Doctor Who: The Devil Goblins from Neptune

Past Doctor Adventures #1

by Keith Topping, Martin Day

The human race stands at a worrying political crossroads. UNIT is up to its ears in alien sightings, reporting of UFOs and threats from other worlds - and for good reason - the devil goblins from Neptune have landed.

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Fiction, Time Travel, Ebooks, Fantasy

288 pages, Paperback

First published June 2, 1997

About the author

Keith Andrew Topping is an author, journalist and broadcaster most closely associated with his work relating to the BBC Television series Doctor Who and for writing numerous official and unofficial guide books to a wide variety of television and film series, specifically Buffy the Vampire Slayer.He is also the author of two books of rock music critique. To date, Topping has written over 40 books.

One of the leading players in British Doctor Who fandom's fan-fiction movement during the 1980s, Topping's first published fiction was the BBC Books "Past Doctor Adventure" The Devil Goblins from Neptune in 1997. The novel was co-written with his friend and frequent collaborator Martin Day.
The pair quickly followed this up with the acclaimed novel The Hollow Men in 1998. Following Day's move into TV scripting, Topping wrote the novels The King of Terror (2000) and Byzantium! (2001) solo. The latter novel is the only BBC Books Past Doctor Adventure to be set entirely within one episode of the television series Doctor Who — 1965's The Romans by Dennis Spooner. Topping also wrote the Telos Doctor Who novella Ghost Ship which was published in 2002 and proved so popular that it was one of only two novellas reissued as a paperback edition in 2003.

As well as writing fiction, Topping has also authored numerous programme guides to television series as diverse as The X Files, The Avengers, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Sweeney and The Professionals. These were all published by Virgin Books, and co-written with Martin Day and Paul Cornell. Cornell, Day and Topping also collaborated on the popular Doctor Who Discontinuity Guide, published by Virgin Books in 1995 and re-issued, in the US, by MonkeyBrain Books in 2004, a lighthearted guide to the mistakes and incongruities of the television series. The trio had first worked together co-writing two editions of The Guinness Book of Classic British Television (1993 and 1996 respectively).

Subsequently, Topping wrote The Complete Slayer: An Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Every Episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and a number of related texts on this popular series as well as guide books to The West Wing (Inside Bartlet's White House), Angel (Hollywood Vampire), 24 (A Day in the Life) and Stargate SG-1 (Beyond the Gate), amongst others. According to the 2003 book Slayer Slang by Michael Adams (Oxford University Press), Topping was the originator of the word 'vampiry' (adj. "exhibiting features of a vampire") in the January 2000 edition of his book Slayer (pg. 26). In addition, Topping is a regular contributor of articles and reviews to several TV and genre titles including TV Zone, Xposé and Shivers and is a former Contributing Editor of Dreamwatch. He also worked as Project Consultant on Charmed: The Complete DVD Collection.

On radio, Topping was the Producer/Presenter of the monthly Book Club (2005-2007) and currently co-presents a daily television review slot, Monday to Friday, on The Simon Logan Show for BBC Newcastle. He has also contributed to the BBC television series' I Love the '70s, Call The Cops and The Perfect Detective and has written for Sounds, the Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Times Culture Supplement and many other magazines and periodicals.

Topping writes, and occasionally performs, stand-up comedy and has written radio comedy sketches, an (unproduced) stage play and a TV pilot (with Martin Day) that is, currently, stuck in “Development Hell.”

Topping continues to live and work on Tyneside. He achieved a lifetimes ambition in 2005 when his book on The Beatles, Do You Want to Know a Secret was published by Virgin Books.

Reviews

[Ken · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was the first in the series of Past Doctor Adventures by the BBC, previously Virgin use to print 'Missing Adventures', now I've read some of the MA's and I do think this is a step up in quality but reading it nearly twenty years later and knowing that both the range produced some brilliant novels and the show come back to TV it is quite easy to be critical about this book.

