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Eighth Doctor Adventures #1
Doctor Who: The Eight Doctors
Recuperating after the trauma of his recent regeneration, the Eighth Doctor falls foul of a final booby trap set by his arch-enemy, the Master.
When he recovers, the disorientated Doctor looks in a mirror and sees the face of a stranger. He knows only that he is called the Doctor - nothing more. But something deep inside tells him to trust the TARDIS, and his hands move over the controls of their own accord.
The TARDIS takes him to a strangely familiar junkyard in late-nineties London, where he is flung into a confrontation between local drug-dealers and Samantha Jones, a rebellious teenager from Coal Hill School.
But the Doctor soon finds the TARDIS transporting him to various other places in order to recover all his memories - and that involves seeing seven strangely-familiar faces...
When he recovers, the disorientated Doctor looks in a mirror and sees the face of a stranger. He knows only that he is called the Doctor - nothing more. But something deep inside tells him to trust the TARDIS, and his hands move over the controls of their own accord.
The TARDIS takes him to a strangely familiar junkyard in late-nineties London, where he is flung into a confrontation between local drug-dealers and Samantha Jones, a rebellious teenager from Coal Hill School.
But the Doctor soon finds the TARDIS transporting him to various other places in order to recover all his memories - and that involves seeing seven strangely-familiar faces...
280 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
26 people are currently reading
1043 people want to read
About the author
Terrance Dicks
326 books220 followersTerrance Dicks was an English author, screenwriter, script editor, and producer best known for his extensive contributions to Doctor Who. Serving as the show's script editor from 1968 to 1974, he helped shape many core elements of the series, including the concept of regeneration, the development of the Time Lords, and the naming of the Doctor’s home planet, Gallifrey. His tenure coincided with major thematic expansions, and he worked closely with producer Barry Letts to bring a socially aware tone to the show. Dicks later wrote several Doctor Who serials, including Robot, Horror of Fang Rock, and The Five Doctors, the 20th-anniversary special.
In parallel with his television work, Dicks became one of the most prolific writers of Doctor Who novelisations for Target Books, authoring over 60 titles and serving as the de facto editor of the range. These adaptations introduced a generation of young readers to the franchise. Beyond Doctor Who, he also wrote original novels, including children’s horror and adventure series such as The Baker Street Irregulars, Star Quest, and The Adventures of Goliath.
Dicks also worked on other television programmes including The Avengers, Moonbase 3, and various BBC literary adaptations. His later work included audio dramas and novels tied to Doctor Who. Widely respected for his clarity, imagination, and dedication to storytelling, he remained a central figure in Doctor Who fandom until his death in 2019, leaving behind a vast legacy in television and children's literature.
In parallel with his television work, Dicks became one of the most prolific writers of Doctor Who novelisations for Target Books, authoring over 60 titles and serving as the de facto editor of the range. These adaptations introduced a generation of young readers to the franchise. Beyond Doctor Who, he also wrote original novels, including children’s horror and adventure series such as The Baker Street Irregulars, Star Quest, and The Adventures of Goliath.
Dicks also worked on other television programmes including The Avengers, Moonbase 3, and various BBC literary adaptations. His later work included audio dramas and novels tied to Doctor Who. Widely respected for his clarity, imagination, and dedication to storytelling, he remained a central figure in Doctor Who fandom until his death in 2019, leaving behind a vast legacy in television and children's literature.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 155 reviews
November 6, 2023
Not only was this the first in the series of books featuring the Eighth Doctor, but also a relaunch as the BBC decided to publish their own range of books after the successful Virgin novels of the early 90's.
With that in mind, it's not really surprising that this felt more like a celebration of the shows history as the amnesiac Eighth Doctor must visit his former incarnations to regain his memory in a whistle-stop tour of some iconic episodes.
Paul McGann was my Doctor, so I was excited to have more adventures with him.
Whilst Dicks is a stalwart for Doctor Who novels, so felt the perfect fit.
In truth I'd not seen much of the classic series on my first read, so didn't appreciate all the references.
On reflection this feels like an extended Target book, a nice bridge between the old and the new.
With that in mind, it's not really surprising that this felt more like a celebration of the shows history as the amnesiac Eighth Doctor must visit his former incarnations to regain his memory in a whistle-stop tour of some iconic episodes.
Paul McGann was my Doctor, so I was excited to have more adventures with him.
Whilst Dicks is a stalwart for Doctor Who novels, so felt the perfect fit.
In truth I'd not seen much of the classic series on my first read, so didn't appreciate all the references.
On reflection this feels like an extended Target book, a nice bridge between the old and the new.
March 17, 2017
Poor Uncle Terrance.
He did a great job on the show during the 70s. His Target novelisations had two generations of boys and girls reading. "Exodus" is a top-notch New Adventure - so much clean Doctor Who fun.
But the Eight Doctors is a turd. It's not the worst, but it's near there. It starts off with a teenage afternoon special. The new companion in a hip new funky, rad, tubular, cowabunga, don't do drugs kinda situation. It reads like a 70-year-old man trying to be hip with the kids. Maybe because it's a 70-year-old man trying to be hip with the kids. Stupid BBC probably told him to be hip with the kids.
Then you get a bog-standard anniversary special. It's like The Five Doctors, but even shittier, and in print. You can see the visible panty line of the Raston Warrior Robot. Uncle Terrance tries to wipe out all the good stories that Virgin had done, fix up the problems with the 1996 TV Movie, fix up Trial of a Time Lord, and rewrite Time Lord history and culture.
We love you Terrance, but let's act like this one never happened.
He did a great job on the show during the 70s. His Target novelisations had two generations of boys and girls reading. "Exodus" is a top-notch New Adventure - so much clean Doctor Who fun.
But the Eight Doctors is a turd. It's not the worst, but it's near there. It starts off with a teenage afternoon special. The new companion in a hip new funky, rad, tubular, cowabunga, don't do drugs kinda situation. It reads like a 70-year-old man trying to be hip with the kids. Maybe because it's a 70-year-old man trying to be hip with the kids. Stupid BBC probably told him to be hip with the kids.
Then you get a bog-standard anniversary special. It's like The Five Doctors, but even shittier, and in print. You can see the visible panty line of the Raston Warrior Robot. Uncle Terrance tries to wipe out all the good stories that Virgin had done, fix up the problems with the 1996 TV Movie, fix up Trial of a Time Lord, and rewrite Time Lord history and culture.
We love you Terrance, but let's act like this one never happened.
November 17, 2013
So, I'm a big fan of the Eighth Doctor. A big fan. Like, I was so ridiculously happy when Night of the Doctor happened. Seriously, the joy I felt in those six minutes is perhaps more appropriate to situations like finding out from a doctor that that funny shaped mole is just a funny shaped mole.
My experiences with Eight have so far been the tv movie (extremely meh except the Doctor himself) and the Big Finish audioplays (which kick ass all the way to Sunday and back again in a stable temporal loop).
So I decided to give the DW novels a shot and wade even deeper into the inviting waters of that shimmering pool we call Whoniverse.
And the first one I read is - not that good. It's supposed to be a direct followup to the movie and kick off a long series of Eight's adventures but, well - it's not really about Eight. Oh, it's got the Doctor in it alright, all eight of them (notice the title :D) but it's not really a novel about the Doctor(s) with a central plot as much as a collection of continuity porn snippets tied together by more of an excuse plot than actual plot: Eight has been struck with amnesia - courtesy of the Master - and must visit all of his past selves to recover his memories. His encounters with Doctors past take place either during previously established adventures (for example he meets Two during War Games) or just after them (e.g. Five just after the whole Death Zone thing in Five Doctors). The entire novel feels more like a run through some of the author's favorite episodes and is chock full of 'hey remember when x y'ed and wouldn't it be cool if the w z'ed after that?' scenes mixed with some 'meanwhile on Gallifrey a person tries his hand at villainy against the Doctor and fails miserably because the person is an idiot' moments.
I mean, I get the appeal of the idea of starting off a fresh new Doctor by having him go through his past and encounter the old and well-established Doctors and sidekick in their already seen adventures and - actually, wait, no, I don't get the appeal. It's like if they made a new Star Trek show about the next ship called Enterprise, set it long *after* Voyager and then for a pilot do a time-travel episode where the crew of the *new* Enterprise just hop around the ST timeline and revisit all the other Enteprises and its crews and help out in some small way during the already established events.
So yeah, two stars because it at least had some enjoyable moments and the interaction between the Doctors was fun to see.
My experiences with Eight have so far been the tv movie (extremely meh except the Doctor himself) and the Big Finish audioplays (which kick ass all the way to Sunday and back again in a stable temporal loop).
So I decided to give the DW novels a shot and wade even deeper into the inviting waters of that shimmering pool we call Whoniverse.
And the first one I read is - not that good. It's supposed to be a direct followup to the movie and kick off a long series of Eight's adventures but, well - it's not really about Eight. Oh, it's got the Doctor in it alright, all eight of them (notice the title :D) but it's not really a novel about the Doctor(s) with a central plot as much as a collection of continuity porn snippets tied together by more of an excuse plot than actual plot: Eight has been struck with amnesia - courtesy of the Master - and must visit all of his past selves to recover his memories. His encounters with Doctors past take place either during previously established adventures (for example he meets Two during War Games) or just after them (e.g. Five just after the whole Death Zone thing in Five Doctors). The entire novel feels more like a run through some of the author's favorite episodes and is chock full of 'hey remember when x y'ed and wouldn't it be cool if the w z'ed after that?' scenes mixed with some 'meanwhile on Gallifrey a person tries his hand at villainy against the Doctor and fails miserably because the person is an idiot' moments.
