I love the Twelfth Doctor. He’s a gleeful optimist carrying several millennia’s worth of realism. A passionate young man raging against the confines of the crusty old body he inhabits, and an immediate contrast with a predecessor that hid his manipulative cynicism behind a cheerful young face and a cool bow tie. He asks if he’s a good man, but only because he wants to live up to the standards of the universe that he holds so highly, and loves so much.
Rockstar Grandpa.
But, unfortunately, you would be forgiven for not seeing any of that when you actually sit down and watch his episodes. There are a few undeniable gems buried in the past few seasons, but overall the Twelfth Doctor’s era has been hampered by too few stories that refuse to let his companions shine, and too many where the solution seems to be for everyone to stand around and talk for a bit. But, as we all know, Doctor Who is far more than just an hourly sit-down in front of the telly every week, and so we turn to this year’s trio of New Series Adventures, starring Bill, Nardole, and the Twelfth Doctor. Can these last few adventures prove that Twelve is indeed a good man, or are we just going to have to wait until Big Finish inevitably gets the audio rights?
Plague City, Diamond Dogs, and The Shining Man give us a balanced selection of settings for this year’s releases. Mirroring series 10’s mission statement of providing a clear jumping-on point for new fans, these three stories could easily work as a basic primer for the Doctor Who universe, offering a choice of adventures set in Earth’s history; outer space in the far future; and a familiar present-day locale with hidden depths. It’s easy to see a young Whovian eagerly begin to explore the Doctor’s world with these books, mere minutes after the hopeful climax of “The Pilot.”
So then, would that young Whovian like what they find? Naturally, that depends on which book they choose. Sadly, it isn’t long before a clear divide begins to form between one of these books and its two counterparts, and Mike Tucker’s Diamond Dogs, unfortunately, is the clear runner-up in this year’s selection. While the stiflingly sterile mining station nestled in the harsh atmosphere of Saturn is a fitting backdrop for a familiar base-under-siege story, the overall world it tries to create is painfully thin. Suffering from the same pacing issues that plague most of this year’s TV episodes, and its failure to correctly characterise its two leads (made all the more noticeable by the fact that the other two books succeed so effortlessly), it’s difficult to imagine picking this one up again.
There are a few moments of genuine tension, such as the Doctor freefalling into Saturn’s crushing atmosphere, or using the TARDIS as a rescue capsule for a diamond miner gone adrift. But these are few and far between, dotted amongst long periods of characters simply talking. While these periods are presumably both to explore the politics of the station, and to progress the industrial espionage subplot, they still come off as time unduly wasted.
To its credit, the station’s crew are memorable enough, and there is some fun to be had with the slimy corporate suits inspecting the station, but it’s disappointing to see the Doctor and Bill looking an awful lot like the TARDIS team from season 8. Ultimately, Diamond Dogs’ biggest problem is that it is simply dull, with its final few pages being an utter drag to finish once all the questions had finally been answered. It may be worth a read for fans of BUS stories, as well as those who enjoy similar space settings, but in both cases, there are other, far better options to go for before picking up this one.
Cavan Scott’s The Shining Man, on the other hand, provides us with a story far better than most of the Doctor and Bill’s televised adventures. From its outset, the story is a distinctly gloomy one, with its bleak, overcast suburbia contrasting against the warm, homely confines of the office that the Doctor has called home this season. The world of The Shining Man is one with long shadows, and urban mysteries echoing back to something primal and otherworldly.
It also feels decidedly lived in, with its characters really feeling like human beings, each trying to understand the mystery of the Shining Men in their own ways, before the Doctor and Bill arrive to really unravel what’s going on. The ultimate direction in which the story goes is also surprisingly interesting, heavily touching on a piece of almost-forgotten Torchwood canon, of all things. The scale grows at a gleefully satisfying pace, resulting in a threat that grows from humble, earthbound beginnings, to the sort of thing that wouldn’t look out of place in the seventh Doctor’s rogue’s gallery.
And amongst all this, perhaps most pleasingly of all, are the Doctor and Bill. It’s no coincidence that I mention the seventh Doctor, as it’s very easy to see more than a hint of him and his bomber jacket-clad companion in this new TARDIS team. The Doctor effortlessly runs rings around everyone else in the room, constantly putting pieces together, while his companion asks a few pertinent questions to help the audience play catch-up, when she isn’t doing some investigating of her own, albeit with a far more human warmth than her professor can manage. What really sells it, however, is that this is still very clearly the twelfth Doctor and Bill that we’re dealing with. The Doctor’s questions and occasional prickly rudeness mask a passionate warmth, and a genuine drive to keep everyone safe. Bill, meanwhile, works to resolve the problem at her own pace, asking questions of everyone, displaying a more external way of thinking, as opposed to the Doctor’s internal one. An essential read for fans of both Bill and Twelve alike, it’s a deep shame that we didn’t get to see more of this relationship on screen.
And finally, capping off the year’s selection, we have Jonathan Morris’ Plague City, the first and most likely last novel appearance of Nardole. A story that delights in the grim realities of history, it is also one of the more melancholy adventures for this TARDIS team, despite a distinctly cathartic ending. 1600s Edinburgh is gloriously characterised as a maze of murky back alleys, with every street covered in filth, and wattle and daub buildings looming overhead to create a thick, heady atmosphere. Its inhabitants are much the same, and the novel never really stops reminding the reader of its setting, with commonplace mentions that the native characters are dressed in doublets and breeches while Bill strolls around in Ace’s old jacket.
The story, while emotionally rough at times, is a very thematic one. What begins as a mystery regarding a sinister plague doctor and a rather friendly set of ghosts eventually becomes something of a meditation on the nature of grief, with a number of Edinburgh’s plague-stricken populace serving as an exploration on the many forms it can take. Once again, the pacing is satisfying, managing to work even as the TARDIS team spends most of the story off doing different things, with most of Bill’s actions seeming to only further an unrelated, though deeply touching, subplot. That aforementioned cathartic ending, when it happens, is definitely well-earned.
Just as in The Shining Man, the characterisation of Plague City, especially regarding its three leads, is excellent. Nardole is the real star here, managing to effortlessly capture his on-screen persona for some offbeat, deadpan humour. The Doctor and Bill, likewise, reflect the best parts of their on-screen relationship in a way that most televised episodes can’t hope to match. Bill arguably has a part here that plays to her strengths far more than any of her other appearances, with her empathy and inquisitive nature carrying a plot by itself. The Doctor, meanwhile, showcases the contrast between his inner warmth and his outer harshness, insisting that they aren’t allowed to save anyone from the plague, before his own sheer compassion forces him to relent. Due to the nature of the story, it’s hard not to grow attached the other characters, and one late development carries more weight than anything the show has managed in years.
So then, would that young Whovian really like what they find as they take their first steps into the Doctor Who universe? Well, that depends. The three books they have to choose from aren’t a bad bunch, with one dud sitting next to what will probably turn out to be two genuine classics of the twelfth Doctor’s era.
With any luck, however, no matter what they choose, these books can easily show them what Doctor Who is supposed to be. There are monsters, yes, alien menaces crawling up from within the bowels of the earth, yes, and otherworldly creatures hiding in the shadows, yes, all just out of sight.
But there are also those who stop the monsters, who travel in a big, blue box through time and space. An inquisitive, friendly young girl, and a strange little man in a duffle coat. And above all there is the Doctor, who can’t help but help, because the universe is full of people who deserve helping. The Doctor, who can be a classic character, worth remembering, even when he might not seem that way on TV.
The Doctor.
Rockstar Grandpa.
Diamond Dogs, Plague City, and The Shining Man are still in print and can be bought new for the RRP of $11.99. They can also be bought as ebooks for $6.50 on Amazon.
Will Martin
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