Its both riddled with early UNIT stories and 70's references, also a few football comments aswell so can feel like Fan Fiction at times, but it was still enjoyable enough...

[Gareth · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Past Doctor Adventures get stuck in during a particularly grim ‘n’ gritty time in the show’s run: the Doctor is exiled to Earth and working for military organisation UNIT to repel aliens. With him is his brilliant fellow academic Liz (not your usual Doctor Who companion) and a host of other familiar characters who work particularly well in an ensemble novel. It’s sprawling action and spy stuff, with a sadly uninteresting monster of the week to rally against, but as a thriller it ticks along very well and there effective character moments.

3.5

[Tom Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doctor Who - Past Doctor Adventures: The Devil Goblins From Neptune (1)

If you love Season 7. you will like The Devil Goblins From Neptune. It's flawed, but it's very enjoyable despite its issues.

The story is paced well, engaging to the reader and feels like classic Pertwee. It feels like The Ambassadors of Death and The Mind of Evil as a single story. The corruption inside UNIT is something I was looking forward to about the book but the villains and threat wasn't utilised at full potential.

The Waro were uninspiring and unoriginal. Compared to the other threats focused in Season 7: Autons, Silurians, The Ambassadors and Primords; the Waro didn't hit the mark with me. Another thing I find rather stupid about the novel was the CIA. I find it a little implausible UNIT were completely oblivious to the CIA's movements against UNIT despite their involvement in dealing with unknown and extraterrestrial threats to earth. Surely UNIT would have some understanding of internal threats to their own organisation right? It makes them look incompetent. The title of the book is a bit odd. Would of been cool to have some exposition about the Waro's connection to Neptune (or in fact Triton being where the Waro actually come from and not Neptune) Triton is the coldest place in the solar system, almost at temperatures that can freeze atoms. Not sure if I missed it, but I think some exposition about their biology to give us answers as to why they developed in a hostile cold atmosphere and have no difference when on Earth in a completely different enviroment to their homeworld. Instead, the reader has to fill in those gaps and I think that's a little lazy. Exposition on their biology as an alien species should of been explored.

The book has good pacing as I said but near the 60-70% area, the action is still there but it stays in the same gear and that's the point of the novel the plot struggles. I feel the writers didn't know how to escalate the book after that point. The Devil Goblins From Neptune was pretty much a prototype book in Keith Topping's mind for his future novel The King of Terror. Basically, The King of Terror is the same novel with more slapt on. If The King of Terror delivers at a higher level or not at all compared to this novel is another question.

Despite that, the main characters are sublime. Love the Brig and some of the supporting characters were done pretty well.

It's a good book but very flawed. VERY FLAWED. However, if a book is senjoyable to me it still gets a good rating. Enjoyment factor I take more into account than technical writing ability; but it would never score anything higher than a 8 in my books.

7/10

[Harry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I absolutely adore the past Doctor adventure range so much so I thought it made sense to go and read the very first entry, The Devil Goblins from Neptune which in itself is a very bizarre title which I’ll get onto shortly.

I have to say that while I enjoyed this book for the most part, I did struggle with it at times. I think it’s due to the fact that I found the main villains, the Waro, very bland, not very interesting and pretty one dimensional.

There are quite a few mentions of football in this novel which i didn’t mind as I love football and I’m a huge fan of Wolverhampton Wanderers. However, I don’t know many Doctor Who fans who enjoy both so a non football fan could potentially get irritated by this.

The main characters themselves, the Doctor, Liz, the Brig + Unit characters are all really well characterised and I could hear their voices while reading their dialogue. This leads me onto another criticism, I feel like in this book there were just way too many characters, not to mention the Waro AND another alien species!

I mentioned that the title is very bizarre and as it happens there are some bizarre moments in the book such as the Brig using a group of prostitutes as a distraction and Sergeant Benton taking drugs from a group of hippies.

