Terminus

"She was trapped in a section of the TARDIS that was tearing itself apart."

Writer: John Lydecker

Format: Novel

Released: September 1983

Series: Target 79

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan, Turlough

Synopsis 

When the TARDIS console is wilfully sabotaged, the Doctor's time machine becomes dimensionally unstable and begins to dissolve. The area immediately affected is the room where Nyssa is working by herself.

As the creeping instability closes in on her, the TARDIS locks onto the nearest passing spacecraft, and the process of collapse is halted – but there is no sign of Nyssa.

Hoping that she has escaped onto the strangely deserted host liner, the Doctor goes looking for her. Whether or not he finds, getting back to the TARDIS will be no easy business...

Verdict  

Terminus was a decent novelisation of the televised story of the same name! I knew beforehand that this book was rather unique in style with it having no chapters at all. I don’t think that’s unusual for just Target books, but books in general! I was intrigued to see how I would take to a format like this because it just felt wrong prior to reading. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to read it all in one sitting so that just made the lack of breaking points a real issue for me. I couldn’t really understand why that approach was taken and it actually hindered the enjoyment by the time I reached the final quarter or so. It just felt like an endless build but without those definitive chapter endings or cliffhangers, it did feel like a bit of a drag and slog by the end which is a shame because the story is one I really enjoy. I know for a fact I’d have scored this higher if it was in the more traditional style. I thought the opening quarter of the book in particular was excellent with Turlough meddling and putting a big spotlight on his relationship, or lack thereof, with Tegan. She’s very suspicious of him since his arrival in Mawdryn Undead and her feelings certainly haven’t altered. She was less than impressed in being asked to provide him with the TARDIS tour and this was all important information for Turlough in his task to kill the Doctor under the Black Guardian’s demands. It’s an interesting choice to put the Black Guardian on the cover as he only really appears in italics from the mind of Turlough, but his presence is certainly felt throughout which is good. I thought the idea of Turlough ripping the heart out of the TARDIS was strong and the chaos it caused was exciting. His trying to put the blame of Nyssa’s experiments was amusing as Tegan certainly wasn’t having that. It’s interesting to see just how the Doctor doesn’t really feel either way regarding Turlough. He just wants a bit of peace and Tegan isn’t going to provide that! The link to the Terminus was terrific and I liked the idea of time moving different there thanks to the slippage which meant the window to return to the TARDIS was short. Turlough got their first by the end and that would set up his adventures to come with his private conversation with the Doctor, but I have to say that the Black Guardian really didn’t choose well when it came to getting someone to kill the Doctor! Turlough is pretty spineless let’s be honest. I have no doubts that Tegan would eat him alive. Kari and Olvir were good characters and I really liked the relationship garnered between the latter and Nyssa. The Trakenite companion had a really solid adventure as she was in her element when it was discovered the ship was a leper one! The Lazar disease was deadly so having her infected by it was great, and the cure being radiation didn’t seem safe. And it wasn’t. It was basically random and could actually lead to many more illnesses down the line, so she felt she had a purpose now because she knew that with the facilities and medical advancement of the Terminus that she could do good. That was an admirable way for her to depart the TARDIS. The importance of the Terminus being at the centre of the known universe was good and it was intriguing to think that it caused Event One from a time chain reaction explosion that propelled it billions of years into the future of the universe it created. Good stuff. I was less of a fan of the Garm and that might just be because of the name sounding a bit ridiculous. More backstory and description on it would have been good in prose. The conclusion was exciting with the risk of catastrophe but it did seem to end very suddenly and without a whole resolution. It was acknowledged that for Nyssa there was work to do to ensure safety and whilst she is more than capable and a safe pair of hands, it felt a little like leaving on a cliffhanger. The final page heading into Enlightenment was well done, but as a whole this was a strong story in a weak format. 

Rating: 7/10