Doctor Who: The Taint

Eighth Doctor Adventures #19

by Michael Collier (Pseudonym)

The Tardis lands in 1963, and soon the Doctor and Sam become involved in the psychological experiments being performed by Charles Roley on former sufferers of mental illness -- he is probing the psyches of six people who believed they've been possessed by the devil.While the Doctor is horrified to learn the full extent of the side-effects brought into being by Roley's research, Sam heads off to experience the swinging London of her parents' youth. Instead she finds deadly danger at the hands of a sinister half-man half-robot double act whose agenda is inextricably linked to Roley's test subjects.

Genres: Doctor Who, Fiction, Science Fiction, Ebooks, Space, Novels, Time Travel

284 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 1999

Reviews

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

The early EDAs can sometimes be a struggle with the Doctor and Sam constantly being separated storylines. So finally it’s refreshing that the TARDIS has got a new companion.
Fitz Kreiner a British born to German parents is such a great character!

Even though it’s not the first time that Sam has been to Earths past, with this story being set in 1963 it’s close enough for her to be disoriented.
I practically liked the exchange with Fitz about records and cassettes.

The Doctor meanwhile is trying to foil the latest alien plot in London, there a darker side to the story as the author tackles mental health as part of their plan.
It’s certainly something that could only be done in the books.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best companion-introduction stories ever. Fitz makes an immediate impression, the historical setting is evocative without being cliched, Sam is more than the cardboard-cutout human being she usually is in the early 8th Doctor novels, and Paul McGann's incarnation take a dark, foreboding turn that adds the final spark to this gorgeous novel.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 19th installment of the EDAs falls into the category of 'so complicated you need to read it twice over to get it'. I honestly don't mind a complicated storyline- I loved Moffatt as showrunner, after all. What I do mind is when nothing is explained, or the explanation is alluded to, but never spelled out in a way that makes sense. Some Who authors think this makes them come across as intelligent, when it really just makes them look snobbish and ridiculous. I'm not asking for a simple story here- just one that the audience can actually follow and figure out for themselves what's going on without having to go back and reread passages and pages at a time.
There is a decent story idea under all this distraction, if you can find it. It has to do with a world-ending Beast, crusading aliens, genetic leeches, and mind-altering group hypnosis. At times, The Taint rather feels like a thriller where the guests of the house are being picked off, and the whodunit needs to be figured out quickly before more people die. At other times, it's sci-fi mumbo jumbo psychological nonsense. In the middle of all this arrives our newest companion Fitz Kreiner. Fitz is a breath of fresh air after 18 novels of goo-goo eyed Sam Jones. He's a flake, he's kind of a loser, but he tells it like it is and hasn't yet lost that lust for life and adventure- even though he's about 5 years older than Sam. Since he stays with the series for so long, I'm very interested to see his character arc.
The Doctor is his good old self- absent minded, soft-spoken, diplomatic, and doing his darnedest to figure out what is happening and to save as many people as possible from the monster of the week. He rather sees Fitz as a little lost puppy in some ways, but trusts him enough to stomach the truth, and is constantly giving him things to do.
All in all, this was very middling, and had it not involved the introduction of a new companion, it would also be very forgettable. Final score is 2.5 rounded up to a 3.

[Shane Mackenzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Taint was among the first of my Doctor Who novels to have read. I was truly spoiled in that stretch of time. The Taint, read subsequently to "The Festival of Death" (one of my favourites) and did not disappoint. I had yet to see the eighth Doctor movie and created my own image of his character through this story. His interactions with Fitz illuminated this particularly. This story emphasized a single setting and an unforgettable cast of characters, most of which were gloriously crafted insanity. The scientific/ tinkerer side of the Doctor was quite well described here as well. Overall, an amazing tale and an entirely different story here that takes you so far out that you're cozily home again in the Who-niverse.

[Trin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fitz Kreiner is deeply pathetic; I see why fandom adores him.

This is his introductory book, but other than him failing his way into hearts and minds, it's not very good -- alien slugs that Collier admits, through a line of Sam's dialogue, to have ripped off from The Wrath of Khan -- and I hate the way Collier writes about mental illness.

[Morg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a mixed bag. There are some wonderful character moments with the Doctor, Sam, and the one-off cast, and I must say the Doctor's dialogue is handled wonderfully (you can practically hear Paul McGann's voice reading along with you at his parts!) but the knock out star of the show is Fitz Kreiner who makes his first appearance here and massively overshadows every other part of the novel.

