That being said, the corruptness seemed to be an issue that went largely ignored by the Doctor himself, which was interesting.



Summary
Overall I think this was a really good Doctor Who adventure. I gave it a 3.5/5 because I think whilst it was really good is just didn’t quite feel like the creme de la creme of the stories I’ve read so far. There’s an awful lot that does happen in this book and it would’ve been one stressful TV episode if it had been done that way. I think the concepts for this story were brilliantly unique and definitely a good lot of fun for any Doctor Who fans.



Happy reading!

[Jenevieve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review first published on My Blog.

Written with 10th Doctor (David Tennant) and companion Martha (Freema Agyeman). The Doctor has promised Martha a nice relaxing vacation on a warm beach somewhere but instead they end up inside a snowglobe on Earth, somewhere in the Middle East. This is an attempt by humans to preserve this type of habitat from global warming but has turned instead into more of a series of posh ski resorts for the wealthy. That is, until a creature from another world who was living in the ice that they saved out of the Arctic wakes up and decides that it's time for it to remake the world for itself and it's offspring. Now Martha and the Doctor will need every trick they can muster to save the humans on the planet from extinction.

I liked the story a lot. I thought it was well executed and the voice of the Doctor was definitely captured. There were twists and turns and I could definitely see this as an actual episode so hats off for that. Unfortunately, I felt that Martha was the weak link. I really enjoyed her character and I could not hear her voice in my head at all. It seemed like this could have been any random person the Doctor had picked up and there would have been no difference at all in the relationship or the dialog from her character.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the best Doctor Who audiobooks I've heard. The setting is quite imaginative and well-developed, and while the plot is a bit predictable it's still quite a lot of fun. The secondary characters were well-drawn, as well. It starts with the Doctor and Martha preparing for a holiday but they end up in the wrong place... always a good way to start! The reading itself is superlative; Georgia Moffett's voice is lovely, and she nailed the pacing perfectly. This is one I'm sure that I'll listen to again and again.

[Connie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Source: I own this book.
Cost: Unknown

Title: Snowglobe 7
Series: Doctor Who New Adventures #23
Author: Mike Tucker
Overall Rating: 3 stars

This book was nothing special.

It was interesting, of course it was, anything to do with Doctor Who has some form of entertainment associated with it, but I think that maybe after reading these books repetitively for so long as a kid/young teen has ruined them a little for me as I just can't seem to stay engaged fully. I find myself having to reread sections because I've started skim reading.

[Anka · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars

Reasons why I disliked this book:
* too many characters
* pov from boring side characters
* an annoying robot that somewhat becomes a companion for this story
* the climate change aspect just didn't add up
* monsters/enemies that were mediocre at best

Plot-wise it's a standard DW storyline but the execution was far from decent.

[Karla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Martha spends the whole book doing nothing (or what amounts to nothing), and I didn't think the characterizations were that good.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun and surprisingly solid read, almost like a typical David Tennent episode.

[Max · Rating 2 out of 5]

Admittedly some of my disappointment here is probably on me for expecting something different from what this book is, but a lot of it comes down to just the book itself. See I got interested in this Doctor Who novel in particular because of the setting, a near future Earth where due to rampant global warming parts of the Arctic have been stuck in giant domes for preservation. So it's sort of cold Silent Running. And I was expecting a story that really engaged with that premise, but instead it's all just set dressing for a pretty typical "trapped in a base" story that Doctor Who has done a million times. And it's not even a particularly good example of that genre.

The story here is a bit like cold Alien in the middle of Dubai. A crew investigating strange ancient carvings accidentally unleashes a space monster that's been frozen in the ice for thousands of years, and much like the xenomorph it reproduces by infecting people and doesn't much care for fire. This beast is also psychic and able to use its abilities to mind control its victims, which is kinda a neat twist. There's also a species of psychic aliens who've immigrated to Earth to play off of this, though in the end it felt like they exist just because the story needs a telepath besides the Doctor.

The problem is I never felt all that excited or invested in this story. It introduces a bunch of neat concepts that could've been thematically resonant, including the results of global warming, the space immigrants, and the way rich people keep partying while the world burns. But none of it ever has much done with it. And there are subplots that get a bunch of time spent on them that go nowhere, and Martha doesn't feel very Martha in this one - aside from her using her medical skills a little, her role could be filled by Generic Companion. (Hell, this maybe could've been made a more interesting story with Eleven, Rory, and Amy, thinking about the medical bit.) It feels like the Doctor spends way too long running around trying to communicate with the aliens before inevitably determining we have to kill them, and the way they get blown up isn't all that exciting either. At least the comic relief robot sidekick was entertaining.

