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Doctor Who by Douglas Adams #4
Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen
Intergalactic war? That’s just not cricket … or is it?
The Doctor promised Romana the end of the universe, so she’s less than impressed when what she gets is a cricket match. But then the award ceremony is interrupted by eleven figures in white uniforms and peaked skull helmets, wielding bat-shaped weapons that fire lethal bolts of light into the screaming crowd. The Krikkitmen are back.
Millions of years ago, the people of Krikkit learned they were not alone in the universe, and promptly launched a xenophobic crusade to wipe out all other life-forms. After a long and bloody conflict, the Time Lords imprisoned Krikkit within an envelope of Slow Time, a prison that could only be opened with the Wicket Gate key, a device that resembles – to human eyes, at least – an oversized set of cricket stumps…
From Earth to Gallifrey, from Bethselamin to Devalin, from Krikkit to Mareeve II to the far edge of infinity, the Doctor and Romana are tugged into a pan-galactic conga with fate as they rush to stop the Krikkitmen gaining all five pieces of the key. If they fail, the entire cosmos faces a fiery retribution that will leave nothing but ashes…
The Doctor promised Romana the end of the universe, so she’s less than impressed when what she gets is a cricket match. But then the award ceremony is interrupted by eleven figures in white uniforms and peaked skull helmets, wielding bat-shaped weapons that fire lethal bolts of light into the screaming crowd. The Krikkitmen are back.
Millions of years ago, the people of Krikkit learned they were not alone in the universe, and promptly launched a xenophobic crusade to wipe out all other life-forms. After a long and bloody conflict, the Time Lords imprisoned Krikkit within an envelope of Slow Time, a prison that could only be opened with the Wicket Gate key, a device that resembles – to human eyes, at least – an oversized set of cricket stumps…
From Earth to Gallifrey, from Bethselamin to Devalin, from Krikkit to Mareeve II to the far edge of infinity, the Doctor and Romana are tugged into a pan-galactic conga with fate as they rush to stop the Krikkitmen gaining all five pieces of the key. If they fail, the entire cosmos faces a fiery retribution that will leave nothing but ashes…
406 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2018
66 people are currently reading
593 people want to read
About the author
James Goss
231 books181 followersJames Goss has written two Torchwood novels and a radio play, as well as a Being Human book. His Doctor Who audiobook Dead Air won Best Audiobook 2010. James also spent seven years working on the BBC's official Doctor Who website and co-wrote the website for Torchwood Series One. In 2007, he won the Best Adaptation category in the annual LA Weekly Theatre Awards for his version of Douglas Adams' novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 120 reviews
January 14, 2019
A great story but got ball tampering!
This is a novelization of the never-produced movie proposal by Douglas Adams, for “Doctor Who”, which eventually the very Douglas Adams used the material for “Life, the Universe and Everything” (third book in the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”).
WHO
The Doctor:
The Fourth Doctor
Companions:
Romana II & K-9 (Mark II)
WHERE & WHEN
Around the galaxy. Several time periods.
WHAT
The Doctor takes Romana to a Cricket game on Earth, since it seems that the end of the universe will begin there, and he’s not mistaken since soon enough a squad of Krikkitmen, fearful xenophobic sentient robots appeared shooting.
That was bad, yes, but the read bad thing was that it was supposed to be impossible that one single Krikkitmen would be free in the galaxy…
…and that only means that the universe is in peril, again.
The Krikkitmen were an unstoppable menace, many eons ago, and the galaxy was in such threat that the Time Lords had to intervene…
…but while it was supposed to use an ingenious way to deal with the Krikkitmen…
…once again, the threat is on, and the Doctor has to take the matters in his own hands.
The Krikkitmen was a proposal to make a theatrical film of Doctor Who, and even the original script has Sarah Jane Smith as the companion for the Fourth Doctor. However, never got green light and the story got buried in the personal papers of Douglas Adams, and he even used the ideas to take shape in his third novel in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy saga.
So…
…Since the recent previous adaptations of Douglas Adams’ stories never put in paper before have sold so well…
…it was obvious to go to the stored documents of Adams to fish yet another tale!
I love Shada (see my review about it) adapted by Gareth Roberts, and I read the other adaptations of Pirate Planet and City of Death by James Goss (the author of this very adaptation), but I truly feel that Gareth Roberts was WAY better understanding what the late Douglas Adams wanted to do with his stories, Gareth Roberts is a related mind to Adams. And while I am sure that James Goss put his soul to the task of adapting his assigned books, something got miss in the road…
…and here, happened again.
Especially, since I think that “less is more”, and I believe that Goss wanted to put so much in the adaptation (probably to avoid to fall into a mere copy of “Life, the Universe and Everything”) that Goss lost his way in the process, started so good and so fun, I was having a blast, but later he added unnecesary (and pointless) chapters in the middle of the journey, tediously extending a cool tale that it could be told…
…with so many less words…
…getting better rhythm.
This is a novelization of the never-produced movie proposal by Douglas Adams, for “Doctor Who”, which eventually the very Douglas Adams used the material for “Life, the Universe and Everything” (third book in the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”).
WHO
The Doctor:
The Fourth Doctor
Companions:
Romana II & K-9 (Mark II)
WHERE & WHEN
Around the galaxy. Several time periods.
WHAT
The Doctor takes Romana to a Cricket game on Earth, since it seems that the end of the universe will begin there, and he’s not mistaken since soon enough a squad of Krikkitmen, fearful xenophobic sentient robots appeared shooting.
That was bad, yes, but the read bad thing was that it was supposed to be impossible that one single Krikkitmen would be free in the galaxy…
…and that only means that the universe is in peril, again.
The Krikkitmen were an unstoppable menace, many eons ago, and the galaxy was in such threat that the Time Lords had to intervene…
…but while it was supposed to use an ingenious way to deal with the Krikkitmen…
…once again, the threat is on, and the Doctor has to take the matters in his own hands.
The Krikkitmen was a proposal to make a theatrical film of Doctor Who, and even the original script has Sarah Jane Smith as the companion for the Fourth Doctor. However, never got green light and the story got buried in the personal papers of Douglas Adams, and he even used the ideas to take shape in his third novel in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy saga.
So…
…Since the recent previous adaptations of Douglas Adams’ stories never put in paper before have sold so well…
…it was obvious to go to the stored documents of Adams to fish yet another tale!
I love Shada (see my review about it) adapted by Gareth Roberts, and I read the other adaptations of Pirate Planet and City of Death by James Goss (the author of this very adaptation), but I truly feel that Gareth Roberts was WAY better understanding what the late Douglas Adams wanted to do with his stories, Gareth Roberts is a related mind to Adams. And while I am sure that James Goss put his soul to the task of adapting his assigned books, something got miss in the road…
…and here, happened again.
Especially, since I think that “less is more”, and I believe that Goss wanted to put so much in the adaptation (probably to avoid to fall into a mere copy of “Life, the Universe and Everything”) that Goss lost his way in the process, started so good and so fun, I was having a blast, but later he added unnecesary (and pointless) chapters in the middle of the journey, tediously extending a cool tale that it could be told…
…with so many less words…
…getting better rhythm.
June 5, 2022
It's nice that Douglas Adams has a connection to Doctor Who and after Goss's two novelisations of serials that appeared on screen during the late 1970's, It made sense for him to tackle an unproduced script that Adams had submitted for a movie idea.
Judging by the book it's such a Shane tgat it never materialised, though Adams known for not letting a good idea go to waste used the template of this story for the Third Hitchhikers book.
I'm kinda glad that I'd not read that, so I could come to the story fresh.
It's such a fun galactic romp that you'd expect from Adams, but with plenty of crickets puns thrown in for good measure.
Goss also elevates the plot with plenty of Who references to other story's that kept me grinning throughout.
I do wonder if the BBC are trying to aim these books to a wider audience, though I feel many of the references would be lost on someone who's not familiar with Seasom 17 and beyond.
