Doctor Who: Imperial Moon

Past Doctor Adventures #34

by Christopher Bulis

The year is 1878. Three ships of the British Imperial Spacefleet have just set course for the Moon.

The discovery of a mysterious diary, recalling a seemingly impossible journey, takes the Doctor and his companions back to a crucial moment in history — and into certain danger. For the Moon of 1878 is far from deserted.

Trapped in a crater teeming with hostile animal and plant life, the Doctor and Turlough must join the British explorers on a hazardous journey to battle for their freedom before the long lunar night descends. For, lurking in the shadows, are the Vrall — cunning and utterly ruthless killers.

With the loss of one of their ships — and their captain — the British team become embroiled in a struggle to survive that tests duty and honour to their limits. Meanwhile, Turlough finds himself with Time in his hands and the Doctor must make a choice that will determine the future of an Empire — and Earth itself.

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

283 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 7, 2000

About the author

Christopher Bulis is a writer best known for his work on various Doctor Who spin-offs. He is one of the most prolific authors to write for the various ranges of spin-offs from the BBC Television series Doctor Who, with twelve novels to his name, and between 1993 and 2000 he had at least one Doctor Who novel published every year.

Bulis' first published work was the New Adventure Shadowmind, published in 1993 by Virgin Publishing. This was the only novel Bulis wrote featuring the Seventh Doctor, and his next five books were all published under Virgin's Missing Adventures range: State of Change (1994), The Sorcerer's Apprentice (1995), The Eye of the Giant (1996), Twilight of the Gods (1996), and A Device of Death (1997).

When Virgin lost their licence to publish novels based on Doctor Who, Bulis repeated this pattern writing novels for the BBC - with one novel written for the current incumbent Doctor as part of BBC Books' Eighth Doctor Adventures range, and then all of his other novels published as part of the Past Doctor Adventures range. Bulis' novels for the BBC were The Ultimate Treasure (1997), Vanderdeken's Children (1998), City at World's End (1999), Imperial Moon (2000) and Palace of the Red Sun (2002).

Bulis also wrote the novel Tempest as part of Virgin's Bernice Summerfield range of novels, and also a short story for Big Finish Productions' Short Trips series.

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been a Doctor Who fan since I watched an episode while in York, England back in 1978. It was an episode featuring Tom Baker as the Doctor--and he remains my favorite of all the actors who played the peripatetic Gallifreyan. I was overjoyed that, after I returned to the States, Doctor Who was being shown on my local public TV station...Anyway, I got into the Doctor Who novels, first the novelizations of the TV shows and then the novels with original stories about the Doctor. "Imperial Moon" by Christopher Bulis is one of those original stories. It features the Fifth Doctor, who was played by Peter Davison from 1981-1984. In this story, published in 2000, the Doctor is accompanied by Turlough from the planet Trion, and the shape-changing android Kamelion ( who certainly comes in handy!).
I read this book over ten years ago and greatly enjoyed it--but I had forgotten why exactly. So I gave it a quick rereading and it is one of my favorites of all the Doctor Who novels that I have read. In this story, it's 1878, the Victorian Age. The spaceships of the British Imperial Spacefleet launch from a secret base in the Scottish Highlands. Their destination: the Moon. A British scientist has devised a type of engine that makes space flight possible and the British are determined to add the Moon to Queen Victoria's mighty empire. When the British orbit over "the dark side of the moon," they see a crater that looks like it's covered by a dome. Upon landing, the explorers discover that the crater teems with animal and plant life--some of it deadly. The Doctor and Turlough join the explorers, as the Doctor seeks to discover the mystery of life on the Moon. They will also face the terrible threat of the Vrall-- which are utterly ruthless killers.
I like this story because it's an intriguing alternate history-type story. But is it alternate history--or is it actually a secret history which was suppressed? I give it 4 stars.

[F.R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Imperial Moon’ is a little delight of a book. Nobody is going to stand on the mountains and hail it as a world-beater, but it has a fun idea at its centre and it executes it tremendously well – and who could ask more than that? Basically it takes the concept of ‘Doctor Who’ and mixes it in with stone cold classic pioneering sci-fi – your Jules Verne, your H.G. Wells, your Edgar Rice Burroughs – and then goes completely to town with it.

The book opens with Queen Victoria proudly launching her imperial space fleet on its way to the moon. Once there though – far from the lifeless rock they’ve been promised – the ships find themselves landing in this odd oasis of green, full of strange and fantastic beasts, as well as The Fifth Doctor and Turlough. Most exciting of all there’s a tribe of lithe, beautiful women of the kind that John Carter had ‘relations’ with on Mars.

Our Tardis crew is particularly well captured, with the character of Turlough shaded in a way that was forever hinted at on the TV show even as it failed to deliver. Kameleon is also on board, but he once again suffers from the fact that ‘Doctor Who’ still clearly hasn’t a clue what to do with him (apart from a clever moment at the end) and so he just becomes the machina in a deus ex machina.

But that’s a quibble though, if you’re geek enough to appreciate Doctor Who spin off novels, then this one isn’t the greatest you’ll pick up, but you won’t find many with so much charm and fun.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even with the vastness of time and space, the Doctor occasionally stumbles across himself in his travels. When the TARDIS crosses its own temporal wake during one of its journeys it materializes unexpectedly on the far side of Earth’s moon in the 21st century. No sooner does it land than an alert draws the Doctor’s attention to his time safe, in which rests an item his future self placed within it. The item is the diary of a Royal Navy officer recounting the expedition he led to the moon in 1878. And inside its pages lays a tale that could force the Doctor to make a decision that might erase an entire universe.

With this Christopher Bulis launches his reader on an adventure that wears its’ homages to the giants of Victorian-era science fiction on its sleeve. The nods to Jules Verne and H. G. Wells are obvious, but the “lost world” concept of Arthur Conan Doyle is also visible within its pages. And yet perhaps the most important model is one of Bulis’s novels from the Virgin Missing Adventure series, The Eye of the Giant, as many of the plot elements in that book are echoed here. A group of humans in Earth’s past travel to a strange, alien-influenced destination? Check. Lives are imperiled by vicious oversized flora and fauna? Check. The Doctor and his companions intervene to save them and ensure that events don’t alter the future? Check and check.

Just because Bulis repeats the beats from his earlier work doesn’t mean that this is a bad book, or even a mere duplicate. Moving the setting from a lost island in the Pacific to an artificial environment on the Moon freshens up the tale, as does the nature of the problem before the Doctor and Turlough. Not only does the duo face the incongruous problem of Victorian spacefarers, they have an account that threatens to lock them in a paradox if misused. Though Bulis doesn’t explore as far as he might have the larger questions of free will versus determinism that such material raises, he does integrate it into the text in interesting ways. And while the Doctor’s characterization is a little generic and the ending bloodier than some fans may prefer, overall the novel is a highly entertaining one that zips along at a satisfying pace. It’s especially recommended for those who like a little bit of steampunk mixed in with their Doctor Who adventures.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A much maligned novel, but one I found utterly charming. A cosmic, comic mash-up of 19th century steampunk/first-man-on-the-moon fantasy with that old stand-by, planet of the women. It has no right to work as well as it does...but it carries you along through sheer good will. It's also a surprisingly good outing for Turlough. Much better than its reputation...though as a Davison-era fan, I'm rather biased.

[David Layton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really fun book. The idea is to set Doctor Who into a typical 1890s "scientific romance" as they used to be called. I have read several of these, most, except for Wells and Verne, unintentionally hilarious. Bulis does a good job of catching the spirit of these things (intrepid adventurers, honor of England, quirky scientist, stallwart scientist's daughter, amazonian maidens, giant bug-like creatures) while writing in a modern style. "Imperial Moon" is not a deep book, but it is a jolly good read.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Doctor and Turlough get involved in a tale of daring do, a Victorian space voyage to the moon with monsters and amazons. This is a lot of fun if you like the old fashioned style adventure story. The idea of changing reality is an interesting one, but the main storyline is a bit predictable. Though with it being the genre it is, that is to be expected and embraced. A good read.

