Status Updates From Doctor Who: Return of the L...

So, I should be able to do the last 50 pages tomorrow morning. There have been a few Delta and the Bannermen connections - the deaf Bannerman, but also a Navarino. But this Navarino is a lot harder to like than Murray was. This is the novel where the Doctor got tossed out an airlock, but the fall was not as long as I (mis)remembered. This is also the one where he “MacGyvers” a transmat out of some junk. Very cool.

A lot of fun, because I remember very little of this one. Isn't this the one where the Doctor gets ejected from an airlock high up in the atmosphere, and falls to Earth, certain death, no parachute, splat seems unavoidable...or have I got my book-to-deathtrap combinations mixed up? Know what? I will find out!

Hah. Re-reading Doctor Who novels after watching many more of the classic-era TV adventures can elicit little smirks at petty little pleasures. The first time I read this I not have known the slightly amusing significance of a Bannerman who is deaf, trapped on Earth. Of course, Delta and the Bannermen has become my favourite Doctor Who TV story, and a deaf Bannerman is like a treat just for me (?)…

Sometimes I think I gravitate to re-reading from this phase of Doctor Who - the last several Virgin New Adventures that actually featured the Doctor - because I love the obscure and neglected, and Seven plus Chris and Roz is a very strange, hidden corner of Who. But maybe this is just my favourite cover design and run of weird artwork for any Who books. Ultimately, I guess I just love the Seventh.

Another Doctor Who re-read (I had a Perry Rhodan re-read cued up, but have decided to bounce back and forth between the two series, as breaks from a lot of Horror and Crime this Fall). I know when the BBC allowed Virgin Books to put out new Doctor Who novels, the Daleks and the Valeyard were basically off limits. The Valeyard sort of cheated an appearance...and the Daleks did get mentioned now and then...