Battlefield

"Where Merlin was, so would Arthur be."

Writer: Marc Platt
Format: Novel
Released: July 1991
Series: Target 152

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Ace, Brigadier

Synopsis

'How do you do?' the Doctor said. 'This is Ace, and I am...' 'Merlin!' cried the Black Knight. His smile broadened in wonder and recognition. 'Merlin, against all hope!'

A UNIT nuclear convoy, stranded on the shores of Lake Vortigern, becomes the focus of an incursion by knights from a parallel reality. In this other world, technology and magic exist side by side, and the legends of King Arthur are fact. Close to the lake, the sinister Mordred battles against his enemy Ancelyn and summons his mother, the powerful witch Morgaine.

Is the Doctor really Merlin? And will he discover what actually happened to King Arthur? But time is running out for everyone as Morgaine takes control of the nuclear weapons and summons the Destroyer - Lord of Darkness and Eater of Worlds...

Verdict

Battlefield was a great novelisation of the televised story of the same name! It definitely brought a different perspective than that which was offered on TV and I found it quite interesting that it was so long. For a Target novelisation, and I fully appreciate that this was the BBC reprint, going over the 200 page mark is actually quite unheard of and I was rather surprised when I came to read it. However, I liked that it was clearly split into the four parts but I wasn't a fan of the chapter numbers restarting with each part. That just seemed a bit silly to me. Reuniting the Doctor with the Brigadier was a wonderful idea and on the page, their relationship was well captured. With his old friend once again having a new face, I liked how the Brigadier and the Seventh Doctor met with the former recognising the latter with ease. Who else could he be? The initial Brigadier of Banbera was a decent character but there's simply no replacing Lethbridge-Stewart. I found his relationship with Ace a really intriguing element of the story as they didn't really seem to get on at first. However, by the time the story was up, they seemed to bond over their dual liking of explosives. I thought Ace had a good story and the fact that the Doctor knew all about her explosives, and Ace knew he knew whilst he may have thought she didn't (that's a mouthful!), was terrific. Their relationship was really well captured in prose. The prospect of the Doctor being Merlin was mightily intriguing and I liked the paradox of him knowing that he would become Merlin, in the past of the alternate dimension, at some point in his future. It put him in a very tricky situation which made for a lot of interest. Morgaine was an excellent villain and her ancient desperation to kill Arthur was made very good when it was discovered that he had been dead all along. The note from the future version of the Doctor was a great touch. I thought the Destroyer could have been portrayed as something more deserving of the name but I was more surprised by how little the beast actually featured. The use of silver was a good theme throughout the novelisation too and I liked how the Brigadier used silver bullets to destroy the mighty Destroyer. It was done rather well, after he knocked the Doctor out cold so he wouldn't risk his life! The ancient battle between Mordred and Ancelyn playing out was terrific and I thought the modern day setting of this was delightful. The Brigadier coming out of retirement was just splendid and I loved that we got to meet Doris in quite considerable detail. Overall, a really good novelisation!

Rating: 8/10