Season 7 is my favourite season of all time and for me, if I were to rank this story within the four of that season, this would definitely come last unfortunately. Like I said earlier, it’s an enjoyable book but one that I won’t rush back to any time soon.

5/10 3/5

[Joseph Dodd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not all too sure what was happening to be honest, lots of espionage and double-crossing. However, goblins did turn up so I have to give kudos there. Three was well-written.

[John Parungao · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one evokes the spirit of early Pertwee era stories . It's as complex as Ambassadors of Death, with a plot that has many twists and turns with the Brigadier running a foul of a conspiracy to undermine UNIT and going up against the CIA. Meanwhile the Doctor and Liz Shaw are off helping the Russians defend themselves from an alien invasion, UNIT is supposed to be about global cooperation after all.
Mike Yates and the rest of the British branch of UNIT have their own problems with a spy in their midst. All of this unfolds in a complex plot and all the threads lead to Area 51 and a last minute save from the Doctor and some new alien friends. Not all aliens are here to take over the world apparently.
The total experience of this book is a good hybrid of seasons 7 and 8 of classic Doctor Who and a good bridge between the two seasons.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great transition novel, between the moody intensity of season seven and the more glam rock feel of season eight. Alien encounters, cold war espionage, and the Doctor right in the heart of all of it, throwing his usual spanner into the works. A satisfying adventure that lives up to its outrageous-but-awesome title.

[Danny Welch · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really epic novel that goes global from England to Russia, to Geneva, to America, and to England again. There is a lot going on in this story with devil goblins from Neptune, a unit conspiracy, Russians trying to kidnap The Doctor, and of course a group of hippies as well. A brilliant and engaging novel to start off the Past Doctor Adventures! 8/10

[The Master · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's a classic Pertwee-Liz-UNIT "Earth invasion" romp. Good characterizations, good villains and a story very much in keeping with the DW of its era. The title is a bit goofy, and there's some distracting fanwank early on, but a solid read overall.

[David Layton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is fast-paced, exciting, and gory as a teen slasher film.

[William Armstrong · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story trying to be equal parts sci fi and spy thriller, balancing a large cast of characters and various locations that results in an intriguing story, keeping me engaged throughout. Like any good spy story, you’re not entirely sure what the whole picture is until the very end and once that picture is painted, you’d do well to have had any idea what it was going to look like.

The story and pacing do stumble at times, where opportunities to have the cast of characters interact and converse beyond the plot, the narrative instead jumps between settings and characters, focussing on the various happenings across the globe. It’s a very international Dr Who story, taking place across Europe and the USA and while there’s some interesting ideas, it fails to capitalise on its own potential.

The Doctor has a passive presence in the story, being guided around instead of being a driving force in the plot. In true Doctor fashion he turns up with a solution at the vital moments and when he is at the forefront, Topping captures Pertwee’s portrayal superbly.

Interesting monsters are a key part of a good Doctor Who story and in concept this story doesn’t disappoint. In execution, there are some drawbacks. I think the Waro are a really interesting idea and are established as a real threat but that’s where it ends. The late addition of the Nedenah and the cliche of America’s locked up secret aliens are not without its charm but are clearly an answer to the sheer size of the threat posed by the Waro. Falling into the established Deus Ex Machina of Doctor Who endings, a perfect solution presents itself within the final chapter and proves completely effective. Loose ends are tied up rather simply and the status quo is re-established for Third Doctor adventures to continue uninterrupted.

[Jason Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

And the BBC, hoping the McGann film would generate a series,took the series future in print back in house. At first the books play it quite safe and middle of the road, though not as much as many of the news series novels would when who exploded in popularity again during the David Tennant era.

With no new series , the books were gradually allowed to experiment more. This one is plot wise a bit of a mess , but it’s not without interest. The two warring races rescue this from being alien invasion of the week, and the fact that we see UNIT from both sides of the Iron curtain gives us some of the political subtext that the Pertwee era did very well ( and with more subtlety that the Jodie Whittaker era often has).

