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Past Doctor Adventures #63
Doctor Who: Deadly Reunion
"With one glance he will destroy your body and wither your soul."
Second Lieutenant Lethbridge-Stewart gets more than he bargained for when he is assigned to map out Greek islands at the end of the Second World War. Even if he lives to tell the tale, will he remember it?
Years later, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and his colleagues at UNIT investigate a spate of unexplained deaths and murders. Meanwhile, the Third Doctor and Jo are caught up in strange events in the small English village of Hob's Haven.
As preparations get underway for a massive pop concert, a sinister cult prepares for a day of reckoning — business as usual for UNIT. But can the Brigadier help prevent the end of the world? His friends and colleagues are not so sure, because this time, the Brigadier has fallen in love...
Second Lieutenant Lethbridge-Stewart gets more than he bargained for when he is assigned to map out Greek islands at the end of the Second World War. Even if he lives to tell the tale, will he remember it?
Years later, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and his colleagues at UNIT investigate a spate of unexplained deaths and murders. Meanwhile, the Third Doctor and Jo are caught up in strange events in the small English village of Hob's Haven.
As preparations get underway for a massive pop concert, a sinister cult prepares for a day of reckoning — business as usual for UNIT. But can the Brigadier help prevent the end of the world? His friends and colleagues are not so sure, because this time, the Brigadier has fallen in love...
288 pages, Paperback
First published December 3, 2003
1 person is currently reading
247 people want to read
About the author
Terrance Dicks
326 books219 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 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 19, 2017
Very enjoyable Third Doctor story written by the producer and script editor during that era.
February 22, 2013
For some reason it seems that the Third Doctor era brings out a desire on the part of its authors to wring every bit of nostalgia they can from those years. From the Venusian aikido to the big happy UNIT family to that old dastardly criminal the Master, it seems that the authors won't stop until they've recreated every loving detail in book form as the Doctor and his comrades traipse around the merry ol' English countryside stopping aliens in quaint villages. It's like someone those are the episodes that got erased and these are to functions as the replacements so that we can experience what was sadly lost.
Except I have a whole shelf of DVDs starring Jon Pertwee in the next room, so what the heck is going on?
More than most, the Third Doctor's reign, or at least the part of it that featured UNIT and the Master, are warmly situated in the hearts of many, maybe because of the recurring cast, or the recurring scenery, or just the overall feel. It's something that doesn't seem to happen as much with other "eras" of the show, maybe because those aren't as strongly identified or didn't last as long (the closest might be the Second Doctor's time with Jamie and Zoe, but they didn't stay in one place for very long). Maybe it's because it's just long enough ago that all the people who watched it as kids (and it was a big audience back then to boot) are now adults capable of longing for bygone days, plus the episodes were in color so they didn't scare off the newcomers who think that the black and white era is one step away from silent films.
The thing is, when you don't feel the corresponding warm and fuzzy feelings, you wonder what all the fuss is about. Which brings us to this book. If you're looking for Third Doctor pedigree, this is the novel that has it in spades, since it not only brings old hand and former script editor our man Terrance himself yet again into the fold, but as a special bonus former director and producer Barry Letts, who was one of the main people responsible for all those moments that made British children rush to the telly at tea time on Saturday to catch their favorite hero bopping aliens with a mighty "Hai!" Bringing them together for the fortieth anniversary year should have resulted in something special, a modern take on those old years and at the same time a rousing celebration of what made it great, from the people who should have intimate knowledge of what made it great.
Instead, what we get is a victory lap of sorts, or at least a selection of their greatest hits. The book is divided into two parts, neither of which are necessary to each other except they make the book longer. In the first part, a young Lethbridge-Stewart is roaming around Greece for the service when he runs into people who claim to be former Greek gods. And then falls in love with one of them. Go get 'em, tiger! This section is almost alarmingly straightforward, as the Greek gods are incorporated into "Doctor Who" wholesale, with a bunch of handwaving about "maybe we're evolved mutants" but without any real changes or alterations from the source material, like the authors did what we all did in college the night before the research paper was due and just copied it word for word from the closest reference book. I have no problem with the Greek gods in "Who", per se, the show has a long history of taking material from genres that weren't explicitly SF and remaking it, sometimes even subverting, into a form that was unique to the show (think "Pyramids of Mars", or any of those great Robert Holmes Fourth Doctor stories that had fun mixing and matching genres). However, this is less "Talons of Weng-Chiang" and more "The Time Monster", which is not a standard you should be striving for.
