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Adventures of the 4th Doctor #20
Doctor Who: Scratchman
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
What are you afraid of?
In his first-ever Doctor Who novel, Tom Baker’s incredible imagination is given free rein. A story so epic it was originally intended for the big screen, Scratchman is a gripping, white-knuckle thriller almost forty years in the making.
The Doctor, Harry and Sarah Jane Smith arrive at a remote Scottish island, when their holiday is cut short by the appearance of strange creatures – hideous scarecrows, who are preying on the local population. The islanders are living in fear, and the Doctor vows to save them all. But it doesn’t go to plan – the time travellers have fallen into a trap, and Scratchman is coming for them.
With the fate of the universe hanging in the balance, the Doctor must battle an ancient force from another dimension, one who claims to be the Devil. Scratchman wants to know what the Doctor is most afraid of. And the Doctor’s worst nightmares are coming out to play…
What are you afraid of?
In his first-ever Doctor Who novel, Tom Baker’s incredible imagination is given free rein. A story so epic it was originally intended for the big screen, Scratchman is a gripping, white-knuckle thriller almost forty years in the making.
The Doctor, Harry and Sarah Jane Smith arrive at a remote Scottish island, when their holiday is cut short by the appearance of strange creatures – hideous scarecrows, who are preying on the local population. The islanders are living in fear, and the Doctor vows to save them all. But it doesn’t go to plan – the time travellers have fallen into a trap, and Scratchman is coming for them.
With the fate of the universe hanging in the balance, the Doctor must battle an ancient force from another dimension, one who claims to be the Devil. Scratchman wants to know what the Doctor is most afraid of. And the Doctor’s worst nightmares are coming out to play…
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 24, 2019
190 people are currently reading
1356 people want to read
About the author
Tom Baker
214 books132 followersThomas Stewart "Tom" Baker is an English actor and comedian. He is best known for playing the fourth incarnation of the Doctor from 1974 to 1981 in Doctor Who, and for narrating Little Britain. He was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards for his role as Rasputin in the 1971 film Nicholas and Alexandra.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 421 reviews
May 17, 2019
“Gallifrey doesn’t really do eccentrics. It’s why some of us leave.”
This was such an odd curious read mainly because it was narrated from The Doctor himself, knowing the origins of this story probably does help to enjoy it more.
Scratchman was originally conceived as an idea between Tom Baker and Ian Marter (who played companion Harry) to make a movie of Doctor Who during breaks in filming the show during the 70’s.
Quite a few programmes had big screen outings around this time, though admittedly they were mainly sitcoms.
With this being their opportunity to take the show to a wider audience, I got the impression that they tried to cram so many elements into the plot.
For the most part it actually worked really well!
Penned by Baker (though with some help from James Goss) the characterisation of the Fourth Doctor is as you’d expect perfectly captured.
It took a little getting used the first person narrative but I felt that it fitted this bonkers story perfectly.
I can imagine the audiobook being great!
One aspect that I really liked was how The Doctor likes being that persona that he currently inhabits and let’s face it we all liked the Time Lord when he was Tom!
A really fun read, I’d have loved to have seen the film get made now...
Though I think it might be for the best that we’ve got this book instead.
This was such an odd curious read mainly because it was narrated from The Doctor himself, knowing the origins of this story probably does help to enjoy it more.
Scratchman was originally conceived as an idea between Tom Baker and Ian Marter (who played companion Harry) to make a movie of Doctor Who during breaks in filming the show during the 70’s.
Quite a few programmes had big screen outings around this time, though admittedly they were mainly sitcoms.
With this being their opportunity to take the show to a wider audience, I got the impression that they tried to cram so many elements into the plot.
For the most part it actually worked really well!
Penned by Baker (though with some help from James Goss) the characterisation of the Fourth Doctor is as you’d expect perfectly captured.
It took a little getting used the first person narrative but I felt that it fitted this bonkers story perfectly.
I can imagine the audiobook being great!
One aspect that I really liked was how The Doctor likes being that persona that he currently inhabits and let’s face it we all liked the Time Lord when he was Tom!
A really fun read, I’d have loved to have seen the film get made now...
Though I think it might be for the best that we’ve got this book instead.
December 17, 2019
There number of things that make me mad about this book first why is Tom Baker as author only on the cover, then inside with small letters James Goss but Worse is real insult Copyright Tom Baker & Ian Martin. Ian Martin Who played Harry Sullivan has no proper credit to book that He wrote back in 1970s with Tom; because he is dead. Both Ian & James Goss should also been on the cover the BBC is too blame as much as Tom but Sorry I think its typical of Baker to hog dead man's limelight. Having meet Tom numbers of time it is so 'Look at me I am most important Doctor every body loves me' sorry your not Tom would not even exist if William Hartnell had turned that key in November 1963.
But Putting all that to one side & move on to the story this difficult to work out when it is set, because it is a flashback, once again this time it's 4th Doctor on Trial on Gallifey so It could be an time up to before Warriors Gate but The main story or flashback is perhaps before Terror of Zygons or before Ark in Space but I say Zygons as it is in Scotland too.
Wozel style Jeepers Creepers meets The Doctor. This back when 4th Doctor was crisp not when we flagged in his bad days of Adric & burgundy scarf. Harry was one best since Jamie & great shame left early.
This so good because if you 4th Doctor fan, let not kid are self hell lot of them, you both see & here him in this book but For real crazy when comes out as audio book as long as Tom does it,it huge seller.
I don't think this could worked on TV as would been to expensive & fare to blood creepy in 1970s even today it would be difficult. set in 1964 also caused problems too. By time it been cut all Gallifey removed it would stink.
This very complexed book & I wonder how much of this Tom & Ian's Original left as it has references to modern Who with Sarah In the Tardis & the taxi with The Doctor that would not been in 70s script as not happened. How much is Goss to Baker ratio that is why I think his name should been on the cover too.
Tom is now over 80 so I wonder if this mostly Goss.
The DWM said This like the Original Wicker Man cannot see how it is more like Jeepers Creepers 1-3, Nightmare on Elm street, Halloween with few surprise guests.
In this Feb 19 issue of SFX it come out I was right Tom did only few ideas & Goss did most of the leg work.
Back in the 1970s a movie was thought about from the Script with Vincent Price as Scratchman with Twiggy as Sarah Jane thank heavens that never saw light of day. Bonnie Langford was bad enough but TWIGGY as Sarah Jane oh Shit! TOP DOCTOR WHO OF 2019
But Putting all that to one side & move on to the story this difficult to work out when it is set, because it is a flashback, once again this time it's 4th Doctor on Trial on Gallifey so It could be an time up to before Warriors Gate but The main story or flashback is perhaps before Terror of Zygons or before Ark in Space but I say Zygons as it is in Scotland too.
Wozel style Jeepers Creepers meets The Doctor. This back when 4th Doctor was crisp not when we flagged in his bad days of Adric & burgundy scarf. Harry was one best since Jamie & great shame left early.
This so good because if you 4th Doctor fan, let not kid are self hell lot of them, you both see & here him in this book but For real crazy when comes out as audio book as long as Tom does it,it huge seller.
I don't think this could worked on TV as would been to expensive & fare to blood creepy in 1970s even today it would be difficult. set in 1964 also caused problems too. By time it been cut all Gallifey removed it would stink.
This very complexed book & I wonder how much of this Tom & Ian's Original left as it has references to modern Who with Sarah In the Tardis & the taxi with The Doctor that would not been in 70s script as not happened. How much is Goss to Baker ratio that is why I think his name should been on the cover too.
Tom is now over 80 so I wonder if this mostly Goss.
The DWM said This like the Original Wicker Man cannot see how it is more like Jeepers Creepers 1-3, Nightmare on Elm street, Halloween with few surprise guests.
In this Feb 19 issue of SFX it come out I was right Tom did only few ideas & Goss did most of the leg work.