I mean, I get the appeal of the idea of starting off a fresh new Doctor by having him go through his past and encounter the old and well-established Doctors and sidekick in their already seen adventures and - actually, wait, no, I don't get the appeal. It's like if they made a new Star Trek show about the next ship called Enterprise, set it long *after* Voyager and then for a pilot do a time-travel episode where the crew of the *new* Enterprise just hop around the ST timeline and revisit all the other Enteprises and its crews and help out in some small way during the already established events.
So yeah, two stars because it at least had some enjoyable moments and the interaction between the Doctors was fun to see.
July 12, 2016
Sadly, the first book in the new Eighth Doctor Adventures series is a failure. It's not painful to read, but it nonetheless fails in almost every aspect.
It's a bad book. Really, it's not a book. It's a series of seven short stories about Eight meeting other Doctors, combined with a little bit of framing.
It's a horrible introduction. Dicks gives so much attention to One through Seven, that we learn very little about Eight. Meanwhile, he focuses so much of tiny little continuity quirks that he is likely to alienate anyone but the most hardcore fan. A new book in a new series should have been spotlighting its new protagonist and attracting new fans, and this does neither.
It's bad continuity. On the one hand, it explicitly ignores continuity from the recent Virgin New Adventures like the stories of Gallifrey's presidency and the Master's rebirth. On the other hand, it tries desperately to fix up continuity "errors" from the TV show that for the most part are so minor that no one really cares.
You put that all together and you have a badly conceived, badly focused, and badly told story. The outermost frame about Coal Hill and new companion Sam Jones and the short story of the Sixth Doctor, which revisits The Trial of the Timelord, are the only bits that really felt like they were worth reading.
You can read my more extensive discussions on this book at RPGnet, where it's part of a thread covering all my Eighth Doctor reading.
It's a bad book. Really, it's not a book. It's a series of seven short stories about Eight meeting other Doctors, combined with a little bit of framing.
It's a horrible introduction. Dicks gives so much attention to One through Seven, that we learn very little about Eight. Meanwhile, he focuses so much of tiny little continuity quirks that he is likely to alienate anyone but the most hardcore fan. A new book in a new series should have been spotlighting its new protagonist and attracting new fans, and this does neither.
It's bad continuity. On the one hand, it explicitly ignores continuity from the recent Virgin New Adventures like the stories of Gallifrey's presidency and the Master's rebirth. On the other hand, it tries desperately to fix up continuity "errors" from the TV show that for the most part are so minor that no one really cares.
You put that all together and you have a badly conceived, badly focused, and badly told story. The outermost frame about Coal Hill and new companion Sam Jones and the short story of the Sixth Doctor, which revisits The Trial of the Timelord, are the only bits that really felt like they were worth reading.
You can read my more extensive discussions on this book at RPGnet, where it's part of a thread covering all my Eighth Doctor reading.
August 6, 2024
In what could've been an epic journey of self discovery for the new 8th Doctor turned into a bogged down greatest hits self reference and fan service not to dissimilar to a clip show but an interactive one.
Terrance Dicks is not just a big name in Doctor Who but THE big name in Doctor Who before the reboot aired in 2005. Serving as a script editor and later on the head writer for a long while on the show should've been a pivotal moment to kickstart 8th's journey as Dicks had done with the novelisation works of past episodes.
The novel is a direct sequel to the TV movie in which the Doctor in his current incarnation (The 8th) debuted and despite the movie's flaws, the Doctor was a highlight. Portrayed by the subdued in the charisma Paul McGann, this was a proto 10th and to some extent, 11th. The down to earth and human Doctor, the charming man, one would say. Here however, he was a blank slate and remained so throughout the novel, mostly to give way to the cameos of other Doctors that appeared.
Samantha “Sam” Jones marked her debut here as a future companion. Here, she is okay as a character but she exhibits traits typical of the 90s tv teenager, in that she's bright, almost manic, witty, high-energy, and highly involved. It does feel like a teenager written by someone older.
It could've been better. There are interesting ideas and Terrance Dicks' writing shine the most during the scene of the Doctors prior to 8th taking center stage bogged down by the execution.
Terrance Dicks is not just a big name in Doctor Who but THE big name in Doctor Who before the reboot aired in 2005. Serving as a script editor and later on the head writer for a long while on the show should've been a pivotal moment to kickstart 8th's journey as Dicks had done with the novelisation works of past episodes.
The novel is a direct sequel to the TV movie in which the Doctor in his current incarnation (The 8th) debuted and despite the movie's flaws, the Doctor was a highlight. Portrayed by the subdued in the charisma Paul McGann, this was a proto 10th and to some extent, 11th. The down to earth and human Doctor, the charming man, one would say. Here however, he was a blank slate and remained so throughout the novel, mostly to give way to the cameos of other Doctors that appeared.
Samantha “Sam” Jones marked her debut here as a future companion. Here, she is okay as a character but she exhibits traits typical of the 90s tv teenager, in that she's bright, almost manic, witty, high-energy, and highly involved. It does feel like a teenager written by someone older.
It could've been better. There are interesting ideas and Terrance Dicks' writing shine the most during the scene of the Doctors prior to 8th taking center stage bogged down by the execution.
Read
October 18, 2021Poor Paul McGann. Destined to be perceived by some (including himself) as ‘the George Lazenby of Doctor Who’, he gets his own book range and isn’t even allowed to be the star of it. The Eight Doctors was the first in a new range of Doctor Who books following the 1996 TV movie and I assume the concept was decided at management level: a story to simultaneously appeal to existing fans and offer a crash course to those brought in by the TV movie. Somebody therefore had to be tasked with fitting all previous incarnations of the Doctor into this narrative, and who better than old hand Terrance Dicks, who had pulled off a similar feat for the 20th anniversary multiple Doctor story?
Dicks delivers a reliably inventive and efficient solution once again, hung on a similarly flimsy plot; it seems like a perfectly decent idea to have an amnesiac eighth Doctor visit all of his past lives in the right order to rediscover who he is, if one doesn’t scrutinise the explanations too closely. Unfortunately, the result is the narrative equivalent of an infodump: much has been written about the how the TV movie didn’t lend itself to picking up a new audience, weighed down as it was with a regeneration and numerous references to the past, but this story makes the TV movie’s use of continuity look positively restrained. Landing the eighth Doctor at points from each of the previous Doctors' televised adventures, Dicks ends up giving a potted précis of these stories which feel as though they have been copied and pasted from his own novelisations. The reader is faced with backstory after backstory, and as if the relentless catching up with those narratives isn’t enough to take in, the scenarios require us to be introduced to other companions, UNIT, the Master (in his various guises), Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans (etc.), bucketloads of Time Lord history including vampires, the Matrix, Rassilon, Omega, Borusa (etc.), the events of ’The Five Doctors’ and two different occasions on which the Doctor was put on trial. I can only imagine that any curious readers brought in by McGann’s sole television outing would have discarded this within a few chapters and run for the safety of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
That’s not to say it isn’t ingeniously constructed; effectively a sequel to The War Games, The Five Doctors and The Trial of a Time Lord all at the same time, it resolves many of the unfinished business in those stories and even manages to tie the end of the ‘classic’ series into the TV movie. Much as he did in his novelisations, he also takes the chance to sort out some of the contradictions in all of the above, particularly the oddities of the TV movie (why is the Master a snake? why are the Daleks putting the Master on trial? why is the Eye of Harmony in the TARDIS? all explained here!). It’s not clear whether Dicks had seen the TV movie itself or just a script, but it hardly matters - he appears to take great relish in dispensing with all of the innovations and delivering a version of Doctor Who much closer to the good old days. This story may follow on directly from the events of the TV movie, but within pages we’re back in the old console room and shaking off the Americanisation of the programme with a return visit to Totter’s Lane and Coal Hill School. This Doctor, who conveniently can’t remember who he is anyway, seems most closely modelled on Jon Pertwee, sharing his penchant for flashy physical violence and alcoholic beverages. Fans who found the movie too much of a departure from the show’s roots will have found all of this reassuringly familiar.
Okay, a plot involving coercive relationships and drug gangs may not sound like very traditional Doctor Who fare, but the approach to drugs here makes Nightmare of Eden look like The Wire; we are in a world populated by teachers taking a cosy but entirely unprofessional interest in their pupils and drug dealers with names like ‘Baz’ who are have rings run around them by schoolchildren and exclaim ‘cor blimey I could have sworn I saw that police box disappear!’. There is even a chapter in what feels suspiciously like the police station from Z-Cars. What turns out to be merely a bookend of a plot has less in common with the gang warfare of the TV movie than with the smash and grab pre-credits scene in Daleks Invasion Earth 2150AD. It’s ridiculous but harmless; it unfortunately does few favours for the hastily introduced new companion Sam, but presumably this was also part of an already impossibly crowded brief.
In some ways the past Doctor scenes also suffer from their necessarily hurried inclusion; the Doctors themselves are characterised in the most two-dimensional manner, the first Doctor in particular bearing only a passing resemblance to Hartnell’s performance (in fact he far more resembles the frail, grumpy Richard Hurndall version) and the portrayal of the seventh Doctor surprisingly unflattering given the contribution Dicks made to the Virgin New Adventures. At first these visits to past adventures are literally that, the new Doctor dropped into the middle of a story already being told, with all the aforementioned exposition that involves. But once we get to the third Doctor we are effectively given mini-sequels to The Sea Devils, State of Decay and The Five Doctors, which still requires all the exposition but makes for a more satisfying set of episodes. When the events of The Trial of a Time Lord are incorporated into the unfolding narrative the gimmick really starts to pay off, and there is a genuine sense that the stories revisited here are connected by a broader narrative. Again, though, the need to take on board so much information about what happened in a past story seems like a substantial barrier to anyone who isn’t already in the know; in fact the book falls between two stools, painstakingly explaining everything in a way that can’t possibly be of interest to a casual reader but which slows everything down to a painful plod for any fan who knows it already.
It’s as crafted as any of Dicks' writing and displays an impressive knowledge of, and love for, the history of Doctor Who... but it's a disastrous start to a new run of books. This kind of self-indulgence seems designed for an anniversary celebration, not a fledgling series trying to find a new audience. Still, it’s a shame that I didn’t read it when it came out; put off both by the disappointment of the TV movie and the BBC books’ unappealing covers, I decided I wanted nothing to do with these upstart spin-offs, whereas had I given it a try it would undoubtedly have set my little fan heart a-fluttering in exactly the way the TV movie didn't.
Dicks delivers a reliably inventive and efficient solution once again, hung on a similarly flimsy plot; it seems like a perfectly decent idea to have an amnesiac eighth Doctor visit all of his past lives in the right order to rediscover who he is, if one doesn’t scrutinise the explanations too closely. Unfortunately, the result is the narrative equivalent of an infodump: much has been written about the how the TV movie didn’t lend itself to picking up a new audience, weighed down as it was with a regeneration and numerous references to the past, but this story makes the TV movie’s use of continuity look positively restrained. Landing the eighth Doctor at points from each of the previous Doctors' televised adventures, Dicks ends up giving a potted précis of these stories which feel as though they have been copied and pasted from his own novelisations. The reader is faced with backstory after backstory, and as if the relentless catching up with those narratives isn’t enough to take in, the scenarios require us to be introduced to other companions, UNIT, the Master (in his various guises), Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans (etc.), bucketloads of Time Lord history including vampires, the Matrix, Rassilon, Omega, Borusa (etc.), the events of ’The Five Doctors’ and two different occasions on which the Doctor was put on trial. I can only imagine that any curious readers brought in by McGann’s sole television outing would have discarded this within a few chapters and run for the safety of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
That’s not to say it isn’t ingeniously constructed; effectively a sequel to The War Games, The Five Doctors and The Trial of a Time Lord all at the same time, it resolves many of the unfinished business in those stories and even manages to tie the end of the ‘classic’ series into the TV movie. Much as he did in his novelisations, he also takes the chance to sort out some of the contradictions in all of the above, particularly the oddities of the TV movie (why is the Master a snake? why are the Daleks putting the Master on trial? why is the Eye of Harmony in the TARDIS? all explained here!). It’s not clear whether Dicks had seen the TV movie itself or just a script, but it hardly matters - he appears to take great relish in dispensing with all of the innovations and delivering a version of Doctor Who much closer to the good old days. This story may follow on directly from the events of the TV movie, but within pages we’re back in the old console room and shaking off the Americanisation of the programme with a return visit to Totter’s Lane and Coal Hill School. This Doctor, who conveniently can’t remember who he is anyway, seems most closely modelled on Jon Pertwee, sharing his penchant for flashy physical violence and alcoholic beverages. Fans who found the movie too much of a departure from the show’s roots will have found all of this reassuringly familiar.
Okay, a plot involving coercive relationships and drug gangs may not sound like very traditional Doctor Who fare, but the approach to drugs here makes Nightmare of Eden look like The Wire; we are in a world populated by teachers taking a cosy but entirely unprofessional interest in their pupils and drug dealers with names like ‘Baz’ who are have rings run around them by schoolchildren and exclaim ‘cor blimey I could have sworn I saw that police box disappear!’. There is even a chapter in what feels suspiciously like the police station from Z-Cars. What turns out to be merely a bookend of a plot has less in common with the gang warfare of the TV movie than with the smash and grab pre-credits scene in Daleks Invasion Earth 2150AD. It’s ridiculous but harmless; it unfortunately does few favours for the hastily introduced new companion Sam, but presumably this was also part of an already impossibly crowded brief.
In some ways the past Doctor scenes also suffer from their necessarily hurried inclusion; the Doctors themselves are characterised in the most two-dimensional manner, the first Doctor in particular bearing only a passing resemblance to Hartnell’s performance (in fact he far more resembles the frail, grumpy Richard Hurndall version) and the portrayal of the seventh Doctor surprisingly unflattering given the contribution Dicks made to the Virgin New Adventures. At first these visits to past adventures are literally that, the new Doctor dropped into the middle of a story already being told, with all the aforementioned exposition that involves. But once we get to the third Doctor we are effectively given mini-sequels to The Sea Devils, State of Decay and The Five Doctors, which still requires all the exposition but makes for a more satisfying set of episodes. When the events of The Trial of a Time Lord are incorporated into the unfolding narrative the gimmick really starts to pay off, and there is a genuine sense that the stories revisited here are connected by a broader narrative. Again, though, the need to take on board so much information about what happened in a past story seems like a substantial barrier to anyone who isn’t already in the know; in fact the book falls between two stools, painstakingly explaining everything in a way that can’t possibly be of interest to a casual reader but which slows everything down to a painful plod for any fan who knows it already.
It’s as crafted as any of Dicks' writing and displays an impressive knowledge of, and love for, the history of Doctor Who... but it's a disastrous start to a new run of books. This kind of self-indulgence seems designed for an anniversary celebration, not a fledgling series trying to find a new audience. Still, it’s a shame that I didn’t read it when it came out; put off both by the disappointment of the TV movie and the BBC books’ unappealing covers, I decided I wanted nothing to do with these upstart spin-offs, whereas had I given it a try it would undoubtedly have set my little fan heart a-fluttering in exactly the way the TV movie didn't.
February 11, 2016
The first of a series of books that features the 8th Doctor as played by Paul McGann.
This adventure is more of a nostalgia trip as this incarnation of the Doctor has to meet he's previous selves to regain he's memory after a trap set by the Master following the events of the TV Movie.
It's fun to work out which of the previous Doctor's stories he will arrive in and this book is very much for fans of the show rather than casual readers, but this does start to get tiring around the 6th incarnation's segment.
I liked the fact that it is set straight after the TV Movie, but doesn't really move the character forward, enjoyable enough but looking forward to continuing the range with the next story 'Vampire Science' where I really think the EDA's will come into there own.
This adventure is more of a nostalgia trip as this incarnation of the Doctor has to meet he's previous selves to regain he's memory after a trap set by the Master following the events of the TV Movie.
It's fun to work out which of the previous Doctor's stories he will arrive in and this book is very much for fans of the show rather than casual readers, but this does start to get tiring around the 6th incarnation's segment.
I liked the fact that it is set straight after the TV Movie, but doesn't really move the character forward, enjoyable enough but looking forward to continuing the range with the next story 'Vampire Science' where I really think the EDA's will come into there own.
August 22, 2012
This was very good. It follows the movie and it explains away some plot holes. The 8th Doctor gets amnesia and visits all is previous incarnations. I liked that idea and my favorite two segments of visits were the 3rd Doctor (He is my favorite in the old series... My cat name is Pertwee) and the 4th Doctor. What is really interesting is that Terrance Dicks doesn't stop at filling plot holes of the movies, he also completes some adventures (The Sea Devils, Trial of a Time Lord, State of Decay). Plus this is where the 8th Doctor meets Sam, one of his companions. I'm trying to read the 8th Doctor's books in the right order so that was my "first" one (I've read a couple out of order)and I knew I wouldn't be disappointed because the books by Terrance Dicks have not disappointed me yet... so I always expect a really good book when he is the author and that's what I got.
February 6, 2007
I was warned not to read this, and now I warn you! Don't be tempted, this is a soppy trip down memory lane and it doesn't do the Eighth Doctor any justice. Skip it and start with Vampire Science!
January 7, 2024
The Eighth Doctor Adventures get off to a wobbly start in this scattered, fannish collection of trivia disguised as a novel. Faced with amnesia - for the second time in as many days, but who’s counting - the new Doctor must travel back to meet all his previous selves in order to regain his memories.
Not a terrible premise really, but the execution leaves much to be desired. Mostly all he does is turn up during or just after a TV episode and download a few trivia points from his predecessor. He does eventually begin to chip in, juggling a revolution on his homeworld with a lot of surprisingly casual killings in battle, but of character development there is little. Somewhere among all this his new companion, Sam Jones, is introduced in typically rushed fashion.
If you can get enjoyment from continuity being recited at you, this might work. As a novel in any other respect, it’s very weak stuff.
Not a terrible premise really, but the execution leaves much to be desired. Mostly all he does is turn up during or just after a TV episode and download a few trivia points from his predecessor. He does eventually begin to chip in, juggling a revolution on his homeworld with a lot of surprisingly casual killings in battle, but of character development there is little. Somewhere among all this his new companion, Sam Jones, is introduced in typically rushed fashion.
If you can get enjoyment from continuity being recited at you, this might work. As a novel in any other respect, it’s very weak stuff.
May 22, 2024
not very good!! but kind of addictingly randomly fun? like i had a good time reading it but also cringed a lot and skimmed a good quarter. so it’s a 2/2.5
July 25, 2011
Following on the release of the 1996 TV movie with Paul McGann as the eight Doctor, BBC Books decided to launch a new book series featuring the adventures of the Eighth Doctor. To start if off they brought Long-time Who script editor and writer Terrance Dicks. What Dicks produced is an enjoyable trip through the best moments of the original series.
Dicks was script editor of the series during the Jon Pertwee years and was the writer of most of the novelizations published by Target books during the 1970's and 1980's so he was a good choice to start off the adventures of the (then) new Doctor. How better to do that then have the new Doctor go back and meet his past selves?
But instead of having it done along the lines of his own story The Five Doctors, Dicks chooses to do a direct continuation of the TV movie. While that idea is a good one, the downside of it is that Dicks does tend to spend a lot of time on some Doctors (especially three and six) while devoting as few pages as possible to others (the seventh is really short changed). It's a good idea with a mixed result.
The charm of this novel is that it makes good use of the continuity of the series...for the most part. Dicks uses the concept of the Doctor visiting his past selves to fill in the occasional gap in the series like how the Master escaped after The Sea Devils or the downfall of the government on Gallifrey mentioned in The Trial of a Time Lord. There is also some good use of Sontarans, the Master, and even the return of his own Reston Fighting Robot. That said Dicks also creates a few continuity problems such as setting the seventh Doctor down on Metebelis Three. After doing so well with the continuity of the other Doctors, Dicks goes and messes up big time. I don't mean to sound like a raving fan boy but this was more for the third Doctor not the seventh. Its Dicks one bad use of continuity (if one can call it that) and like the novel's concept proves to be a good idea with a mixed result.
Another big problem of the novel is that the addition of introducing a new companion. Samantha Jones, who would go on to become a companion of the eighth Doctor, is given a rather poor introduction in The Eight Doctors. It's not that the character was badly written, but the fact that the introduction seems a bit forced and awkward in the midst of a trip down memory lane (or is Totters Lane?) which doesn't help the novel out at all.
While it does have its problems, The Eight Doctors is far from the worse Doctor Who novel. In fact it's one of the better ones I've read. Dicks' novel is not a piece of literature (far from it in fact) it is fast paced, fills in a few plot holes from the series (along with creating a few), and is above all enjoyable. And that's what Doctor Who is first and foremost: enjoyable.
Dicks was script editor of the series during the Jon Pertwee years and was the writer of most of the novelizations published by Target books during the 1970's and 1980's so he was a good choice to start off the adventures of the (then) new Doctor. How better to do that then have the new Doctor go back and meet his past selves?
But instead of having it done along the lines of his own story The Five Doctors, Dicks chooses to do a direct continuation of the TV movie. While that idea is a good one, the downside of it is that Dicks does tend to spend a lot of time on some Doctors (especially three and six) while devoting as few pages as possible to others (the seventh is really short changed). It's a good idea with a mixed result.
The charm of this novel is that it makes good use of the continuity of the series...for the most part. Dicks uses the concept of the Doctor visiting his past selves to fill in the occasional gap in the series like how the Master escaped after The Sea Devils or the downfall of the government on Gallifrey mentioned in The Trial of a Time Lord. There is also some good use of Sontarans, the Master, and even the return of his own Reston Fighting Robot. That said Dicks also creates a few continuity problems such as setting the seventh Doctor down on Metebelis Three. After doing so well with the continuity of the other Doctors, Dicks goes and messes up big time. I don't mean to sound like a raving fan boy but this was more for the third Doctor not the seventh. Its Dicks one bad use of continuity (if one can call it that) and like the novel's concept proves to be a good idea with a mixed result.
Another big problem of the novel is that the addition of introducing a new companion. Samantha Jones, who would go on to become a companion of the eighth Doctor, is given a rather poor introduction in The Eight Doctors. It's not that the character was badly written, but the fact that the introduction seems a bit forced and awkward in the midst of a trip down memory lane (or is Totters Lane?) which doesn't help the novel out at all.
While it does have its problems, The Eight Doctors is far from the worse Doctor Who novel. In fact it's one of the better ones I've read. Dicks' novel is not a piece of literature (far from it in fact) it is fast paced, fills in a few plot holes from the series (along with creating a few), and is above all enjoyable. And that's what Doctor Who is first and foremost: enjoyable.
March 8, 2018
My first EDA and i really enjoyed this one.
This was such a contrast to the latest Terrance Dicks I read which was Timewyrm; Exodus which was really dark and gritty and this one was fun and light-hearted read full of reminiscents.
I adored the way Terrance wrote Eight and the Time-Lord's in this. It was really interesting to see and I love all the little nods to the stories he wrote for the T.V show like State of Decay.
I also loved the rich Time-Lord information he gave us. Like Gallifreyan currency and we actually got to see more outside the political, slimy Time-Lord's! It was great reading about the Shobogans.
I'm intrigued by Sam Jones as she's very Lucie Miller vibe for me.
Great story.
This was such a contrast to the latest Terrance Dicks I read which was Timewyrm; Exodus which was really dark and gritty and this one was fun and light-hearted read full of reminiscents.
I adored the way Terrance wrote Eight and the Time-Lord's in this. It was really interesting to see and I love all the little nods to the stories he wrote for the T.V show like State of Decay.
I also loved the rich Time-Lord information he gave us. Like Gallifreyan currency and we actually got to see more outside the political, slimy Time-Lord's! It was great reading about the Shobogans.
I'm intrigued by Sam Jones as she's very Lucie Miller vibe for me.
Great story.
June 14, 2022
This book is excellent
Set straight after the tv movie the 8th doctor finishes reading the time machine (a book written by his old friend H. G.Wells). After he checks the eye of harmony in his tardis, he falls prey to a final trap set by his old enemy, the master which erases all of his memory. The only fact he knows for certain is that he is called "the Doctor" – but Doctor who?
Set straight after the tv movie the 8th doctor finishes reading the time machine (a book written by his old friend H. G.Wells). After he checks the eye of harmony in his tardis, he falls prey to a final trap set by his old enemy, the master which erases all of his memory. The only fact he knows for certain is that he is called "the Doctor" – but Doctor who?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 6, 2013
So. Terrance Dicks. One of the most famous names in Doctor Who history, responsible for numerous major storyarcs from the original television series, and over sixty novelizations thereof. And he can't write his way out of a paper bag.
I'm still a bit in shock about this. The story was... okay, although it suffers from exceptional pacing issues and the Companion is literally an afterthought -- no doubt mandated by the BBC's editor-in-chief, because she was tossed in with absolutely no reason. It would have made much more sense to eliminate her entirely from the story, eliminate the whole Coal Hill subplot, and let a writer who cared be the one to introduce her.
But I digress. As I said, the story was decent, once you got past the first few Doctors on the Reunion Tour. It's obvious that Dicks' favorite Doctor is the Sixth, both in how he's described and because so much of the plot revolves around that reunion. He does, to some degree, capture the essence of each other Doctor as well -- since he wrote for most or all of them before -- but that seems to have been the extent of his talent; the writing is scraping the bottom of the barrel. It's barely tolerable. I very nearly gave up on the Eighth Doctor Adventures altogether because of how low quality it is. I was baffled when I put the book down and realized who the author was. I guess practice does not make perfect.
I'm still a bit in shock about this. The story was... okay, although it suffers from exceptional pacing issues and the Companion is literally an afterthought -- no doubt mandated by the BBC's editor-in-chief, because she was tossed in with absolutely no reason. It would have made much more sense to eliminate her entirely from the story, eliminate the whole Coal Hill subplot, and let a writer who cared be the one to introduce her.
But I digress. As I said, the story was decent, once you got past the first few Doctors on the Reunion Tour. It's obvious that Dicks' favorite Doctor is the Sixth, both in how he's described and because so much of the plot revolves around that reunion. He does, to some degree, capture the essence of each other Doctor as well -- since he wrote for most or all of them before -- but that seems to have been the extent of his talent; the writing is scraping the bottom of the barrel. It's barely tolerable. I very nearly gave up on the Eighth Doctor Adventures altogether because of how low quality it is. I was baffled when I put the book down and realized who the author was. I guess practice does not make perfect.
