Well-Mannered War

Doctor Who Novel Adaptations #5

by John Dorney, Gareth Roberts, Tom Baker (Reader)

The edges of space, the far distant future, an era even the Time Lords are not supposed to visit.

Laid claim to by disputing factions of humans and Chelonians, the planet Barclow has become the catalyst for an unusual war. In two hundred years of hostilities not a shot has been fired, and the opposing combatants are the best of friends.

But when the Doctor, Romana and K9 arrive, they discover the peace is not going to last. Something dangerous is happening behind the scenes. An election looms. Bodies are piling up. Tensions are growing. Someone, somewhere is trying to make this well-mannered war very angry indeed.

Only the Time-travellers can save the day. But that might be their biggest mistake.

Genres: Doctor Who, Audiobook, Science Fiction, Fiction

Audio CD

First published May 1, 2015

About the author

John Dorney is a British writer and actor best known for stage roles including the National Theatre, the BBC Radio 4 sitcom My First Planet; and his scripts for the Big Finish Doctor Who range. His script 'Solitaire' was rated the most popular Doctor Who Companion Chronicle of 2010 on the Timescales website and was the runner up in Unreality Sci-fi net's poll for Story of the Year 2010-11.

As well as Doctor Who, he has written for Big Finish's Sapphire and Steel series and on radio co-wrote three series of BBC Radio 4's Recorded for Training Purposes. He won the BBC Show Me the Funny 'Sketch Factor' competition, was a finalist in the BBC 'Laughing Stock' competition, and has performed in Mark Watson's Edinburgh Comedy Award winning long shows as 'The Balladeer'. On stage, he has written plays for the Royal Court Theatre, Hampstead and Soho Theatres.

He trained at LAMDA.

Reviews

[Emilija]

I thought this was a very hit and miss audiobook. It felt quite whimsical for such a heavy topic, so the whole book felt a bit odd.

I did however, really like K9 standing as a presidential candidate. I thought that it was really funny, with Romana as his campaign manager.

However the story felt really twisty. Everytime it felt like it was coming to a natural closing point, it felt like another twist happened, which led to the actual ending feeling really abrupt.

[Daniel Cork]

For this review, I would highly recommend reading my review on the novel as well since all my thoughts more or less are given there so I'll only be doing half of what I could review for this adaptation!

The Well-Mannered War is an incredible story, one of the best who novels, and John Dorney has done an exceptional job at adapting/abridging it for audio, it's dark, funny, intense and the cast are fantastic but the one thing I will say about this adaptation is that for the first half of this release, the sound design could have been more impressive, certain scenes lack a kind of punch to them which lets it down a little so I'm going to do two ratings here and put them together as one to get a more accurate score!

Part One and Two: 9/10

Part Three and Four: 10/10

Overall: A fantastic release, the novel is of course better but John Dorney seems to be the absolute king when it comes to adapting other people's work for the medium, he stays true to the original source material whilst making it very effective for audio. 9.5/10

[Steven]

Excellent and constantly twisting Doctor Who story that is like a Russian Doll uncovering layer after layer of increasing sophistication.

[Chris]

I loved that K-9 was a presidential candidate, but this seems to end on a cliffhanger.

[Steven Shinder]

The ending felt really abrupt.

[Josh]

I really enjoyed this even though it turns out that the cliffhanger at the end of the story is never resolved. SMH.

K9 is a delight in this, I'd vote for him.

Romana is fun, the Doctor has some iconic lines. It's a somewhat comedic story despite literally being about war and the destruction of humanity.

The killer flys are... an exciting antagonist and the Black Guardians' return, although short-lived (due to the cliffhanger) it's an exciting return and well played by David Troughton.

Oh and the return of one of my favourite side characters, Menlove Stokes, he's great, give him a spin-off.

[Rebecca]

I realize that this was written as a novel, not an audiobook. However, this may be the worst use of Tom Baker in the entire Doctor Who series. Although there are some funny points with K=9, this manages to make Tom Baker boring....

[Kevin Harber]

This one took a couple twists I was not expecting!

[Viviana]

[audiobook]

[Mel]

I loved the original novel of this story. Reading it I could easily picture Tom and Lalla acting all this out. Big finish did a brilliant job of adapting it. They really captured the feel and the humour of the story. One of my favourite things about this adventure is what a large part Romana and K9 play in figuring out the plot. I love K9 as the presidential candidate. I love the creepy dead, bug aliens, the idea of the very civilised war, the fem droids. It's all beautifully brought to life in the audio. I don't think the BBC would have done half as well with this story. Very highly recommended!

[Jennifer]

Tom Baker's 4th Doctor is invariably a joy to listen to and in this outing I also enjoyed Romana and K9 which is not something I can always say. The story started well with the well-mannered war of the title which was quite thought provoking as well as funny, especially with the treat of Tim McInnerney's negotiator. K9 standing for election and the Doctor's encounter with the revolutionary were both excellent (shades of The Life of Brian in the latter, although no copy)

But the story got rather too complicated.

[Colin]

Modern 4th Doctor stories are a delicate balancing act, trying to replicate the unbelievable mix of whimsy and gravitas that Tom Baker originally brought to the role. This one struggled a lot with that mix - I felt it careened far to close to the whimsy side on several occasions . . . on the other hand, it was still a quite excellent 4th Doctor story . . . so I liked it, I just wish I could have loved it!

[Richard Harrison]

Enjoyed the comedy of this one with K9 running for office and Tim McInnerny reprising his role as Menlove Stokes