Doctor Who and the Visitation

"Earlier today I met Death in a cellar."

Writer: Eric Saward
Format: Novel
Released: August 1982
Series: Target 69

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Adric, Nyssa, Tegan

Synopsis

Tegan, the young air hostess who quite unintentionally became a member of the TARDIS's crew, wants to return to her own time, but when the Doctor tries to take her back to Heathrow Airport in the  twentieth century the TARDIS lands instead on the outskirts of seventeenth-century London.

The Doctor and his companions receive a decidedly unfriendly welcome – but it soon becomes clear that the sinister activities of other visitors from time and space have made the villagers extremely suspicious of outsiders.

As a result of the aliens' evil schemes, the Doctor finds himself on the point of playing a key role in a gruesome historical event...

Verdict

Doctor Who and the Visitation was a really good little read! It was a great novelisation of a somewhat underrated Fifth Doctor tale and whilst the front cover is pretty darn terrible, the pages within were not! I thought things started very well with an intriguing first chapter where we were introduced to Elizabeth playing cards, only for her and the rest of the family to be killed. It did a stellar job in establishing the setting of the seventeenth century and the house location, whilst also revealing to us the fateful date that this adventure would take place on. It was an incredibly common occurrence to have Tegan wanting to go home and the harrowing reference to Logopolis and the fate of her Aunt Vanessa at the hands of the Master was a timely reminder of just how bad things got for her when she started travelling with the Doctor. The Doctor didn’t do a bad job of getting her to where she wanted to be, it was just the when that he struggled with. He was just the 315 years off which was quite amusing. We were soon taken on what turned out to be a very pacy tale and for some reason or another that’s not what I was expecting. I would go as far as describing the novel as rapid. That was exciting but at times I just wanted things to slow a little and patter out a tad more. Richard Mace was a magnificent character and his profession of being an actor, by seventeenth century standards, was utilised marvellously. His constant hopes and plans to turn all the wonders he was introduced to by the Doctor into profits for a magician’s show was terrific. He really was a very likeable character and it’s great that he got to venture in the TARDIS, if only for a short sideways trip. His bewilderment at the camouflaged door was a particular highlight. This story is famous for being the one that writes out the Doctor’s famed sonic screwdriver and I thought it was presented pretty well in prose. It’s destruction was quick and sold just how evil and serious the Terileptils were, whilst the Doctor’s moment of reflection about it seeming like an old friend had died was incredibly poignant. A fine moment. I thought the characterisation of Peter Davison’s Fifth Doctor was very good in this novelisation and I really liked how once captured by the Terileptils, he constantly tried to undersell himself. Why not put the controlling bracelet on him? His mind definitely wasn’t too intelligent to overpower it, right? One thing I really noticed about this story in the prose format was just how contained it was. I have no memories of feeling that way when it comes to the televised adventure so that was a really interesting little dynamic from a personal perspective. The Android worked well throughout, although I’m not too sure I liked how willingly the Doctor and Mace let it take them past, and through, the villagers to the Terileptil Leader. That was a little odd. Nyssa had a strong story in putting together the sonic booster to take out that Android and the moment she is triumphant is brought back down to Earth as she looks on in amazement and sadness at the intelligence of the machine. That showed just how nice of a character and companion she was. Tegan had her moments and I enjoyed some of the feisty encounters with the Doctor, particularly when Nyssa had piloted the TARDIS to them successfully. Quite the feat! The Doctor was less pleased. Adric was hit and miss and I didn’t really comprehend why he was so aggressively desperate to find the Doctor after he was forced to escape whilst leaving Tegan behind. I appreciate that he was worried, but it just seemed unwarranted from my viewpoint. The idea of the Terileptils wanting to extend and advance the plague that had already ravaged the seventeenth century was fantastic and I like the idea of them using rats to spread it. Just how would it wipe out humanity though if it couldn’t quite get overseas? Did the Terileptils just want to take control of the UK? I’ll leave that one open ended. I was very surprised with how quick the conclusion took place and whilst I think it’s a wonderful idea to have the Doctor ultimately responsible for the Great Fire of London, something more could have been done to allow us to fully appreciate what the ramifications of that may be. It was fast paced but didn’t quite have the impact it perhaps should have. There were a number of instances in the book where seemingly important bits were glossed over rather than fleshed out as I believe should be the case in a novelisation. It stills works really well though and I would really like to see the moment the Doctor tells Tegan that they were actually on Pudding Lane and that letting the fire pan out is probably what history would have wanted. Overall, a terrific read!

Rating: 8/10