Meglos

"Haven't I seen you before somewhere?"

Writer: Terrance Dicks

Format: Novel

Released: May 1983

Series: Target 75

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Romana II, K9

Synopsis 

Zastor, Leader of the planet Tigella, rules a divided people. Savants and Deons are irrevocably opposed on one crucial issue - the Dodecahedron, mysterious source of all their power.

To the Savants the Dodecahedron is a miracle of science to be studied, observed and used to benefit Tigellan civilisation. To the Deons it is a god and not to be tampered with.

When the power supply begins to fluctuate wildly the whole planet is threatened, but the Tigellans cannot agree how they should deal with the problem.

Zastor welcomes the arrival of the Doctor and invites him to arbitrate, but the Deons are suspicious of the Time Lord - and perhaps rightly so...

Verdict 

Meglos was a great little read on my first usual train journey from south to mid-Wales in over five weeks thanks to those retched A-level exams! However, as was usual for the Target novels of around 120 pages (this had 126) I finished the book before reaching my destination which is always a nice feeling. In fact, I finished a bit earlier than usual in the waiting room at the train station I need to change trains. I usually finish on the second train but on the first page I had a feeling I would be able to read through the novel pretty quickly because the text size seemed to be bigger than my other Targets I've read from my collection, of which there are still numerous to read. I'm not sure what it is, but when packing for the week away as is this case for this particular journey, I seem to always lean towards the Fourth Doctor. I'm not sure what it is but when reading this novel I noticed how good the characterisation of this incarnation of the Doctor is in these Targets. Add that in with Terrance Dicks and this isn't going to be a disappointing read. I've only done the TV story of this adventure once before and that was around three years ago now, in which I ran through the first 32.5 seasons of Doctor Who in about 260 days. So forgive me for not remembering all the details about every story because a new one was coming every day! Whereas now, breaking up the formats with TV, audio and comic strip (of which there have been a lot lately!) stories the memory is so much better. This felt like a new story which is a bonus I think and to prove how badly I forgot about this adventure I was overjoyed to find that the Fourth Doctor was travelling with Romana II! I think she's definitely my favourite Classic companion so I was happy to be reading a novelisation with her in for the first time. I'm not overly struck with the way her character has gone in the point I'm up to with the audios, having her as President of Gallifrey, so it was nice for her to be back in the companion role here. The relationship between her and the Doctor was just as good in print as it is on screen with some memorable moments. The moment the Doctor almost forgets his lines when trying to break the time loop was hysterical. And in typical Fourth Doctor fashion he questioned Romana about his own mistake! Brilliant. I thought the plot was very good and I liked the central focus on the Dodecahedron with the premise of a leader trying to balance out two equally matched factions who had very different views on the wonder. Zastor was a great character and I liked his position in affairs on Tigella. Lexa however was the religious type. Groan. What is the point of religion? It's so obviously garbage and this story just served as further evidence of that. There's logic in everything and if a great big structure like the Dodecahedron appears, it's obviously not a gift from the gods. I'm in the middle of watching Game of Thrones (I'm on episode 5 of season 3 currently) and the reference to gods there is much better than anything I've watched previously as there's no intense focus on religion. That's why I was firmly on the side of the Savants against the Deons. Once Meglos revealed that it was engineered on Zolfa-Thura, the religion was well and truly made a mockery of. The plan of Meglos was good and I liked the story that George Morris played and helped contribute to the defeat of the cactus-like creature. The doppelgänger story around the Doctor was fantastic and I liked how the Dodecahedron was shrank simply to 5cm. All would be restored however, thanks in part to Romana tricking the Gaztaks into being attacked by the planet's vegetation prompting the bloody battle by the City Gate. I really liked how Caris was right all along about the Tigellans returning to the surface. And that's how the story ended nicely. A bloody battle and a very good story!

Rating: 8/10