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Past Doctor Adventures #12
Doctor Who: Mission: Impractical
When daring criminal Jack Chance masterminds the heist of a precious national treasure from the planet Veltroch, it is the first step in a chain of events that could lead to the destruction of two civilisations...
Pursued by bounty hunters, the Sixth Doctor and his shapeshifting companion Frobisher run into old acquaintances Glitz and Dibber - notorious rogues who have become involved in something big: a covert government agency on Vandor Prime is forcing the pair to turn their criminal talents to its own ends.
The Doctor and Frobisher are soon drawn into the mysterious scheme themselves - but what game is truly being played by the authorities? How is the group of Ogron raiders involved? And who is so desperate to see the Doctor dead?
Caught in a web of deceit and pursued by ruthless killers, the Doctor's mission - should he decide to accept it - is to join Glitz's gang and pull off the crime of the century. And failure will result in an interstellar war costing the lives of millions...
Pursued by bounty hunters, the Sixth Doctor and his shapeshifting companion Frobisher run into old acquaintances Glitz and Dibber - notorious rogues who have become involved in something big: a covert government agency on Vandor Prime is forcing the pair to turn their criminal talents to its own ends.
The Doctor and Frobisher are soon drawn into the mysterious scheme themselves - but what game is truly being played by the authorities? How is the group of Ogron raiders involved? And who is so desperate to see the Doctor dead?
Caught in a web of deceit and pursued by ruthless killers, the Doctor's mission - should he decide to accept it - is to join Glitz's gang and pull off the crime of the century. And failure will result in an interstellar war costing the lives of millions...
286 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1998
2 people are currently reading
233 people want to read
About the author
David A. McIntee
77 books30 followersDavid A. McIntee was a British author who specialised in writing spin-offs and nonfiction commentaries for Doctor Who and other British and American science-fiction franchises.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 26, 2021
A comedic heist featuring the Sixth Doctor and Frobisher (the TARDIS team from DWM comic strip from the late 80's).
The shape changing Whifferdill who prefers to spend his time as a penguin is the perfect choice to feature alongside the Time Lord in an adventure that is something more simplistic by McIntee.
The pair are forced to join Glitz, Dibber and a band of rogues in an attempt to recover an important stolen relic.
The book does a great job with the continuity as it explains why Mel's not with The Doctor and Glitz is alone when they meet again in Dragonfire.
McIntee certainly has fun with the outlandish gags, possibly my favourite was early on as The Doctor and Frobisher having seen Star Wars in 1977 Los Angeles.
That Tarkin chap looked vaguely familiar, though. I think I met his granddaughter once.
This being a Peter Cushing reference having played Doctor Who in two Dalek movies in the 60's.
I reckon it's been about 15 years since I last read this, having now seen the entirety of Classic Who numerous times I got all the references this time around and had a lot of fun with it.
Definitely aimed towards the long term fan.
The shape changing Whifferdill who prefers to spend his time as a penguin is the perfect choice to feature alongside the Time Lord in an adventure that is something more simplistic by McIntee.
The pair are forced to join Glitz, Dibber and a band of rogues in an attempt to recover an important stolen relic.
The book does a great job with the continuity as it explains why Mel's not with The Doctor and Glitz is alone when they meet again in Dragonfire.
McIntee certainly has fun with the outlandish gags, possibly my favourite was early on as The Doctor and Frobisher having seen Star Wars in 1977 Los Angeles.
That Tarkin chap looked vaguely familiar, though. I think I met his granddaughter once.
This being a Peter Cushing reference having played Doctor Who in two Dalek movies in the 60's.
I reckon it's been about 15 years since I last read this, having now seen the entirety of Classic Who numerous times I got all the references this time around and had a lot of fun with it.
Definitely aimed towards the long term fan.
December 29, 2017
I enjoyed this. Froby AND Glitz? sign me up.