[Kris · Rating 2 out of 5]

This should have been a rather fun little UNIT adventure. Unfortunately there is still lots of mid-nineties crudeness, it is doing a lot of ideas that were done better in the Virgin Missing Adventures and the plot really falls apart at the last hurdle.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a major slowburn but very well done. I love the third doctor in anything and this captured his character well. I found some parts a bit boring but a lot of it was worldbuilding which is fine.

[Ian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.com...

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

the 3rd doctor fighting devil goblins from neptune with the help of UNIT in southern england. more adult themes, plenty of gory moments. great stuff.

[Dan Hodges · Rating 3 out of 5]

The earliest Third Doctor novel is a decent start for his time in the Extended Universe. He, Liz, and the UNIT crew are well-captured, as is the unique Season 7 atmosphere. The story itself is a bit iffy, it has some nice ideas, though I wasn't blown away by the end result. Enjoyable enough, though.

[Isaac · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hippies see strange lights in the sky at a concert, and some people are found dead nearby. The Doctor and Liz investigate. Meanwhile the Brigadier discovers corruption at the very heart of UNIT.

The first six parts of this story were absolutely incredible. It was fast-paced and followed intriguing mysteries and characters that developed naturally as time went on. So I don't understand how the ending dropped the ball so spectacularly. The final part was rushed and unearned, and wrapped up in a stupid, very un-Doctor Who-like way. The solution to the mystery of UNIT's corruption was the most boring possibility imaginable.

The aliens - the eponymous "devil goblins" - were in some ways great, and others terrible. What was great about them was their overall designs and their technology, which were really unique and fun, and made for some great opportunities for action or horror scenes in the book. What sucked about them was their personality - they were literally just naturally evil and aggressive. They had no actual motivations besides being hateful. Like, that's the daleks' thing. Be more original, Topping and Day. Also their feud with the other aliens in the story was never explained.

Most of the characters were great. Every one of the main characters from the show got something to do, even Yates and Benton. Though they tried to turn Yates into a chauvinistic womaniser, which was really weird and didn't fit with the show portrayal at all. The other weak link was Liz Shaw, which was very disappointing. As with Scales of Injustice before it, Devil Goblins attempts to give a send-off to Liz, and at the same time explore the personal lives of her and the Brigadier. I think the writers just got so focused on the Brig's story (which was great) that they completely forgot to develop Liz. Her friends are flat, one-dimensional characters, and beyond being a useful scientist, she doesn't have much of an impact on the story. As a result of this, her exit at the end of the story feels totally unearned and shoehorned in. As a contrast to this, the book does a deep dive into the Brigadier having PTSD, and, in my opinion, handled it incredibly.
The book's original characters, for the most part, were also very good. While they aren't exactly deep or complex, they are all fun, thoroughly entertaining characters, with believable motivations and personalities. Except Viscount Rose. He was a very intimidating and powerful character, but they failed to properly explain what his deal was.

But there is one major character who is just poorly handled in every respect. Thomas Bruce, as a character, makes no sense. He's an arrogant jackass who the writers tried to make sympathetic at the end by adding in a sad backstory that wasn't even remotely set up or foreshadowed. This just added to how unearned the ending was.

The prose itself was great, with brilliant action, suspense and mystery-building. The strongest parts were the horror sections, and there were some very unsettling scenes with a great atmosphere to them. There were also some really nice quiet moments, particularly with the Doctor himself. I also liked the interludes, which provided little snapshots of things going on elsewhere, following characters outside the main cast who weren't strictly relevant to the story, but provided a canvas on which to show the wider picture of what exactly was going on.

Overall it was a pretty average story, but managed to be extremely disappointing, due to the very promising set-up and poor pay-off.