December 11, 2020
映画の続きにあたるストーリー。8thドクターがマスターの策略で記憶を失ってしまい、ターディスによって1stから7thドクターをめぐることになり、記憶を取り戻しつつ、それぞれのドクターのピンチを切り抜ける手伝いをしていく。
サマンサ・ジョーンズとの出会いと一緒に旅することになった事情も描かれていて、どことなくマーサを思い出させるキャラクター。
ラシロンやギャリフレイ内の政治絡みの陰謀や策略に巻き込まれるドクター。タイムロードとしても苦労が耐えない人生なんだなぁと。9thと10thと11thドクターは故郷の星が無い孤独に悩まされていて、絶滅危惧品種でもあって、そこがめちゃくちゃ切ない感じだったけれど、ギャリフレイが復活すればまた母星との確執でも悩まされることになるのかなとか、2017年のクリスマスに12thドクターがリジェネレーションすることが確定し、13thドクターにはどんな運命が待ち構えているのか、興味津々。設定ではタイムロードは13回しかリジェネレーションできないことになっているが、ドクターはハイブリッドだからイレギュラーなのかな？
1stから7thのドクターに親しみがわき、ますますDoctor Whoワールドの深みにはまっちゃいそうで嬉しいような困っちゃうような・・・。
サマンサ・ジョーンズとの出会いと一緒に旅することになった事情も描かれていて、どことなくマーサを思い出させるキャラクター。
ラシロンやギャリフレイ内の政治絡みの陰謀や策略に巻き込まれるドクター。タイムロードとしても苦労が耐えない人生なんだなぁと。9thと10thと11thドクターは故郷の星が無い孤独に悩まされていて、絶滅危惧品種でもあって、そこがめちゃくちゃ切ない感じだったけれど、ギャリフレイが復活すればまた母星との確執でも悩まされることになるのかなとか、2017年のクリスマスに12thドクターがリジェネレーションすることが確定し、13thドクターにはどんな運命が待ち構えているのか、興味津々。設定ではタイムロードは13回しかリジェネレーションできないことになっているが、ドクターはハイブリッドだからイレギュラーなのかな？
1stから7thのドクターに親しみがわき、ますますDoctor Whoワールドの深みにはまっちゃいそうで嬉しいような困っちゃうような・・・。
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 30, 2007
Like bad fanfic. Bad fanfic that is mostly recapping old episodes. *skips to Fitz books*
February 25, 2010
Well, what to say. A bit of fun. Let's leave it at that.
June 8, 2017
Hi I'm back! After a vicious migraine attack that pretty much left me with the inability to read for two weeks this was refreshing.
November 20, 2022
Kickstarting a new range of books off the back of a long and wild run of VNA’s with merely one movie’s worth of context is a most difficult task. I can sympathise with Terrnace Dicks’ problem, but I found his solution a rather disappointing one. Rather than embracing the eccentricities, potential and vibrancy of the admittedly cheesy and flawed TV movie, Dicks fell back on tradition and took us on a journey though the Doctor’s past lives.
Bookended by brief action regarding the introduction of a new companion, the Doctor spends most of the story honouring the time old tradition of Eighth Doctor amnesia. And for the very first time! Regrettably, like most amnesia-fuelled endeavours, it’s a shallow and contrived plot device. This time used as a means to explore the Doctor’s past, in a time of uncertain future. Via some TARDIS based technobabble, the Doctor takes a tour through his time-stream. Visiting each of his incarnations in chronological order, recalling each Doctor’s set of memories as he progresses along. This splits the story very clearly and simply into nine parts funnily enough. Or eight parts, with Eight’s part split in two, if you want to be pedantic. There’s a lot of variety in the times and locations we experience, but one thing holds true - blatant and flimsy fan-service. Of which its only function seems to be to patch up some perceived plot-holes which really didn’t matter. I’ll dig into those one part at a time. But essentially, the people we meet, and scenarios the Doctor’s are placed in are all very superficial and unnecessary. They don’t service our new incarnation. Instead, they tweak little things about past incarnations’ behaviour, which all ring disingenuous.
I shall leave the incumbent Doctor aside for now, and dig into each Doctor one at a time. Though keep in mind, not all Doctor’s are treated equally. Some are given far more presence, in favour of explaining some unanswered question from the Classic show, or clarifying events which didn’t need to be clarified.
Firstly, the First Doctor. Encountered in the midst of a jungle, the Doctors briefly meet in a time bubble - this occurs for all the Doctors. Time freezes around them, allowing them, and only them to chat uninterrupted for a period of time, so as to preserve the past. The First Doctor largely serves as the exposition. Behaving once again as the mature, elder Doctor. Despite his youth. Moments prior to the two Doctors’ meeting, The First Doctor was considering taking violent and drastic measures to remove a problem. The action the First Doctor is considering is one that our modern Doctor finds appalling. I shan’t spoil, but the two fuss over very basic morals and ethics, and in doing so, leave our Doctor slightly more informed and reassured in his fundamental moral scruples. Whilst seemingly setting the First Doctor’s character journey towards a better path. I don’t appreciate that second point. Chalking up some crucial character development to timey-wimey nonsense reduces the impact of the original circumstances. The significance of the integral conflict and discussion between the Doctor and his very first companions is reduced and eroded. As well as introducing a rather weird implication that some grander purpose or fate shaped the Doctor’s actions across all his lives.
Secondly, Eight stumbles into the final stages of The War Games. Following some admittedly fun and atmospheric prose and meandering about the war-ridden grounds, the Doctor soon finds himself face to face with the Second Doctor himself. This is a less meaningful and less impactful event, despite the longer length of this part, which was largely dedicated to hearing about the Roman’s place in the war games, and how they felt about circumstances. A curious question to interrogate, but ultimately one which played out as you’d expect - with little stakes. And again, Dicks felt obliged for Eight to put Two on the path of his regeneration. Eight urges the Second Doctor to consult the Time Lords, shortly before he was to do so, once again implying some grander fate. The Eighth Doctor’s memories return again, and he continues forward as a rather simple median of Doctor-ish qualities.
Next is another baffling inclusion of a rather small un-screened plot-point, which Dicks apparently felt was very important. That of the Master’s escape from the end of the TV episode The Sea Devils. We’re treated to a light but brutal jaunt through the mountains as the Master easily eludes police and UNIT, before returning for a short scene with both Doctors. A simple face-off occurs with little meaning, before it’s time for Three and Eight to chat. This was probably the most tense of the meetings, and I enjoyed the testing of the Third Doctor’s character. But once again was bugged by Eight’s insertion of his (limited but superior) future knowledge of events when he pushes the Third Doctor forward to his final and last stand. Once again removing agency from the Third Doctor’s own growth and decisions, whilst selfishly tying it all to this blank slate of an Eighth incarnation.
The Fourth Doctor’s part is the most filler-y of the bunch. A tacked-on extension to the episode State of Decay is produced, and Romana and the Eighth Doctor get some action alongside each other. They’re fun, and Eight is getting back to a more recognisable form of himself, but ultimately, very little came of this brief trip. The drama and terror were cranked up, but the tension simply wasn’t there, as Romana and the Fourth Doctor weren’t in any real danger. There weren’t any meaningful messages imparted in this section either (both to my relief and disappointment). Frankly, I simply cannot comprehend why Dicks chose to have Eight impart lessons to his past selfs, rather than his former selves teach things to him, to construct a clearer picture of this new incarnation.
The Fifth Doctor endures some of the most egregious fan-service. The inclusion of the Raston Warrior Robot from The Five Doctor’s being the highlight. And it was a highlight, even I can’t help but get excited by the goofy, but menacing, spear spitting fiend. Some intruding elements of the Sixth Doctor’s chapter crosses over here too, as the Time Lords have been observing the Doctor’s impossible actions in which he crosses over his own time stream. Some stingy anti-Doctor Gallifreyans want him out of the picture. Some of whom are tied to the events of the Trial of a Time Lord later on, including the Celestial Intervention Agency. I found this secondary threat amusing, though again, it made the Time Lords out to be once again rather petty and weak. The CIA’s agenda against the Doctor was the most interesting point, but it was rather wasted in this story, as the menace of the shadowy group was much reduced with their paltry ploy.
The Sixth Doctor’s part was the beefiest, and most convoluted of them all. Eight pulls Six out of his trial, and into the midst of a politically tumultuous Gallifrey. There’s some fun Sixth Doctor moments, as he once again debates for his life. This time with present-based action and a slightly more favourable jury. Though the grand scope of this political upheaval rather collapsed under itself, as a last minute Ex Machina manifested in another fan-service, self-aggrandising, disgraced face. Things were tense, but the complex and messy nature of things chipped away at a potentially good entry - as well as Dicks’ dogged commitment to filling plot-holes and expanding plot-points when things would be better left alone. Ultimately, inadvertently dampening the mystery and grandeur.
The Seventh Doctor’s part is most lacklustre, and largely focused on filling in the gap between the Ainsley Master and Roberts’ slimy snaky Master from the TV Movie. The two ideas were presented completely separately as well. The Seventh Doctor’s experiencing a very mild mid-life crisis which was easily resolved via a meeting with Eight. The ole whispers of a fatal future play out, and again the Eighth Doctor has a hand in his own making. Meanwhile, the Master’s just randomly popped up in some weird death-cult who use Deathworms to survive death. The whole tribe, biology and justification for the Master’s toying with death is glossed over, and the disparate scene exists purely to explain why we ended up with the TV Movie Master in all of his serpentine splendour. There’s an extra special fan-service-moment with a yet unmentioned character who I won’t spoil, but they too, were just another recognisable name/face.