Read
April 20, 2021In some ways, writing an unabashed crowd-pleaser set in the Sixth Doctor's era is easier than doing it for any other slice of Who. You can't really do Revenge Of Vengeance On Varos; bringing the Valeyard back already would be taking the piss; and this came out in 1998, so Evelyn Smythe didn't exist yet. What does that leave? Sabalom Glitz, and Frobisher. Chuck them both in and you're pretty much sorted. Not that McIntee stops there; this is a world as thoroughly meshed in Who lore as the most fervent fan could wish, a spacefaring civilisation littered with jethryk, vraxoin, even a bit of spectrox. There's tech from Dronid, and appearances by everyone from Drahvins and Taran androids to, as per the cover, the Ogrons. Who are one of the less satisfying elements, if I'm honest; even before sensibilities shifted over the past 23 (!) years, there's an awkward tension in the way they're simultaneously played as a people emerging from colonisation by callous galactic powers, a genuine threat in their own right, and a bunch of comic relief idiots. Mercifully, they don't play a large enough role for this to spoil the whole book; McIntee is too busy bouncing from riff to nod to truly terrible pun (about bouncing, as it happens). So there's a little nod where the Doctor, watching the premiere of Star Wars*, can't think why Moff Tarkin looks so familiar; another sees Frobisher, in his usual penguin form, wondering whether instead of all this tiring shapeshifting he couldn't just disguise himself with a rubber glove on his head. Although of the two, Star Wars probably looms larger than Aardman; there are tractor beams and boarding actions; a rogue turned entrepreneur with distinct Lando vibes; and odd couple bounty hunters. Drawn, because McIntee isn't just indulging himself with other people's creations, from his own pet alien races, the Tzun and Veltrochni. The latter, like the city where the buildings are constantly moving about, are a reminder of how much higher Who's FX budget was in the books – you're not going to get much screentime on the BBC for "a brown reptilian with red and black mottling, about eight feet tall, whose knee joints were at the back of his legs". The plot underlying all these bells and whistles is as slight as they come – a heist, various double-crosses, all of it slightly undermined by the fact that the villain, conniving head of an intelligence agency, is far flatter than being called Niccolo M (for Mandell) would suggest. But despite the fact that McIntee was best known for his thoroughly researched Earth stories (and would be writing the pure historical in my dream season), somehow I didn't currently fancy the other unread one of his I have on the shelf (the Albigensian Crusade: even more depressing than the 2020s!). Whereas this wafer-thin entertainment was just what the Doctor ordered. Plus, props for testing the Mary Whitehouse Experience theory that 'felch' exists on a swearing frequency too high for most people to hear or complain about. And how was it not already lodged in my head that the Tzun homeworld is called S'Arl?
*It is also authentically bloody Sixth that he should say he prefers the Special Edition, the arse.
*It is also authentically bloody Sixth that he should say he prefers the Special Edition, the arse.
March 29, 2020
Part of the BBC's Past Doctor Adventures, this book sees the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) and his companion Frobisher (a shape-shifting penguin, if you aren't familiar with the Doctor's comic book adventures) pursued by bounty hunters and manipulated into putting together a heist to prevent a war.
In the introduction to this book, McIntee claims that he wrote this book in a deliberate attempt to be fun and shallow. Honestly, this makes it a far more enjoyable read than the last of his Who books I read ('Bullet Time') and it means that we don't get totally bogged-down in plotlines or characters who are totally tangential to the actual plot, as happens in all too many of the PDAs.
Beyond that, this is a fairly familiar heist story and it's no coincidence that the title evokes Mission: Impossible. There's a ragtag crew of specialist thieves, treacherous employers, implacable pursuers and a mysterious shadow group behind everything. Basically, it hits all the tropes but that's not entirely a bad thing; better to be a bit cliche than brand new, fresh and bad.
There's three things here that are meant to draw in long-term Who fans and they're of very mixed results. The first is the inclusion of the Ogrons, who are basically used as generic stupid henchmen, although there was one interesting scene where one of them reflects on how much better it is to be mercenaries than to be enslaved to the 'Metal Gods'.
The second returning element is Sabalom Glitz, a rogueish character from Colin Baker's last series on TV. He's not someone I was overly invested in to begin with and, honestly, he's more or less interchangable with any number of criminal-helping-the-hero types in fiction.
The final returning element, and the one which will either totally win you over or completely put you off, is Frobisher. A shape-shifting alien detective, Frobisher's preferred shape is that of a penguin. If that's too ridiculous for you, then this is not a book you should read. Personally, I've always found Frobisher to be one of the Sixth Doctor's more compelling companions (certainly less annoying than Peri or Mel), so I enjoyed his inclusion here.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.com/ *
In the introduction to this book, McIntee claims that he wrote this book in a deliberate attempt to be fun and shallow. Honestly, this makes it a far more enjoyable read than the last of his Who books I read ('Bullet Time') and it means that we don't get totally bogged-down in plotlines or characters who are totally tangential to the actual plot, as happens in all too many of the PDAs.
Beyond that, this is a fairly familiar heist story and it's no coincidence that the title evokes Mission: Impossible. There's a ragtag crew of specialist thieves, treacherous employers, implacable pursuers and a mysterious shadow group behind everything. Basically, it hits all the tropes but that's not entirely a bad thing; better to be a bit cliche than brand new, fresh and bad.