[Michel Siskoid Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Devil Goblins from Neptune is the first of the BBC's Past Doctor novels after they took over from Virgin Publishing, written by Keith Topping and Martin Day, and starring the Third Doctor, Liz Shaw and the rest of UNIT. Bit of a mess, frankly. The most interesting bit element is the conspiracy inside UNIT, with the Russians and Americans both acting on Cold War impulses, with the Brigadier caught in the middle, but it feels like they're setting things up for later, though I don't know if they ever returned to it. The characters are well rendered, though Mike Yates is laughably made into a Lothario, and the aliens are fearsome, if one-dimensional. Unfortunately, the stuff about the hippies and rock concerts doesn't amount to anything, the writers are singularly obsessed with military hardware (snooze), the action is often repetitive (if you're in a vehicle, it WILL crash, even Bessie), and most unforgivably, the finale is a big deus ex machina, with the Doctor and Liz as mostly bystanders. Not an unpleasant read, as it does make UNIT more of an international player, but it could have benefited from more ruthless editing.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Third Doctor, Liz Shaw & Unit. Between Inferno & Terror of the Autons.
X-Files fans might just enjoy this book more than some Doctor Who fans. It seemed to have more in common with say the Cancer man episodes of that show than the UNIT era of Doctor Who. There's plenty going on and it's not at all boring but I found a lot of the throw-away invented trivia e.g. The Beatles to be a bit intrusive and distracting. The characterizations seemed to be somewhat overblown as if the authors were going out of their way to provoke an indignant response from the reader. Not what I paid my money to read unfortunately. I only wish I'd put it back on the shelf and picked up that C.J. Cherryh book instead.

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 2 out of 5]

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1835481...

This was the first of the BBC Past Doctor Adventure novels, from 1997, featuring the Third Doctor and Liz Shaw with the core UNIT team of the Brigadier, Benton and Mike Yates. It has its moments, particularly in injecting a past history to the Brigadier and Benton and attributing (separate) sex lives to Liz and Yates. But there's a lot of Stuff here, some of which works OK - Chancellor Goth was responsible for sending the Doctor to Peladon, apparently - and some of which doesn't - the convoluted international back-story to UNIT, the fifth Beatle, the aliens of the title. I suppose it catches the spirit of the very early Pertwee shows quite well, but this isn't necessarily an entirely good thing.

[Robo Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

If there was a half star option I'd probably have given this two and a half rather than three. There's a reasonably espionage tale going on in the background here and the Doctor is always great but the meat of the Devil Goblin story just doesn't feel very Doctor Who-ish somehow.

Some really good moments and some plodding moments - an enjoyable read but stuck in a strange limbo between enjoyable fluff and an attempt at serious fiction.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

At times, the writing is a little silly and over-the-top, but I still really enjoyed this, as a little light reading on the side of more serious things. It captured the spirit of the 3rd Doctor and included several elements that would not have made sense for the childrens' show that Who was at the time

[Travis · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit of a jumble with a good story fighting to get out and not quite getting there. Great title though.
It all involves some fairly interesting new aliens, a rock festival and UNIT actually gets to do something.

Otherwise, an all right, but not terribly memorable story.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's strang lights in the sky, and the Russians want to kidnap the Doctor. A solid UNIT tale from the 3rd Doctors first season. All the characters are exactly as on screen, and you really do hear their voices when you read this book. The story is engaging, though a bit meandering. A good read.

[CountZeroOr · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is so desperate to show you how 70s it is, that it can't stop ramming it down your throat. Between a bunch of poorly executed references to various 70s prog rock
bands, and shoehorned in drug use (of hallucinogens, naturally), the book loses any sense of being a 3rd Doctor story.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable Doctor Who book by Mr. Topping, starring the Third Doctor.

[Simon Curtis · Rating 2 out of 5]

As the start of a range following on from The Missing Adventures, this felt a bit different. And not necessarily in a good way.

[Gayle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining but not really a book I'd bother reading again.

[Ivana Richards · Rating 3 out of 5]

More James Bond than Dr who at times, but very enjoyable. Just a shame the goblins had very little menace to them, despite being so vicious.