Tying all these meandering parts together is the brief Eighth Doctor parts which bookended the book. Eight involves himself in some toxic teen’s feuding, bewilders some thugs, befriends a young girl, and befuddles some local coppers. It’s a rather short, straightforward entanglement with contemporary Earth and an Earthling. Where the companion joins in a very 60’s Who way. Sam Jones, the aforementioned new companion, was likeable enough, but we didn’t see nearly enough of her. She was also weirdly comfortable with the Doctor and the TARDIS, and the strange. She comes across as a “I’m not like the other girls” type of person.. And just because it was set in I.M. Foreman’s Yard on Totter’s Lane doesn’t make the localised conflict any better. At last however, we get a glimpse of the Doctor to come. In these last moments Dicks fairly accurately captured the energy and loveable ludicrousness of Paul McGann’s portrayal.
Overall, a story super-charged with ineffectual fan-service, amnesia, and frustrating fate. More time is spent examining minute disparities and oddities in the Doctor’s past, than creating a clear picture of the incarnation we’re actually going to follow for the next eight years. The new companion is shuffled into the TARDIS following a basic reassurance that she’s young, hopeful and morally sound. But there’s little adventure to be had in the present. The Eight Doctors is a most scatter-brained beginning for a long, new and original period of Doctor Who. At the very least, it wasn an easy, digestible read (for a fan of the classic era - for someone new to Doctor Who in the Wilderness years, this is quite the terrible book to get someone started!), and I’m looking forward to the future; now that it’s been re-structured and re-introduced to me again for no meaningful reason.
Bookended by brief action regarding the introduction of a new companion, the Doctor spends most of the story honouring the time old tradition of Eighth Doctor amnesia. And for the very first time! Regrettably, like most amnesia-fuelled endeavours, it’s a shallow and contrived plot device. This time used as a means to explore the Doctor’s past, in a time of uncertain future. Via some TARDIS based technobabble, the Doctor takes a tour through his time-stream. Visiting each of his incarnations in chronological order, recalling each Doctor’s set of memories as he progresses along. This splits the story very clearly and simply into nine parts funnily enough. Or eight parts, with Eight’s part split in two, if you want to be pedantic. There’s a lot of variety in the times and locations we experience, but one thing holds true - blatant and flimsy fan-service. Of which its only function seems to be to patch up some perceived plot-holes which really didn’t matter. I’ll dig into those one part at a time. But essentially, the people we meet, and scenarios the Doctor’s are placed in are all very superficial and unnecessary. They don’t service our new incarnation. Instead, they tweak little things about past incarnations’ behaviour, which all ring disingenuous.
I shall leave the incumbent Doctor aside for now, and dig into each Doctor one at a time. Though keep in mind, not all Doctor’s are treated equally. Some are given far more presence, in favour of explaining some unanswered question from the Classic show, or clarifying events which didn’t need to be clarified.
Firstly, the First Doctor. Encountered in the midst of a jungle, the Doctors briefly meet in a time bubble - this occurs for all the Doctors. Time freezes around them, allowing them, and only them to chat uninterrupted for a period of time, so as to preserve the past. The First Doctor largely serves as the exposition. Behaving once again as the mature, elder Doctor. Despite his youth. Moments prior to the two Doctors’ meeting, The First Doctor was considering taking violent and drastic measures to remove a problem. The action the First Doctor is considering is one that our modern Doctor finds appalling. I shan’t spoil, but the two fuss over very basic morals and ethics, and in doing so, leave our Doctor slightly more informed and reassured in his fundamental moral scruples. Whilst seemingly setting the First Doctor’s character journey towards a better path. I don’t appreciate that second point. Chalking up some crucial character development to timey-wimey nonsense reduces the impact of the original circumstances. The significance of the integral conflict and discussion between the Doctor and his very first companions is reduced and eroded. As well as introducing a rather weird implication that some grander purpose or fate shaped the Doctor’s actions across all his lives.
Secondly, Eight stumbles into the final stages of The War Games. Following some admittedly fun and atmospheric prose and meandering about the war-ridden grounds, the Doctor soon finds himself face to face with the Second Doctor himself. This is a less meaningful and less impactful event, despite the longer length of this part, which was largely dedicated to hearing about the Roman’s place in the war games, and how they felt about circumstances. A curious question to interrogate, but ultimately one which played out as you’d expect - with little stakes. And again, Dicks felt obliged for Eight to put Two on the path of his regeneration. Eight urges the Second Doctor to consult the Time Lords, shortly before he was to do so, once again implying some grander fate. The Eighth Doctor’s memories return again, and he continues forward as a rather simple median of Doctor-ish qualities.
Next is another baffling inclusion of a rather small un-screened plot-point, which Dicks apparently felt was very important. That of the Master’s escape from the end of the TV episode The Sea Devils. We’re treated to a light but brutal jaunt through the mountains as the Master easily eludes police and UNIT, before returning for a short scene with both Doctors. A simple face-off occurs with little meaning, before it’s time for Three and Eight to chat. This was probably the most tense of the meetings, and I enjoyed the testing of the Third Doctor’s character. But once again was bugged by Eight’s insertion of his (limited but superior) future knowledge of events when he pushes the Third Doctor forward to his final and last stand. Once again removing agency from the Third Doctor’s own growth and decisions, whilst selfishly tying it all to this blank slate of an Eighth incarnation.
The Fourth Doctor’s part is the most filler-y of the bunch. A tacked-on extension to the episode State of Decay is produced, and Romana and the Eighth Doctor get some action alongside each other. They’re fun, and Eight is getting back to a more recognisable form of himself, but ultimately, very little came of this brief trip. The drama and terror were cranked up, but the tension simply wasn’t there, as Romana and the Fourth Doctor weren’t in any real danger. There weren’t any meaningful messages imparted in this section either (both to my relief and disappointment). Frankly, I simply cannot comprehend why Dicks chose to have Eight impart lessons to his past selfs, rather than his former selves teach things to him, to construct a clearer picture of this new incarnation.
The Fifth Doctor endures some of the most egregious fan-service. The inclusion of the Raston Warrior Robot from The Five Doctor’s being the highlight. And it was a highlight, even I can’t help but get excited by the goofy, but menacing, spear spitting fiend. Some intruding elements of the Sixth Doctor’s chapter crosses over here too, as the Time Lords have been observing the Doctor’s impossible actions in which he crosses over his own time stream. Some stingy anti-Doctor Gallifreyans want him out of the picture. Some of whom are tied to the events of the Trial of a Time Lord later on, including the Celestial Intervention Agency. I found this secondary threat amusing, though again, it made the Time Lords out to be once again rather petty and weak. The CIA’s agenda against the Doctor was the most interesting point, but it was rather wasted in this story, as the menace of the shadowy group was much reduced with their paltry ploy.
The Sixth Doctor’s part was the beefiest, and most convoluted of them all. Eight pulls Six out of his trial, and into the midst of a politically tumultuous Gallifrey. There’s some fun Sixth Doctor moments, as he once again debates for his life. This time with present-based action and a slightly more favourable jury. Though the grand scope of this political upheaval rather collapsed under itself, as a last minute Ex Machina manifested in another fan-service, self-aggrandising, disgraced face. Things were tense, but the complex and messy nature of things chipped away at a potentially good entry - as well as Dicks’ dogged commitment to filling plot-holes and expanding plot-points when things would be better left alone. Ultimately, inadvertently dampening the mystery and grandeur.
The Seventh Doctor’s part is most lacklustre, and largely focused on filling in the gap between the Ainsley Master and Roberts’ slimy snaky Master from the TV Movie. The two ideas were presented completely separately as well. The Seventh Doctor’s experiencing a very mild mid-life crisis which was easily resolved via a meeting with Eight. The ole whispers of a fatal future play out, and again the Eighth Doctor has a hand in his own making. Meanwhile, the Master’s just randomly popped up in some weird death-cult who use Deathworms to survive death. The whole tribe, biology and justification for the Master’s toying with death is glossed over, and the disparate scene exists purely to explain why we ended up with the TV Movie Master in all of his serpentine splendour. There’s an extra special fan-service-moment with a yet unmentioned character who I won’t spoil, but they too, were just another recognisable name/face.
Tying all these meandering parts together is the brief Eighth Doctor parts which bookended the book. Eight involves himself in some toxic teen’s feuding, bewilders some thugs, befriends a young girl, and befuddles some local coppers. It’s a rather short, straightforward entanglement with contemporary Earth and an Earthling. Where the companion joins in a very 60’s Who way. Sam Jones, the aforementioned new companion, was likeable enough, but we didn’t see nearly enough of her. She was also weirdly comfortable with the Doctor and the TARDIS, and the strange. She comes across as a “I’m not like the other girls” type of person.. And just because it was set in I.M. Foreman’s Yard on Totter’s Lane doesn’t make the localised conflict any better. At last however, we get a glimpse of the Doctor to come. In these last moments Dicks fairly accurately captured the energy and loveable ludicrousness of Paul McGann’s portrayal.
Overall, a story super-charged with ineffectual fan-service, amnesia, and frustrating fate. More time is spent examining minute disparities and oddities in the Doctor’s past, than creating a clear picture of the incarnation we’re actually going to follow for the next eight years. The new companion is shuffled into the TARDIS following a basic reassurance that she’s young, hopeful and morally sound. But there’s little adventure to be had in the present. The Eight Doctors is a most scatter-brained beginning for a long, new and original period of Doctor Who. At the very least, it wasn an easy, digestible read (for a fan of the classic era - for someone new to Doctor Who in the Wilderness years, this is quite the terrible book to get someone started!), and I’m looking forward to the future; now that it’s been re-structured and re-introduced to me again for no meaningful reason.
March 24, 2024
This it's my first Doctor Who book, and it's insane that such a big DW name like Terrance Dicks gave us something like this.
The premise is that our recently regenerated Eighth Doctor has lost his memory, and must travel back to visit each past incarnation to get his memories back. Just like the character of Eight, this book has no identity, no idea what is doing, and is all over the place.
It's very known in DW lore that you can only visit your previous incarnations in EXTREME circumstances, and every 5 or so chapters we would briefly go back to the president of Gallifrey react to the Doctor. React is however a strong word, as she kind of just watches and does nothing. These scenes are literally useless and have no purpose in this book. We also have a character on Gallifrey trying to kill the Doctor, but this is for a total of like two or three nonconsecutive chapters before the Doctor literally kills him. Womp womp.
For the idea of going back to all previous regenerations, they aren't spaced out very evenly. The First Doctor was I think one chapter? Second Doctor wasn't much more. Then we got Third Doctor and Eight was barely in the book anymore. The Sixth Doctor had what felt like a while third of the book to himself, followed by the Seventh Doctor in like 10 pages. Dicks hasn't showcased the Eighth Doctor at all, and barely shows half of the previous Doctors anyway.
Lastly, we have new companion Sam. Sam is in the first couple chapters, and the last one. Maybe 10% of the book of we're feeling generous. There is almost no intersection between her and the Doctor in this time, and absolutely no chemistry. He still invites her to join him on an adventure anyway. Because why not.
Overall, a disappointing start to the EDA series. I am looking forward to the improvements.
The premise is that our recently regenerated Eighth Doctor has lost his memory, and must travel back to visit each past incarnation to get his memories back. Just like the character of Eight, this book has no identity, no idea what is doing, and is all over the place.
It's very known in DW lore that you can only visit your previous incarnations in EXTREME circumstances, and every 5 or so chapters we would briefly go back to the president of Gallifrey react to the Doctor. React is however a strong word, as she kind of just watches and does nothing. These scenes are literally useless and have no purpose in this book. We also have a character on Gallifrey trying to kill the Doctor, but this is for a total of like two or three nonconsecutive chapters before the Doctor literally kills him. Womp womp.
For the idea of going back to all previous regenerations, they aren't spaced out very evenly. The First Doctor was I think one chapter? Second Doctor wasn't much more. Then we got Third Doctor and Eight was barely in the book anymore. The Sixth Doctor had what felt like a while third of the book to himself, followed by the Seventh Doctor in like 10 pages. Dicks hasn't showcased the Eighth Doctor at all, and barely shows half of the previous Doctors anyway.
Lastly, we have new companion Sam. Sam is in the first couple chapters, and the last one. Maybe 10% of the book of we're feeling generous. There is almost no intersection between her and the Doctor in this time, and absolutely no chemistry. He still invites her to join him on an adventure anyway. Because why not.
Overall, a disappointing start to the EDA series. I am looking forward to the improvements.
March 17, 2025
2024 52 Book Challenge - Summer Olympics Mini Challenge - Closing Ceremonies - 2) Author Hasn't Released A Book In The Last Four Years
This was a really nice read in regards to the Eighth Doctor - yet another amnesia story though, can the Eighth Doctor never escape from the amnesia plot? - and it was nice for the series to start with a look back at the Doctor's past, through episodes on the show and in depth looks at Gallifrey and the political structure there.
However, it is very dated now reading it in 2025. I had to keep taking breaks every so often because the language was not fantastic. It basically gave a very negative description of each Doctor at the beginning of their "chapters" with the Sixth Doctor appearing more than the rest of the previous Doctors, and he was described as a stocky man who looked like he was prone to putting on weight, which is later emphasized by him demanding cakes from a secretary.
It also felt like the Doctor was drinking alcohol or being referred to as drinking alcohol a lot. I'm pretty sure that he drank more alcohol in this book than he has in the entire modern series of Doctor Who.
This was a really nice read in regards to the Eighth Doctor - yet another amnesia story though, can the Eighth Doctor never escape from the amnesia plot? - and it was nice for the series to start with a look back at the Doctor's past, through episodes on the show and in depth looks at Gallifrey and the political structure there.
However, it is very dated now reading it in 2025. I had to keep taking breaks every so often because the language was not fantastic. It basically gave a very negative description of each Doctor at the beginning of their "chapters" with the Sixth Doctor appearing more than the rest of the previous Doctors, and he was described as a stocky man who looked like he was prone to putting on weight, which is later emphasized by him demanding cakes from a secretary.
It also felt like the Doctor was drinking alcohol or being referred to as drinking alcohol a lot. I'm pretty sure that he drank more alcohol in this book than he has in the entire modern series of Doctor Who.
August 13, 2023
The story has a nice concept - visiting previous incarnations to discover who this new doctor is, after being struck with a second bout of amnesia - but the execution wasn't all that great.
Since the 8th doctor visits all his incarnations during points in their televised adventures, the book has to give a lot of context and retelling of the stories so they make sense to someone who maybe hasn't seen all or any of them. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of time and pages away from the 8th doctors introduction and character developement. And for someone like me, who has seen every Classic Who Story at least twice, it got kind of boring very quickly. When Eight meets the other doctors, time freezes and he either solves their problem for them or morally grandstands, which I think makes the previous doctors look more incapable or ruthless/ coldblooded.
There is some nice fanservice and a few interactions that made me smile, but other than that, The Eight Doctors was a pretty boring read and a bad introduction to Eight.
Since the 8th doctor visits all his incarnations during points in their televised adventures, the book has to give a lot of context and retelling of the stories so they make sense to someone who maybe hasn't seen all or any of them. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of time and pages away from the 8th doctors introduction and character developement. And for someone like me, who has seen every Classic Who Story at least twice, it got kind of boring very quickly. When Eight meets the other doctors, time freezes and he either solves their problem for them or morally grandstands, which I think makes the previous doctors look more incapable or ruthless/ coldblooded.
There is some nice fanservice and a few interactions that made me smile, but other than that, The Eight Doctors was a pretty boring read and a bad introduction to Eight.
October 7, 2024
This was a fun read! Terrance Dicks clearly was very much not interested in the new companion and so the writing surrounding her is not great. Revisiting all the old doctors is fun! As a lover of the first couple I’m a little sad that he clearly was not very interested in them as well, even going so far as to write 2 and 3 as behaving out of character. I also think it funny that Trial of a Time Lord was so bad that he felt the need to think of ways to make it work. Same with the masters plan in the movie.
July 2, 2021
The Virgin New Adventures and the Virgin Missing Adventures lost the license to publish Doctor Who fiction in 1996 with the airing of Paul McGann’s television debut in the TV Movie. BBC Worldwide wished for the license back as they saw an avenue for making some money in the new imprint of BBC Books so when the license expired from Virgin in May 1997 with the publication of The Dying Days and So Vile a Sin. June 1997 was the first time a book was released by the BBC itself with an original Doctor Who storyline and the latest Doctor. They called up Terrance Dicks, who was willing to write, set it right after the TV Movie, introduced a new companion, and made it a multi-Doctor novel including the seven previous Doctors in one grand adventure. It should have worked, it should be heralded as one of the great novels, but sadly The Eight Doctors is an example of the continuity fest going too far and fails to introduce the range to the adventures of the Eighth Doctor.
The Eight Doctors opens with a small prologue setting the novel right at the end of the TV Movie. The Doctor has left Earth and finds himself back in the room with the Eye of Harmony where the Master has laid one final trap for his archenemy, something to make him lose his memory so he has to cross his timestream to earlier adventures and the paradox it causes will for whatever reason restore the memories up to that point. There’s also a subplot on Gallifrey where President Flavia (not the previously established President Romana) and a bunch of Time Lords watch in awe and horror as the Doctor travels his path. Ryoth, a Time Lord of the Celestial Intervention Agency, uses a Timescoop in an attempt to stop the Doctor but is eaten by a Drashig halfway through the novel. He’s supposed to be the villain of the piece, but as he dies halfway through and without much interference from the other Time Lords, the back half of the novel is without a real villain. The first segment takes the Doctor to where it all began, the I.M. Foreman junkyard. This time it’s the 1990s where poor vegetarian Samantha Jones is being attacked by some drug dealers because she’s an informant on the evils of crack cocaine. It becomes readily apparent that Terrance Dicks cannot write for an anti-drug PSA as the first few chapters try to be, so much so that they end with Sam in danger and the Doctor abandoning her. Yeah, this is not a good start to the novel as Sam is made out to be our new companion with a weak characterization as annoying vegetarian and activist. There is no sense of personality with Sam, no sense of humor or chemistry with the Doctor leaving the audience no drive to see if the Doctor is going to save her in the end.
After the segment at Coal Hill School, we go through the Doctors chronologically, starting with a rendezvous with the First Doctor during the events of An Unearthly Child. The scene is the forest of fear and the caveman Za is injured; the Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Susan are escaping the tribe of Gum and the reader can guess where this is going. The Doctor is about to commit a murder so he can escape and the Eighth Doctor comes in to stop him. It’s a quick little sequence as well as the sequence with the Second Doctor, set during The War Games where the Doctor must call in the Time Lords to help with beating the War Lords plan. Both as segments Dicks is able to make them both easy to read, but nothing is above average in the characterization and the plot leaves much to be desired. The Third Doctor’s segment however is the weakest of the novel, taking place after The Sea Devils. It can be accurately described as a redo of the ending of The Daemons where the Master finds his TARDIS and escapes, whilst the Doctor acts horribly to Jo and everyone around him. Odd considering Terrance Dicks was script editor for the Third Doctor and novelized much of the novels of the Third and Fourth Doctors.