There's three things here that are meant to draw in long-term Who fans and they're of very mixed results. The first is the inclusion of the Ogrons, who are basically used as generic stupid henchmen, although there was one interesting scene where one of them reflects on how much better it is to be mercenaries than to be enslaved to the 'Metal Gods'.
The second returning element is Sabalom Glitz, a rogueish character from Colin Baker's last series on TV. He's not someone I was overly invested in to begin with and, honestly, he's more or less interchangable with any number of criminal-helping-the-hero types in fiction.
The final returning element, and the one which will either totally win you over or completely put you off, is Frobisher. A shape-shifting alien detective, Frobisher's preferred shape is that of a penguin. If that's too ridiculous for you, then this is not a book you should read. Personally, I've always found Frobisher to be one of the Sixth Doctor's more compelling companions (certainly less annoying than Peri or Mel), so I enjoyed his inclusion here.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.com/ *
April 28, 2025
https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/mission-impractical-by-david-a-mcintee/
It’s a comedy heist story, not usually one of my favourite sub-genres, but done very well here. The cast of characters includes Sabalon Glitz and his sidekick Dibber, who appeared in a couple of TV stories, and Frobisher, originally a DWM comic strip companion, who is a shape shifting alien Whifferdill and prefers to take the shape of a penguin. There are also Ogrons and an ancient artifact which is the McGuffin. McIntee had a good ear for dialogue and robustly characterizes both the continuity characters and the bad guys who turn up in this story, and the settings are vivid.
It’s a comedy heist story, not usually one of my favourite sub-genres, but done very well here. The cast of characters includes Sabalon Glitz and his sidekick Dibber, who appeared in a couple of TV stories, and Frobisher, originally a DWM comic strip companion, who is a shape shifting alien Whifferdill and prefers to take the shape of a penguin. There are also Ogrons and an ancient artifact which is the McGuffin. McIntee had a good ear for dialogue and robustly characterizes both the continuity characters and the bad guys who turn up in this story, and the settings are vivid.
November 11, 2020
Been a while since I've read this, but returning to it confirms my original opinion: it's a solid, if unremarkable piece of Star Wars-ish-space-opera-meets-fanwank...though I will give it credit for being fanwank that mashes up DWM comic strip continuity with McIntee's own invented species from previous novels. Kudos to continuing to give the 6th Doctor material he wasn't getting on the TV screen.
July 24, 2024
A self-confessed shallow romp (as per the introduction!), this is pretty much a heist movie in space featuring a companion from the Doctor Who comics, who is also a shapeshifting penguin.
There are moments of pause among some of the characters (such as a bounty hunter who lost his family), but mostly this is a bubbly bit of fun featuring TV characters Glitz and Dibber. It holds together well and I had fun.
3.5
There are moments of pause among some of the characters (such as a bounty hunter who lost his family), but mostly this is a bubbly bit of fun featuring TV characters Glitz and Dibber. It holds together well and I had fun.
3.5
June 16, 2021
It was fine. I enjoyed reading it but idk the plot felt like it went in circles a bit. Frobisher was the major highlight he saved it for me. (Though after listening to a BF audio with him its hard to go back to him on page!)
April 6, 2021
Not a bad book. I liked Frobisher
August 21, 2014
At least one of the other reviews of this book suggest it is the worst of its kind ever written. Rest assured, it isn't, although I do sympathise with that reaction to it.
Having re-read it after 16 years, I'd forgotten how *slight* it is. There's not really a plot as such, more a series of set pieces viewed and linked together by different characters' perceptions of them. The characterisation is, generally, very good, and McIntee captures the voice of the Doctor, Glitz and Dibber with aplomb. It's also interesting that I heard Frobisher's voice as coming from Robert Jezek, the actor Big Finish chose to play the part on audio - I view that as a big tick for the writers of the comics, audios and this book, all at the same time.
Re-reading old novels gives me a new perspective on them, and helps me see connections I hadn't realised were there. Like Lance Parkin's 'Trading Futures', I'm struck by how this one seems to have been written by an author who wants to sidestep their usual, highly detailed approach, and have a bit of fun - and the reaction to the resulting book is exactly the same: stick to what you're best at. As a writer, McIntee's strengths lie in the enormous lengths he goes to to research the societies he depicts, and his enviable ability to bring his scenes to life as if it were a movie. Neither really applies here, sadly - they're not meant to, I know, but it does mean this one lacks a certain something.
"Could do better". It's just as well that, in all McIntee's other books, he very much did. And anyway, if this really is the weakest in his own canon - or, indeed, for the BBC Books line (which is isn't) - it speaks volumes for the very high standards of the others.
