The Doctor Trap

"Every child in the Galaxy has heard of the Doctor."

Writer: Simon Messingham

Format: Novel

Released: September 2008

Series: NSA 26

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Donna

Synopsis

Sebastiene was perhaps once human. He might look like a 19th-centry nobleman but in truth he is a ruthless hunter. He likes nothing more than luring difficult opposition to a planet then hunting them down for sport. And now he's caught them all – from Zargregs to Moogs, and even the odd Eternal...

In fact, Sebastiene is after only one more prize. For this trophy, he knows is going to need help. He's brought together the finest hunters in the universe to play the most dangerous game for the deadliest quarry of them all. They are hunting for the last of the Time Lords – the Tenth Doctor.

Verdict

The Doctor Trap was a somewhat average novel. I thought the premise was very good but the execution was lacking in some parts which was a bit of a shame. I thought the writing throughout was just a bit strange in parts and there was far too much jumping around everything that was going on. It was a shame because there were some very good elements. Sebastiene actually made for an excellent villain and his desire to hunt and capture the Doctor because he was untouchable was great, but his methods of getting his trophy just didn't make sense to me. His inability to think that Baris couldn't be the Doctor, or vice versa, was very frustrating to read as it was so obvious from the start that Baris was actually the real Doctor all along. I was astonished at how early that fact was revealed, but then there still remained a lengthy period with the main villain not knowing that and frankly dismissing it, despite him even saying that logic dictated he was in fact the real article! I could have thrown the book across the room. Baris himself was a good character and I thought it was fun to play with the idea of the Doctor having a biggest fan. That can work well, but Baris here didn't get a chance to play with it and was instead thrust into the Doctor role. His belief in the Doctor's abilities was great though when he had planned all along for him to replace the Doctor in the different hunting zones. I thought the premise of the Doctor fighting his way through ten different zones with a different hunter in each was really good, so again I was annoyed when we only really got three of them. There were a lot of elements that just weren't followed through on which I didn't like. One glaring thing was how Baris obtained the TARDIS key just left as 'somehow' he got it. Whether that was easy because there was just a hollow blue box or not, it wasn't very clear which was frustrating. I think some of my favourite moments in the book came from Donna when she was trapped in the Exquisite Traveller hotel with all roads leading back there. She was going mad that she could hear people and traffic, but when it came to getting to them she mysteriously just missed out. She was going barmy which was good. I do think she was missing for a bit too much of the book though! I liked how she was able to vent the frustration of getting conflicting answers regarding events and towards the end, she had enough and demanded plain and simple answers. I'm still not convinced we got them. I thought it was a cop out at the end to have robot doubles so late in the day, seemingly from out of nowhere with no hint at all that it might be the case. The setting of Planet 1 was really good (I feel like I've just focused on the negatives) and I loved the idea of a whole planet where technology was so advanced that anything was at Sebastiene's beck and call. The idea of the whole Doctor Trap being the planet's doing because it had gotten bored of Sebastiene and wanted the Doctor to take control was very good and something I didn't see coming, and I also thought it was quite a lot of fun to have the Doctor convince the villain that he was a robot when that was far from the case. Rule number one: the Doctor lies. He could have taken him off the planet, but instead he left Sebastiene to be on the run. The use of molecular technology was intriguing, but I think it was far too quick and easy for the Doctor to get it turned off. It was acknowledged how much easier that would make things for him, and they just went and did it from the off! The Endangered Dangerous Species Society were a bit of a mixed bag. I think the name is stupid and I think going from their criteria there would be far more than just twelve members. The Doctor basically destroying them all at once was a shining moment though! Overall, I felt this had good elements but as a whole the writing just wasn't there for me. 

Rating: 6/10