There's also some nice touches like the book perfectly consisting of 42 chapters and wonderful nods to some of Adams other works.
This was a preference read for me as I love this satirist humour alongside this TARDIS team.
Judging by the book it's such a Shane tgat it never materialised, though Adams known for not letting a good idea go to waste used the template of this story for the Third Hitchhikers book.
I'm kinda glad that I'd not read that, so I could come to the story fresh.
It's such a fun galactic romp that you'd expect from Adams, but with plenty of crickets puns thrown in for good measure.
Goss also elevates the plot with plenty of Who references to other story's that kept me grinning throughout.
I do wonder if the BBC are trying to aim these books to a wider audience, though I feel many of the references would be lost on someone who's not familiar with Seasom 17 and beyond.
There's also some nice touches like the book perfectly consisting of 42 chapters and wonderful nods to some of Adams other works.
This was a preference read for me as I love this satirist humour alongside this TARDIS team.
May 17, 2019
This was an utterly delightful read by James Goss who certainly has a knack for Douglas Adams works. I read Shada last year which I also enjoyed and was glad to see Professor Chronotis appear in this book as well and the prison Shada itself.
If you love quirky humour and weird, Time-Lord lore, then this book is perfect. There is so much quirky Time-Lord knowledge in this book that made me grin or smile frequently throughout the book.
I also love how Romana was portrayed in this book. There were SO many great moments that I had to mark and will probably talk about them at great length in a Tumblr post. Her being a midwife for Jal was hilarious.
Really enjoyed this read.
If you love quirky humour and weird, Time-Lord lore, then this book is perfect. There is so much quirky Time-Lord knowledge in this book that made me grin or smile frequently throughout the book.
I also love how Romana was portrayed in this book. There were SO many great moments that I had to mark and will probably talk about them at great length in a Tumblr post. Her being a midwife for Jal was hilarious.
Really enjoyed this read.
Read
March 3, 2018Douglas Adams' Who film pitch, which he subsequently cannibalised for Life, the Universe and Everything, rendered into full prose by James Goss, by some distance my favourite Who book writer to emerge since the show came back to TV*. Importantly, unlike certain other Adams-derived projects which were given to wholly unsuitable writers, it's often impossible to know where Adams ends and Goss begins, even when some pieces reference - or prefigure? - later Who. And by George, from the description of cricket - ''As if a prep school teacher had tried to demonstrate eternity" - to the description of the TARDIS - "If a blue wooden box tiptoeing into heaven could be said to frown, it frowned" - they can both write.
The story opens with Romana appalled at a cricket match, what with it seeming to pastiche ancient interstellar atrocities. The game is soon disrupted by killer robots who look like cricketers, and then we're soon off on a quest to collect the bits of a cosmic macguffin - a quest whose similarity to the Key to Time is noted. But this time it's done considerably quicker, taking in locations such as a planet of offended people (this section is very 2018), and an oceanic paradise derailed by the arrival of a single refugee estate agent (this section is also very 2018, but knowing how Adams tended to rag on estate agents, that's probably just because the Doctor has never been kind enough to overthrow our economic system in the intervening years). My favourite was probably the planet where everything is absolutely fine, and a frustrated Doctor keeps looking for conspiracies in every shadow, unable to cope with a world where there's nothing for him to do. And - at least as a Who story - this really could only work with Tom Baker. Both the events and the narration derive much of their humour from the sense that the Doctor is more than anything a freakishly lucky bullshitter, a somewhat spoilt child rampaging around the cosmos out of rainy day boredom as much as righteousness. In some ways it's quite a scurrilous undermining of the very foundations of the character...but when it comes to the Fourth Doctor, especially in his later seasons, you can't deny there's some justice to it. And in the end, the universe is of course saved, and everything ties together quite neatly, so long as you ignore the existence of red-shift (which Adams should have known about, and Goss could certainly have corrected without too much damage to anything that matters). There's a lingering suspicion that this would have made an absolutely terrible big-screen outing - and I say that as one of the few enthusiasts for the Hitchhiker's film. But as a very silly book it's enormously good fun.
And of course, once it's established that the rest of the galaxy finds cricket to be an astonishingly tasteless re-enactment of galactic atrocities, in part explaining why so many aliens not only invade Earth but start with the Home Counties, you do start wondering about the Fifth's outfit. Well, not to worry, that gets explained too, if only by implication.
Back-matter includes an explanation of the various Adams components Goss has used (Adams really was an inveterate recycler of his own material), the text of Adams' original pitch, and the opening of Goss' previous attempt at doing the book, with Sarah Jane Smith instead of Romana. I'm glad he didn't use this version, not because it's not good - it may even be better - but because it kept making me cry, and I prefer that we got the one which kept making me laugh instead.
*I'm not just saying that because of Goss' Torchwood book where Captain Jack shags the aliens into submission and, instead of taking over the world, they revive the Cardiff gay scene. But it certainly didn't hurt. Didn't hurt Goss' place in my esteem, I mean; the exact nature of Jack's sex with the aliens was not explored in that level of detail.
The story opens with Romana appalled at a cricket match, what with it seeming to pastiche ancient interstellar atrocities. The game is soon disrupted by killer robots who look like cricketers, and then we're soon off on a quest to collect the bits of a cosmic macguffin - a quest whose similarity to the Key to Time is noted. But this time it's done considerably quicker, taking in locations such as a planet of offended people (this section is very 2018), and an oceanic paradise derailed by the arrival of a single refugee estate agent (this section is also very 2018, but knowing how Adams tended to rag on estate agents, that's probably just because the Doctor has never been kind enough to overthrow our economic system in the intervening years). My favourite was probably the planet where everything is absolutely fine, and a frustrated Doctor keeps looking for conspiracies in every shadow, unable to cope with a world where there's nothing for him to do. And - at least as a Who story - this really could only work with Tom Baker. Both the events and the narration derive much of their humour from the sense that the Doctor is more than anything a freakishly lucky bullshitter, a somewhat spoilt child rampaging around the cosmos out of rainy day boredom as much as righteousness. In some ways it's quite a scurrilous undermining of the very foundations of the character...but when it comes to the Fourth Doctor, especially in his later seasons, you can't deny there's some justice to it. And in the end, the universe is of course saved, and everything ties together quite neatly, so long as you ignore the existence of red-shift (which Adams should have known about, and Goss could certainly have corrected without too much damage to anything that matters). There's a lingering suspicion that this would have made an absolutely terrible big-screen outing - and I say that as one of the few enthusiasts for the Hitchhiker's film. But as a very silly book it's enormously good fun.
And of course, once it's established that the rest of the galaxy finds cricket to be an astonishingly tasteless re-enactment of galactic atrocities, in part explaining why so many aliens not only invade Earth but start with the Home Counties, you do start wondering about the Fifth's outfit. Well, not to worry, that gets explained too, if only by implication.
Back-matter includes an explanation of the various Adams components Goss has used (Adams really was an inveterate recycler of his own material), the text of Adams' original pitch, and the opening of Goss' previous attempt at doing the book, with Sarah Jane Smith instead of Romana. I'm glad he didn't use this version, not because it's not good - it may even be better - but because it kept making me cry, and I prefer that we got the one which kept making me laugh instead.
*I'm not just saying that because of Goss' Torchwood book where Captain Jack shags the aliens into submission and, instead of taking over the world, they revive the Cardiff gay scene. But it certainly didn't hurt. Didn't hurt Goss' place in my esteem, I mean; the exact nature of Jack's sex with the aliens was not explored in that level of detail.
October 20, 2020
(Currently unfinished).
Let's start with the obligatory disclaimer - I love Douglas Adams' works, and I'm a huge Who fan.
However...
The decision (made back in the swamps of time) not to turn this proposal for a Doctor Who story into a film/tv show was absolutely right. This is Who in so much as it has The Doctor, Romana and K9 in it, and lots of links to canon, but that's like saying I've made a roulade by throwing eggs, sugar and some cream in a bucket. Sure, the ingredients are there, but this is an entirely different recipe.
James Goss does an admirable job of recreating Adams' tone, but the huge effort put into hitting the punchlines and building the ridiculous scenarios only emphasises how un-Who-like the story is. Whilst Who is more than capable of humour and sending itself up (gently, for fear the cardboard sets might fall over), it doesn't do so well as a satire. We've got to believe in the world just enough to take the science-y bits seriously, and feel a little peril. Yet here, the whole story feels like it's there to support the jokes, and 'who' the main characters are is nearly irrelevant.
When references to Who itself are used, the self referential humour threatens to pull the whole edifice down.
"I knew it," sighed the Doctor, "we're on another quest."
There's far too much telling and not enough showing going on here, with everything explained in great detail to make sure you get the joke. Perhaps Adams' style hasn't aged well, but I feel it's more that this weird mash up of universes doesn't serve either the author or the subject well.
I hate to leave books unfinished, but the incentive to get through this one is feeling a little thin. Perhaps it'll pick up, but I'm not sure I'll reach that point before I give in. As a surprisingly long book, it's proving a little challenging.
Let's start with the obligatory disclaimer - I love Douglas Adams' works, and I'm a huge Who fan.
However...
The decision (made back in the swamps of time) not to turn this proposal for a Doctor Who story into a film/tv show was absolutely right. This is Who in so much as it has The Doctor, Romana and K9 in it, and lots of links to canon, but that's like saying I've made a roulade by throwing eggs, sugar and some cream in a bucket. Sure, the ingredients are there, but this is an entirely different recipe.
James Goss does an admirable job of recreating Adams' tone, but the huge effort put into hitting the punchlines and building the ridiculous scenarios only emphasises how un-Who-like the story is. Whilst Who is more than capable of humour and sending itself up (gently, for fear the cardboard sets might fall over), it doesn't do so well as a satire. We've got to believe in the world just enough to take the science-y bits seriously, and feel a little peril. Yet here, the whole story feels like it's there to support the jokes, and 'who' the main characters are is nearly irrelevant.
When references to Who itself are used, the self referential humour threatens to pull the whole edifice down.
"I knew it," sighed the Doctor, "we're on another quest."
There's far too much telling and not enough showing going on here, with everything explained in great detail to make sure you get the joke. Perhaps Adams' style hasn't aged well, but I feel it's more that this weird mash up of universes doesn't serve either the author or the subject well.
I hate to leave books unfinished, but the incentive to get through this one is feeling a little thin. Perhaps it'll pick up, but I'm not sure I'll reach that point before I give in. As a surprisingly long book, it's proving a little challenging.
March 20, 2022
The weakest of the three adaptations of Douglas Adams' "Doctor Who" work by James Goss. "The Krikkitmen" is based on an unproduced 1970s film synopsis, and it shows. Possibly the most interesting part is that it highlights both Adams' weaknesses in its meandering structure and tendency to bounce between frustratingly underdeveloped parody worlds, and Goss' weaknesses in, well, not being as good a writer as Douglas Adams to make all of this seem brilliantly clever and insightful rather than frustratingly self-indulgent. It doesn’t help that we only see all this from the eyes of the Fourth Doctor and Romana, a pairing that although delightful when done well can quickly become insufferable if not given some human perspective as a counterbalance. An occasionally clever but largely exhausting read, it's for completists only.
January 3, 2018
This was my chosen Christmas present and I was not disappointed. James Goss has pretty much found Douglas's voice and produced a full book from the original, admittedly very full, outline.
I know that many will have said pah, Krikkitmen, that has already been done in HHG 3 - Life, the Universe and Everything, but this is a much fuller retelling with added Tom Baker. Go for it.
I know that many will have said pah, Krikkitmen, that has already been done in HHG 3 - Life, the Universe and Everything, but this is a much fuller retelling with added Tom Baker. Go for it.
June 25, 2022
(Synopsis) - Intergalactic war? That’s just not cricket … or is it? The Doctor promised Romana the end of the universe, so she’s less than impressed when what she gets is a cricket match. But then the award ceremony is interrupted by eleven figures in white uniforms and peaked skull helmets, wielding bat-shaped weapons that fire lethal bolts of light into the screaming crowd. The Krikkitmen are back.
(Review) - Unlike a few people who read this book I actually quite enjoyed it, this story was originally written by Douglas Adams to be an episode on the show, which was rejected so he then turned it into a movie idea that also didn't go anywhere, so never one to throw a good idea away he retooled the idea into his 3rd hitchhikers book which is where I first experienced it a few years ago now. Now it could be the fact that I enjoyed it then, that I enjoyed it now, which is possible, also it could be that I love the 4th Doctor and Romana. Or it could be that this book felt like a history piece taking you on an adventure through the world of 70th Doctor who with Tom bakers incarnation popping up in random moments and just being his crazy long scarf self, or it could be all of the above! This book was just pure fun and if you read the series of lost books in order then you'll enjoy this book more as it references a lot of the doctors prior adventures in the last 3 books and we even visit a few old faces and places! This book inturn works as fun end to the adventure you have been on with the Doctor and for those of us paying attention the references are there to make the landing at the end of the adventure just that more softer. I am sad this series is over, but i sit in the garden now as I write this and smile knowing that there is always more 4th Doctor adventures out there still for me to experience! So at the end of the day, these lost adventures have now been found by me and my time with the Doctor is far from over.
5/5 Stars GoodReads 🌟⭐⭐⭐⭐
100/100 GingerPoints 🔥🔥
(Review) - Unlike a few people who read this book I actually quite enjoyed it, this story was originally written by Douglas Adams to be an episode on the show, which was rejected so he then turned it into a movie idea that also didn't go anywhere, so never one to throw a good idea away he retooled the idea into his 3rd hitchhikers book which is where I first experienced it a few years ago now. Now it could be the fact that I enjoyed it then, that I enjoyed it now, which is possible, also it could be that I love the 4th Doctor and Romana. Or it could be that this book felt like a history piece taking you on an adventure through the world of 70th Doctor who with Tom bakers incarnation popping up in random moments and just being his crazy long scarf self, or it could be all of the above! This book was just pure fun and if you read the series of lost books in order then you'll enjoy this book more as it references a lot of the doctors prior adventures in the last 3 books and we even visit a few old faces and places! This book inturn works as fun end to the adventure you have been on with the Doctor and for those of us paying attention the references are there to make the landing at the end of the adventure just that more softer. I am sad this series is over, but i sit in the garden now as I write this and smile knowing that there is always more 4th Doctor adventures out there still for me to experience! So at the end of the day, these lost adventures have now been found by me and my time with the Doctor is far from over.
5/5 Stars GoodReads 🌟⭐⭐⭐⭐
100/100 GingerPoints 🔥🔥
June 8, 2022
You have to love Four as written by Douglas Adams and I really like the way he makes him interact with Romana. I think the pacing in this was weird, but it all comes together in the end.
I would recommend this to any Doctor Who fan.
I would recommend this to any Doctor Who fan.
February 12, 2018
I like Douglas Adams, and have read all his HHGG and Dirk Gently novels. I like Doctor Who and have read all the Douglas Adams novels written by Gareth Roberts and James Goss. Unfortunately I have found the last two 'Pirate Planet' and the 'Krikketmen' quite dull. Don't get me wrong, JG manages to write in the style of DA, the jokes are there, the witty one-liners also, but like the 'Pirate Planet' I found myself continuously checking how many pages to go. I did enjoy the story, and it was interesting to compare with the HHGH novel 'Life, the Universe and Everything', where DA recycled his Krikketmen idea. However I did find it a slog and I really can't explain why, as it has everything that I should enjoy, the Forth Doctor,the Second Romana and K9, but I didn't.
I have given it 3 stars in order that I don't discourage others to read it, but I for one wont be reading it again for the forseeable future.
I have given it 3 stars in order that I don't discourage others to read it, but I for one wont be reading it again for the forseeable future.
March 10, 2018
A total surprise: the un-filmed Douglas Adams story, a legend in "Doctor Who" circles, cannibalized for Adams' "Life, the Universe, and Everything"...finally brought to the page as a 4th Doctor/Romana/K9 novel. What's not a surprise: the story is witty, funny, profound and profane...and overwrought, over-plotted, and so over-the-top you can read it in orbit. In every way, it reflects the triumphs & nightmares that embody the 17th season of classic "Doctor Who" -- an ungainly, uncomfortable beast that occasionally shines like star fire...only to hide its face when it follows it up with a fart for the ages. Reading this novel causes one to fluctuate between joy, embarrassment, admiration, and relentless exhaustion...but to James Goss' credit, it is certainly a memorable experience.
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October 1, 2021Es ist einfach offline gegangen bei Spotify.
Bin also mittendrin erstmal hängen geblieben 🙈
Bin also mittendrin erstmal hängen geblieben 🙈
September 10, 2020
I'm going to give it the 4 star. Though I feel like it fits somewhere between 3.5 and 4. It's an amazing story, hilarious , over the top. Made me laugh out loud even, but oh my was it hard to follow at times and slightly confusing and it was so much to take in that one could almost forget what actually happens at the beginning of the story in relation to the end. All in all though. Still a worthwhile read that once I was into it I could not put down.
July 9, 2018
Solid if unexceptional novelisation of an unmade Doctor Who script for TV and/or film written by Douglas Adams. He ended up reusing a lot of the material for the third book in his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. I probably would have loved this when I was a teen, but am kind of over Adams and his humor. And this book, due to it's quest narrative gets quite repetitive at times and irritating. One for the fans, but of whom?
November 30, 2018
I love Doctor Who and I love Douglas Adams so... surprise I loved this book.
March 6, 2020
Douglas Adams Buch 5 Sterne, aber als Dr Who... Bin ich nicht so überzeugt
February 10, 2025
ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC
July 16, 2018
Before 2005, there was no better-known writer for Doctor Who than Douglas Adams. The man who became famous for The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy was Doctor Who's one-time script editor and responsible in part for the Fourth Doctor classic City Of Death. There were also the stories The Pirate Planet, Shada (which, despite never finishing its recording in 1979, has now become the most completed Doctor Who story of all time), and The Kirkkitmen. For decades, all most fans knew of the latter story was that it may or may not have been an intended Doctor Who movie and instead, Adams (never one to waste ideas) used elements of it for his later novel Life, The Universe, And Everything. Now Krikkitmen has become a Who story, after all, a novel published by BBC Books. How does this version of it stand up?
If you are one of the millions who read Adams' third Hitchhikers novel, you'll likely recognize many of the plot points and elements at play. The basics of the story are the same from the robotic Krikkitmen to their creators on a planet hidden in a dust cloud whose discovery of the rest of the universe drove them on a mad crusade to destroy it. The novel though isn't merely substituting the Fourth Doctor (the one with the scarf, teeth, and curls), Romana, and robot dog K-9 for Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, and the Hitchhikers cast. The destination may be the same, the journey, however, is significantly different from trips to Gallifrey to a meeting with the intergalactic conqueror The Great Khan and even a return to elements from a previous Adams Who story.
Even better is that it often reads like vintage Adams. As was the case with the 2012 novelization of Shada by Gareth Roberts, much of the novel's success lies in how much it can capture Adams style without being a bad imitation of it. James Goss (who previously novelized Adams other two Who stories) manages to do so here splendidly with much of the novel capturing Adams humor with laugh out loud moments alongside a science fiction caper plot. Indeed, as the first two appendixes reveal, Goss was keen to include as much previously unpublished Adams material as possible and the lines between what is Goss and what is Adams being difficult to discern. It's something that makes the novel of interest to fans of both the series and Adams work.
Goss' effort to incorporate so much Adams material is also a slight problem. Scenes such as those with Great Khan, while fun to read, add little to the narrative. Indeed, the last forty pages of the novel aren't, in fact, the novel at all but three appendixes with one being the original storyline for the project and another with Goss explaining better the origins of the material. That isn't even the novel's worst issue.
Krikkitmen as a novel also suffers from something fans of Classic Who will likely recognize. Remember how often six-part serials could drag around episodes three to five in an attempt to drag the plot out as much as possible? This novel is no exception to that rule and, perhaps more surprisingly, that lies not with Adams but with Goss. During the quest portion of the narrative and once the plot starts working towards the finale, Goss begins inserting new material of his own (including a pair of gentlemen who show up trying to launch a new religion). While in the Adams' vein, like the need to include as much of the original writers material, it doesn't add much. Indeed, it sends the narrative off on tangents including one involving Romana and Margaret Thatcher of all things! With the narrative pace reduced to a crawl, it also makes an otherwise pleasant read into a bit of a chore at times which is sad.
It's sad because The Kirkkitmen is a genuinely fun read a lot of the time. It's a fascinating alternate version of a story that Adams fans thought they knew and is more than a simple reworking of it. Only it's brought down both by what reads like an effort to make a designated word count and, to a lesser extent, a need to fill it in with as much Adams material as possible. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing, and Goss' work here is proof of that fact. At the end of the day, what fans of Who and Adams will find is a decent novel but not a great one.
If you are one of the millions who read Adams' third Hitchhikers novel, you'll likely recognize many of the plot points and elements at play. The basics of the story are the same from the robotic Krikkitmen to their creators on a planet hidden in a dust cloud whose discovery of the rest of the universe drove them on a mad crusade to destroy it. The novel though isn't merely substituting the Fourth Doctor (the one with the scarf, teeth, and curls), Romana, and robot dog K-9 for Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, and the Hitchhikers cast. The destination may be the same, the journey, however, is significantly different from trips to Gallifrey to a meeting with the intergalactic conqueror The Great Khan and even a return to elements from a previous Adams Who story.
Even better is that it often reads like vintage Adams. As was the case with the 2012 novelization of Shada by Gareth Roberts, much of the novel's success lies in how much it can capture Adams style without being a bad imitation of it. James Goss (who previously novelized Adams other two Who stories) manages to do so here splendidly with much of the novel capturing Adams humor with laugh out loud moments alongside a science fiction caper plot. Indeed, as the first two appendixes reveal, Goss was keen to include as much previously unpublished Adams material as possible and the lines between what is Goss and what is Adams being difficult to discern. It's something that makes the novel of interest to fans of both the series and Adams work.
Goss' effort to incorporate so much Adams material is also a slight problem. Scenes such as those with Great Khan, while fun to read, add little to the narrative. Indeed, the last forty pages of the novel aren't, in fact, the novel at all but three appendixes with one being the original storyline for the project and another with Goss explaining better the origins of the material. That isn't even the novel's worst issue.
Krikkitmen as a novel also suffers from something fans of Classic Who will likely recognize. Remember how often six-part serials could drag around episodes three to five in an attempt to drag the plot out as much as possible? This novel is no exception to that rule and, perhaps more surprisingly, that lies not with Adams but with Goss. During the quest portion of the narrative and once the plot starts working towards the finale, Goss begins inserting new material of his own (including a pair of gentlemen who show up trying to launch a new religion). While in the Adams' vein, like the need to include as much of the original writers material, it doesn't add much. Indeed, it sends the narrative off on tangents including one involving Romana and Margaret Thatcher of all things! With the narrative pace reduced to a crawl, it also makes an otherwise pleasant read into a bit of a chore at times which is sad.
It's sad because The Kirkkitmen is a genuinely fun read a lot of the time. It's a fascinating alternate version of a story that Adams fans thought they knew and is more than a simple reworking of it. Only it's brought down both by what reads like an effort to make a designated word count and, to a lesser extent, a need to fill it in with as much Adams material as possible. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing, and Goss' work here is proof of that fact. At the end of the day, what fans of Who and Adams will find is a decent novel but not a great one.
June 27, 2019
Rating between 3 & 3.5
I am not really sure how i feel about this novel/story. I like the majority of DA's output although I do find that when his creative process was not tightly controlled it suffered. For example HHGTTG Primary Phase is very good, however Secondary Phase which was written and produced under very tight deadlines is very patchy by comparison. Dirk Gently had good ideas but even DA himself, when asked about the plot, said he could not see how it got from A to Z even after re-reading it.
Similarly his Doctor Who work is very good but occasionally falls into just being silly for the sake of it I feel. And this is from someone who watched all of the Tom Baker years as they were originally broadcast. After seeing or hearing all available versions of Shada, that appears to have gained its critical status mainly due to the uncompleted and non-broadcast state of the show. All versions for me are simply okay with some good parts and other 'okay' ones.
For want of a better thought - varsity humor does not age very well I feel [I like Monty Python but find a majority of the tv shows simply annoying when I watch now].
Anyway back to this novel ..... it is definitely one with 2 halves for me.
The first part at times felt like a pastiche of DA's style as seen in HHGTTG only the author is trying too hard. As a result the Doctor and Romana do not feel like the same characters I grew up with or indeed the same characters as heard in the Big Finish audios currently being produced. Also if you are a DA fan and have read his other works, the use of story elements that he re-purposed for other works, being used here in their 'original' settings feels 'off'. I cannot really put it into words what I mean but it just didn't hang together very well for. And in fact the whole concept behind the story does not really feel like Original Who (Nu Who possibly but cannot say myself). Perhaps if the story had been produced as a stand alone movie then that issue might be gone away after rewrites etc.
At the half way point the novel seems to change its style and mood - it goes from being a DA style pastiche and becomes a more straightforward science fiction/fantasy novel with more of a harder edge to it. But even here the re-writing of the Time Lords history and stated aims (plus this sudden addition of War TARDIS which I'm sure i remember in a doctor who comic strip many years ago) does not really ring true for the 4th Doctor/Romana era. There is a continued small nod to the DA comedy with the accident prone Borusa but otherwise I found a lot of the humor that was present earlier had disappeared.
I do wish the author had settled on a style and kept to it - either DA pastiche with serious bits or completely serious science fiction (or fantasy).
Overall I feel that this 'lost' story (or more accurately not produced story) should have stayed so.
Based on this adaptation I cannot really see how the story would have fed into the Doctor Who canon between 1976 and 1981 (approximately) even if the companion had been some one new or just not Romana. As I said above perhaps if the story was a stand alone film then it might have worked but i am doubtful as in that case the story would have read like the Peter Cushing Dalek movies (or the Terry Nation Dalek pilot).
The book is an okay read for me, it dragged in a couple of places but nothing really makes it bad or great - i found it simply okay.
I am not really sure how i feel about this novel/story. I like the majority of DA's output although I do find that when his creative process was not tightly controlled it suffered. For example HHGTTG Primary Phase is very good, however Secondary Phase which was written and produced under very tight deadlines is very patchy by comparison. Dirk Gently had good ideas but even DA himself, when asked about the plot, said he could not see how it got from A to Z even after re-reading it.
Similarly his Doctor Who work is very good but occasionally falls into just being silly for the sake of it I feel. And this is from someone who watched all of the Tom Baker years as they were originally broadcast. After seeing or hearing all available versions of Shada, that appears to have gained its critical status mainly due to the uncompleted and non-broadcast state of the show. All versions for me are simply okay with some good parts and other 'okay' ones.
For want of a better thought - varsity humor does not age very well I feel [I like Monty Python but find a majority of the tv shows simply annoying when I watch now].
Anyway back to this novel ..... it is definitely one with 2 halves for me.
The first part at times felt like a pastiche of DA's style as seen in HHGTTG only the author is trying too hard. As a result the Doctor and Romana do not feel like the same characters I grew up with or indeed the same characters as heard in the Big Finish audios currently being produced. Also if you are a DA fan and have read his other works, the use of story elements that he re-purposed for other works, being used here in their 'original' settings feels 'off'. I cannot really put it into words what I mean but it just didn't hang together very well for. And in fact the whole concept behind the story does not really feel like Original Who (Nu Who possibly but cannot say myself). Perhaps if the story had been produced as a stand alone movie then that issue might be gone away after rewrites etc.
At the half way point the novel seems to change its style and mood - it goes from being a DA style pastiche and becomes a more straightforward science fiction/fantasy novel with more of a harder edge to it. But even here the re-writing of the Time Lords history and stated aims (plus this sudden addition of War TARDIS which I'm sure i remember in a doctor who comic strip many years ago) does not really ring true for the 4th Doctor/Romana era. There is a continued small nod to the DA comedy with the accident prone Borusa but otherwise I found a lot of the humor that was present earlier had disappeared.
I do wish the author had settled on a style and kept to it - either DA pastiche with serious bits or completely serious science fiction (or fantasy).
Overall I feel that this 'lost' story (or more accurately not produced story) should have stayed so.
Based on this adaptation I cannot really see how the story would have fed into the Doctor Who canon between 1976 and 1981 (approximately) even if the companion had been some one new or just not Romana. As I said above perhaps if the story was a stand alone film then it might have worked but i am doubtful as in that case the story would have read like the Peter Cushing Dalek movies (or the Terry Nation Dalek pilot).
The book is an okay read for me, it dragged in a couple of places but nothing really makes it bad or great - i found it simply okay.
September 18, 2019
Der Doctor hat Romana versprochen sie mit zum Ende des Universums zu nehmen, als sie dann aber bei einem Cricket-Spiel landen, ist sie maßlos enttäuscht. Als aber während der Siegerzeremonie plötzlich 11 weiße Roboter mit spitzen geschlossenen Helmen auftauchen und mit ihren schlägerförmigen Waffen tödliche Blitze verschießen, ist von Romanas Enttäuschung nichts mehr übrig, denn die Krikkit-Roboter sind zurück, dabei dürfte es sie gar nicht mehr geben.
Vor Millionen von Jahren erfuhren die Bewohner des Planeten Krikkit, das sie nicht alleine sind im Universum, etwas von dem sie fest von überzeugt waren, und sie beschlossen, das die Realität ihrer Überzeugung angepasst werden muss und so begann der erste Krikkit-Krieg mit dem Ziel alle anderen Lebensformen auszulöschen. Der Krieg war lang und blutig, bis die Timelords es schafften den Planeten Krikkit in ein Zeitlupenfeld einzuschließen, gesichert durch ein Wicket-Schlüssel, deren Teile sich mittlerweile über das Universum verstreut hatten. Romana und der Doctor versuchen nun zu verhindern das die Krikkit-Krieger die einzelnen Teile finden um den Schlüssel wieder zusammen zusetzten und ihr Volk zu befreien. Eine wilde Verfolgungsjagd durch das Universum beginnt….
Doctor Who und die Krikkit-Krieger entstand nach einem Entwurf von Douglas Adams den James Goss nun vollendete.
Für mich war dies das erste Buch von Douglas Adams und auch von Doctor Who. Bisher kenne ich nur die Serie und das auch erst seit dem 9. Doctor. So war ich wirklich gespannt was mich hier erwartet.
Das Buch beginnt recht gemütlich mit einem Cricket-Spiel, das sich der Doctor und die Timelady Romana sich anschauen, mit dem Eintreffen der Krikkit-Krieger wird das Tempo dann deutlich angezogen und es bleibt für mich gefühlt auch weiterhin hoch. Viele Orts- und Zeitwechsel garniert mit einer Unmenge an Informationen, verlangten schon ein aufmerksames Lesen von mir. Dabei bleibt die Geschichte die ganze Zeit spannend, aber auch oftmals humorig.
Romana die Timelady, für mich bisher eine Unbekannte, hat mir als Charakter gut gefallen, hoch intelligent, ohne dabei aber zu sehr von sich eingenommen zu sein, kennt sie die Eigenheiten und Macken des Doctors gut und so sorgt sie mit ihren Gedanken und Dialogen, genauso wie K9 immer wieder für Schmunzler bei mir.
Bis auf eine Stelle bei der mir trotz mehrfachen hin- und her blättern nicht klar wurde wie das Problem nun tatsächlich gelöst wurde, was ich wirklich ein wenig schade fand, war alles gut für mich nachzuvollziehen.
Für mich war dies eigentlich eine typische Doctor Who Geschichte, bei der der Doctor wieder glänzen, und das Universum retten darf, aber dabei wird das Ganze hier mit einer gehörigen Portion Fremdenfeindlichkeit gewürzt, vor allem durch die Bewohner des Planeten Krikkit, was manchmal wirklich bestürzend zu lesen war und auch ein unangenehmes Gefühl bei mir verursacht hat.
Das Buch hat noch mehrere Anhänge, bei der z. B. auch der ursprüngliche Entwurf von Douglas Adams nachgelesen werden kann, was ich persönlich sehr interessant fand.
Mein Fazit:
Eine spannende und typische Doctor Who Geschicht, bei der Fans auf jeden Fall auf ihre Kosten kommen.
Vor Millionen von Jahren erfuhren die Bewohner des Planeten Krikkit, das sie nicht alleine sind im Universum, etwas von dem sie fest von überzeugt waren, und sie beschlossen, das die Realität ihrer Überzeugung angepasst werden muss und so begann der erste Krikkit-Krieg mit dem Ziel alle anderen Lebensformen auszulöschen. Der Krieg war lang und blutig, bis die Timelords es schafften den Planeten Krikkit in ein Zeitlupenfeld einzuschließen, gesichert durch ein Wicket-Schlüssel, deren Teile sich mittlerweile über das Universum verstreut hatten. Romana und der Doctor versuchen nun zu verhindern das die Krikkit-Krieger die einzelnen Teile finden um den Schlüssel wieder zusammen zusetzten und ihr Volk zu befreien. Eine wilde Verfolgungsjagd durch das Universum beginnt….
Doctor Who und die Krikkit-Krieger entstand nach einem Entwurf von Douglas Adams den James Goss nun vollendete.
Für mich war dies das erste Buch von Douglas Adams und auch von Doctor Who. Bisher kenne ich nur die Serie und das auch erst seit dem 9. Doctor. So war ich wirklich gespannt was mich hier erwartet.
Das Buch beginnt recht gemütlich mit einem Cricket-Spiel, das sich der Doctor und die Timelady Romana sich anschauen, mit dem Eintreffen der Krikkit-Krieger wird das Tempo dann deutlich angezogen und es bleibt für mich gefühlt auch weiterhin hoch. Viele Orts- und Zeitwechsel garniert mit einer Unmenge an Informationen, verlangten schon ein aufmerksames Lesen von mir. Dabei bleibt die Geschichte die ganze Zeit spannend, aber auch oftmals humorig.
Romana die Timelady, für mich bisher eine Unbekannte, hat mir als Charakter gut gefallen, hoch intelligent, ohne dabei aber zu sehr von sich eingenommen zu sein, kennt sie die Eigenheiten und Macken des Doctors gut und so sorgt sie mit ihren Gedanken und Dialogen, genauso wie K9 immer wieder für Schmunzler bei mir.
Bis auf eine Stelle bei der mir trotz mehrfachen hin- und her blättern nicht klar wurde wie das Problem nun tatsächlich gelöst wurde, was ich wirklich ein wenig schade fand, war alles gut für mich nachzuvollziehen.
Für mich war dies eigentlich eine typische Doctor Who Geschichte, bei der der Doctor wieder glänzen, und das Universum retten darf, aber dabei wird das Ganze hier mit einer gehörigen Portion Fremdenfeindlichkeit gewürzt, vor allem durch die Bewohner des Planeten Krikkit, was manchmal wirklich bestürzend zu lesen war und auch ein unangenehmes Gefühl bei mir verursacht hat.
Das Buch hat noch mehrere Anhänge, bei der z. B. auch der ursprüngliche Entwurf von Douglas Adams nachgelesen werden kann, was ich persönlich sehr interessant fand.
Mein Fazit:
Eine spannende und typische Doctor Who Geschicht, bei der Fans auf jeden Fall auf ihre Kosten kommen.
March 11, 2018
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2968930.html
This is surely the last of the unpublished Douglas Adams scripts to surface. Back in 1976, Adams had actually submitted a story outline to Robert Holmes involving warlike aliens with a peculiar connection to cricket - this in itself was surely inspired by "Volcano", the seventh episode of one of my very favourite stories, the epic Daleks' Master Plan, broadcast on New Year's Day 1966, in which the TARDIS, pursued by Daleks, materialises at Lord's during a cricket match.
Douglas Adams fans will at this point be shifting uncomfortably and muttering that this whole plot was basically recycled into the third Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy book, Life, The Universe and Everything, published in 1982 (also available as an audio play recorded in 2003, featuring a posthumous appearance by Douglas Adams). And that's basically right. The two stories share the vicious Krikkitmen, whose planet is trapped in a timewarp, and who are seeking to restore a cosmically important artifact which is shaped like a wicket and has five parts scattered through the cosmos. (That last bit will also be familiar to Who fans from the Key to Time.) So, given that James Goss is trying to channel the spirit of Douglas Adams in rewriting a Doctor Who story that Adams himself had already rewritten, is there really any point?
Actually, yes. It works rather well. Goss has updated Adams' original Fourth Doctor/Sarah concept to include instead the second Romana and K-9, which effectively sets the story around the same era as City of Death, also of course recently novelised. And he takes Adams' core concepts and runs with them in a different direction, while remaining aligned with the story's original core. In particular, he has paid a bit more internal homage to the continuity of the Time Lords and Gallifrey than Adams was interested in doing, which does make it knit more easily into the Whoniverse. The one scene that doesn't work particularly well is the early passage of the Krikkitmen's massacre at Lords; massacres are not terribly funny, and Goss doesn't really try to make this one funny either, but it therefore falls rather flat. However, it's possible to blame Adams at least as much for that misfire. After that, we go to interesting places, on an enjoyable and yet slightly terrifying journey.
This isn't the best Goss or Adams story, and to be honest I would probably have enjoyed it more if I cared even slightly about cricket (which I don't). But it's well worth a look even for non-completists.
This is surely the last of the unpublished Douglas Adams scripts to surface. Back in 1976, Adams had actually submitted a story outline to Robert Holmes involving warlike aliens with a peculiar connection to cricket - this in itself was surely inspired by "Volcano", the seventh episode of one of my very favourite stories, the epic Daleks' Master Plan, broadcast on New Year's Day 1966, in which the TARDIS, pursued by Daleks, materialises at Lord's during a cricket match.
Douglas Adams fans will at this point be shifting uncomfortably and muttering that this whole plot was basically recycled into the third Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy book, Life, The Universe and Everything, published in 1982 (also available as an audio play recorded in 2003, featuring a posthumous appearance by Douglas Adams). And that's basically right. The two stories share the vicious Krikkitmen, whose planet is trapped in a timewarp, and who are seeking to restore a cosmically important artifact which is shaped like a wicket and has five parts scattered through the cosmos. (That last bit will also be familiar to Who fans from the Key to Time.) So, given that James Goss is trying to channel the spirit of Douglas Adams in rewriting a Doctor Who story that Adams himself had already rewritten, is there really any point?
Actually, yes. It works rather well. Goss has updated Adams' original Fourth Doctor/Sarah concept to include instead the second Romana and K-9, which effectively sets the story around the same era as City of Death, also of course recently novelised. And he takes Adams' core concepts and runs with them in a different direction, while remaining aligned with the story's original core. In particular, he has paid a bit more internal homage to the continuity of the Time Lords and Gallifrey than Adams was interested in doing, which does make it knit more easily into the Whoniverse. The one scene that doesn't work particularly well is the early passage of the Krikkitmen's massacre at Lords; massacres are not terribly funny, and Goss doesn't really try to make this one funny either, but it therefore falls rather flat. However, it's possible to blame Adams at least as much for that misfire. After that, we go to interesting places, on an enjoyable and yet slightly terrifying journey.
This isn't the best Goss or Adams story, and to be honest I would probably have enjoyed it more if I cared even slightly about cricket (which I don't). But it's well worth a look even for non-completists.
September 18, 2020
This novel is based on a treatment for a script by Douglas Adams submitted before he became script editor for Doctor Who and before "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" made him famous. Large amounts of this treatment would later be reworked into the 3rd "Hitchhiker" novel "Life, the Universe, and Everything." Douglas Adams' treatment, reprinted in total as an appendix, is surprisingly thorough, outlining almost the entire plot. No one knows for sure why "Krikkitmen" was never made for Doctor Who, but probably it would have been deemed too expensive. "Krikkitmen" later became the closest thing to a Doctor Who movie since the 1960s, and again no one knows quite why it did not happen. So now, we have James Goss's novelization of the treatment. Many, many people will be so influenced by the Douglas Adams connection that they will simply respond to that and assume that "brilliance" is at hand. Goss sticks very closely to Adams' original treatment, incorporating some of its paragraphs into the final novel. Goss also tries very hard to write this novel as one would imagine Adams might have. This is where the novel loses some luster for me. Goss's sense of the Adams style is that every sentence has to be a punchline. Adams, however, did not write that way. Adams had a much better sense of pacing, and worked hard to set up the jokes so that they would land with just the right emphasis. Goss's endless joking gets a bit tiring and irritating after a while. Goss has also elected to make The Doctor pretty much a bumbling idiot for most of the story, while Romana is the competent genius who does all the real planet saving and has all the real insights. One may suppose that Goss drew inspiration for this from the Doctor 11 / River Song TV episodes, which operate on pretty much the same principle. What the novel does have going for it is some surprisingly economical plotting for what seems like a loosely episodic quest story - find the bits and restore them to create the magic talisman. Instead, what seems throwaway and nonsequitur turns out to be crucial for the actual plot that has been ticking along under the quest story the whole time. My verdict, therefore, is that this novel has a superb plot that gets undermined to some extent by the style.
February 3, 2018
La storia di Krikkit è complessa, dentro e fuori dal libro.
Parte come sceneggiatura per la serie tv del Dottore, ma viene rigettata dalla BBC. Poteva diventare la trama di base per la seconda serie tv della Guida Galattica... ma finisce per essere inserita nelle disavventure di Arthur Dent in Life, the Universe and Everything.
Dopo il successo delle novellizzazioni di Doctor Who: Shada, Doctor Who: City of Death e Doctor Who: The Pirate Planet, la vecchia sceneggiatura dei Krikkitmen viene recuperata, riassemblata e pubblicata.
La storia risulta molto più caotica e frammentaria rispetto ai precedenti volumi, che seguono fedelmente la storia televisiva, aggiungendo qualche dettaglio per approfondire le cose.
Più simile al flusso di eventi dei libri della Guida Galattica, con scene e riferimenti spalmati su tutto il testo e complicati da seguire se non si è abituati allo stile di Adams, che ho trovato fedelmente riprodotto da James Goss.
Alla fine, come sempre, tutto torna... compresa la scelta del look da parte del quinto Dottore.
La versione audio è letta da Dan Starkey, più noto ai fan come il Sontaran Strax. Il timore di ritrovare il mio sontaran preferito cone narratore è stato annullato da una ottima caratterizzazione dei vari personaggi e da una lettura mai noiosa.
Parte come sceneggiatura per la serie tv del Dottore, ma viene rigettata dalla BBC. Poteva diventare la trama di base per la seconda serie tv della Guida Galattica... ma finisce per essere inserita nelle disavventure di Arthur Dent in Life, the Universe and Everything.
Dopo il successo delle novellizzazioni di Doctor Who: Shada, Doctor Who: City of Death e Doctor Who: The Pirate Planet, la vecchia sceneggiatura dei Krikkitmen viene recuperata, riassemblata e pubblicata.
La storia risulta molto più caotica e frammentaria rispetto ai precedenti volumi, che seguono fedelmente la storia televisiva, aggiungendo qualche dettaglio per approfondire le cose.
Più simile al flusso di eventi dei libri della Guida Galattica, con scene e riferimenti spalmati su tutto il testo e complicati da seguire se non si è abituati allo stile di Adams, che ho trovato fedelmente riprodotto da James Goss.
Alla fine, come sempre, tutto torna... compresa la scelta del look da parte del quinto Dottore.
La versione audio è letta da Dan Starkey, più noto ai fan come il Sontaran Strax. Il timore di ritrovare il mio sontaran preferito cone narratore è stato annullato da una ottima caratterizzazione dei vari personaggi e da una lettura mai noiosa.
January 10, 2021
I suspect that the Venn Diagram between classic Doctor Who fans and Douglas Adams fans is practically a circle. Also, anyone who knows about the two know about the lost Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen, which went on to become the third hitchhikers book Life, The Universe and Everything.
So on first glance my initial thoughts were very much “what’s the point?”, but I thought “bugger it, will be novel to see a different perspective”.
I was surprised, page one contained a segment of a pitch for a Doctor Who Movie, namely this story. I was also surprised that apart from the opening, it was an almost entirely different story.
James Goss’ attempt to emulate Douglas Adams’ style is a little off putting at first, just because it’s so familiar to me as someone else’s. But once I realised that was my problem I settled into it nicely. Easy read and a lot of fun!
I didn’t expect the book to come with extras, and my god what a bonus! There’s a few pages at the back where James Goss tries to piece together details of what happened to the movie that I assumed was a failed pitch but was in fact 4 years in development. He also discusses, what to me sound like insane treasures: an abandoned version of Life the Universe and Everything, a script for the first episode of a series 2 of the TV hitchhikers Guide. It wasn’t enough! I really hope someone’s writing a book about all these weird bits and pieces. This and a 33 page treatment for a doctor who movie and a few chapters from an alternative version with Sarah Jane, on top of a great fun doctor who novel, it’s a hell of a package.
So on first glance my initial thoughts were very much “what’s the point?”, but I thought “bugger it, will be novel to see a different perspective”.
I was surprised, page one contained a segment of a pitch for a Doctor Who Movie, namely this story. I was also surprised that apart from the opening, it was an almost entirely different story.
James Goss’ attempt to emulate Douglas Adams’ style is a little off putting at first, just because it’s so familiar to me as someone else’s. But once I realised that was my problem I settled into it nicely. Easy read and a lot of fun!
I didn’t expect the book to come with extras, and my god what a bonus! There’s a few pages at the back where James Goss tries to piece together details of what happened to the movie that I assumed was a failed pitch but was in fact 4 years in development. He also discusses, what to me sound like insane treasures: an abandoned version of Life the Universe and Everything, a script for the first episode of a series 2 of the TV hitchhikers Guide. It wasn’t enough! I really hope someone’s writing a book about all these weird bits and pieces. This and a 33 page treatment for a doctor who movie and a few chapters from an alternative version with Sarah Jane, on top of a great fun doctor who novel, it’s a hell of a package.
February 6, 2024
I've been reading a lot of Doctor Who books recently and despite the prestige of the author of the treatment this story is based on, this has been the hardest to get through yet.
The story drags for the first hundred pages, the majority of them spent describing a bizarrely violent Krikkitmen invasion and The Doctor and Romana walking around Gallifrey making pithy comments and then having a load of exposition thrust at them to get the reader up to speed as to what's going on. It's not the most thrilling reading, made even worse by the detour to a planet where a feline Genghis Khan acts like a stereotypical barbarian. This chapter was especially tedious and I considered DNFing the book here.
Despite this, I ploughed on and found the story to eventually find its pacing and become an interesting enough adventure. The Doctor and Romana begin to actually feel like their characters and K-9, as ever, is a delight. The plot starts to feel like it actually belongs in the universe the characters inhabit. Doctor Who has always been quite whimsical and it's nice that Goss includes material from Adams' archive, but a lot is just too whacky to fit in with the tone and world of the franchise. These sections, absent of The Doctor and his companions, feel like they are included just to mention an unrelated one-off parody civilisation that Adams came up with and are the least interesting parts of the story.
This is a hard one to fully recommend. After a slog of a beginning, the book opens up and becomes a decent story, but perhaps not one that's fully worth the effort to get there.
The story drags for the first hundred pages, the majority of them spent describing a bizarrely violent Krikkitmen invasion and The Doctor and Romana walking around Gallifrey making pithy comments and then having a load of exposition thrust at them to get the reader up to speed as to what's going on. It's not the most thrilling reading, made even worse by the detour to a planet where a feline Genghis Khan acts like a stereotypical barbarian. This chapter was especially tedious and I considered DNFing the book here.
Despite this, I ploughed on and found the story to eventually find its pacing and become an interesting enough adventure. The Doctor and Romana begin to actually feel like their characters and K-9, as ever, is a delight. The plot starts to feel like it actually belongs in the universe the characters inhabit. Doctor Who has always been quite whimsical and it's nice that Goss includes material from Adams' archive, but a lot is just too whacky to fit in with the tone and world of the franchise. These sections, absent of The Doctor and his companions, feel like they are included just to mention an unrelated one-off parody civilisation that Adams came up with and are the least interesting parts of the story.
This is a hard one to fully recommend. After a slog of a beginning, the book opens up and becomes a decent story, but perhaps not one that's fully worth the effort to get there.
February 27, 2022
This is based on a Douglas Adams unmade script treatment, which Adams himself then recycled into the third Hitch-hikers' book, book: Life, The Universe and Everything. The plot involves killer robots, xenophobic aliens, cosmic plots and cricket. I didn't particularly enjoy the book, mostly because it felt very much like fanfic of The Hitch-hikers' Guide to the Galaxy. It doesn't really feel like a Who story, and the characterisation of both the Doctor and Romana feels off, particularly their internal monologues. There are loads of asides that felt much more like some of Adams' wild asides in Hitch-hikers' than anything that fits into the Doctor Who universe.
There are several sections that deal with invasions, massacres and tyrants, and they all have a jolly, slightly ironic tone to them which doesn't really sit well with me at all. There's also references to another unmade Douglas Adams story, Shada, which seems like a lot for the casual reader to take in (although I'm not sure how many casual readers would pick this up).
Not awful - there were bits that made me laugh out loud, almost despite myself - but definitely not one that I'd recommend to anyone except completists.
There are several sections that deal with invasions, massacres and tyrants, and they all have a jolly, slightly ironic tone to them which doesn't really sit well with me at all. There's also references to another unmade Douglas Adams story, Shada, which seems like a lot for the casual reader to take in (although I'm not sure how many casual readers would pick this up).
Not awful - there were bits that made me laugh out loud, almost despite myself - but definitely not one that I'd recommend to anyone except completists.
September 16, 2024
I am really struggling with my rating for this book. I keep going from 3 to 4 and back again. Aaaaaaaaagh! So what does that mean? I thought the Fourth Doctor/Tom Baker and Romana were really well written and came across as true to their tv portrayals. The book is very funny at times as you would expect from Douglas Adams/James Goss. There are lots of fantastic ideas and the initially silly notion of the Krikkitmen becomes a very real threat. Where it falls down for me is in two ways. The book is overlong and I struggled around two thirds of the way in and even thought I might leave it. I persevered and it was worth it, but it became heavy going and almost one damn thing after another for too long. It meant I lost some of the plot points and threads and it was only in the synopsis in the appendices where some of it became crystal clear. It had potential to be a great story, but there was too much in there. It was like …I love the dust cloud but did we need the War Tardises? I loved Krikkit but did we need all the other worlds? A great story that needed pruning back in my view.
August 5, 2019
Fun, but vaguely unsatisfying.
Goss does a great job of capturing the feel of both Doctor Who and Douglas Adams, but I think I wish he had picked one and not combined the two.
It's too big to feel like a Target adaption book, it feels too much like a Douglas Adams novel which Douglas toned down when he wrote for Who, and having read the Hitchhikers book that this story was recycled into, I'm too aware of what was different and what's the same, which has a tendency to take you out of the story.
I'm very interested in the history of this story and all the how's and why's, but encountering them in the story was distracting.
Really nothing about this book is bad, but the good parts don't come together to form a good whole, they remain good parts.
The sample chapter from when they thought Sarah Jane Smith was going to be the companion was great and almost made me wish Goss went with that version.
Goss does a great job of capturing the feel of both Doctor Who and Douglas Adams, but I think I wish he had picked one and not combined the two.
It's too big to feel like a Target adaption book, it feels too much like a Douglas Adams novel which Douglas toned down when he wrote for Who, and having read the Hitchhikers book that this story was recycled into, I'm too aware of what was different and what's the same, which has a tendency to take you out of the story.
I'm very interested in the history of this story and all the how's and why's, but encountering them in the story was distracting.
Really nothing about this book is bad, but the good parts don't come together to form a good whole, they remain good parts.
The sample chapter from when they thought Sarah Jane Smith was going to be the companion was great and almost made me wish Goss went with that version.
September 15, 2019
There are two sides to this book. The first is that of a Douglas Adams novel. The author has nailed the style of writing so beloved of Douglas Adams. This book is inventive and very funny. It is, in fact, a very good Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy book, which is what a lot of the elements were reworked into by Douglas Adams himself. That does sort of make this book redundant, but there are lots of jokes that work and the humour is pretty consistent throughout.
Then there is the Doctor Who book, and this is not a good one of those. I am a massive Dr Who fan and the Fourth Doctor is my Doctor, so I'm not a forgiving audience. The author hasn't got the spirit of the Fourth Doctor right at all and quite often he becomes a character carried along in his own story. The author is much more comfortable writing for Romana or even K9 and the poor Doctor gets very short shrift.
It's a good book for Adams fans, not so good for Dr Who fans.
Then there is the Doctor Who book, and this is not a good one of those. I am a massive Dr Who fan and the Fourth Doctor is my Doctor, so I'm not a forgiving audience. The author hasn't got the spirit of the Fourth Doctor right at all and quite often he becomes a character carried along in his own story. The author is much more comfortable writing for Romana or even K9 and the poor Doctor gets very short shrift.
It's a good book for Adams fans, not so good for Dr Who fans.
July 4, 2021
People have a tendency to proclaim anything that didn't come to fruition as a "lost classic" when in actuality it's rare that it would have been all that good to begin with. I'm not entirely sure whether Adams would have been able to turn this into a good Doctor Who movie, but Goss certainly didn't. If you enjoy obnoxious, self-impressed stand-up comedians shouting at you about airline food, this may be the book for you. For me, it was utterly tedious and I gave up a third of the way in rather than make myself miserable trying to keep going.
I've already bought Goss' Pirate Planet and City of Death novelisations ages ago and haven't yet gotten around to them. I really should have learned my lesson by now that people doing a Douglas Adams impression is either just about tolerable or absolutely unbearable, and more often than not it's the latter.
I've already bought Goss' Pirate Planet and City of Death novelisations ages ago and haven't yet gotten around to them. I really should have learned my lesson by now that people doing a Douglas Adams impression is either just about tolerable or absolutely unbearable, and more often than not it's the latter.
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