Having re-read it after 16 years, I'd forgotten how *slight* it is. There's not really a plot as such, more a series of set pieces viewed and linked together by different characters' perceptions of them. The characterisation is, generally, very good, and McIntee captures the voice of the Doctor, Glitz and Dibber with aplomb. It's also interesting that I heard Frobisher's voice as coming from Robert Jezek, the actor Big Finish chose to play the part on audio - I view that as a big tick for the writers of the comics, audios and this book, all at the same time.
Re-reading old novels gives me a new perspective on them, and helps me see connections I hadn't realised were there. Like Lance Parkin's 'Trading Futures', I'm struck by how this one seems to have been written by an author who wants to sidestep their usual, highly detailed approach, and have a bit of fun - and the reaction to the resulting book is exactly the same: stick to what you're best at. As a writer, McIntee's strengths lie in the enormous lengths he goes to to research the societies he depicts, and his enviable ability to bring his scenes to life as if it were a movie. Neither really applies here, sadly - they're not meant to, I know, but it does mean this one lacks a certain something.
"Could do better". It's just as well that, in all McIntee's other books, he very much did. And anyway, if this really is the weakest in his own canon - or, indeed, for the BBC Books line (which is isn't) - it speaks volumes for the very high standards of the others.
June 23, 2013
That was probably one of the more enjoyable "Nothing actually happened" Doctor Who books I've ever read. Well-written, well-paced, and overall engaging. I think the part I enjoyed the most was that this book was effectively a "Let's roll out the B-Team" cast book: Ogrons, Glitz and Dibber, the CIA. Hell the main antagonist throughout the whole thing even had a goatee for christ's sake.
As enjoyable as all that was though, this book is effectively a story in which nothing really happens. It's a caper story, that's quick on wit, but lacking in overall delivery. The supporting cast are fairly one-dimensional, and the Doctor's character isn't really investigated at all (something I tend to look forward to in the books).
You can read through this book and enjoy it, if the Sixth Doctor is one you can enjoy. That said, you won't be singing it's praises to others. You won't shoot it down, but neither will you raise it up as an example of excellence in the Who book universe
As enjoyable as all that was though, this book is effectively a story in which nothing really happens. It's a caper story, that's quick on wit, but lacking in overall delivery. The supporting cast are fairly one-dimensional, and the Doctor's character isn't really investigated at all (something I tend to look forward to in the books).
You can read through this book and enjoy it, if the Sixth Doctor is one you can enjoy. That said, you won't be singing it's praises to others. You won't shoot it down, but neither will you raise it up as an example of excellence in the Who book universe
September 15, 2009
The Sixth Doctor & Frobisher. Between DWM comic strips War Game & Fun House.
Glitz and Dibber swagger straight off the set of Mysterious Planet and onto the pages of Mr McIntee's tale of galactic double-dealings and dashing derring-do. Along for the ride is Doctor Who Magazine's shapeshifter Frobisher, a gang of retired thieves, the most dangerous bounty hunters in the cosmos and a troop of always-good-for-a-chortle Ogron pirates. Colourful, brash and effortlessly amusing.
Glitz and Dibber swagger straight off the set of Mysterious Planet and onto the pages of Mr McIntee's tale of galactic double-dealings and dashing derring-do. Along for the ride is Doctor Who Magazine's shapeshifter Frobisher, a gang of retired thieves, the most dangerous bounty hunters in the cosmos and a troop of always-good-for-a-chortle Ogron pirates. Colourful, brash and effortlessly amusing.
September 22, 2013
The Doctor and Frobisher get mixed up with a plan to steal an artefact. It gets a bit more complicated when a bounty is put on the Doctor. This is fun, I love Frobisher the shape changing penguin as a companion, he really should be in more novels. The return of Glitz was welcome and it did explain a few things about him. This is really a heist book, and is really light hearted. There's even pirate Ogrons in it. A good read.
August 12, 2022
I grant that McIntee intended to write a light, inconsequential book. That he has done. But much of the humor forces a strain on the reader's credulity. Also, McIntee has chosen to rely on the awful Baker duo portrayal of Glitz as a nincompoop rather than Robert Holmes' superior characterization of Glitz as a smart professional who enjoys being a thief.
February 11, 2014
The worst Doctor Who novel I've read. And there are some bad ones.
Pointless, aimless, and devoid of wit. Jampacked with useless, boring characters who take up most of the novel, leaving the Doctor on the sidelines most of the time.
Pointless, aimless, and devoid of wit. Jampacked with useless, boring characters who take up most of the novel, leaving the Doctor on the sidelines most of the time.
September 27, 2012
A fair novel that has a good feel for the Sixth Doctor era.
March 8, 2010
Anything with a talking penguin gets my vote!
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews