Lack of thought was a regrettable feature of all his behaviour so far.
Rather belatedly, let's talk about the two most recent PDAs I've read. (There's just been a lot going on RL right now. Sorry. Big Finish post still to come.)
The Fourth Doctor and Leela land on a strange planet that seems to defy the laws of nature, and soon find themselves being hunted down.
‘You haven’t damaged the travelling hut, have you?’ the Doctor asked suspiciously.
‘I watched you,’ Leela said, ‘and I copied what I saw you do.’ She found a piece of rotten wood and weighed it in her hand. It was too light and she discarded it. ‘The TARDIS is a machine - there is nothing magic about it. And you can stop calling it the travelling hut. It is not funny to mock people’s lack of knowledge, Doctor. Especially when you are stuck up a tree.’
‘I think I may have underestimated you,’ the Doctor conceded graciously with a vivid smile.
Leela did not acknowledge the apology.
There's some real bright spots in this book -- notably in the banter between the Doctor and Leela, particularly whenever she calls him out on his patronizing attitude, as above, and in how easily the Doctor's attempts at blending in fall apart -- but overall I wasn't very impressed. The first chunk of the book is just running around getting chased by things and going "well that shouldn't be there it doesn't make sense" and the second part is running around tunnels getting torture by clones and everonye sagely agreeing that, yes, Leela is the ultimate warrior of all time.
I mean, yes, Leela probably is the ultimate warrior, but still.
It just never quite hangs together.
(The worldbuilding is also kind of awful, but let's not get into that.)
The Seventh Doctor and Ace in an AU 1960s London an AU Victorian London a sequel to Trial Of A Time Lord a sequel to Survival the dark side of the Matrix on Gallifrey IDK all of the above I guess. With a guest appearance from AU Barbara and Ian.
In case it's not clear I walked away from this one feeling like I didn't know what had just happened. Did it all happen in the dark Matrix? Did it actually happen in AU Victorian London but then the Doctor and Ace set it right? Was it some kind of fever dream? All of the above?
The story starts with the Doctor putting Ace off her footing by being in a terrible mood with her, then after an upsetting encounter with a golem trying to take her to stay with the First Doctor and Susan during the events preceding An Unearthly Child only they're not in Totter's Lane. So they go investigating and stumble upon Barbara and Ian, who explain, essentially, that they've landed in an AU version of the 1960s where Britain is part of America and everything is terrible because President Kennedy has just been shot in London and this all goes back to Jack The Ripper, so the Doctor and Ace go back to Victorian London to investigate, which results in the Doctor attacking Ace, losing his memory in his best Eight Doctor impersonation (‘WHO AM I...?’ he howled across the city), and becoming Jack the Ripper, and Ace becoming a cheetah person and getting abducted by a circus.
Things escalate from there.
The Wandering Jew is involved. The Valeyard is ultimately unmasked as the Big Bad. The universe is ripped apart and put back together.
I don't know.
This sounds extremely dismissive, I think, and that's because this book confused the hell out of me at several parts (particularly, as I've mentioned, the ending, where I had no idea whether or not the events of the plot had even happened; based on the Valeyard's explanation I would assume everything had occurred within the dark Matrix but the scene with the Doctor and Ace at the non-evil circus kind of implies that everything really did happen in the AU before everything was set right...?), and there are parts I genuinely disliked (Ace getting menaced in unpleasantly sexualized ways, for example, although at least she gets to turn into a cheetah and rip men to shreds, and I don't understand why we needed the "Doctor is Jack the Ripper" plot). But the prose is genuinely very good and evocative and moving, the whole subplot with the Doctor and Ace bringing hope to a despairing AU!Barbara and Ian is lovely, and the exploration of Ace's continuing loss of faith in the Doctor (tracing that theme from Curse of Fenric) is dealt with quite masterfully -- she wants him to be someone she can trust implicity; she knows that he isn't that person.
Really enjoyed it. Really did not understand it, but really enjoyed it.
He could see an unfamiliar face. A young man in a dark frock coat. Tumbling dark hair. Bright, inquisitive eyes.
‘Who am I?’
Images came faster. He could taste, smell, hear.
‘Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be wanderers in the fourth dimension? To be exiles?’
Days like crazy paving.
A walk in eternity.
The frantic life was played out in full before him. His Life.
Returned to him by the telepathic circuit. By the TARDIS.
The silence was heartstoppingly sudden.
The Fourth Doctor and Leela land on a strange planet that seems to defy the laws of nature, and soon find themselves being hunted down.
‘You haven’t damaged the travelling hut, have you?’ the Doctor asked suspiciously.
‘I watched you,’ Leela said, ‘and I copied what I saw you do.’ She found a piece of rotten wood and weighed it in her hand. It was too light and she discarded it. ‘The TARDIS is a machine - there is nothing magic about it. And you can stop calling it the travelling hut. It is not funny to mock people’s lack of knowledge, Doctor. Especially when you are stuck up a tree.’
‘I think I may have underestimated you,’ the Doctor conceded graciously with a vivid smile.
Leela did not acknowledge the apology.
There's some real bright spots in this book -- notably in the banter between the Doctor and Leela, particularly whenever she calls him out on his patronizing attitude, as above, and in how easily the Doctor's attempts at blending in fall apart -- but overall I wasn't very impressed. The first chunk of the book is just running around getting chased by things and going "well that shouldn't be there it doesn't make sense" and the second part is running around tunnels getting torture by clones and everonye sagely agreeing that, yes, Leela is the ultimate warrior of all time.
I mean, yes, Leela probably is the ultimate warrior, but still.
It just never quite hangs together.
(The worldbuilding is also kind of awful, but let's not get into that.)
The Seventh Doctor and Ace in an AU 1960s London an AU Victorian London a sequel to Trial Of A Time Lord a sequel to Survival the dark side of the Matrix on Gallifrey IDK all of the above I guess. With a guest appearance from AU Barbara and Ian.
In case it's not clear I walked away from this one feeling like I didn't know what had just happened. Did it all happen in the dark Matrix? Did it actually happen in AU Victorian London but then the Doctor and Ace set it right? Was it some kind of fever dream? All of the above?
The story starts with the Doctor putting Ace off her footing by being in a terrible mood with her, then after an upsetting encounter with a golem trying to take her to stay with the First Doctor and Susan during the events preceding An Unearthly Child only they're not in Totter's Lane. So they go investigating and stumble upon Barbara and Ian, who explain, essentially, that they've landed in an AU version of the 1960s where Britain is part of America and everything is terrible because President Kennedy has just been shot in London and this all goes back to Jack The Ripper, so the Doctor and Ace go back to Victorian London to investigate, which results in the Doctor attacking Ace, losing his memory in his best Eight Doctor impersonation (‘WHO AM I...?’ he howled across the city), and becoming Jack the Ripper, and Ace becoming a cheetah person and getting abducted by a circus.
Things escalate from there.
The Wandering Jew is involved. The Valeyard is ultimately unmasked as the Big Bad. The universe is ripped apart and put back together.
I don't know.
This sounds extremely dismissive, I think, and that's because this book confused the hell out of me at several parts (particularly, as I've mentioned, the ending, where I had no idea whether or not the events of the plot had even happened; based on the Valeyard's explanation I would assume everything had occurred within the dark Matrix but the scene with the Doctor and Ace at the non-evil circus kind of implies that everything really did happen in the AU before everything was set right...?), and there are parts I genuinely disliked (Ace getting menaced in unpleasantly sexualized ways, for example, although at least she gets to turn into a cheetah and rip men to shreds, and I don't understand why we needed the "Doctor is Jack the Ripper" plot). But the prose is genuinely very good and evocative and moving, the whole subplot with the Doctor and Ace bringing hope to a despairing AU!Barbara and Ian is lovely, and the exploration of Ace's continuing loss of faith in the Doctor (tracing that theme from Curse of Fenric) is dealt with quite masterfully -- she wants him to be someone she can trust implicity; she knows that he isn't that person.
Really enjoyed it. Really did not understand it, but really enjoyed it.
He could see an unfamiliar face. A young man in a dark frock coat. Tumbling dark hair. Bright, inquisitive eyes.
‘Who am I?’
Images came faster. He could taste, smell, hear.
‘Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be wanderers in the fourth dimension? To be exiles?’
Days like crazy paving.
A walk in eternity.
The frantic life was played out in full before him. His Life.
Returned to him by the telepathic circuit. By the TARDIS.
The silence was heartstoppingly sudden.