Doctor Who: City of Death

by Douglas Adams

BOOKS

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fiction, Audiobook

Paperback

First published December 1, 2012

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Douglas Noel Adams was an English author, humourist, and screenwriter, best known for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (HHGTTG). Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy developed into a "trilogy" of five books that sold more than 15 million copies in his lifetime. It was further developed into a television series, several stage plays, comics, a video game, and a 2005 feature film. Adams's contribution to UK radio is commemorated in The Radio Academy's Hall of Fame.
Adams also wrote Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987) and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988), and co-wrote The Meaning of Liff (1983), The Deeper Meaning of Liff (1990) and Last Chance to See (1990). He wrote two stories for the television series Doctor Who, co-wrote City of Death (1979), and served as script editor for its seventeenth season. He co-wrote the sketch "Patient Abuse" for the final episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus. A posthumous collection of his selected works, including the first publication of his final (unfinished) novel, was published as The Salmon of Doubt in 2002.
Adams was a self-proclaimed "radical atheist", an advocate for environmentalism and conservation, and a lover of fast cars, technological innovation, and the Apple Macintosh.

Reviews

[Emilija · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really love this episode when I watch it, in fact it's one of my favourite episodes of Classic Who. However, there is something about the novelisation that makes it feel much more complicated than it is, so I don't personally believe that it translated well to the written word.

I will say that I read two versions of this book at the same time (turns out I purchased two different versions of this novelisation without realizing it) and there were some really random differences, like when the chapters end. A couple of times, they finished in completely different places, and while that was odd, I found it quite entertaining to read both books at the same time and noting the differences.

[Leonardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This highly entertaining novel is an adaptation of Douglas Adams' adaptation of David Fisher's original idea for the classic serial from the 1970s. James Goss manages to capture Adams' memorable sense of humor and deep understanding of the rhythm of TV series. He also recovers many elements that we're eliminated in the transition from script to screen and combines them with the final version, even making a rather succesful attempt at explaining some loose ends from the TV version. Of course, the recreation of the main characters is quite satisfactory, but the portrayal of the villains and their motives is perhaps the best part of the book. In conclusion, this is a very funny reading that might even be quite interesting for non-Whovians.

[Xiang Li · Rating 5 out of 5]

欢快的道格拉斯～

[Cabra Sideral · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cidade da Morte é o meu top 3 melhores livros que já li.

[Bonnie Dale Keck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have saw the serial and the movies and read the books individually and as omnibus and different sets, hardback, still in my library, says a lot. Date wrong, just saw it to review. also listened to radio ones of course