The Eye of the Giant

"There are always sacrifices to be made for the sake of progress."

Writer: Christher Bulis

Format: Audio

Released: April 1996

Series: Missing Adventures 21

Featuring: Third Doctor, Liz, Brigadier

Synopsis

"I might have known it," the Brigadier said tersely. "The Doctor and Miss Shaw have managed to lose themselves on an island that doesn't exist."

1934: Salutua, a legendary lost island in the Pacific. Millionaire Marshal J Grover's expedition arrives to uncover and exploit its secrets. But the task is complicated by a film star's fears and ambitions and a scientist's lethal obsession. 

Nearly forty years later: UNIT headquarters, London. The Doctor and Liz Shaw are asked to identify a mysterious artefact and trace its origin. The trail leads them back in time to Salutua and a gigantic discovery. Meanwhile, the Brigadier faces an epidemic of UFO sightings and supernatural occurrences that threaten to bring about global panic. Only the Doctor can help him – but he's trapped on mythical island four decades in the past.

Verdict

The Eye of the Giant was a terrific Missing Adventures novel for the Third Doctor, Liz and the UNIT team! I love the idea of giving more stories for the Doctor and Liz as it’s a pairing that we just didn’t see enough of on screen. I’m a massive Liz fan, so much so that I’d say she’s in my top five companions ever, so to only four televised serials with her is a travesty, even if three of them consist of seven parts. It’s lovely to know her time at UNIT didn’t conclude shortly after the events of Inferno and whilst there was no indication of how long after this book she stayed, it’s nice to know she did. The Brigadier still not being too pleased about the Doctor’s time experiments in that aforementioned Season 7 finale was fun so when the Doctor was up to no good again trying something similar it was a recipe for humour. The Doctor using the time and space visualiser that we saw prominently in The Chase was magnificent and using it as a means to track the omicron object back through time was really intriguing. I won’t pretend that the science in this story made sense but I’m not going to let that get in the way of my enjoyment. The link to 1934 on the island of Salutua being so strong that you could actually step through the time and space visualiser was a unique form of time travel, but the Doctor would take anything in his exile. It was a sneaky way to bypass the Time Lord punishment imposed on him, and with him feeling confined he’d take it. Things breaking down almost immediately was fun and that meant Liz and Mike had to go through after him. I thought this was a really good use of the novel format in showcasing Yates meeting the Doctor for the first time, as long as giving us a story alongside Liz which never occurred. I thought it was fun for him to have been on clean up duties for Autons and Cave Monsters in nice references to Spearhead From Space and Doctor Who and the Silurians. The way we were introduced to the characters of the expedition on the Constitution was really good and I felt I knew the characters very well by the time the story fully clicked into gear. Nancy Grover as an entitled actress was really fun and her selfishness was quite incredible. Her relationship with Marshall Grover was intriguing as she was clearly using him for his money and power, and her confidence absolutely oozed off her. She had no qualms that she was in control. Amelia Grover was the woman in the middle as Marshall’s daughter and making the new squeeze rather jealous. The reaction from Nancy when she found out the whole journey to Salutua was to help Amelia grow her arm back that she’d lost in a car accident that also took her mother was quite something. The moment she called her a cripple was powerful stuff. I was surprised Marshall was so calm! The faith of Amelia was something that annoyed Nancy so much because she just wanted her to hate her or be violent, but that wasn’t her way. I liked the gigantism elements of the story and whilst initially I had fears of something similar to The Web Planet, what we had instead was much better. The likes of giant ants and worms was really good but they weren’t the main focus of the book. That was Brokk as a Grond who was on the run from the powerful Semquess and he had some amulets in tow. The power behind the Semquess and their experimental drugs was good and the way Brokk and Nancy would actually be linked organically was more intriguing stuff. I loved the message from the Brigadier with the sheets of paper explaining to the Doctor and company that the island was due to be completely eradicated from a volcanic eruption. The countdown was really good and provided some good jeopardy with the looming deadline. Things were definitely exciting and it was just fun stuff with Sternberg still wanting the drugs to experiment with. Marshall realised the deaths that were happening were not worth it to save Amelia’s arm, and she didn’t even want it anyway, but he was inundated with Nancy’s good looks which she used to her advantage. Yates initially thinking Brokk was a statue was good as we knew it was always going to wake up! When that happened the action really started as the Semquess were involved to retrieve what was theirs. They’d been waiting a very long time too! I liked the story there and the fate of Brokk’s ship being the cause of the volcanic eruption was nicely done and neat to tie things up. Except then we almost burst straight into another adventure as the past had been changed and the Doctor and Liz returned to an altered future. I thought that element of the story was superb but just a bit rushed. I think it could have been its own book as a sequel! I loved exploring the world of Nancy Grover as a goddess with her still starring in feature films, but she would never last. The way the past was returned to and then changed again was a little quick, but I loved the dystopian world of the 1970s that was presented. Bessie being used to protect its passengers from being impacted by the world around them was ludicrous fun, and the ghostly apparitions were very good. Overall, this was a tremendous read! Just a slightly rushed ending.   

Rating: 8/10