So all in all this isn't quite the worst Doctor Who book I've read - I think that still goes to Coming of the Terraphiles or maybe some of the comics. But this is saved mostly by being relatively short, even if it did end up feeling like somewhat of a slog to get through. And it's too bad, because I've read other stories by this author and other stories with Martha that were fun. This one had a lot of potential, too bad it just never lived up to it.

[Dale Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Earth 2099

Another adventure with the 10th Doctor and his companions Martha Jones.

A nice relaxing beach vacation is just what the Doctor ordered (pun intended) and the TARDIS is just the machine to get them there. And where better to find that beach then in luxurious Dubai in Earth's Persian Gulf. Unfortunately, as things often do with the best laid plans of the Doctor, while they do manage to arrive in Dubai it's only to find themselves feet deep in snow and a raging blizzard intent on burying the TARDIS completely. But...things aren't always how they appear in the Doctor's universe.

Author Mike Tucker hits all the traditional story points as he spins as nice tale of space and time including climate change... frightening monsters... mind-control... the end of the world... and the Doctor there to save the day (after all, this is a TV SERIES!!!...lol)

Tucker has transitioned from providing visual effects for the BBC to working as his own boss in his Effects Compzny. Adding to those impressive credtials, Mike has crafted several Doctor Who novels of his own as well as other TV Tie-Ins such as the british series Merlin.

This was a fun story and had a real Whovian feel to it. I'm pretty sure most DW fans will enjoy the journey.

[Malinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5-4 stars

This was a pretty good story. The Doctor and Martha decide to go to the beach and end up inside a huge snow globe that is actually one of many that were set up in a future Earth to preserve vast sections of the Arctic and Antarctic snow/glaciers. When The Doctor and Martha find that there's a threat that's been frozen in the snow for many millennia and is now thawing out and threatening the Earth, it takes some fancy maneuvering and a bit of luck to work things out. Overall, this was a pretty enjoyable Doctor Who story.

* I listened to the audio version of this story and the narrator did a good job.

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

　温暖化が深刻になり、北極や南極の氷を保管するドームが世界中にできていた。ターディスが着地したのはドバイにあるそんなドームの中だった。

　そのドームの地下には氷河期時代に漂着したギャパという巨大生物が眠っていたが、発掘調査によってその眠りから覚め、飢えを満たすために狩りをはじめる。

　ギャパには軽いテレパシー能力があって、ギャパから吐き出される粉を吸い込むと、ギャパに食べられるために自ら出向き、餌になるかホストになるかの道を進むことになる。

　ギャパは絶滅危惧品種で、ドクターはなんとか救う道はないかとギャパとテレパシーでコミュニケーションを試みるも彼らの時間は尽きており、救う手立てはみつけられなかった。

[Itami · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can´t say much about this book except that I found the story very exciting. I never felt bored, lots of stuff happened, Ten and Martha were well written, the monsters were a bit too "standard" and the ending was kind of abrupt, but all in all this is one of the better DW novels. (PS: the Doctor befriends a giant robot which develops feelings and a consciousness and that´s pretty neat)

[Valkyrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

To think that the drive to preserve mankind lead to its near demise, along with the extinction of the Gappa whose supposed saviors had failed in their task to save the last of a dying spieces.

A gripping novel that tells of a species' will to survive and question if it should be done at the expense of mass genocide.

[Annie Lilley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second DW story I've read in as many weeks and a great addition! It felt like it could have been an episode I had watched, the author did such a good job with the characters! It also dropped in a couple of my favorite sci fi elements without being cliched, so I was a fan!

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot for this one was very apropos for today's worry about climate change. I was a little bummed that Martha and the Doctor spent so much time apart in this one I like it when they work together. Other then that I thought this was a good story and I can't wait to read the next one.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed it, but it only rated average for me. The ending felt a bit rushed.

[Josie Dabinett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best doctor who book out there but certainly not the worst.

[Kathryn Dunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

very good story, i just love the doctor <3

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyable book

[Amane Kabbaj · Rating 5 out of 5]

Martha gets a raw deal with the Doctor. At least the ending is pretty good. Even without the beach.