Doctor Who: Time of Your Life

Doctor Who: Missing Adventures #8

by Steve Lyons

'Organic bugs must be purged from the system,' the screen told him. Then, more succinctly, 'You die.'

The Network broadcasts entertainment to the planets of the Meson system: Death-hunt 3000, Prisoner: The Next Generation, Bloodsoak Bunny... Sixteen channels, and not one of them worth watching. But for the citizens of poverty-striken Torrok, television offers the only escape from a reality too horrible to face.

Angela, a young inhabitant of Torrok, leaps at the chance to travel to the Network with a hermit who calls himself the Doctor. However, all is not well on the giant, chaotic space station. A soap star has murdered his wife’s lover; the robotic regulars of Timeriders are performing random kidnappings; and a lethal new game show is about to go on the air.

Can the Doctor uncover the cause of the apparently random disturbances - or will his appearance as a competitor on Death-hunt 3000 be the last of his life?

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Fiction, Ebooks

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 16, 1995

About the author

Steve Lyons is a science fiction writer, best known for writing television tie-ins of Doctor Who for BBC Books, and previously, Virgin. The earliest of these was Conundrum in 1994, and his most recent was 2005's The Stealers of Dreams. He has also written material for Star Trek tie-ins, as well as original work.

Reviews

[Stephen Robert Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Know your Trail of a Time Lord this set when the Scrapyard as the Doctor calls him shows his prosecution evidence & the Doctor has an axe in his hands.
This wild ride of the 6th Doctor after Peri but before Mel so he is on his own & the CIA lot are involved .
I read this back in the 2990s when first came out but is too good not too read again
This TV mad with lot puns on reality shows of 1990s with in jokes & know your Colin Baker

[James Bowman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This attempt to pastiche the style of the Sixth Doctor's era wound up mostly replicating the more controversial parts, including unnecessary violence (turned up even higher than you'd see on TV, especially towards the end) and an aloof, sometimes unlikable Doctor. But even more disappointingly, the Doctor was barely a presence for most of this novel, which instead focused on far too many side characters and subplots. (By the end it's hard to keep track.) It felt as if this was originally a more general sci-fi novel, and the Doctor was simply dropped into it. The author also introduces us to a new companion, but they don't make a very good case for their sticking around, as no real rapport is established between them and the Doctor. There was potential here, and a few interesting elements, and things almost come together towards the end... but this book just doesn't succeed. (C+)

[Arthur B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyably action-packed and viciously satirical story which does a fine job of beginning the rehabilitation of the Sixth Doctor that Big Finish completed. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/202...

[Kat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Truthfully, it could have been a great story, but seemed to be mostly filler. There were so many characters with so many side stories, even I had trouble keeping everything organized in my head.

[Kris · Rating 1 out of 5]

10 years before this aired Vengeance on Varos, 10 years after we got Bad Wolf. Whilst all three address the growth of sensationalism in television and make an attempt to engage with the audience on a meta level, Time of your Life fails in a way the other two do not. I think it is interesting to look at why:
1. Anger: Whilst this book comes from a place of disgust at the state of television (and also to some extent Doctor Who fandom) in the early 90s. The others come from a place of exploration of the issue and look at what the ramifications of this could be.
2. Format: Whilst Steven Lyons has proved himself to be an adept writer of other Doctor Who novels, here he shows writing action is not his forte. Whilst they may work on screen here they just become increasingly tedious.
3. Structure: The story here however also has structural problems. The first half starts well enough, with exploration and careful introduction of characters leading up to a reveal. However, it then just keeps on at the same level with increasing violence.
4. Depth: Whilst the two tv stories reflect much more complex ideas about society, this one does not have much else to say once you identify what is Coronation Street, which show is Doctor Who and who is Mary Whitehouse in this satire. As such it just becomes more of a time capsule than anything else.

Points in its favour is the characterisation of The Doctor is excellent and it has a good start. But this is not enough to raise it above the Not Recommended level.

