Players

"I was captured by my own people and put on a trial for interfering in the affairs of the universe... Then sentence was passed and I was exiled to Earth... Before they did that, a group of some of the... shall we say, less scrupulous Time Lords decided they had one or two other odd jobs for me to perform first."

Writer: Terrance Dicks

Format: Novel

Released: March 2013

Series: 50th Anniversary Collection 06

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Peri, Second Doctor

Synopsis 

Arriving on the sun-baked veldt in the middle of the Boer War, the Sixth Doctor is soon involved in the adventures of struggling politician and war correspondent Winston Churchill. Of course, he knows Churchill is destined for great things, but unseen forces seem to be interfering with Winston's historic career... The Doctor suspects the hidden hand of the Players, mysterious beings who regard human history as little more than a game. With time running out, can the Doctor find the right movers to defeat them?

Verdict 

Players was an outstanding novel full of surprises, history and a great plot. A brand new enemy that's taking meddling to the extreme, this novel seems to be well worthy of representing the Sixth Doctor in the novelised format for the 50th anniversary collection. On a personal note this was my first book I've read to feature the Sixth Doctor, along with Peri and I'm glad to say that the master Terrance Dicks nailed the tone and representation of both the Doctor and his incarnation. I really enjoyed the recent DWM interview with the Who legend himself and I liked the resemblances in the introduction exclusive to the anniversary reprint edition. As in the audios, we saw a softer side to Colin Baker's incarnation which makes him one of my favourite Doctors, I really do think he's sorely underrated. The novel at hand really was superb. My love of history was recognised immediately with three different time zones within 37 years! I loved the split between the Boer War in 1899, the First World War in 1915 and in the midst of the rise of Nazi Germany in 1936. Even better so, the Doctor met the political legend Winston Churchill on all three occasions! My favourite segment of the three had to be the middle because of my adoration of The War Games but I'll get to that shortly. Despite my love of History, the Boer War is a period that has eluded my study or even research. My knowledge on the subject was basically the basics but I liked how when setting the scene the story explained a lot about the state of the country. The description of Churchill in 1899 was absolutely nothing than the perception as we know today and throughout history. It wasn't until the 1936 setting that we saw a Churchill similar to what we seen in Victory of the Daleks. The state of South Africa sounded diabolical with the Boers seemingly not too dissimilar to the Vietnamese guerrilla warfare. And the Doctor and Peri found themselves right in the middle of it. The meeting and helping for Churchill and co was splendid and I was intrigued by the lone assassin. The escape plan though was the highlight of the first third of the novel shall we say. Churchill returned home to UK after an eventful escape and struggle to a heroic welcome. But the Doctor was concerned by the assassin who seemed to be out of time. And this caused him to remember an untold adventure and canonise something hugely significant. As my opening quote shows, the infamous Season 6b was confirmed to be true. It was pretty clear that this existed from references in The Five Doctors and The Two Doctors. Here though rids the doubt! The Doctor confirms that he was the subject of some Time Lord missions prior to his sentence being carried out. And it's intriguing to discover that the tumbling scene at the end of my favourite ever Who story isn't the regeneration sequence starting. Comic strips of the time also confirm that. What I didn't expect though was pretty much a third of the novel to feature the Second Doctor! I loved the use of the mind scanner to show Peri the 1915 events where the Doctor, not too pleased at the Time Lords obviously, would meet Winston Churchill. But he would also meet two brilliant characters from The War Games! Lady Jennifer and Carstairs returned and played a prominent role even with the Sixth Doctor which I thought was wonderful. The events carried in 1915 were fantastic with the mysterious Count and Countess in the chateau where again Churchill was allowed to escape at the hands of the Doctor. The interludes between some chapters featuring the Players were extremely intriguing and it really was interesting to see what the Game was all about. The only lowlight of the novel was the lack of explanation as to who the Players were, what they were up to and why. It was nice throughout to see the relationship between the Doctor and Peri blossom, particularly in 1936 where they wanted to become a part of society and did so in humorous fashion! Staying at the Ritz, hiring a private security agent and having unlimited funds thanks to a dormant account in Chumley's (as you'd pronounce it). Peri enjoying her shopping was quite humorous and it was rather intriguing how she was depicted as having a hot long bath at least three times! I certainly didn't mind that image in my head. The appearances of von Ribbentrop and Hitler were a welcome surprise! The scenes in the embassy were great with Peri's rescue. Winston meeting the Doctor and Peri again, thinking them to be descendants of themselves, was brilliant. I adored the aim of the Players and their attempt to rid Churchill from history! They tried to get him just added to the casualties of the Boer War and once that failed they tried to have him added to the First World War death count. But, irrelevant of the incarnation, the Doctor stopped that. And their final attempt was to knock him off a term before he became Prime Minister and led Britain to victory over the Nazis. The attempts to stop the 1936 abdication of a pro-Nazi King also boar horrific thoughts! The conclusion seemed a little anti-climatic but I guess that's to lead into Endgame, a novel I eagerly anticipate. The Countess had been thwarted three times at the expense of her assassin and Count... and she just laughed. She knew the Doctor would become a piece in the Game in the future whether he liked it or not. Overall, a fantastic novel. The reference to Ace and a Chicago based Who novel was great. Dekker was a great help in thwarting the SS attack. The references to The Twin Dilemma, Planet of the Spiders, The Caves of Androzani, Attack of the Cybermen and Vengeance on Varos were awesome! The Players were temporarily beaten but they'd be back. The Doctor and Peri were superb and the meetings with Churchill were magnificent. A terrific novel! 

Rating: 9/10