The Three Doctors

"The Doctor and his friends were in Omega's hands."

Writer: Terrance Dicks
Format: Novel
Released: November 1975
Series: Target 64

Featuring: Third Doctor, Jo, Second Doctor, First Doctor

Synopsis

'I forbid it. You cannot allow the Doctor to cross his own time stream and meet his earlier self. The First Time Law expressly forbids it.'

Exiled from his own world, trapped for millennia in a universe of anti-matter, Omega has planned his revenge on his own race, the Time Lords, and on the entire universe...

In order to prevent an unthinkable catastrophe, the Time Lords break the First Law of Time and send the Doctor's previous selves to help...

Verdict

The Three Doctors was a wonderful read! I really enjoyed this novelisation from start to finish and I was so glad that it lived up to my expectations from the televised story. It’s a fitting adventure to celebrate the tenth anniversary of our wonderful show and I think my timing for reading this will be very beneficial. Recent revelations in Spyfall May dispute some of what was said here regarding Omega’s role in Time Lord History so I look forward to seeing if any contradictions or changes are made. I’m just very intrigued to be honest! I thought the writing and pace of the story was sublime and the relationship between the Third and Second Doctor was captured effortlessly. It was hugely impressive and just a joy to read! The way they could just go from bickering to apologetic was fantastic. The fascination of the Second Doctor regarding his flute was great comedy and I think it was important to have that in what was quite a serious adventure. There were also some humorous elements in place with the First Doctor and I really loved reading just how much of an authoritative figure he seemed to his successors. That was really nice. It’s a shame that William Hartnell wasn’t well enough to have a large role in the story and I almost expected to be complaining about this novelisation not giving him a bigger role with the freedom of the format, but I thought the First Doctor was just magnificent in this book! I thoroughly enjoyed everything about him. The passages on Gallifrey were very good and I very much liked that it was the President who was breaking the First Time Law to provide the Doctor with help from his earlier self. The differing reactions of Benton and the Brigadier when the Second Doctor showed up were terrific. The Brigadier was definitely on top form throughout the novelisation and his militaristic thinking must have been unbelievably frustrating for the Doctor! When the whole of UNIT HQ had been transported through to the anti-matter universe, his suspicion of just being in Norfolk was rather funny. You would think that after everything he has seen with the Doctor around that he wouldn’t be so unaccommodating to what either incarnation was claiming! With three Doctors around and the debut of a hugely important enemy, it could have been easy for Jo to get lost in the shuffle. I am delighted to say that this was not the case and she was actually quite marvellous! She had moments of brilliance in being able to shush the Doctors as they bickered and she was also quite accepting of being transported through the black hole. I enjoyed the revelation of Omega’s presence and the Doctor’s reaction of actually being scared showed just how powerful of a figure he really was. I thought the line that basically dismissed the Master in comparison was a little surprising though. Bookending the story with Mr Hollis was a lovely touch and his wife having no worry that he’d show back up at the end of the day was just brilliant. When he did stumble in for supper was just magnificent. Omega wanting revenge on the Time Lords for what he felt was abandonment was intriguing and definitely something interesting to play on. His reaction when the Second Doctor had arrived was really great but I loved just how much that incarnation challenged his temper. He quickly identified that as a weakness which was good. The role of the flute in actually being matter was decent and I think I enjoyed it so much because of the humour that came before it surrounding the musical instrument. I thought this book, in dealing with a hugely complex subject, did a very good job in providing simple and understandable explanations. Overall, a wonderful little read!

Rating: 10/10