The section of the Fourth Doctor is one of the highlights, taking place in the closing moments of Dicks’ own State of Decay. The Doctor and Romana are lured away from the TARDIS and in the midst of a cult of vampires wishing to make the Time Lords their new king and queen. The Eighth Doctor shows up and begins to get in on the vampire slaying action as well as giving the Fourth Doctor some of his blood to stave off death at Logopolis. Terrance Dicks obviously enjoyed writing this one because the quality of the short passages shines through the rest of the book’s problems. The Fifth Doctor’s section doesn’t work however as it’s another continuity fest with Raston Warrior Robots, Sontarans, and Drashigs. Most of all, it is a dull segment of the book, overshadowed by the Sixth Doctor’s segment. The Ultimate Foe is the setting of the penultimate segment where the Doctors have to uncover the conspiracy to kill the Doctor over the course of the Trial with the Valeyard. The Sixth Doctor is a bit out of character being portrayed as just a fatty at points, but it’s at least enjoyable and close to his television counterpart. I shall not comment on my favorite Doctor’s portion as it really isn’t a plot and just happens. Then the book is over and we can get on to something better. 4/10.
The Eight Doctors opens with a small prologue setting the novel right at the end of the TV Movie. The Doctor has left Earth and finds himself back in the room with the Eye of Harmony where the Master has laid one final trap for his archenemy, something to make him lose his memory so he has to cross his timestream to earlier adventures and the paradox it causes will for whatever reason restore the memories up to that point. There’s also a subplot on Gallifrey where President Flavia (not the previously established President Romana) and a bunch of Time Lords watch in awe and horror as the Doctor travels his path. Ryoth, a Time Lord of the Celestial Intervention Agency, uses a Timescoop in an attempt to stop the Doctor but is eaten by a Drashig halfway through the novel. He’s supposed to be the villain of the piece, but as he dies halfway through and without much interference from the other Time Lords, the back half of the novel is without a real villain. The first segment takes the Doctor to where it all began, the I.M. Foreman junkyard. This time it’s the 1990s where poor vegetarian Samantha Jones is being attacked by some drug dealers because she’s an informant on the evils of crack cocaine. It becomes readily apparent that Terrance Dicks cannot write for an anti-drug PSA as the first few chapters try to be, so much so that they end with Sam in danger and the Doctor abandoning her. Yeah, this is not a good start to the novel as Sam is made out to be our new companion with a weak characterization as annoying vegetarian and activist. There is no sense of personality with Sam, no sense of humor or chemistry with the Doctor leaving the audience no drive to see if the Doctor is going to save her in the end.
After the segment at Coal Hill School, we go through the Doctors chronologically, starting with a rendezvous with the First Doctor during the events of An Unearthly Child. The scene is the forest of fear and the caveman Za is injured; the Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Susan are escaping the tribe of Gum and the reader can guess where this is going. The Doctor is about to commit a murder so he can escape and the Eighth Doctor comes in to stop him. It’s a quick little sequence as well as the sequence with the Second Doctor, set during The War Games where the Doctor must call in the Time Lords to help with beating the War Lords plan. Both as segments Dicks is able to make them both easy to read, but nothing is above average in the characterization and the plot leaves much to be desired. The Third Doctor’s segment however is the weakest of the novel, taking place after The Sea Devils. It can be accurately described as a redo of the ending of The Daemons where the Master finds his TARDIS and escapes, whilst the Doctor acts horribly to Jo and everyone around him. Odd considering Terrance Dicks was script editor for the Third Doctor and novelized much of the novels of the Third and Fourth Doctors.
The section of the Fourth Doctor is one of the highlights, taking place in the closing moments of Dicks’ own State of Decay. The Doctor and Romana are lured away from the TARDIS and in the midst of a cult of vampires wishing to make the Time Lords their new king and queen. The Eighth Doctor shows up and begins to get in on the vampire slaying action as well as giving the Fourth Doctor some of his blood to stave off death at Logopolis. Terrance Dicks obviously enjoyed writing this one because the quality of the short passages shines through the rest of the book’s problems. The Fifth Doctor’s section doesn’t work however as it’s another continuity fest with Raston Warrior Robots, Sontarans, and Drashigs. Most of all, it is a dull segment of the book, overshadowed by the Sixth Doctor’s segment. The Ultimate Foe is the setting of the penultimate segment where the Doctors have to uncover the conspiracy to kill the Doctor over the course of the Trial with the Valeyard. The Sixth Doctor is a bit out of character being portrayed as just a fatty at points, but it’s at least enjoyable and close to his television counterpart. I shall not comment on my favorite Doctor’s portion as it really isn’t a plot and just happens. Then the book is over and we can get on to something better. 4/10.
July 11, 2024
- be told the book is bad
- be surprised when you start reading it & its bad
- stop reading it
- get in conversation about how bad the book is
- think 'wow i should start reading that book again'
- be surprised when it's bad
- be surprised when you start reading it & its bad
- stop reading it
- get in conversation about how bad the book is
- think 'wow i should start reading that book again'
- be surprised when it's bad
April 24, 2025
I am starting to read through some of the original novels alternating between series. this is a good introduction to the Eighth Doctor and Sam, easy to read with a simple plot. the new doctor finds his identity with the hel of his former selves.
November 13, 2021
It was ok. I was expecting more. There is a great scene between a Raston Warrior Robot & some Sontarans other than that it's a collection of short stories where the 8th Doctor meets his past incarnations.
Read
October 21, 2007http://nhw.livejournal.com/790383.html[return][return]This was the first of the BBC's series of Eighth Doctor books (the book-of-the-TV-film apparently being in a different category). I had read one of these before and was not madly impressed. Here, however, we are on comfortable ground; Terrance Dicks' record of writing more Doctor Who novels and novelisations than anyone else is unlikely to be surpassed any time soon.[return][return]Though it really ought to be called Doctor Who and the Heroic RetCons. Dicks uses the opportunity of creating a new fictional environment for the Eighth Doctor to try and iron out some of the grosser continuity problems left by both the Eighth Doctor TV film, and the Trial of a Time Lord (and also a wee bit of clearing up from The Five Doctors, which I think I must try and watch again soon). Sensibly, rather than pull all eight Doctors together (he had after all written The Five Doctors and was script editor for the programme at the time of The Three Doctors) he has the Eighth Doctor dropping in on his predecessors at various points of the programme's established timeline.[return][return]The most effective piece of writing in the book is a description of the Third Doctor chasing the Master across southern England after his escape from prison in The Sea Devils. The least convincing bit is actually the characterisation of the Eighth Doctor himself. Lance Parkin got this rather better in his Dying Days, the last of the Virgin New Adventures, the last before Peter Darvill-Evans and Rebecca Levene cruelly had the franchise removed from them; in Terrance Dicks's hands, he comes across as rather like the Third Doctor, but a little less arrogant. On a tangent, I was interested that Dicks chose to place the Fourth Doctor encounter with the Eighth in the world of his vampire story, State of Decay, and its novel sequel.[return][return]Anyway, the fun bits outnumber the embarrassing bits, just about. Certainly worth reading for a sense of where the BBC thought the Eight Doctor might lead them, and also for the heroic retconning. I still feel no desire whatever to catch up with the Trial of a Time Lord season.
November 7, 2017
This was a pretty fun, though slightly weird, start to the Eighth Doctor's novel adventures. In a lot of ways, it feels like an anniversary celebration story, as the others in Classic Who had generally been massive crossovers. In fact, when Eight encounters Five, it's just after the events of the Five Doctors and some of the monsters and events there become important to the plot. The book opens with Eight getting amnesia again, which along with his ridiculous hair is the main hallmark of his adventures. There's an interesting bookends to the novel in the form of the Doctor returning to Coal Hill School to find a new companion, in much the same way as One's adventures began. This time, however, we're at Coal Hill in the 90s, when there are drug dealers and we discover that the Doctor knows what crack cocaine is, which is kinda hilarious to me. In between the first and last part of this adventure in the modern day, the Doctor runs around meeting his former selves and regaining his memories. The plot is a little odd because it feels like there isn't much overarching structure to it, aside from these encounters. They vary from the Doctor convincing himself not to kill, to him having small new adventures in the gaps of the TV show, to his encounter with Six which acts as a massive fix-fic to Trial of a Time Lord. Admittedly, from what I've heard of it, the latter sorely needs something to make it make sense, and I appreciate that Dicks generally gives enough of an explanation of what's happened in the TV show for me to understand without having seen the serials he's referencing. There's a bunch of stuff with the Celestial Intervention Agency and Gallifreyan politics, which I enjoyed because we haven't gotten any of that in the modern show, and it's fun to see a bunch of nigh omnipotent Time Lords be catty. In general, while I found the plot to bounce around a bit more than I would've liked, I enjoyed it, and I think it's a good way to kick off the Eighth Doctor Adventures: showing how the new Doctor differs from the old ones while still carrying on their legacy. I look forward to reading more novels in this series, especially since the new companion seems like she'll be a lot of fun.
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