[John Bullock · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always liked the sixth Doctor, it's such a shame Colin Baker didn't get longer on the show, I think Steve Lyons captures him perfectly in 'Time of Your Life' I'm really surprised to see so many one and two star reviews of this book, I personally thought it was brilliant. The writing is engaging and despite there being so many characters to keep track off Steve Lyons does this fantastically, never once was I left in any doubt as to who was who (giving people normal everyday names helps). Again this doesn't really fit the brief of being more like the TV show than the New Adventures, whilst I know the sixth Doctor tenure was criticized for being too violent, this reaches a whole new level. The later chapters turn into a gore fest as Lyons dispatches his marvellously grotesque characters in a variety of Grusome ways, decapitated, drowned in boiling water, disemboweled, dropped into a waste disposal shute then hearing the grinding of gears. Whilst many of these characters are utterly despicable people, Lyons had written many of them as likeable but flawed, you couldn't help feel saddened by their demise. This book really doesn't deserve the one and two star reviews it has here, the quality of the story and the writing deserve far more. 5 out of 5. Loved it.

Why is Colin Baker so old, fat and greying on the cover?

[Saoki · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a gory mess. A simple storyline turned confusing through an excess of characters and too many scenes where people are just running around and getting lost.
The idea and the setting aren't bad, it's just that for every interesting or inspired thing in the book there is at least one weird word choice, unfortunate sentence or confusing change of point of view (so many points of view. This too was a learning experience). And then, as the story moves towards the end, there are all those scenes that do nothing besides adding some action or killing an unnamed extra and it all feels a bit like a Five Nights at Freddy's novelization.
As a book, it feels like a lowbudget action movie from the 1980's, which could be a very good thing if only the author owned it.
And, yes, I do see how this book seems to have inspired the season finale in series 1 of the modern Doctor Who, though the TV series actually made use of the theme.

By all that I mean, you can safely skip this book, even if you are a 6th Doctor fan. I assure you.

[Warren · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really, really scattered. Far too many ancillary characters with little to no traits, characteristics, or relevant details in the plot to recommend them, let alone make them tolerable; added to this was an agonizingly slow start-up to anything actually interesting; and it wasn't particularly interesting, either.

To make up for the almost total lack of coherence or plot-advancement, Lyons fast-cuts between characters spastically, giving you half a dozen grafs of what one of them is doing (as if you can even remember who this character is, any more, given the dozen or so you're freighted with) before zipping off to some other of the 6,214 sub-characters to spew something equally irrelevant at you.

When Burroughs did this, it went somewhere. Lyons is no Burroughs, and would have benefited greatly from strong editorial intervention.

[Mestor · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's a really clever satire in this novel, taking in Mary Whitehouse, Michael Grade, the cancellation of Doctor Who itself, and also all of those people who live their lives and form their views based on what the TV tells them to. Lyons also nails the characterisation of the Sixth Doctor perfectly, and his anguish following the events of his trial are real highlights. The problem with the novel is that there is just too much going on, far too many extraneous characters and sub-plots. The final third is a total mess, and by this stage in the Virgin range, a villain which is a computer virus is already becoming old hat. Oh, and Grant Markham simply isn't an interesting enough character to justify companion status. Two stars on the basis that, even though the novel has merit, it is unlikely one that I will revisit.

[Dan J · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story did not need to exist

[Joe Ford · Rating 2 out of 5]

So many people in this book that you lose track of who is who. There’s a great concept of the Doctor post Trial angry at being used that is barely explored at all. Also, where did Angela go?

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a shame the novel feels so overcrowded (by characters who seem to be introduced mostly so they can be killed off later) as the characterisation of the Sixth Doctor is delightfully bold and brash, and I found myself skimming the excessive violence for his next scene.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

January 2021
3.5/5

I liked it, but I don't think it was outstanding. There's an entire thread in this about the impact of television, and I honestly don't feel as though the resolution for it was earned, since both sides spend most of their time being pretty extreme: I mean, I'm not inclined to sympathise with a Mary Whitehouse expy who's later revealed to be a total hypocrite, but the people who work on these shows are also incredibly exploitative and kind of nasty. There's never really any sort of extended discussion, or a way to demonstrate the good TV could do that might lead to that resolution.

As for Grant, I liked him OK too. I'm not really sure I have much of a grasp on his character, and I'm not very attached to him - which probably isn't going to change much, since he's only the main companion for one other book, as far as I can tell. But maybe that book will be really good and delve deeply into his personality, who knows.

April 2025
This may be Lyons' weakest in the VMA/VNA range but I still found a lot to love in it: I maintain, as I did on my first read, that the Whitehouse parody is the weakest part of it, with her transition from caricature to real person never wholly convincing. But I think the acknowledgement of the TV industry as being reflective of a broader society and its failings (including economic depression and a police state) rather than causing them is stronger than I gave it credit for, and after rereading State of Change as well recently I do very much appreciate Lyons' willingness to give us a spikier Sixth Doctor who still manages to be sympathetic and interesting.

[Victoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were some great ideas in this book but it just doesn't come together well.

Forgetting about the fact that The Evils of Television had already been done during the Sixth Doctor's era (and if you're going to repeat an idea it's better not to keep reminding us of it) there were far too many disparate plot strands and interchangeable characters to keep track of. It took far too long for the plot to really start so by the time it actually gets off the ground the reader just wants to get to the conclusion. Characters are thrown in randomly and there are just so many of them that when they begin to die off you just don't care.

Lyons would have done much better to cut it all down. Get the Doctor off the planet and onto the station more quickly, cut down the cast considerably so you can focus on the gems he does have (Giselle, Kerston and the Mary Whitehouse analog particularly). Get rid of the fans campaigning for the return of their favourite sci-fi time travel show (by making them so annoying and moronic you just annoy the readers, who at the time this was written would have been the fans), the drunken soap actor whose life is falling apart, the second Marston sphere (two of the same thing causing the same peril? Really?) and bloody Bloodsoak Bunny.

Like I said, there were some great ideas and interesting characters here that could have worked in a more streamlined novel. But with too much going on they get lost in the noise.

[Sean Homrig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steve Lyons has done it again. This blends the Sixth Doctor's angst about losing Peri and facing his future self (including traveling with Mel eventually), mixes it with the ultra-violence that we saw so much of in his era, and comes up with this ripping good disaster tale.

The story has a multitude of secondary characters, many of which are interesting in their own right, facing the impending explosion of a television satellite as it's being devoured by a sentient being. Most of them don't make it to the end. Some would say the story is gory and over the top, but somehow Lyons makes it work. There are some nice meta references to Mary Whitehouse, the missing episodes, and fanboys and fangirls as well.

Part of me begs every fan of the range of novels to read this, but based on everyone else's reviews I suspect it would not go down quite as nicely as it did for me. If the description above seems like it would appeal to you, however, then go for it!

[David Layton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is Steve Lyons' second Who novel, and he has not found his strength, yet, though his later novels will be among the best of the Who novels. This one just gets out of control. The early parts, the setup, are quite intriguing. There is a nice, slow build as forces align themselves to clash on the huge space station Network, broadcaster to the worlds. Lyons has much fun with parodies of various styles of TV programmes and takes several pot shots at the BBC. The main problem involves the second half of the book. Once the forces start clashing, a violent, bloody mess occurs. It is as if Lyons is trying to outdo '80s action films in terms of body counts and gruesome deaths. This violent strain takes over, and the plot disintegrates under its weight. Still, the first half is very interesting and indicates the strongest aspects of Lyons' writing.

[Nicholas Whyte]

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1348972.html#cutid1[return][return]I rather enjoyed this vicious satire on television, including biting swipes at Mary Whitehouse and the cancellation of Old Who in 1989; meanwhile the Doctor, just poist-Trial, is wracked with guilt about Peri and with unease about what will happen when he meets Mel. This is the story that Vengeance on Varos was trying to be. (And also has an eerie pre-echo of The Long Game and Bad Wolf.) Introduction of two companions, one of whom is killed off and the other apparently in another couple of spinoff novels.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 2 out of 5]

It feels strangely dated...and it doesn't seem to have a handle on the 6th Doctor's character. Certainly not to the degree that Steve Lyons would demonstrate with his next 6th Doctor novel, "Killing Ground"...which was far more effective. Compared to his other novels, it just feels like Mr. Lyons is going through the motions here...content to be trendy, as opposed to hard-hitting and visceral.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

On average, a mediocre book. I love the attention to the Sixth Doctor after the Trial, giving the author a chance to practically reboot the incarnation, and it's used well here. However the plot is two-thirds aimless wandering and one-third pointless violence, and that really brings the book down. I think the author got too caught up in his satire at the cost of the rest of the book.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story, set in the limbo period between Doctors 6 and 7.
After the events of his trial, the sixth Doctor is living as a hermit, but something is going on in the nearby city.

Some good ideas result in an okay miss-mash.

[Simon Curtis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Introducing Grant Markham as I recall. Another excellent read, including a good sequence with the Doctor being chased by an incessant hand sized ball of killer fur.