I was initially concerned by the language used to portray the mentally ill and the women in the novel, though I was sort of willing to let it slide seeing as it was written in 1999 and set in 1963. I suppose it can be argued that it is just the deep perspective of the characters, but then it is always a conscious choice to create characters that have these mindsets in the first place. Keeping this in mind, I was surprised that by the end of the novel, extremely unlikeable characters (Roley, Bulwell, Tarr) managed to actually garner a lot of sympathy from me, which I put down to the quality of the writing.

Fitz too is a character that might have come over badly had a lot of care not gone into his perspective and characterisation. His interactions with Sam and the Doctor portray a young man unhappy with his life, stuck in a certain way and a certain belief about how he should act, but wishing for more (though I cannot go into more detail without giving away spoilers). Suffice it to say in the end, Fitz proves the beating heart of the novel, putting the other characters to shame.

Unfortunately this isn't matched by the plot, which seems conflicted about what it wants to be. It's easy to be confused by the villains of the piece as well as the mechanics by which they work, and thus much of the plot seems a little hand-wavey and reliant on a grotesque and judgemental interpretation of the mentally ill cast. While there are some truly good and shocking moments in the narrative that are enough to keep you reading in the hopes that it might happen again, this is unfortunately not consistent throughout.

All in all if you're hoping to introduce yourself to companion Fitz Kreiner it is imperative that you start here with the novel that brought him into being. For that alone it will be worth it... as long as you don't get your hopes up for much else.

[Jason Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Artificially prolonged experimental cures in a 1960s London asylum are infested by alien spores . This is an atmospheric book that avoids a common early EDA trap - nice writing for the Doctor and Sam but generic supporting characters .

The alien bit is different from normal, it’s not an invasion by stealth, though humans would like to make it so. There’s nice character writing for new companion Fitz, whose mother is part of the experiment and who is half German when WW2 is not that far back. Lucy, disillusioned with life by her sense of her own evil , eagerly grabs at demonic power . These books , having started well then slumped , are turning a better corner again as their main arc gets going.

[Gareth · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Eighth Doctor meets his new companion, Fitz, in this rather fraught SF/horror story. Fitz makes for a memorable if somewhat sleazy presence; perhaps an unusual fit for a Doctor Who companion, but the series could do with the change. The actual story is something of a muddle of different ideas which take some time to get coherent, and then put people with severe mental health issues in a somewhat tasteless villain role. It’s not great, but better than the author’s earlier Longest Day.

2.5

[Macey · Rating 5 out of 5]

actually this ruled hell yeah i love it when books are well written but yeah fitz is great & really engaging plot & it all actually made sense & like came together well yay yippee

[Numa Parrott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once I finally got past the opening scene in the garden, which was rather dull, I could hardly put it down. The individual character narratives got a bit boring sometimes, but they were never too long. Altogether, a very well-paced story with lots of fun plot twists--even if the technobabble strained credulity at times.
The Doctor and Sam were portrayed well, and the new character, Fitz, is very interesting (but I don't like him). The Doctor has some hilariously fantastic lines, and Sam isn't without her usual wit--although I can almost hear an author's sarcasm breaking down the fourth wall now and then.
It wasn't the best, but I loved the Doctor's part in it.
If you love the Doctor, read it!

[Yasaman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked Fitz and Sam, but this was otherwise disappointing. Way too many boring scenes with the villains, and the whole thing just seemed to go on too long. I hear other EDAs featuring Fitz are pretty good though, so I will press on.

[Akiva ꙮ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugggh. Meandering, with bad politics, and very gory towards the end. Can't say I wasn't warned. I can begin to see why people like Fitz though, and I'm pleased the TARDIS is now full of canon bisexuals.

[Nenya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Important for the introduction of Fitz, but I really didn't enjoy the depiction of the insane/mentally ill people. I realize it was the alien parasites that were making them murderous and creepy, but...I still didn't enjoy it. Sam was pretty great, though.

[Hidekisohma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whoo! 19th book! I finally made it to the introduction of Fitz! and let me tell you......it's really the only good thing about this book.

After having to deal with just Sam for about 16 novels (2 of the 18 which she's not really in), it's SUPER refreshing to see another person join the crew. Of course, this isn't really a "Fitz on the tardis" story as it's his introduction and this is that initial adventure all companions have to go through before joining up. and the story itself really isn't good at all.

We once again have Stephen Cole (aka michael collier as this is a pseudonym) at the helm and once again this man doesn't know how to write a doctor who story. from him i've read Longest Day, Ten Little aliens, time lord victorious, the monsters inside, and several of his short stories, and the BEST i can say about this man's writing is.... meh. Stephen cole has not ONCE written a book or short story and i went "oh boy! i had a good time with that!" no. he's awful at worst, and eh. at best. this book fits somewhere between the two.

In terms of positive things, i really like Fitz. i think he's a fun shake up from the dynamic as i was getting REALLY tired of just sam and the doc. it was getting REALLY old. It's interesting to see the 8th doc with a male companion as most of the time he's with one girl, like lucie, grace, sam, charlie, etc. so it's nice to see a switch up with 2 companions and i'll be excited to see Fitz's first REAL adventure on the tardis next time.

Fitz really was the best part of this book. every scene he had i was invested in and wanted to see what this new companion would do. (i also laughed out loud when he ripped the 2nd doctor's recorder out of the doctor's hand. i love this companion already). Also the interactions he had with the doctor were refreshing and at times fun to see a new dynamic.

That is where my positives end.

The actual story, like the actual plot? is garbage. If this book had been a regular 'just sam and the doc' story, i would absolutely have disliked it more than i did. Fitz really WAS the saving grace of this book.

The villains/premise of this book is so convoluted, so unnecessarily complicated that it loses the reader.

I mean, after all the books of planets exploding and millions of people getting annihilated, it's nice to have a smaller scale scope of a story that takes place in london in 1963, but my god was this book cerebrally confusing.

A big issue with this story is that there's WAYYY too many point of views. there's at least, the doctors, sam, fitz, lucy, marcie, roley, Azoth, etc. i honestly lost track of the characters towards the middle. not only that, but there are small chapters inbetween talking about the 4 crazy people's lives which were boring and i didn't care.

I'm not going to lie, i ended up skimming a bunch towards the middle. i didn't care about how marie was in love with roley (Which this book oddly took a LOT of time to talk about) or sidestories similar to that. i wanted to know about the doctor, what the problem was, and about fitz. and then i found OUT what the problem was, and i wish i didn't hear it either. it's very VERY unnecessarily complicated.

Honestly, the first 30 pages of the book where things aren't confusing yet were the best part where he meets fitz. it all goes downhill from there. Also the ending was needlessly gross.

All in all, i've seen a lot of rankings of the 8th doctor novels and this book usually runs towards the bottom and yeah, i can see why. remove fitz, and it's a terrible story.

Hopefully now that fitz is part of the team proper the next story will be better. Oh well. at least i'm done with stephen cole for a while.

2.25 out of 5, rounded down to a 2.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Il TARDIS ha finalmente riportato il Dottore e Sam sulla Terra - e dritti verso il pericolo.
Siamo nel 1963. Sei persone molto diverse sono state riunite per essere studiate dal parapsicologo Charles Roley nella sua maestosa casa fuori Londra. Tutti loro affermano di essere stati posseduti dal diavolo, e tutti hanno condiviso deliri simili - descrivono la stessa bizzarra "grotta della morte" piena di demoni.
Gli esperimenti di Roley stanno avendo un effetto graduale ma terrificante sui suoi soggetti, e il Dottore e Sam scoprono che le connessioni tra quelli contaminati dalla follia sono più inquietanti di quanto si possa immaginare.
Perché anche il Dottore ha visto la grotta che descrivono - su un mondo morto, miliardi di anni fa.
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Questo libro era un must da leggere perché introduce Fitz Kreiner, il companion che compare maggiormente nei libri dell'Ottavo (ben 50) e che resterà da qui fino alla fine, con l'eccezione di una breve parentesi.
Di nuovo sulla Terra dopo non so più quanto, il Dottore e Sam non possono neanche passare una tranquilla giornata al parco che vengono aggrediti da un uomo con una crisi psicotica. Questo li conduce a scoprire gli esperimenti di regressione ipnotica del Dr. Roley, convinto che sei persone affette dallo stesso delirio, ma con un background completamente diverso tra loro, siano accomunate in qualche modo. La trama non si sofferma molto su questi esperimenti, perché gli eventi precipitano molto rapidamente, portando i pazienti ad atteggiamenti sempre più aggressivi e finendo per sviluppare anche dei poteri mentali.
Naturalmente anche se l'atmosfera è molto horror e i pazienti sono convinti di essere posseduti dal demonio, tutto ciò ha una base fantascientifica. La specie aliena responsabile di queste turbe psichiche non viene molto approfondita, ma è molto interessante la catena di eventi che si sono susseguiti per portare a questa situazione.
Mentre il Dottore effettua test in laboratorio per scoprire a cosa sia dovuto tutto questo, a Sam tocca nuovamente la pagliuzza più corta dovendo subire aggressioni, rapimenti e contatti ravvicinati con la morte. Parlando del nuovo arrivato, Fitz, figlio di una delle pazienti del Dr. Roley, non mi ha fatto esattamente una buona prima impressione. Donnaiolo, al verde e con una propensione per l'alcool e le droghe leggere, non spicca né per coraggio né per brillantezza. Alla fine viene accolto a bordo del Tardis più che altro perché la sua vita era andata a rotoli e non poteva più restare nel suo tempo. Comunque immagino che se è rimasto così a lungo un motivo ci sarà e che quindi ci sia ampio spazio per sviluppare il suo personaggio. Nella sua unica apparizione audio non mi era dispiaciuto, quindi sono curiosa di leggere come si evolverà.
La lettura scorre abbastanza velocemente, anche se alcuni, per fortuna brevi, capitoli riguardanti il passato dei pazienti la rallentano un po'. Certo servivano per dare più spessore a quei personaggi, ma alla fin fine non mi pare siano stati di una certa rilevanza alla trama. Se non fosse per l'arrivo di Fitz, non consiglierei questo libro nello specifico tra tutti quelli delle EDA, ma non è stato neanche malaccio.

[Michel Siskoid Albert · Rating 2 out of 5]

The BBC's Eighth Doctor Adventures line editor, Stephen Cole, writing as Michael Collier, doesn't have a great track record. Longest Day was terrible, and his second effort in the series, The Taint (unfortunate title), meant to introduce new companion Fitz (an editorial implant that would become the longest-serving companion in Doctor Who history, all media included), while better, is still an annoying mess. It features a house filled mentally ill people with Satanic delusions, actually being influenced by an alien infestation and their malfunctioning exterminator, and for the life of me, I can never figure out that house's geography and things just seem to jump around constantly, which is extremely distracting. The plot is similar, with POV changing sometimes sentences in, and the attendant technobabble remaining opaque and there are too many villains to keep up with (the nasty nurse is the one that sticks in mind, while the aliens are a damp squib). Things happen and you have to go, okay, I guess that happened. Cole has some talent for horror description, and he makes Fitz a fun character (who, at this point, could be a Turlough as much as a Bennie - I know it's the latter having read some of the books far ahead of this one), though perhaps at the cost of making Sam at all palatable. If she isn't liked by a lot of readers, it may be books like this where she's quite irritating (and the line editor is sort of showing his hand playing her like that, no? I'm surprised he didn't do away with her completely). The Taint takes place in 1963, which is a nice nod to the show, and cements Fitz's importance to the canon. No problem with his hopping on board, but his introduction story is nasty and confused.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

１９６０年代の地球に戻ったサムとドクター。のんびり休養をとるつもりが、精神病のケアを受けている最中の男にサムが追いかけられ、その男を治療中という精神科医ローリーの話に不信感を抱いたドクターは調査を開始する。
ローリーがケアしている患者には同じ地獄の夢を見るという共通点があった。ドクターは患者たちの異常行動は精神疾患ではなく、太古に地球に不時着した宇宙船の保護プログラムロボットと彼らを寄生生物の仕業と看破する。
しかし解決策を見つける前にサムが寄生されてしまい、サムを救うためドクターは究極の選択を強いられる。


ドクターとフィズとの出会いエピソード。
ドクターが救おうとしている命とは何か。救われる命と救いきれなかった命、切捨てざるを得なかった命、そういった選択に直面し、決断を下していくドクターの苦しみや悲しみを理解しながらも、割り切れないもやもやを拭いされないフィズとサム。


ページに印刷抜けがあり、蒼白。
事件は一通り解決していたから受け流せたものの、これが話の中途だったらと思うとゾッとするー。

[Evie · Rating 3 out of 5]

ok yes the plot is a weird mess, the side characters are lame and unconvincing, the discussion of serious mental illness pretty outdated…

but this may be one of the most memorable doctor who companions ever introduced. a pathetic, aimless, would be casanova loser.. fitz kreiner is really something. I can see why he’s a fan favourite.

already love how sam and the doctor spend 90% of their interactions with him being exasperated. very enjoyable, 10/10.

[Qualia Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

standard horror episode. Story a 3/5 but bumped to a 4 for introducing Fitz. Interesting way to introduce the new companion Fitz, he doesn't seem like the kind of person the Doctor would want in the Tardis, with his drinking and drug use, so should be interesting to see the dynamic change now.

[Olivia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I dislike how this book treated its mentally ill characters and the argument of "Oh but it was told from the point of view of characters of the time" falls flat when it wasn't just told through their PoVs

[Joe Ford · Rating 4 out of 5]

When it’s about an asylum, it’s dark as hell. And pretty scary. When it’s character led, it’s funny and mature. When it’s SF, it’s pretty Naff. On average, very good. Fitz is an instant win.

[elise barber-wixtrom · Rating 2 out of 5]

the only good parts of this were the descriptions of fitz' apartment and sam's disgust at his absolute loser aura

[Axel Kloen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Werkelijk waar geen idee waar deze over ging

[Arrocete · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd have given it a 3 star score but ma boy Fitz debuts in there and he is so funny I added a whole another star because of it.

[James Barnard · Rating 3 out of 5]

The old saying about mighty oaks growing from little acorns rings true here. This wasn’t a particularly popular book at the time it was published, and the range itself wasn’t felt to be much of a substitute for the TV series or the New Adventures series it replaced. ‘The Taint’ would have been a breath of fresh air – a return to Earth after too many books set on other planets, and a new companion to add to the mix – if it had been a bit more lively in tone. As it was, this passed by almost unnoticed.

And yet the arrival of Fitz Kreiner – a companion who would stay more or less until the end of the range in 2005 and would eventually become one of an amnesiac Doctor’s few links to his past – is an important step. He’s well catered for here, and despite or perhaps because of the abject cowardice and latent sexism he displays here, it’s easy to plot his character development as his time with the Doctor progressed. There’s a lot more to him than meets the eye, as the judgemental Sam soon realises.

The book is a good introduction for Fitz, rather more than it is as a novel in its own right. The plot rattles along pretty well, with some genuinely disturbing images and the obvious questions it poses about mental health. The aliens aren’t exactly the most carefully-drawn race we meet in the canon, but they’re there to tell a story so that doesn’t matter too much.

It’s a shame Michael Collier didn’t write for the series again – it would have been interesting to see what he made of the post-amnesiac Doctor and how his relationship with Fitz developed.

‘The Taint’ proved not to be the brave new dawn readers of the BBC Books range would have hoped for. 16 years on, though, there’s a good deal to recommend the book in its own right.

[Rem · Rating 1 out of 5]

I seriously considered giving this book one star, but in the end my love for Sam, Fitz and the Doctor afforded it two. Honestly, I'm pretty easy to please as far as books go but there is very, very little that is good about this book. Fitz is charming (when he's not being a misogynistic idiot), Sam is lovely (when she's not spewing ableist nonsense) and the Doctor is as Doctor-ish as ever. However, all of the minor characters are some combination of irritating, petty, two-dimensional, racist, ableist, morally bankrupt and the list goes on, but I'm boring myself just thinking about it. The pacing is a mess: the action sequences in particular suffer from a surplus of POV switches, a cheap, ineffective tactic that seeks to raise the reader's sense of suspense (and fails). And the worst part is... the plot isn't even good. It's a boring, genre-typical story that has been done to death.

This novel's one saving grace is the first 20 or so pages, in which Fitz meets the Doctor for the first time, and maybe a handful of interactions between him and the Doctor towards the end (I wish I could be more specific and say 'the last 20 pages,' but the incessant POV changes are just intolerable). I would never recommend this book to anyone and those poor souls who suffer through it have my admiration and respect.

(ETA: Changed my rating to one star in the end because boy oh boy, did I hate this book.)

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1749305...

Nineteen adventures into the Eighth Doctor series, and he finally gets a new companion in the shape of Fitz Kreiner (I have seen a claim somewhere that there are more stories with Fitz than for any other companion), picked up on a visit to 1963 in which his mother is killed by the gruesomely horrible Taine, leech-like internal parasites feeding on brainwaves. The writing is decent enough; I was a bit startled by Fitz's unreconstructed early Sixties predatory masculinity directed to Sam, having only read later stories in the range; presumably he mellows out in the course of the series.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Doctor and Sam land in London, 1963, near a mental institution. All the inmates think they are the devil and dream of the same cave. They meet Fitz, whose mother is in the institution. This is a really good story, with some genuinely scary moments. It also introduces the new companion who truly is like a breath of fresh air for the range. A very good read.

[Alysa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Goodness - the stories are getting so dreadful - just trying to get through them! I know good ones are waiting - but where!?

[Trinity · Rating 3 out of 5]

An acceptable adventure. Notable mostly for the introduction of Fitz.