Back in the 1970s a movie was thought about from the Script with Vincent Price as Scratchman with Twiggy as Sarah Jane thank heavens that never saw light of day. Bonnie Langford was bad enough but TWIGGY as Sarah Jane oh Shit! TOP DOCTOR WHO OF 2019
April 21, 2020
I'm sorry to say that I found Scratchman to be a pretty disappointing read. Back in the mid 1970s I always enjoyed the TV adventures of the Doctor (Tom Baker) & his companions Sarah Jane Smith & Harry Sullivan. Sadly, the same line up failed to entertain me in this new novel.
The first part of the book is good enough, with menacing scarecrows & plenty of danger. In fact this would have made a good TV adventure. It's the rest of the novel that I had issues with. Scratchman himself was, for me, a bland & uninteresting creation. The other problem was that much of the story felt like the main character was Tom Baker rather than the Doctor.
This story began in the 1970s as a script by Tom Baker & Ian Marter. The late Ian Marter also wrote Doctor Who novelisations & played Harry Sullivan in the series. It was never filmed & eventually became this 2018 novel by Tom Baker & James Goss. At the end of the novel there are some interesting interviews with Baker & Marter & a brief history of how Scratchman came about. Sadly the journey was more interesting than the destination.
Looking on the bright side......reading this story prompted me to dig out my DVD of the 1975 adventure Genesis of the Daleks featuring the Doctor, Sarah & Harry. Now that IS a great adventure.
The first part of the book is good enough, with menacing scarecrows & plenty of danger. In fact this would have made a good TV adventure. It's the rest of the novel that I had issues with. Scratchman himself was, for me, a bland & uninteresting creation. The other problem was that much of the story felt like the main character was Tom Baker rather than the Doctor.
This story began in the 1970s as a script by Tom Baker & Ian Marter. The late Ian Marter also wrote Doctor Who novelisations & played Harry Sullivan in the series. It was never filmed & eventually became this 2018 novel by Tom Baker & James Goss. At the end of the novel there are some interesting interviews with Baker & Marter & a brief history of how Scratchman came about. Sadly the journey was more interesting than the destination.
Looking on the bright side......reading this story prompted me to dig out my DVD of the 1975 adventure Genesis of the Daleks featuring the Doctor, Sarah & Harry. Now that IS a great adventure.
February 7, 2019
I was looking forward to this as I wanted to see what Tom Baker would come up with. I knew he'd tried to get a movie off the ground in '76 and apparently this book is based on that storyline. Oddly the storyline feels more like a Barry Letts/Jon Pertwee story than a Tom Baker one. Unfortunately, if I put my writer's hat on, the book is a structural mess. It shouldn't have been written in 1st person when the story wanders off into 3rd person. There's an explanation for this (the Doctor is omnipotent) but it doesn't hold water. The book is in 2 halves. The 1st half is ok. The 2nd half in the Scratchman world is just a long, slow and confusing slog. The narrative overall is tough as it's a little too self aware and a little too bi-polar. Sadly, it was a big disappointment.
January 26, 2019
So, here’s an unusual arrival for Doctor Who fans.
Scratchman is a novel that, forty years ago, was the outline for a proposed movie when the television series Doctor Who was arguably at its most popular. Written by the Doctor of the time, Tom Baker, with Ian Marter (who played assistant Harry Sullivan at the same time) it sadly never came to be.
Now, Tom Baker (recently 85 years old, unbelievably), with the assistance of Doctor Who novelist James Goss (whose Timelord poetry I reviewed a while back) we can read what once could have been.
As you might expect, the story is set in the era of the Fourth Doctor, with Tom Baker naturally as the Doctor (wearing his iconic scarf on the cover) and companions Harry and Sarah-Jane. They arrive in a quaint isolated Scottish village in contemporary times (well, contemporary for what I assumed was the 1970s) to find the local populace terrified by living scarecrows that appear and kill the population. Obviously, the Doctor gets involved to try and uncover the who’s, why’s and wherefores of their appearance.
The Doctor discovers that the scarecrows are part of a bigger scheme, created by an enemy known as Scratchman, whose purpose in life, as any villain’s should be, is to take over planets and bend them to their will. Having used the Scottish village as a testing ground, Scratchman is determined to take over the Earth and then the Universe, obviously.
This results in the second part of the book being more nightmarish. The Doctor and his friends are put through a series of challenges from Scratchman, based upon what they fear, with Scratchman’s hope that by doing so he will discover the Time Lord’s greatest fear and so gain an advantage.
This book is being publicised as by Tom Baker (see the cover). And as a result, the story takes the somewhat unusual task of telling a Doctor Who story as if told by Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor.
The framing story is that, rather like The Trials of a Time Lord, the Doctor is once again held for trial by his peers, the Time Lords of Gallifrey. There the Doctor is told to explain himself and tell what he knows of this attempt to discover what the Time Lord’s greatest fear is. The Doctor then begins his tale as if he is narrating what happened to him and his companions.
Some may like this approach, which is quite different from the usual third-person narrative of the traditional stories (such as those in the fondly remembered Target paperbacks or the more recent writings.) For me it was less successful, although undeniably whilst reading the story it felt like Tom Baker was saying it. (An audio book would work wonderfully well, perhaps.*)
The writing echoes the tone and feel of those Seventies stories, jaunty and fast paced with more one-liners than is usual, and the text does read as a logical extension of the Fourth Doctor’s characterisation, if not Tom Baker himself (which was also the case by the end of his television tenure as well, I think.) I found this quite enjoyable, but by the end a little wearying and rather overdone. Less is sometimes more, and, for as good as it is, would have worked better if it did not seem to be every line. But some readers will like it.
I liked the fact that many of the key elements of the Fourth Doctor’s time are present. There’s stiff-upper-lip doctor Harry Sullivan, loyal and true, and enthusiastically energetic Sarah-Jane, determined to find out the truth, who supports the enigmatic Doctor in this mystery. Also throughout there’s the iconography of Britishness that the Doctor was amused by and appreciated – there’s mention of cakes, sandwiches, picnics, cricket and tea, for example – which means that we are clearly reading recognisable signs of the Doctor in his fourth incarnation, for good or ill.
Unfortunately, this attempt to show things in a different way also created difficulties for me. The disparate styles between the Doctor’s own thoughts and the rest of the story lead to the novel struggling to mesh the parts of the story together evenly. Whilst writing the story as if told by the Doctor is a different take to the Doctor Who canon, such a perspective also limits things in that events have to be linked by having “Sarah Jane later told me” rather than the story told naturalistically from an objective third-person perspective.
One of the things I am reminded of whilst reading this is that although Doctor Who is widely recognised for its science-fictional content, it could do horror really well. The creepy bits – part Wicker Man, part Dante’s Inferno – do sometimes work here, especially at the beginning. Scarecrows have appeared in Doctor Who since (see David Tennant’s episodes Human Nature/Family of Blood) but this one I prefer. As with the best books, the pictures created in your head by this novel are better than anything you could see on the television or a movie screen.
The later part, based around the stuff of dreams, is all rather reminiscent of The Celestial Toymaker episodes for me. They are less convincing.
Which leads me to the question – could it have made a good movie? It is sometimes difficult to tell what parts remain from the original script and which parts have been added in this write-up, but I think that the wider concepts might have been a tad difficult to portray on a movie screen with 1970’s effects. I also rather suspect it might have been too scary for children and perhaps too similar, at least at first, to other stories such as The Wicker Man for adults. But as a post-modern novel, where the imagination is unbounded, the cost of the effects are minimal and you can read it in the safety of your own home, it works fine.
Scratchman is, in summary, an oddity, an interesting attempt to bring something unusual to the legend of the Fourth Doctor, from a slightly different direction. It didn’t always work for me, but there will be many who will find this a worthwhile read.
For many of us who are older followers of the series, reading this will generate the thrill of reading an old Tom Baker story that you have never seen before – like the old Target paperbacks, but not based on a television episode! For relative newcomers it will show them what older incarnations of the Doctor were all about – scary and yet also good fun.
*Update: I have been told that an audio book version, read by Tom Baker, will be available.
Scratchman is a novel that, forty years ago, was the outline for a proposed movie when the television series Doctor Who was arguably at its most popular. Written by the Doctor of the time, Tom Baker, with Ian Marter (who played assistant Harry Sullivan at the same time) it sadly never came to be.
Now, Tom Baker (recently 85 years old, unbelievably), with the assistance of Doctor Who novelist James Goss (whose Timelord poetry I reviewed a while back) we can read what once could have been.
As you might expect, the story is set in the era of the Fourth Doctor, with Tom Baker naturally as the Doctor (wearing his iconic scarf on the cover) and companions Harry and Sarah-Jane. They arrive in a quaint isolated Scottish village in contemporary times (well, contemporary for what I assumed was the 1970s) to find the local populace terrified by living scarecrows that appear and kill the population. Obviously, the Doctor gets involved to try and uncover the who’s, why’s and wherefores of their appearance.
The Doctor discovers that the scarecrows are part of a bigger scheme, created by an enemy known as Scratchman, whose purpose in life, as any villain’s should be, is to take over planets and bend them to their will. Having used the Scottish village as a testing ground, Scratchman is determined to take over the Earth and then the Universe, obviously.
This results in the second part of the book being more nightmarish. The Doctor and his friends are put through a series of challenges from Scratchman, based upon what they fear, with Scratchman’s hope that by doing so he will discover the Time Lord’s greatest fear and so gain an advantage.
This book is being publicised as by Tom Baker (see the cover). And as a result, the story takes the somewhat unusual task of telling a Doctor Who story as if told by Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor.
The framing story is that, rather like The Trials of a Time Lord, the Doctor is once again held for trial by his peers, the Time Lords of Gallifrey. There the Doctor is told to explain himself and tell what he knows of this attempt to discover what the Time Lord’s greatest fear is. The Doctor then begins his tale as if he is narrating what happened to him and his companions.
Some may like this approach, which is quite different from the usual third-person narrative of the traditional stories (such as those in the fondly remembered Target paperbacks or the more recent writings.) For me it was less successful, although undeniably whilst reading the story it felt like Tom Baker was saying it. (An audio book would work wonderfully well, perhaps.*)
The writing echoes the tone and feel of those Seventies stories, jaunty and fast paced with more one-liners than is usual, and the text does read as a logical extension of the Fourth Doctor’s characterisation, if not Tom Baker himself (which was also the case by the end of his television tenure as well, I think.) I found this quite enjoyable, but by the end a little wearying and rather overdone. Less is sometimes more, and, for as good as it is, would have worked better if it did not seem to be every line. But some readers will like it.
I liked the fact that many of the key elements of the Fourth Doctor’s time are present. There’s stiff-upper-lip doctor Harry Sullivan, loyal and true, and enthusiastically energetic Sarah-Jane, determined to find out the truth, who supports the enigmatic Doctor in this mystery. Also throughout there’s the iconography of Britishness that the Doctor was amused by and appreciated – there’s mention of cakes, sandwiches, picnics, cricket and tea, for example – which means that we are clearly reading recognisable signs of the Doctor in his fourth incarnation, for good or ill.
Unfortunately, this attempt to show things in a different way also created difficulties for me. The disparate styles between the Doctor’s own thoughts and the rest of the story lead to the novel struggling to mesh the parts of the story together evenly. Whilst writing the story as if told by the Doctor is a different take to the Doctor Who canon, such a perspective also limits things in that events have to be linked by having “Sarah Jane later told me” rather than the story told naturalistically from an objective third-person perspective.
One of the things I am reminded of whilst reading this is that although Doctor Who is widely recognised for its science-fictional content, it could do horror really well. The creepy bits – part Wicker Man, part Dante’s Inferno – do sometimes work here, especially at the beginning. Scarecrows have appeared in Doctor Who since (see David Tennant’s episodes Human Nature/Family of Blood) but this one I prefer. As with the best books, the pictures created in your head by this novel are better than anything you could see on the television or a movie screen.
The later part, based around the stuff of dreams, is all rather reminiscent of The Celestial Toymaker episodes for me. They are less convincing.
Which leads me to the question – could it have made a good movie? It is sometimes difficult to tell what parts remain from the original script and which parts have been added in this write-up, but I think that the wider concepts might have been a tad difficult to portray on a movie screen with 1970’s effects. I also rather suspect it might have been too scary for children and perhaps too similar, at least at first, to other stories such as The Wicker Man for adults. But as a post-modern novel, where the imagination is unbounded, the cost of the effects are minimal and you can read it in the safety of your own home, it works fine.
Scratchman is, in summary, an oddity, an interesting attempt to bring something unusual to the legend of the Fourth Doctor, from a slightly different direction. It didn’t always work for me, but there will be many who will find this a worthwhile read.
For many of us who are older followers of the series, reading this will generate the thrill of reading an old Tom Baker story that you have never seen before – like the old Target paperbacks, but not based on a television episode! For relative newcomers it will show them what older incarnations of the Doctor were all about – scary and yet also good fun.
*Update: I have been told that an audio book version, read by Tom Baker, will be available.
August 3, 2020
The Doctor (tom Baker edition of course) with Sarah Jane and Ian land on earth, specifically a sparsely populated island where the local population is under threat of Scarecrows who want to take over their human bodies.
The Doctor stands trail once again in the face of his Time Lords (and ladies of course) and has to explain how scarecrows and Cybermen get him destroying a different dimension and the Time lords did not even notice it. If they do not like the answer the Doctor will be killed.
This time the Doctor does take on a creature of unimaginable power, and the Doctor has some imagination now that I think of it. He will have to be better than he ever expected to be to save the lives of his friends and a universe of two.
Written by Tom Baker and of course some unknown writer who did the actual writing ( the novel was ghost-written by James Goss, with Baker acting as consultant). Scratchman was a novelisation of the unproduced movie Doctor Who Meets Scratchman, based on a treatment originally written by Tom Baker and Ian Marter.
While I adore Tom Baker this book was so so, perhaps I should have listened to the audio book if it has been narrated by Tom himself, that would certainly have added to the madness of the Doctor who was played by Mr. Baker himself.
While I love Tom Bakers Doctor this one left me rather undercooled after finishing it, happy I did get to read it but won't be doing a reread ever.
The Doctor stands trail once again in the face of his Time Lords (and ladies of course) and has to explain how scarecrows and Cybermen get him destroying a different dimension and the Time lords did not even notice it. If they do not like the answer the Doctor will be killed.
This time the Doctor does take on a creature of unimaginable power, and the Doctor has some imagination now that I think of it. He will have to be better than he ever expected to be to save the lives of his friends and a universe of two.
Written by Tom Baker and of course some unknown writer who did the actual writing ( the novel was ghost-written by James Goss, with Baker acting as consultant). Scratchman was a novelisation of the unproduced movie Doctor Who Meets Scratchman, based on a treatment originally written by Tom Baker and Ian Marter.
While I adore Tom Baker this book was so so, perhaps I should have listened to the audio book if it has been narrated by Tom himself, that would certainly have added to the madness of the Doctor who was played by Mr. Baker himself.
While I love Tom Bakers Doctor this one left me rather undercooled after finishing it, happy I did get to read it but won't be doing a reread ever.
March 6, 2019
The Doctor, Harry Sullivan and Sarah Jane Smith arrive at a remote Scottish island where they intend to enjoy a picnic lunch, a nap and skip stones. All of that changes when they discover hideous scarecrows are taking over the small village. They will soon be in a fight for their lives as a sinister alien force is at work. As the story progresses we learn The Doctor is on trial on Gallifrey. The Time Lords have questions that must be answered. He is retelling the events of the story to the council.Since Tom Baker narrated this story, allowing me to close my eyes and imagined this trio, the creepy scarecrows, and the Scratchman. I could see the council, the burned out planet, and creepy crawlies we encountered. It was geektastic. The audio has sound effects present at the beginning of chapters. I enjoyed this little added feature, but was also grateful it wasn't throughout.While not perfect, it gave me a sense of nostalgia and felt authentic to their time on the show. I've since moved on to other Doctors and will confess that nine and ten will forever be my favorite but I enjoyed the new story and trip down memory lane.The story over forty years in the making has a seventies vibe and was originally slated for film. It is my understanding both Ian Martin (Harry Sullivan), and James Goss were involved in the writing. Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane), penned a message that is shared in the epilogue. Sadly, she and Martin are no longer with us. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer
January 27, 2019
Delicious stuff. By turns funny, scary, thoughtful and flat out bonkers, this is much more than a novelisation of an unmade movie. It's rather a splendid novel and a wonderful bit of Doctor Who. I enjoyed it enormously.
November 18, 2019
We waited forty years for this?
This story began as a film treatment by Baker and then-co-star Ian Marter in the 1970s, but nothing ever came of it and it was forgotten by all but the most loyal Whovians. I suppose the popularity of original Doctor Who novels was the incentive for its resurrection (or regeneration?)
I don't know what the original story was like, but this iteration is a mess.
The Doctor, Harry and Sarah Jane arrive at a coastal Scottish village to find most of the inhabitants have been turned into scarecrows. Some kind of...scarecrow virus? Nanomachines? Something? Don't think about it. Especially don't think about the stupid, stupid supermoths.
After holing up with the few remaining survivors, Harry and Sarah Jane are spirited away to the realm of Scratchman, which seems a lot like Hell. Why do these things so closely resemble human mythology? Don't think about it.
Once the Doctor enters the dimension of Scratchman to rescue his friends, any remaining logic (there wasn't that much to begin with) flies out the door. Literally anything can happen, because the place is governed by people's thoughts. Doctor Who was never a hard science show exactly, but this is complete fantasy so why bother? When anything can happen at the whim of the authors, there is no suspense or investment on the part of the reader. It's like reading a long dream sequence, which I hate.
Cybermen appear for no reason other than to offer a deus ex machina rescue late in the story.
The story is told in the first person by the Doctor which is a bad choice because it crushes any of the mystique that is an essential part of his character. It also requires a contrived explanation about how he knows what happened when he wasn't around. (Something TARDIS telepathic + time travel something... at the very least it means he's poking around in his companions' thoughts which is creepy.) The framing story, in which the Doctor is put on trial and has to justify his actions to the other Time Lords, is unnecessary and unconvincing.
Honestly, the whole thing comes off as a thinly-veiled religious screed, which is extremely odd as Baker is an atheist. I don't know who James Goss is; maybe it's his fault. The book is also written at a level for young children, like the old Target novelizations. I was hoping for something more mature along the lines of the BBC original novels that came out in the 90s.
The only good thing about this is that the characters from the show are faithfully depicted, so there are a few brief moments now and again that are nice. And there's a reference to Worzel Gummidge that made me chuckle.
For a much better adventure involving sinister scarecrows, read Doctor Who: The Hollow Men.
For a much better recreation of the Fourth Doctor era, read Doctor Who: Festival of Death.
This story began as a film treatment by Baker and then-co-star Ian Marter in the 1970s, but nothing ever came of it and it was forgotten by all but the most loyal Whovians. I suppose the popularity of original Doctor Who novels was the incentive for its resurrection (or regeneration?)
I don't know what the original story was like, but this iteration is a mess.
The Doctor, Harry and Sarah Jane arrive at a coastal Scottish village to find most of the inhabitants have been turned into scarecrows. Some kind of...scarecrow virus? Nanomachines? Something? Don't think about it. Especially don't think about the stupid, stupid supermoths.
After holing up with the few remaining survivors, Harry and Sarah Jane are spirited away to the realm of Scratchman, which seems a lot like Hell. Why do these things so closely resemble human mythology? Don't think about it.
Once the Doctor enters the dimension of Scratchman to rescue his friends, any remaining logic (there wasn't that much to begin with) flies out the door. Literally anything can happen, because the place is governed by people's thoughts. Doctor Who was never a hard science show exactly, but this is complete fantasy so why bother? When anything can happen at the whim of the authors, there is no suspense or investment on the part of the reader. It's like reading a long dream sequence, which I hate.
Cybermen appear for no reason other than to offer a deus ex machina rescue late in the story.
The story is told in the first person by the Doctor which is a bad choice because it crushes any of the mystique that is an essential part of his character. It also requires a contrived explanation about how he knows what happened when he wasn't around. (Something TARDIS telepathic + time travel something... at the very least it means he's poking around in his companions' thoughts which is creepy.) The framing story, in which the Doctor is put on trial and has to justify his actions to the other Time Lords, is unnecessary and unconvincing.
Honestly, the whole thing comes off as a thinly-veiled religious screed, which is extremely odd as Baker is an atheist. I don't know who James Goss is; maybe it's his fault. The book is also written at a level for young children, like the old Target novelizations. I was hoping for something more mature along the lines of the BBC original novels that came out in the 90s.
The only good thing about this is that the characters from the show are faithfully depicted, so there are a few brief moments now and again that are nice. And there's a reference to Worzel Gummidge that made me chuckle.
For a much better adventure involving sinister scarecrows, read Doctor Who: The Hollow Men.
For a much better recreation of the Fourth Doctor era, read Doctor Who: Festival of Death.
February 28, 2022
A doctor who novel written by one of the legendary doctors? Yes, please.
This is a book of two parts. The first book reads like a story that fits perfectly in Tom Baker’s early stories. It’s atmospheric and creepy, absolutely brilliant. The second part is very ambitious as it definitely tries to go beyond the limits of the television screen. It is also just absolutely bonkers. Maybe a bit too much.
What makes this story worth reading though is without a doubt the protagonist’s voice, with everything being told from the doctor’s point of view being the key selling point of this fascinating oddity of a novel.
This is a book of two parts. The first book reads like a story that fits perfectly in Tom Baker’s early stories. It’s atmospheric and creepy, absolutely brilliant. The second part is very ambitious as it definitely tries to go beyond the limits of the television screen. It is also just absolutely bonkers. Maybe a bit too much.
What makes this story worth reading though is without a doubt the protagonist’s voice, with everything being told from the doctor’s point of view being the key selling point of this fascinating oddity of a novel.
November 28, 2024
It feels like something with one foot in the old series, another foot in the new. The first half has the Doctor and his companions go on an island and solve a mystery, very much in tune of the bunch we got during the Fourth Doctor's era. Then the second half switches gears to something completely different and takes us on an epic quest to decide the fate of all cosmos and where the Doctor's character and personality and fears are all brought up to front and center - just as they liked to do for Smith and Capaldi and Whittaker. There's some dissonance there that I don't think the book ever entirely resolved, but the writing style's airy and charming and Baker knows what it's all about.
Three and a half stars from me.
Three and a half stars from me.
February 2, 2019
Absolutely glorious narration by Tom Baker. A national treasure.
March 4, 2019
I first knew of this book when I saw an advertisement in doctor who magazine. A fourth doctor novel .. from the viewpoint of the doctor... written by Tom Baker !?
I had to give this a go!
And I’m glad I did.
SPOILERS FOLLOW ——
So the basic premise of the book:
The Doctor is on trial by the timelords (again) for meddling in certain events and faces imminent death (yeah , right!).
So, in order to avoid ‘the sword of never’ from wiping him out the Doctor reels off one of his tall adventures in the hopes of a) educating the timelords and b) reminding them why they need him.
Therefore the meat of the story revolves around the fourth Doctor, Sarah and Harry trying to enjoy a quiet day at the beach but soon come under attack ( aswell as a village full of villagers from the nearby village) from villagers that have transformed into scarecrows. The first half of the book is a nice slow burner that fits in nicely with the Earth centric TV stories like ‘The android invasion’ and ‘Robot’.
The reanimated scarecrows trap the Doctor and comrades In a nearby church for the night but are soon defeated by a plague of Moths .. you heard me right , Moths.
And then the second half of the book kicks in and things go bat shit crazy.
Harry and Sarah get pulled into an alternate dimension.
The Doctor follows in the TARDIS and ends up in ‘hell’.
Cue cybermen , rivers of lava, cab drivers, giant pin ball machines, talking lizards and cameos from not one , but four other doctors (possibly five).
Here the Doctor encounters the titular ‘Scratchman’ AKA the devil , a powerfully evil man in a pinstripe suit with a burning white globe for a head.
Basically the end of the book is like an acid trip.
Tom Bakers characterisation of the Doctor is spot on, often hilarious. Sarah is written true to her character as a level headed heroine while Harry takes on the role of damsel in distress or token ‘screamer’.
There are a few glaring spelling mistakes throughout which I didn’t expect from a book 40 years in the making, but that’s pretty much the only complaint I have.
Baker originally started writing this in the 70’s with co-star Ian marter and intended it to be a special Doctor Who movie event, and you can tell from the sheer scale of the climax of the book, and in all honesty the special effects of the 70’s wouldn’t have done this story Justice.
EXTRA SPOILER
Jodie Whittaker turns up for a cameo towards the end and has just as little personality here as she does on screen so I can’t fault Bakers writing there.
If you like the fourth doctor , you’ll love this book.
If you like anything doctor who, you’ll love this book.
And If you’ve never read a Doctor Who book In your life then this is the place to start, because you’ll love it!
Now , time for a jelly baby !
I had to give this a go!
And I’m glad I did.
SPOILERS FOLLOW ——
So the basic premise of the book:
The Doctor is on trial by the timelords (again) for meddling in certain events and faces imminent death (yeah , right!).
So, in order to avoid ‘the sword of never’ from wiping him out the Doctor reels off one of his tall adventures in the hopes of a) educating the timelords and b) reminding them why they need him.
Therefore the meat of the story revolves around the fourth Doctor, Sarah and Harry trying to enjoy a quiet day at the beach but soon come under attack ( aswell as a village full of villagers from the nearby village) from villagers that have transformed into scarecrows. The first half of the book is a nice slow burner that fits in nicely with the Earth centric TV stories like ‘The android invasion’ and ‘Robot’.
The reanimated scarecrows trap the Doctor and comrades In a nearby church for the night but are soon defeated by a plague of Moths .. you heard me right , Moths.
And then the second half of the book kicks in and things go bat shit crazy.
Harry and Sarah get pulled into an alternate dimension.
The Doctor follows in the TARDIS and ends up in ‘hell’.
Cue cybermen , rivers of lava, cab drivers, giant pin ball machines, talking lizards and cameos from not one , but four other doctors (possibly five).
Here the Doctor encounters the titular ‘Scratchman’ AKA the devil , a powerfully evil man in a pinstripe suit with a burning white globe for a head.
Basically the end of the book is like an acid trip.
Tom Bakers characterisation of the Doctor is spot on, often hilarious. Sarah is written true to her character as a level headed heroine while Harry takes on the role of damsel in distress or token ‘screamer’.
There are a few glaring spelling mistakes throughout which I didn’t expect from a book 40 years in the making, but that’s pretty much the only complaint I have.
Baker originally started writing this in the 70’s with co-star Ian marter and intended it to be a special Doctor Who movie event, and you can tell from the sheer scale of the climax of the book, and in all honesty the special effects of the 70’s wouldn’t have done this story Justice.
EXTRA SPOILER
Jodie Whittaker turns up for a cameo towards the end and has just as little personality here as she does on screen so I can’t fault Bakers writing there.
If you like the fourth doctor , you’ll love this book.
If you like anything doctor who, you’ll love this book.
And If you’ve never read a Doctor Who book In your life then this is the place to start, because you’ll love it!
Now , time for a jelly baby !
July 8, 2019
I hadn’t expected to be so moved by this.
The existence of Tom Baker narrating the audio version of a novel he wrote and which is written from the point of view of The Fourth Doctor (a little note: there may be another one out there, but I haven’t before encountered a book written from The Doctor’s perspective) sent me scrabbling for an Audible subscription. The fact that this book was additionally based on DOCTOR WHO v SCRATCHMAN, the legendary, seemingly bonkers never-made-film that Tom Baker and Ian Marter concocted in the 1970s gave it an extra frisson. This was going to be unbridled Tom Baker and I couldn’t wait.
So, I was already looking forward to it, but I didn’t expect it to be so touching. There’s a long passage given over to The Fourth Doctor saying how much he enjoys being The Doctor, that it suits him to the tee and he couldn’t imagine existence without it. And it’s obvious that Tom Baker is talking about himself. That this is how he felt about the role which made him an icon. Furthermore, the actors who played the two companions of the piece – Elisabeth Sladen at Sarah Jane Smith and Ian Marter as Harry Sullivan have both passed on and the book is a loving tribute to them. Particularly Sarah, who is an icon in her own right. The book actually ends with a letter from Sarah and it’s quite lovely and magical and made me miss Elisabeth Sladen all the more.
(There’s also the appearance of another woman, whose identity we don’t realise until the end, and I was hugely touched by that too. Lord. I feel such a softy.)
As a whole, it’s not perfect. Whereas the first half of the book is strong and really captures 1970’s DOCTOR WHO, the second feels long and padded despite numerous good jokes. But by the time it flagged, I wasn’t worried about story anymore, instead I was lost in the marvellous emotion of it.
The existence of Tom Baker narrating the audio version of a novel he wrote and which is written from the point of view of The Fourth Doctor (a little note: there may be another one out there, but I haven’t before encountered a book written from The Doctor’s perspective) sent me scrabbling for an Audible subscription. The fact that this book was additionally based on DOCTOR WHO v SCRATCHMAN, the legendary, seemingly bonkers never-made-film that Tom Baker and Ian Marter concocted in the 1970s gave it an extra frisson. This was going to be unbridled Tom Baker and I couldn’t wait.
So, I was already looking forward to it, but I didn’t expect it to be so touching. There’s a long passage given over to The Fourth Doctor saying how much he enjoys being The Doctor, that it suits him to the tee and he couldn’t imagine existence without it. And it’s obvious that Tom Baker is talking about himself. That this is how he felt about the role which made him an icon. Furthermore, the actors who played the two companions of the piece – Elisabeth Sladen at Sarah Jane Smith and Ian Marter as Harry Sullivan have both passed on and the book is a loving tribute to them. Particularly Sarah, who is an icon in her own right. The book actually ends with a letter from Sarah and it’s quite lovely and magical and made me miss Elisabeth Sladen all the more.
(There’s also the appearance of another woman, whose identity we don’t realise until the end, and I was hugely touched by that too. Lord. I feel such a softy.)
As a whole, it’s not perfect. Whereas the first half of the book is strong and really captures 1970’s DOCTOR WHO, the second feels long and padded despite numerous good jokes. But by the time it flagged, I wasn’t worried about story anymore, instead I was lost in the marvellous emotion of it.
April 19, 2019
I really, really liked this. The story is told by the Doctor himself, so it makes perfect sense to listen to the audiobook read by Tom Baker. It's an outstanding performance as you can imagine. He has a voice that makes the crowds listen (but wait). Who doesn't get goosebumps in "Day oft the Doctor", when one can hear his "Well, I think you might"?!
The story is a good solid Doctor Who adventure and the good thing is: It really feels like a TV story. You can't say that for every book. First I was a little unsure because it is written from the Doctors perspective but to my relief he didn't give his secrets and dark sides away although they are part of the tale. He felt excatly like the Doctor - the 4th Doctor in particular - very self-centred but with a wink. I enjoyed the small little references and cameos more than the story itself. But these put together leads to a very enjoyable book. Tom Bakers or Ian Marters or James Goss' - who knows.
The story is a good solid Doctor Who adventure and the good thing is: It really feels like a TV story. You can't say that for every book. First I was a little unsure because it is written from the Doctors perspective but to my relief he didn't give his secrets and dark sides away although they are part of the tale. He felt excatly like the Doctor - the 4th Doctor in particular - very self-centred but with a wink. I enjoyed the small little references and cameos more than the story itself. But these put together leads to a very enjoyable book. Tom Bakers or Ian Marters or James Goss' - who knows.
February 12, 2019
(Probably 3.5 but I'm rounding up because of Tom) There were parts of this that were sheer brilliance and it was a joy to hear Tom reading them. The thirteenth Doctor showing up and her interacting with the 4th were wonderful. Harry and Sarah having the picnic which felt like a missing scene from the 70s. The transformation of the humans into scarecrows. The asides about the Time Lords, the mosaic bringing back the scarecrow's memories.
There were however several bits which really dragged. Sarah in the clock, the pinball and chess game. There surreal action scenes were just a bit too much for a novel. There wasn't any real danger and the absurdity just went on for too long I found I got quite bored. Unfortuantely Doctor who goes to hell and meets the Devil wasn't quite as entertaining as I'd hoped.
It was an odd little book, but I'm very glad it got to see the light of day.
There were however several bits which really dragged. Sarah in the clock, the pinball and chess game. There surreal action scenes were just a bit too much for a novel. There wasn't any real danger and the absurdity just went on for too long I found I got quite bored. Unfortuantely Doctor who goes to hell and meets the Devil wasn't quite as entertaining as I'd hoped.
It was an odd little book, but I'm very glad it got to see the light of day.
January 24, 2019
The legendary film script devised by Tom Baker and Ian Marter brought to life by Tom with the help of some friends. It would have been such fun to see Tom standing up against “old Scratch” on the big screen. If you’ve ever read any of Tom’s previous prose then you’ll have an idea of what to expect, but don’t think for one moment that this is a straight novelisation from a mid-1970s perspective. The book uses and references aspects of Doctor Who that have developed in the years since, so don’t be too surprised by an unexpected cameo or two. A brilliant and worthwhile read.
September 15, 2021
Rating: 4.5 stars
So yeah, Scratchman was great, but I never had any doubt about that. This book is an ice cream sundae. It's almost impossible to make a bad sundae: you have your ice cream ready in your bowl are about to decorate your dessert with chocolate, rainbow sprinkles, caramel syrup and, I don't know, more ice cream. As long as you like all the options (which any sane person would), there is no way you could muck this up. Well, unless you added tomato sauce, then you are both an idiot for trying it and a manic for even thinking about it (that was one of my dad's cautionary tales, ice cream and tomato sauce, yech). So when you have the ingredients of the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan, with Tom Baker as the author (co-author but whatever) and narrator if you choose the audio (which I recommend you do) and you add in some horror elements, any combination is going to be, well, delicious, if we are continuing with the metaphor.
So yeah, Scratchman was great, but I never had any doubt about that. This book is an ice cream sundae. It's almost impossible to make a bad sundae: you have your ice cream ready in your bowl are about to decorate your dessert with chocolate, rainbow sprinkles, caramel syrup and, I don't know, more ice cream. As long as you like all the options (which any sane person would), there is no way you could muck this up. Well, unless you added tomato sauce, then you are both an idiot for trying it and a manic for even thinking about it (that was one of my dad's cautionary tales, ice cream and tomato sauce, yech). So when you have the ingredients of the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan, with Tom Baker as the author (co-author but whatever) and narrator if you choose the audio (which I recommend you do) and you add in some horror elements, any combination is going to be, well, delicious, if we are continuing with the metaphor.
September 25, 2019
Oh well, what to say about this one. First off, let me tell you I first saw Dr. Who back in the early 80's and was hooked on the show. This was one with Tom Baker playing the 4th Doctor. He has always been my favorite Doctor because of this. Now imagine my excitement when I saw at the library a book about a Doctor Who adventure written by Tom himself!! I grabbed that puppy up and went home to read.
I started off with high hopes for this book, but sadly it was rather blah. There were some interesting parts that I could easily imagine being an episode of the show, but not the whole thing really. I know it was written from the viewpoint of the Doctor on trial for his actions and recounting this story to the court. But it did not do so much for me. Maybe someone else would have found it thrilling, but I am not one of them. I might have been generous giving it 3 stars, but we don't have a way to give a half star.
January 27, 2019
A script for a possible feature-length Doctor Who movie in the 1970s is reborn as a novel written by the Fourth Doctor himself (Tom Baker) with a little help from James Goss who was responsible for the equally marvelous City of Death novelization among other things. Having Baker himself as the reader for the audiobook is some very delicious icing on the cake and much like his acting in his Big Finish adventures, he shows no signs of slowing down. I'm still waiting on my hardcover edition to come in the mail*, but from what I listened to, the story showcases the essence of what made Philip Hinchcliffe's Doctor Who so riveting.
In the words of the Fourth Doctor himself, "Marvelous! Absolutely marvelous!"
*Slated for February here in the States.
In the words of the Fourth Doctor himself, "Marvelous! Absolutely marvelous!"
*Slated for February here in the States.
September 14, 2024
Okay first: Tom Baker and second: Tom Baker. That’s all you need - off you go and listen to the audiobook :)!
But actual review: I so enjoyed this. He’s not only a brilliant and remarkable man, but a fantastic actor, an amazing doctor and a wonderful narrator. With a voice like velvet you could listen to him all day!
It was a really great story and one that was so compelling. The fourth Doctor will forever be an icon and the fact he’s written the book is reason alone. Who else could know the Doctor as well as the man who played him? And I’ve always loved Sarah Jane so it’s was a win win. Glad I listened to this!
But actual review: I so enjoyed this. He’s not only a brilliant and remarkable man, but a fantastic actor, an amazing doctor and a wonderful narrator. With a voice like velvet you could listen to him all day!
It was a really great story and one that was so compelling. The fourth Doctor will forever be an icon and the fact he’s written the book is reason alone. Who else could know the Doctor as well as the man who played him? And I’ve always loved Sarah Jane so it’s was a win win. Glad I listened to this!
April 9, 2020
Tom Baker, the 4th Doctor returns in this rip-roaring tale about fear! So, do immortals like Time Lords know the concept of fear? And what would take such a piece of emotion to take root in them? Well, Doctor narrates the tale of how he, Harry and Sarah Jane Smith, discover fear. So, what are you afraid of...?
My Rating - 4/5
My Rating - 4/5
Read
January 23, 2019Tom Baker's old pitch for a Who film in which the Doctor meets the Devil, rendered as prose by Baker himself and James Goss*. Baker's roguish 85th birthday video, and general cynicism about the division of labour in such projects, lead one to suspect Goss may have done more of the work than the cover credit suggests, but his novelisations of the Douglas Adams Who stories have already shown that Goss can catch the Fourth Doctor's voice admirably, and if nothing else Baker's imprimatur means the book can get away with first person narration by the Doctor, which otherwise tends to come across as lèse-majesté. For the first half of the book, there's no real sense of why this would have had to be on the big screen; the remote island and faintly folk horror vibe are exactly the sort of thing which could have slotted into the series during Baker's early days, and even the monsters could plausibly have been realised on a BBC budget (animate scarecrows – which, granted, are not the most novel of scares, but there are some horribly effective little touches which raise these ones above the pack, not least the idea of having them all in different outfits, which feels deeply creepy even before we find out why). What follows, in an invaded TARDIS, the Land of the Dead and so forth...yeah, maybe not so much – you can see how it would all have ended up looking a bit Underworld, at best. Though how much better seventies cinema special effects would have managed is an open question.
One of the curious features, though, is how many things shouldn't work, but do. Slapstick, for instance, generally works much better in a visual medium, but there's a scene with an entirely oblivious Harry Sullivan (very much the comic relief throughout) taking down three scarecrows without even noticing it that's note-perfect. And more generally, the sheer Tom Baker-ness of the project could easily have lapsed into the same sort of hamminess as can make his later TV stories a bit of a trial, and yet somehow remains utterly charming. Perhaps because there's room to vary the tone a little more, as in the scene with Sarah Jane seeing her life laid out, past and future, where you really feel a certain sadness creeping through; Baker can't have expected that, like the Doctor, he'd end up outliving both his young companions. This was not the only scene where I shed a tear.
I'm sure other people who are more hardcore fans than me could identify the specifics better, but there's definitely a sense in scenes like that of this not being quite the same Scratchman which an alternate timeline got to see on screen. Rumours regarding the story always seemed to mention scenes, like the opening at an airport, which are absent from the book (though the giant pinball table is still here); conversely, a couple of references to nanites seem very unlikely to have been present in any seventies script, not to mention the forward-looking cameos. We see a very different Gallifrey, which reminds us that this is set before The Deadly Assassin brought the Time Lords down to Earth – but as when Hell Bent harmonised all that had gone before, somehow not an incompatible one. And sometimes it's very hard to be sure: the asides which suggest the retroactive imposition of a long arc plot on seasons 12 and 13 feel like artefacts of the revived show, but also like the sort of thing you might well do to justify a big-screen transfer.
And what of Scratchman himself? Fan legend always associated the role with Vincent Price, but Baker said in a recent interview that he was thinking more of Leonard Rossiter, which is a lot easier to picture for this wheedling incarnation of establishment evil. Though even then, the villain of the book's first half is more compelling, and she's no cosmic force, just a petty, pinched, hypocritical old lady. Mrs Tulloch is also, and again this would not have been the term at the time, well Brexit. But we sometimes forget that as well as the alien monstrosities, seventies Who was very good at the delineation of the little human evils.
*I don't know whether he's any relation to Matt and Luke, but I still want him to do a Who story about the building of Rome, or maybe conkers, just in case.
One of the curious features, though, is how many things shouldn't work, but do. Slapstick, for instance, generally works much better in a visual medium, but there's a scene with an entirely oblivious Harry Sullivan (very much the comic relief throughout) taking down three scarecrows without even noticing it that's note-perfect. And more generally, the sheer Tom Baker-ness of the project could easily have lapsed into the same sort of hamminess as can make his later TV stories a bit of a trial, and yet somehow remains utterly charming. Perhaps because there's room to vary the tone a little more, as in the scene with Sarah Jane seeing her life laid out, past and future, where you really feel a certain sadness creeping through; Baker can't have expected that, like the Doctor, he'd end up outliving both his young companions. This was not the only scene where I shed a tear.
I'm sure other people who are more hardcore fans than me could identify the specifics better, but there's definitely a sense in scenes like that of this not being quite the same Scratchman which an alternate timeline got to see on screen. Rumours regarding the story always seemed to mention scenes, like the opening at an airport, which are absent from the book (though the giant pinball table is still here); conversely, a couple of references to nanites seem very unlikely to have been present in any seventies script, not to mention the forward-looking cameos. We see a very different Gallifrey, which reminds us that this is set before The Deadly Assassin brought the Time Lords down to Earth – but as when Hell Bent harmonised all that had gone before, somehow not an incompatible one. And sometimes it's very hard to be sure: the asides which suggest the retroactive imposition of a long arc plot on seasons 12 and 13 feel like artefacts of the revived show, but also like the sort of thing you might well do to justify a big-screen transfer.
And what of Scratchman himself? Fan legend always associated the role with Vincent Price, but Baker said in a recent interview that he was thinking more of Leonard Rossiter, which is a lot easier to picture for this wheedling incarnation of establishment evil. Though even then, the villain of the book's first half is more compelling, and she's no cosmic force, just a petty, pinched, hypocritical old lady. Mrs Tulloch is also, and again this would not have been the term at the time, well Brexit. But we sometimes forget that as well as the alien monstrosities, seventies Who was very good at the delineation of the little human evils.
*I don't know whether he's any relation to Matt and Luke, but I still want him to do a Who story about the building of Rome, or maybe conkers, just in case.
October 2, 2023
I really enjoyed reading this.
I'm not a doctor who fan, I don't think I've ever actually seen an episode the whole way through.
But this is a very accessible book requiring only a surface level knowledge of the series.
I enjoyed the horror elements and hoped it would explore them a bit more, but the charm and writing of the characters is varied and well crafted.
Would definitely recommend.
I'm not a doctor who fan, I don't think I've ever actually seen an episode the whole way through.
But this is a very accessible book requiring only a surface level knowledge of the series.
I enjoyed the horror elements and hoped it would explore them a bit more, but the charm and writing of the characters is varied and well crafted.
Would definitely recommend.
September 28, 2024
This Doctor Who Story would have made a great Halloween episode. My wife introduced watching the doctor, and one of my favorites is Matt Smith.
October 24, 2022
4 ⭐️’s (Great).
May 31, 2019
This book is overall an odd collection of parts. It works. I think it works well. Not exactly as a whole, but as a collective. It is a confederacy of Whovian things, bound together with paper glue and with a book cover wrapped around it.
On the surface, the plot is two related-by-a-thread-but-not-super-well stories. The first is a fairly period-fitting piece to the mid-to-late 70s Who with a bit of a bleed from later T.-Baker-Who and mid-Pertwee-who. An isolated Scottish island is under assault by killer scarecrows. They are properly spooky, with a variety of heads and limbs and twitches to sell the tension of a group of survivors hiding out in an old church. You can picture the 70s-era lighting and film quality and the staging. It breathes fairly spot on for the TV series. It is creepy and harrowing and Sarah Jane and Harry are told quite lovingly while the Fourth Doctor is a proper force of nature.
The second part is...less spot on. I mean, Sarah Jane, Harry, and the Doctor are still interesting and often well done versions of themselves, but the the vibe is much more...Doctor Who Magazine comic or more-Douglas-Adams-than-Douglas-Adams than the standard Who of the time. This is not a bad thing. Essentially, Doctor Who goes to (Surreal) Hell is a fun little idea. Scratchman is a properly oily villain. The creatures and encounters are a bit... random... like reading a kids book from the 19th century where various folks meet various weirder and weirder folks and its a bit of a metaphor maybe, but they are usually effective and interesting. The pair of climatic "battles" are sufficiently epic (one is the epicenter of the DWM comic storyline vibe, the other fits more into how TV Who works) and the little twists and turns are varied enough to keep it exciting.
Both parts work, with the former being more Doctor Who while the latter is more...grand, silly, strange, and maybe brilliant.
Then there is the framing device, which is Yet-Another-Trial-of-a-Timelord, but this is mostly here so literary Fourth Doctor can shout at the Greek Chorus of his jurors about what it means to be a Timelord and to be the Doctor and to be Good and Never Afraid. etc. It really does not add anything, but only slightly subtracts.
Through these, we get another layer, which is the loving tribute layer. Not only is it a tribute to a particular era of Doctor Who (and, in scenes, to the series as a whole and the Doctor as a character and his/her many fans), but particularly to Elizabeth Sladen's Sarah Jane Smith and Ian Marter's Harry Sullivan. Of these two, Harry probably gets the stronger treatment (there's a Shaun of the Dead-esque moment where Harry defeats two of enemy without even realizing they are in the room). How well these character moments work kind of depends on how well you can take the over the top vibe of them. I liked them. You might find them silly.
Then there is another layer, which is a Stephen Moffat style analysis on what it means to be Doctor Who (both the character and the show). Stuff about the Doctor's fear, the Doctor being aware of his other (including future) incarnations, the tip off to the current Doctor, etc etc. We also get some updates to the way the Doctor refers to technology, and references to other adventures (including some I suspect are Big Finish or novels, though maybe I am wrong). That sort of thing.
All together, it is a bit of a pot-soup. There are big thick chunks that kind of bob around other big thick chunks, but it holds together. It both feels like a Fourth Doctor story and not. it is both kind of a timeless tale and not. It trips over its feet here or there, and then gets up and takes off running.
Still, the Fourth Doctor will always probably be "my Doctor", and this felt like a proper inclusion into his hefty narrative. More 4.5 stars than 5, but here's to rounding up, eh?
On the surface, the plot is two related-by-a-thread-but-not-super-well stories. The first is a fairly period-fitting piece to the mid-to-late 70s Who with a bit of a bleed from later T.-Baker-Who and mid-Pertwee-who. An isolated Scottish island is under assault by killer scarecrows. They are properly spooky, with a variety of heads and limbs and twitches to sell the tension of a group of survivors hiding out in an old church. You can picture the 70s-era lighting and film quality and the staging. It breathes fairly spot on for the TV series. It is creepy and harrowing and Sarah Jane and Harry are told quite lovingly while the Fourth Doctor is a proper force of nature.
The second part is...less spot on. I mean, Sarah Jane, Harry, and the Doctor are still interesting and often well done versions of themselves, but the the vibe is much more...Doctor Who Magazine comic or more-Douglas-Adams-than-Douglas-Adams than the standard Who of the time. This is not a bad thing. Essentially, Doctor Who goes to (Surreal) Hell is a fun little idea. Scratchman is a properly oily villain. The creatures and encounters are a bit... random... like reading a kids book from the 19th century where various folks meet various weirder and weirder folks and its a bit of a metaphor maybe, but they are usually effective and interesting. The pair of climatic "battles" are sufficiently epic (one is the epicenter of the DWM comic storyline vibe, the other fits more into how TV Who works) and the little twists and turns are varied enough to keep it exciting.
Both parts work, with the former being more Doctor Who while the latter is more...grand, silly, strange, and maybe brilliant.
Then there is the framing device, which is Yet-Another-Trial-of-a-Timelord, but this is mostly here so literary Fourth Doctor can shout at the Greek Chorus of his jurors about what it means to be a Timelord and to be the Doctor and to be Good and Never Afraid. etc. It really does not add anything, but only slightly subtracts.
Through these, we get another layer, which is the loving tribute layer. Not only is it a tribute to a particular era of Doctor Who (and, in scenes, to the series as a whole and the Doctor as a character and his/her many fans), but particularly to Elizabeth Sladen's Sarah Jane Smith and Ian Marter's Harry Sullivan. Of these two, Harry probably gets the stronger treatment (there's a Shaun of the Dead-esque moment where Harry defeats two of enemy without even realizing they are in the room). How well these character moments work kind of depends on how well you can take the over the top vibe of them. I liked them. You might find them silly.
Then there is another layer, which is a Stephen Moffat style analysis on what it means to be Doctor Who (both the character and the show). Stuff about the Doctor's fear, the Doctor being aware of his other (including future) incarnations, the tip off to the current Doctor, etc etc. We also get some updates to the way the Doctor refers to technology, and references to other adventures (including some I suspect are Big Finish or novels, though maybe I am wrong). That sort of thing.
All together, it is a bit of a pot-soup. There are big thick chunks that kind of bob around other big thick chunks, but it holds together. It both feels like a Fourth Doctor story and not. it is both kind of a timeless tale and not. It trips over its feet here or there, and then gets up and takes off running.
Still, the Fourth Doctor will always probably be "my Doctor", and this felt like a proper inclusion into his hefty narrative. More 4.5 stars than 5, but here's to rounding up, eh?
December 25, 2019
A new Doctor Who book by a real Doctor Who - wow!
Tom Baker, the actor who played the fourth incarnation of the Doctor, has now written a book (actually, co-written, although that’s not mentioned on the cover) based on a movie idea he had back in the 1970s when he was at the height of his fame in the role. The film never got off the ground, so he’s now put it into book form instead. The story is set in the early Baker era with familiar companions Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan, and big bad guy Scratchman is a nasty cosmic force opening a portal to another dimension to create chaos. As a writer, Baker manages to evoke the period quite well, portraying his lead characters much as they were on the show, bringing them to a worried Scottish village full of the old-school British references typical of the period, right down to the village church, a rude shopkeeper, and a supporting character with the odd historical name of Sophonisba. Unusually, it’s narrated in first person, from the Doctor’s point of view. I’m not aware if this has been done in Doctor Who literature before as I haven’t seen everything, but it certainly gives readers a rare insight into the character’s thinking and allows Baker’s wonderful sense of humour to flourish. At nearly 300 pages, it’s a bit longer than the old TV show novelisations that were popular when I was a kid but it seems to be aimed at a more adult audience who probably enjoyed those books and would like to reminisce, albeit with something new. So far, so good.
However, there are a few problems with it. First of all, the first-person perspective is not consistent, and the Doctor often reports on what his companions are doing and thinking when he’s not in their presence. Part of the Doctor’s charm is that he’s not omniscient, and can make mistakes because he doesn’t always know everything about what’s going on, so this doesn’t sit well in the narrative. Baker attempts to get around this with asides like “as Sarah told me later”, but I think the story would have been stronger if the Doctor didn’t know and only found out what they did through the consequences of their actions. Secondly, there’s way too much humour. One of the joys of Doctor Who has always been its mix of fear and wit. Many of the villains are a bit silly, but just to the point where you could suspend your disbelief and the plot could come together. In the darker stories, the Doctor or his companions might make a wisecrack to lighten the mood, so that even as a youngster, you knew not to take it too seriously. I loved Baker’s jokes throughout this book, but he overdoes it so much that the sinister cover, with its silhouettes on a blood-red background and “What are you afraid of?” subtitle doesn’t live up to its promise and there is little sense of any real danger or threat. Thirdly, without giving away any spoilers, parts of the tale feel a little derivative, especially in the second half. A couple of tweaks could have easily ironed those out and kept it fresh.
Despite its flaws, I liked it. Not a perfect novel by any means, Mr Baker has nevertheless produced an entertaining book that will, in all probability, be enjoyed by people like me who are fans of his time in the TARDIS. So if you are, I heartily recommend it.
Tom Baker, the actor who played the fourth incarnation of the Doctor, has now written a book (actually, co-written, although that’s not mentioned on the cover) based on a movie idea he had back in the 1970s when he was at the height of his fame in the role. The film never got off the ground, so he’s now put it into book form instead. The story is set in the early Baker era with familiar companions Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan, and big bad guy Scratchman is a nasty cosmic force opening a portal to another dimension to create chaos. As a writer, Baker manages to evoke the period quite well, portraying his lead characters much as they were on the show, bringing them to a worried Scottish village full of the old-school British references typical of the period, right down to the village church, a rude shopkeeper, and a supporting character with the odd historical name of Sophonisba. Unusually, it’s narrated in first person, from the Doctor’s point of view. I’m not aware if this has been done in Doctor Who literature before as I haven’t seen everything, but it certainly gives readers a rare insight into the character’s thinking and allows Baker’s wonderful sense of humour to flourish. At nearly 300 pages, it’s a bit longer than the old TV show novelisations that were popular when I was a kid but it seems to be aimed at a more adult audience who probably enjoyed those books and would like to reminisce, albeit with something new. So far, so good.
However, there are a few problems with it. First of all, the first-person perspective is not consistent, and the Doctor often reports on what his companions are doing and thinking when he’s not in their presence. Part of the Doctor’s charm is that he’s not omniscient, and can make mistakes because he doesn’t always know everything about what’s going on, so this doesn’t sit well in the narrative. Baker attempts to get around this with asides like “as Sarah told me later”, but I think the story would have been stronger if the Doctor didn’t know and only found out what they did through the consequences of their actions. Secondly, there’s way too much humour. One of the joys of Doctor Who has always been its mix of fear and wit. Many of the villains are a bit silly, but just to the point where you could suspend your disbelief and the plot could come together. In the darker stories, the Doctor or his companions might make a wisecrack to lighten the mood, so that even as a youngster, you knew not to take it too seriously. I loved Baker’s jokes throughout this book, but he overdoes it so much that the sinister cover, with its silhouettes on a blood-red background and “What are you afraid of?” subtitle doesn’t live up to its promise and there is little sense of any real danger or threat. Thirdly, without giving away any spoilers, parts of the tale feel a little derivative, especially in the second half. A couple of tweaks could have easily ironed those out and kept it fresh.
Despite its flaws, I liked it. Not a perfect novel by any means, Mr Baker has nevertheless produced an entertaining book that will, in all probability, be enjoyed by people like me who are fans of his time in the TARDIS. So if you are, I heartily recommend it.
May 3, 2022
2 stories for the price of one, linked by the ever really Scratchman! One story in here has a classic 70s DW feel to it which Tom writes really well! The other; something you have to read twice, not for enjoyment but to work out what is actually going on... The idea was there but I got confused at times, an excuse to read it again I guess! Tom writing in first person is an extra little bonus too 😍
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