The Two Doctors

"A pleasure deferred was often all the sweeter for it."

Writer: Robert Holmes

Format: Novel

Released: December 1985

Series: Target 100

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Peri, Second Doctor, Jamie

Synopsis

Disturbed by the time travel experiments of the evil Dastari and Chessene, the Time Lords send the Second Doctor and Jamie to investigate. Arriving on a station in deep space, they are attacked by a shock force of Sontarans and the Doctor is left for dead.

Across the gulfs of time and space, the Sixth Doctor discovers that his former incarnation is very much alive. Together with Peri and Jamie he must rescue his other self before the plans of Dastari and Chessene reach their deadly and shocking conclusion...

Verdict

The Two Doctors was a great novelisation of the televised serial of the same name! Well, I wait over 3,500 blog entries to cover this adventure and now I've done it back to back! This was a fun little experiment from a persona basis as I've never read the novelisation of a story so soon after watching the on screen story. Certainly not for a Classic era serial! I think the quickest turnaround will be from the modern era and might be the run of the Fourteenth Doctor, but to do the same story in consecutive days but in different formats was something that interested me to really have the on screen adventure fresh in my mind. I mentioned yesterday in my blogging of the televised version that everything was just a bit mad. Whilst there was still certainly a sense of that here in the book, things did feel slightly more in control which was important. There was a lot more room for clarity and explanation which really helped the many moving elements of the story. I was a tad surprised that there was no mention of Victoria this time around but given the proximity post-The War Games for the Second Doctor there really isn't any reason for it. One thing that did irk me regarding the Doctors in the novelisation was how they weren't really differentiated across incarnation. That felt very odd and honestly if we had something as simple and consistent as the regeneration number then this book might have scored an even higher rating! Despite being a prolific writer of on screen stories, I think it's clear that this is the first novelisation for Robert Holmes. I think it's great that he did one but his use of pronouns was a tad odd. Starting a chapter by just referring to he without mentioning who that was made for a slightly off-putting style of writing, but the way he expanded on his own work really helped elevate this version of the story. I thought the description of Shockeye really took him to another level from the more comical iteration we saw on screen. He was presented with a booming and enormous physical presence which was excellent. It really helped sell his desire for human flesh and the manhandling of Peri and Jamie. The comments about the former and the goods she had on offer for consumption were a tad out of place though! I thought the use of the Sontarans worked a little better in this telling of the story and that might because of there being no need for directorial choices. But at the same time, Chessene doesn't quite steal the show as the villain in the same independent way she did on screen. I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing though. I think the references and just general story involvement of the Kartz-Reimer module worked much better in the novel as there was time to pause and give clarity on everything that was happening. The extended dialogue was great in parts too with a lot of that given to Oscar Botcherby and his moth fascination. I had hoped for more expansion on his relationship with Anita, but Jamie longing after her was quite fun. Peri again feels a tad secondary and I do think more explanation was needed on the grabbing of the keys using the wheelchair. I'm not sure I'd entirely know what was going on there if I hadn't watched the story unfold yesterday. I don't feel like I should go into much story detail as that was mostly covered yesterday, but the way Cassene meets her end after Dastari sees her licking blood and that she's still and Androgum at heart was fantastic. The little additional way to finish with the authorities reacting to the state of the Dona Aran's home. It ws in quite the need of repair! Overall,  really fun little experiment! I thought this wa an excellent novelisation that actually does go one better than its on screen counterpart. Overall, a great read!

Rating: 8/10