[Trevor Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cracking read, great story, rattles on at a fair pace.

[Hidekisohma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well this was my first 5th doctor book, and I have to say, i'm sad in just how disappointing it was. Nothing was used to its full potential and was just very...meh.

Short version. Doc and Turlough end up in the 1800's where England has sent rockets to the moon. when they get there there's basically a big game hunter setup where hunters from all over the galaxy can come and test their merit. it's abandoned, but the creatures are still there. They have to escape.
That's the book.

I feel like the whole 'planet for hunters' thing has been done before and i really didn't care for the execution of how this book went. It's Christopher bulis so you know a bunch of randos are gonna die. that's kind of his schtick. that's a given. I was more upset at the fact at just how little 2/3 of the cast did.

Out of the main 3, the book focuses heavily on Turlough. He's really the only one to do something. the doctor doesn't really do a whole lot of anything, to the point that i actually kind of forgot he was even IN the book towards the middle. When he showed up again i was like 'oh yeah, this IS a doctor who book isn't it?" In true Davison fashion he doesn't do a damn thing until the end of the book and then wraps everything up in like 15 pages because that's what Davison does.

The other of the three, Kamelion, does next to nothing. And i know that was the way it was in the show, but here's the thing. That's because of physical limitations because the robot never worked right and the guy who designed him died. This is a BOOK. There's no such limitations and you don't have to stick him on the tardis. You can have him do WHATEVER YOU WANT and Chris is like "naw, it'll be fine. i'll just leave him on the TARDIS for 9/10 of the book doing absolutely nothing" a horrible waste of a setup and character. I was very sorely disappointed with this aspect.

The biggest issue with this book, was that it was dull. they were running away from monsters a lot, but that was cut inbetween this guy who wanted to mutiny all the time, and this other pair of a captain in the british army and a girl scientist. Both the side plots were pointless and the captain/scientist romantic side plot especially was extremely boring and painful. I kept wishing for those 2 to die so i didn't have to follow them anymore to be perfectly honest.

The first 40 pages of the novel are Turlough and the doctor reading a diary of the captain and he goes into detail about every aspect of how they trained for the mission and how the spaceship worked, and really, i couldn't have cared less if i tried. the first 40 pages were so dull i almost gave up on the book before the actual plot started.

There's actually a point in the book about halfway through where you think they beat the big baddie and then they just start running away for like 50 pages and you're like "so...are..are we done with the story and this is just 100 pages of epilogue?" they try to tack on more to story, but my brain was already shutting down at that point and it really didn't draw me back in.

I think the only real saving grace of this book was that I liked to see inside the mind of Turlough. Seeing things from his inner monologue point of view (Which they spent a bunch of time on) was interesting to me. Other than that, decent ideas but horribly wasted potential.

2 out of 5.

[Gareth · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Fifth Doctor encounters Victorians on the moon in this spirited nod to Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, mostly by way of Terry Nation when it comes to advancing the plot.

The whole thing is tremendously easy to visualise, which makes me wonder if it would have been best served by a comic book. It’s action-packed and colourful, but the character writing is pretty rudimentary, with the Victorians generally as stilted as the stereotype dictates.

After vamping like crazy for the last 100 pages Christopher Bulis ties up all the plot’s loose ends and a good, if rather dispensable time is had.

