Kerblam!

"Jobs for people not robots."

Writer: Pete McTighe

Format: Novel

Released: July 2023

Series: Target 173

Featuring: Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz, Graham, Ryan

Synopsis

"Ding dong!"

The TARDIS is invaded. A plea for help delivered by robot summons the Doctor and her friends Yaz, Graham and Royal to Kerblam – the biggest retailer in the galaxy. Posing as new recruits among the thousands of human workers, the TARDIS crew uncover a deadly plot that threatens the life of every person in the warehouse – and beyond. 

Who has sent for the Doctor? What is the dark secret at the heart of Kerblam's operations? And who will escape the merciless Postmen...?

Verdict

Kerblam! was a really great novelisation of the Thirteenth Doctor episode of the same name! I was recently excited by the latest batch of Target releases for the modern era and whilst I would prefer if they were released singularly and not with four or five in one batch, I actually did pick up all of the modern stories so hopefully I can get blogging those in the coming weeks! But I started with the most recent one and it was a welcomed return to a less popular era of the show. I don’t think anyone would argue too strong that Series 11 is the weakest of the modern era and whilst I do think a lot of critics and fans are unfair, the overall direction of the series does leave a lot to be desired. However, as individual episodes I think there are some tremendous ones! This is a fine example and it does really well in the novelisation format. I thought a little more could have been done to really sell the scale and depth of the Kerblam delivery facilities, but I was a big fan of what I read. This did a stellar job in bringing us some traditional deviations from what we saw on screen and the centre of that was Judy. She’s a decent character as the Head of People at Kerblam and she’s a good front for describing the role of organically and the ten perfect rule when it came to company employment. It couldn’t all be automatons.  I thought diving into Judy’s past as a child was really good and exploring the history surrounding Kandoka was brilliant. That was really strong expansion and getting to know how Judy and her family were impacted by the machine takeover in employment was fantastic. That was a really good use of the format. The difference that she experienced from her life on her tenth birthday compared to her eleventh was startling as unemployment was really effecting the family. Her dad getting involved in the riots and protests against the rise of technology was fascinating and I liked how that formed the basis of her becoming a people person, quite literally! The Kerblam postmen were presented as rather eery and whilst the format obviously doesn’t lend itself to visuals, the front cover is a delight! It’s one of the better Target artworks in my opinion and really does capture the threat in a strong way. It’s striking and that’s what you want. Speaking of striking, the cheeky cameo of the Seventh Doctor and Ace during a riot in Judy’s childhood was magnificent and so effective for something that was so simple. Just a small bit of advice went a long way and it did a lot to help sell the Doctor knowing about Kerblam. I was really impressed at the end in the TARDIS with how the Thasmin direction was incorporated much more so than was evident on screen with us getting some of Yaz’s thoughts as she embraced the Doctor. She didn’t want to let go and that really helped with the continuity of the end of their run. The concept of basically doing Amazon in space in the future is a fine one and it comes off well here. The threat of thousands of deliveries simultaneously with bombs is excellent, although I do think weaponising bubble wrap is perhaps slightly too silly. I do appreciate the temptation of it though! The way Kira died was so impactful and allowed us to find Charlie as the madman culprit behind everything. It initially seemed like it was Slade but he was a PI which was a slightly underwhelming revelation, but for Charlie the machines had taken his parents and the one he loved. No wonder he was borderline insane! It was a slightly underwhelming person to build for the finale, but as a whole this was still a great read!

Rating: 8/10