It feels lazy in a way, as the few Greek gods we see not only are still calling themselves by their old names, but the book expects us to believe that every myth happened exactly the way our teachers taught us in high school, which strips them of every bit of metaphorical significance they might have had and turns them into boring old SF adventures. There's no twist on the concept. Hades lives underground, Poseidon lives in the ocean, Persephone went down into the underworld, you keep waiting for some curveball to come your way, you pray that at some point in the last forty years the authors read Roger Zelazny's "Lord of Light" to see how mythology can be incorporated into SF on its own terms. You wait for even a hint of strangeness to distinguish this from something run of the mill, the awe of gods, unfamiliar territory, anything.
Respite comes when the future Brigadier forgets everything. Alas, we don't. But with the book nearly half over, it moves into even more familiar territory, as the Doctor and Jo come visiting an olde tyme English village (hey, just like "The Daemons"!) where a pop festival is taking place. Meanwhile, Yates and Benton are investigating strange deaths that also bring them to the village, where an odd family who seems familiar is living. More bizarre events occur until *gasp* an old enemy appears, quick explanations are offered and the whole affair is wrapped up just in time for tea, with a resolution so literally deus ex machina that you wonder if the authors are having some ironic fun with us. Yet there's never any danger or urgency anywhere in here. Even the bits that are supposed to be funny, like the policeman who believes that every ridiculous brutal death was an accident, was done far better in "Hot Fuzz", a movie that was supposed to be satirical.
What's worse is that even the parts that aren't cribbed from their time on "Who" aren't even that original. The concept of a pop festival being the stage for unimaginable evil and violence was done only two years before as a Past Doctor adventure in Mick Lewis' "Rags". Even worse, that was also a Third Doctor and UNIT adventure, and for all that novel's faults, at least the violence was done with verve and style, so that we're once again confronted with a scene where the Brigadier has the festival surrounded and the UNIT troops may have to shoot innocents, it feels like a pale imitation. Even if the authors don't read other "Who" novels, chances are we do. Isn't that what editors are for?
The final straw is probably that, for all the space spent on it in the beginning, the romance between the Brigadier or his earlier fight with Hades has little meaning in the course of the climax. Other than some confusion when he and the lady meet again, very little useful mention is made of that incident and there's no final confrontation with Hades (and frankly, for people who can teleport at will, the gods get imprisoned a lot), rendering the book as two short stories with tenuous linkages. Hey, when Gene Wolfe did it, at least we had symbolism and allusions to work with.
I'm guessing Barry Letts contributed mostly ideas, because it feels like his co-author all the way, bringing out his typical unadorned prose, which is not unlike reading a newspaper about SF. It gets the job done in conveying information, but there's not a lot of flash to it. On the plus side, it means I finished the book in a little over two hours, which is probably close to the length of a typical Third Doctor six-parter. Those of us looking for something new in the world of the Third Doctor may be disappointed, but those who miss that era should take heart by what the back cover tells us: it's "business as usual for UNIT". Take away every other word but those on the back cover, and that should tell you everything you need to know.
Except I have a whole shelf of DVDs starring Jon Pertwee in the next room, so what the heck is going on?
More than most, the Third Doctor's reign, or at least the part of it that featured UNIT and the Master, are warmly situated in the hearts of many, maybe because of the recurring cast, or the recurring scenery, or just the overall feel. It's something that doesn't seem to happen as much with other "eras" of the show, maybe because those aren't as strongly identified or didn't last as long (the closest might be the Second Doctor's time with Jamie and Zoe, but they didn't stay in one place for very long). Maybe it's because it's just long enough ago that all the people who watched it as kids (and it was a big audience back then to boot) are now adults capable of longing for bygone days, plus the episodes were in color so they didn't scare off the newcomers who think that the black and white era is one step away from silent films.