[Jacob Licklider · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christopher Bulis has one major flaw in his writing style. He often sets up a story that on paper sounds amazing, take the premise of Imperial Moon, Victorian space age hidden from history due to the Doctor’s interference as well as a time travel plot involving Turlough changing the future, and then doing absolutely nothing with said premise of consequence. This is no more apparent than in the failings of Imperial Moon, a book which is bookended by some great scenes and interesting dilemmas, but the middle is some of Bulis’ weakest prose. Bulis teases the idea that Turlough is going to change history and cause a cataclysm of events, but this is something that never happens. The book opens well enough with the Doctor and Turlough finding a diary in the TARDIS, sent back in time by the Doctor’s future self, creating a paradox in the process (they don’t actually find the diary here as is implied), while the Doctor tells Turlough not to read ahead once they appear in the events of the diary. This of course is setting up Turlough to read the diary about one third into the novel and by the end he ends up saving the day, which Bulis then lampshades at the end congratulating Turlough for making a choice that somehow didn’t create ripples. This becomes even odder when the premise is that not only are there a group of Victorian spaceships going to the moon, but also the moon is habitable while having its own civilization of alien refugees who are under attack.

The civilization on the moon is a great plot on paper with the idea calling on the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and the descriptions of the spaceships come straight out of Jules Verne, all building up to a conclusion that ends with the moon being destroyed, something that can be seen right when the plot moves to the moon. The alien invaders eventually are defeated, but then you realize there’s still about 50 pages left in the book so there is going to be a third act twist, which makes for some nice scenes involving Kamelion (who is in this book, more on that in a moment), but it’s something which just goes on for far too long without giving the reader anything. The crew of the spaceships all come from stock Victorian characters: there’s the fearless chauvinist captain, the brilliant but doddering old professor, and the headstrong proto-feminist who ends up with the captain in the end (after not really sharing much in common, it’s a very weird thing that Bulis also lampshades), and our mutinous second in command who eventually goes insane. These stock characters are fun initially when seen through the eyes of the captain, whose diary is what is read for several chapters and blithely commented on by the Doctor and Turlough, and the aliens are equally stock until the twist is eventually revealed in the end.

Somehow, Bulis manages to implement Kamelion into the book excellently. As Kamelion is not a character who has really any television premise, here Bulis uses him sparingly at the beginning, in the middle, and right at the very end where he actually contributes to the plot. Bulis understands both the shape shifting abilities of Kamelion (which is how history is put back on the right path without changing this timeline at all) as well as the uncanny valley nature of the prop. There is this scene at the beginning where Turlough is reflecting on what his travels have been and why he keeps travelling with the Doctor, reacting to Tegan’s recent exit in Resurrection of the Daleks and attempting to setup Turlough’s exit in Planet of Fire (although there already has been a Fifth Doctor/Turlough audio from Big Finish and more were known to be on the way). Kamelion is written as a robot, with no emotions nor a real understanding of the experience of emotions, though understanding what they mean to people. Instead of being a clone of Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Kamelion is there to offer emotional support without having the emotions itself, it gives Turlough the opportunity to vent and show some of his own character.

Overall, Imperial Moon is a book which could have been great, it has a brilliant premise, and stock characters which could have been fun if Bulis did any deconstruction of those sorts of stories. As it stands there are some good things to enjoy, but they are few and far between as Bulis’ incredibly dry prose doesn’t make the book an easy or enjoyable read. 5/10.

[Matthew Kresal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Based on the premise alone, Imperial Moon ought to have been something of a home run. A steampunk pseudo-historical story of Victorian space travel with the underused Season 21 TARDIS crew combination of the Fifth Doctor, Turlough, and Kamelion, a chance for Doctor Who to pay tribute to some of its literary forebearers. What's not to love? Honestly, the middle third or so of the novel as Christopher Bulis pens an intriguing opening and closing section but ends up with the prose equivalent of mid-six-parter wheel-spinning right where the story ought to be picking up. In some ways, the pulp SF left-turn Bulis takes in that section is something Imperial Moon never quite recovers from as it leaves the final third or so feeling slightly convoluted when he has to hurriedly resolve things. Even so, Imperial Moon is a decent enough read, if not the most inspired piece of Doctor Who prose you're likely to come across, even if it doesn't quite deliver on some of its more intriguing ideas.

[Nicholas Whyte]

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1335947.html?#cutid2[return][return]Bulis has made some effort to get to grips with the Victorian boys' adventure genre, and here we have a British expedition landing on the Moon in 1878, seen off by the Queen herself. There's also a slightly contrived but not too horrible subplot of the Tardis crew crossing their own timeline, and Bulis even finds two useful things for Kamelion to do (which is two more than ever happened on television). I didn't quite swallow the ultimate reveal about the aliens or the Doctor's trigger-happy way of dealing with the problem, but it is at least a decent effort.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fifth Doctor travels to the moon in a Jules Verne-ish space ship and encounters one of those alien tribes you always see in Burroughs John Carter novels.

While it was nice to see the fifth Doctor, Turlough and Kamelion in a story, always thought that was a good combination of companions.

The story tries for a kind of old fashioned, pulp space opera feel, but doesn't quite work. Using the cliches of pulp sci-fi makes for a pretty predictable story and most of the supporting characters were kind of flat.
A decent bit of fluff, but not one of the great Doctor Who books.

[Stephen Osborne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually don't read the reviews of others until after I've read the book, but I got about half way through this one and wondered if others found it as dull as I did. The "surprise" of the aliens was no surprise at all. A lot happens in the book, but it just wasn't very interesting. The ending seemed very non-Doctor Who as well, with the method of getting rid of the aliens very non-original.

[Jenny T · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the initial premise of this, the Victorian rocket ships, the homage to Jules Verne (whom I love), and Turlough getting a chance to shine. But the Doctor never really felt like the Doctor, and I'm not sure I liked the plot twist. I'd give the book 3-and-a-half stars.

[Luke Sims-Jenkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

I will say there are some great ideas in Imperial Moon and everything gets tied up nicely, but it felt like a slog to get to the good bits and for a good chunk of the book the Doctor doesn't have much to do.

[Pietro Rossi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historical meets steampunk. 

A future Doctor sends a diary back through time to the Fifth Doctor. The Doctor starts reading it to Turlough. Its about an 1878 expedition to the moon approved by the UK's Queen-Empress Victoria. 

The Doctor then comes to the part in the diary where the diarist, Haliwell, meets the Doctor and Turlough. And snaps the book shut! He can't read any further as to know their futures will affect every decision. That foreknowledge will lead them towards a 'transcendental self-negating cyclical paradox for eternity.' 

Basically, it's bad! 

In knowing the future you don't have free will; every decision will be made with a view to either encounter or avoid whatever is coming up. And if you manage to avoid, you create a paradox.

And so sets up an HG Wells / Jules Verne style story on the moon, now colonised by the British Empire, yet alive with natives. 

Once the TARDIS crew land and meet the people in the diary, the story continues to feel like a Wells or Verne story, with lush vegetation and giant spiders on the moon, among other curiosities. This, the diary, and Britain colonising the moon a century before Neil Armstrong's famous step-leap, intrigues. Are we on a parallel world, do these events leave the moon barren, why didn't Britain pursue space exploration in late 19th century and early 20th? 

Taking away these meta-questions, the story  is a fairly straightforward one; adventures and a fight for survival on a Wells/Verne-style moon for the Doctor, Turlough and the British forces. As well as that literary heritage, the story also has the same feel as 'At the Earth's Core' and 'The Land That Time Forgot' movies- around every corner there's a new monster to be fought. 5/10

Scoring: 0 bad; 1-3 poor; 4-6 average; 7-9 good; 10 excellent.

[Dannie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to give this book one more star, but in all honesty the entire first half was just kind of boring. It wasn't until the Doctor stepped in and the plot twist was reveled that I found myself hooked enough to finish it. Not one of the best Doctor Who books.