The thing is, when you don't feel the corresponding warm and fuzzy feelings, you wonder what all the fuss is about. Which brings us to this book. If you're looking for Third Doctor pedigree, this is the novel that has it in spades, since it not only brings old hand and former script editor our man Terrance himself yet again into the fold, but as a special bonus former director and producer Barry Letts, who was one of the main people responsible for all those moments that made British children rush to the telly at tea time on Saturday to catch their favorite hero bopping aliens with a mighty "Hai!" Bringing them together for the fortieth anniversary year should have resulted in something special, a modern take on those old years and at the same time a rousing celebration of what made it great, from the people who should have intimate knowledge of what made it great.
Instead, what we get is a victory lap of sorts, or at least a selection of their greatest hits. The book is divided into two parts, neither of which are necessary to each other except they make the book longer. In the first part, a young Lethbridge-Stewart is roaming around Greece for the service when he runs into people who claim to be former Greek gods. And then falls in love with one of them. Go get 'em, tiger! This section is almost alarmingly straightforward, as the Greek gods are incorporated into "Doctor Who" wholesale, with a bunch of handwaving about "maybe we're evolved mutants" but without any real changes or alterations from the source material, like the authors did what we all did in college the night before the research paper was due and just copied it word for word from the closest reference book. I have no problem with the Greek gods in "Who", per se, the show has a long history of taking material from genres that weren't explicitly SF and remaking it, sometimes even subverting, into a form that was unique to the show (think "Pyramids of Mars", or any of those great Robert Holmes Fourth Doctor stories that had fun mixing and matching genres). However, this is less "Talons of Weng-Chiang" and more "The Time Monster", which is not a standard you should be striving for.
It feels lazy in a way, as the few Greek gods we see not only are still calling themselves by their old names, but the book expects us to believe that every myth happened exactly the way our teachers taught us in high school, which strips them of every bit of metaphorical significance they might have had and turns them into boring old SF adventures. There's no twist on the concept. Hades lives underground, Poseidon lives in the ocean, Persephone went down into the underworld, you keep waiting for some curveball to come your way, you pray that at some point in the last forty years the authors read Roger Zelazny's "Lord of Light" to see how mythology can be incorporated into SF on its own terms. You wait for even a hint of strangeness to distinguish this from something run of the mill, the awe of gods, unfamiliar territory, anything.
Respite comes when the future Brigadier forgets everything. Alas, we don't. But with the book nearly half over, it moves into even more familiar territory, as the Doctor and Jo come visiting an olde tyme English village (hey, just like "The Daemons"!) where a pop festival is taking place. Meanwhile, Yates and Benton are investigating strange deaths that also bring them to the village, where an odd family who seems familiar is living. More bizarre events occur until *gasp* an old enemy appears, quick explanations are offered and the whole affair is wrapped up just in time for tea, with a resolution so literally deus ex machina that you wonder if the authors are having some ironic fun with us. Yet there's never any danger or urgency anywhere in here. Even the bits that are supposed to be funny, like the policeman who believes that every ridiculous brutal death was an accident, was done far better in "Hot Fuzz", a movie that was supposed to be satirical.
What's worse is that even the parts that aren't cribbed from their time on "Who" aren't even that original. The concept of a pop festival being the stage for unimaginable evil and violence was done only two years before as a Past Doctor adventure in Mick Lewis' "Rags". Even worse, that was also a Third Doctor and UNIT adventure, and for all that novel's faults, at least the violence was done with verve and style, so that we're once again confronted with a scene where the Brigadier has the festival surrounded and the UNIT troops may have to shoot innocents, it feels like a pale imitation. Even if the authors don't read other "Who" novels, chances are we do. Isn't that what editors are for?
The final straw is probably that, for all the space spent on it in the beginning, the romance between the Brigadier or his earlier fight with Hades has little meaning in the course of the climax. Other than some confusion when he and the lady meet again, very little useful mention is made of that incident and there's no final confrontation with Hades (and frankly, for people who can teleport at will, the gods get imprisoned a lot), rendering the book as two short stories with tenuous linkages. Hey, when Gene Wolfe did it, at least we had symbolism and allusions to work with.
I'm guessing Barry Letts contributed mostly ideas, because it feels like his co-author all the way, bringing out his typical unadorned prose, which is not unlike reading a newspaper about SF. It gets the job done in conveying information, but there's not a lot of flash to it. On the plus side, it means I finished the book in a little over two hours, which is probably close to the length of a typical Third Doctor six-parter. Those of us looking for something new in the world of the Third Doctor may be disappointed, but those who miss that era should take heart by what the back cover tells us: it's "business as usual for UNIT". Take away every other word but those on the back cover, and that should tell you everything you need to know.
August 24, 2024
Some might call it self-indulgent, but this was BBC Books' 40th anniversary novel, so there's a good excuse for the fanwank. In actuality, this novel manages to be a love-letter to the 3rd Doctor's era that is more successful than either "The Daemons" or "Planet of the Spiders" managed on television. You almost get the impression that the producer & script editor of the time wanted a final crack at it in order to get it just right...and I have very few complaints, as it's a thoroughly enjoyable read. In particular, the opening chapters act as a virtual pilot episode for the young Lethbridge-Stewart novels that are now being published...and I have no complaints about young, dashing, Alistair fighting gods in the Greek Islands and getting the girl at the end!
January 15, 2020
A few thoughts I'll turn into a review some other time:
-2.25 stars.
-Awful beginning - terrible romance, Alistair doesn't feel like himself, writing style was confusing, had to go back and read several parts, too much military babble, pointless scenes and characters that had no effect on the story.
-Second part was much better - flowed nicer, characters felt like their TV counterparts, story was interesting
-Entire book misunderstands the Greek gods - Hades is meant to be one of the best and most reasonable of them. Zeus is a petty tyrant with a massive ego. This book portrays them the opposite way.
-Hermes and Alistair did not feel like the same person in both parts of the story.
-Romance between Alistair and Sephie went nowhere
-Entire first part essentially pointless, story could've been told without it, if they had used flashbacks instead of splitting it into halves
-Anticlimactic ending.
-Use of other mythological creatures didn't make any sense.
-2.25 stars.
-Awful beginning - terrible romance, Alistair doesn't feel like himself, writing style was confusing, had to go back and read several parts, too much military babble, pointless scenes and characters that had no effect on the story.
-Second part was much better - flowed nicer, characters felt like their TV counterparts, story was interesting
-Entire book misunderstands the Greek gods - Hades is meant to be one of the best and most reasonable of them. Zeus is a petty tyrant with a massive ego. This book portrays them the opposite way.
-Hermes and Alistair did not feel like the same person in both parts of the story.
-Romance between Alistair and Sephie went nowhere
-Entire first part essentially pointless, story could've been told without it, if they had used flashbacks instead of splitting it into halves
-Anticlimactic ending.
-Use of other mythological creatures didn't make any sense.
August 4, 2018
This should have been something special. A 40th anniversary novel where Dicks and Letts reunite to tell a story based around Greek Myth. Unfortunately it is shallow, dull and filled to the brim with sex, drugs, violence, fan references and anachronisms. Maybe not the worst Doctor Who novel I have read but not far off.
October 1, 2024
This book is pretty good. My main complaint is that the book is essentially split into a part 1 and part 2 and I don't personally feel like they have enough cohesion between them. Overall pretty fun though but it was not anything particularly special. I think the Greek Mythology and 3rd Doctor era combination was done better in Josephine and the Argonauts released much later on.
June 19, 2023
Just… painfully boring.
May 2, 2025
The pace of this story was very slow and dull.
May 4, 2022
This novel is a two-part item, with the appearance that Barry Letts wrote part 1 and Terrance Dicks wrote part 2. I suspect, however, that Dicks wrote much of part 1 as well. The plot begins shortly after WWII with a young Lt. Lethbridge-Stewart getting involved with some nearly immortal aliens who used to pose as Greek gods. Now "Hades" has decided he wants to take over the world, but must do so according to the rules of being Hades. Lt. Lethbridge-Stewart and one of the immortals fall in love, but to save the world must pass through the river of forgetfulness. Flash forward to the 1970s and Mike Yates investigating a series of mysterious occurrences in which ordinary people go murderously mad, and Jo Grant trying to score some tickets to a rock music festival. Of course, these two seemingly unrelated matters are in fact connected, and relate to Hades' latest attempt to take over the world. Oh, and the Master is around. Much of part 2 reads like a revision of "The Daemons."
Whatever one might say about Terrance Dicks as a writer, one must conclude that for pacing there are few better. The novel breezes right along and one hardly notices how many pages one has read. Dicks also has a great ear for the way people talk, and his dialogue all fits smoothly with the characters. In my imagination, I could hear the actors saying these lines. Though the characterization is not deep, it is never off the mark, so that one does not find characters ever implausibly "out of character." And Dicks really strengthens Benton as a character, making him capable and definitely part of the team.
The flaws in the novel to me center upon the main premise. It is principally the same problem as in "The Time Monster." Are these gods or not? Just what are their powers? What are the sources of their powers? The unresolved nature of these beings just hangs over the whole thing. Also, Hades, what little we see of him, is not all that terrifying as a villain. If he is so godlike powerful, why is it that he cannot simply destroy the Doctor and the Brigadier instead of just trying to frighten them away? And the solution to the Hades problem is literally deus ex machina twice. Could the writers not summon up some other way of handling the matter?
Whatever one might say about Terrance Dicks as a writer, one must conclude that for pacing there are few better. The novel breezes right along and one hardly notices how many pages one has read. Dicks also has a great ear for the way people talk, and his dialogue all fits smoothly with the characters. In my imagination, I could hear the actors saying these lines. Though the characterization is not deep, it is never off the mark, so that one does not find characters ever implausibly "out of character." And Dicks really strengthens Benton as a character, making him capable and definitely part of the team.
The flaws in the novel to me center upon the main premise. It is principally the same problem as in "The Time Monster." Are these gods or not? Just what are their powers? What are the sources of their powers? The unresolved nature of these beings just hangs over the whole thing. Also, Hades, what little we see of him, is not all that terrifying as a villain. If he is so godlike powerful, why is it that he cannot simply destroy the Doctor and the Brigadier instead of just trying to frighten them away? And the solution to the Hades problem is literally deus ex machina twice. Could the writers not summon up some other way of handling the matter?
May 12, 2013
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2103685.html[return][return]This is the first in internal chronology of the Third Doctor / Jo spinoff novels, though in fact the last to be published, in 2003. Veterans Dicks and Letts return to the theme of The D�mons, but this time invoking Ancient Greek deities as aliens disputing their rule of Earth. Almost half of the book is taken up with a lengthy prequel where the younger Lethbridge-Stewart, in the margins of the 1946 Corfu crisis, falls in live with the goddess Persephone and must rescue her from the Underworld, which is accessed via southern Albania. (I bet that this is the only Doctor Who story set in Albania - actually, I'm pretty sure it is the only one that even mentions the country.) The book is fairly clearly divided between Letts' work on this opening section, and Dicks' reshaping of The D�mons for the rest of the book. It is fun, especially for those of us who grew up more on Dicks' novelisations of the Pertwee era rather than the original TV broadcasts.[return]Prequel stories for companions are fairly rare (I can think offhand of Harry in The Face of the Enemy, Erimem in The Coming of the Queen, Mel in The Wrong Doctors and the brief glimpse of Rose at the end of The End of Time - Amy/Amelia is in a different category) but on reflection I find it surprising that there are no others featuring the Brigadier. The screen Brigadier is a bit older than Nicholas Courtney (who was 17 at the time of the real Corfu incident), so there are plenty of possibilities for military back-story, in which perhaps he just misses being confronted with the sfnal elements of the plot and solves problems without ever really being aware of their causes. Just a thought.
March 13, 2008
Another excellent story. It's interesting to read about the Brigadier's past. The rest of the story reminds me very much of the televised story The Daemons. What on earth is going on in Hobs Haven and who is the mysterious figure on the bicycle? I would recommend this book to any one I sat down and read it in two days once I started reading I couldn't stop.
September 16, 2013
This Third Doctor adventure is written by the people who know that era the best, Terrance Dicks and Barry Letts. The plot was a bit predicatable. But, fans of the Third Doctor's era will still enjoy it.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews