wllmrlw's review
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
scarletsky's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
kmt75's review
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.75
It takes less time to read than to watch the episodes - so it has that going for it, which is nice.
scottishvix's review
2.0
This is a bog standard classic Doctor Who novelisation. Unlike some of the others I've read recently, it simply rushes through what happens in the episode, with no time for reflection or getting into the character's heads.
That isn't Hinchcliffe's fault. For one thing, I think he's a far better televison script writer and editor than he is a novelist. But all these novelisations were written by the series writers and script editors and I think it was expected that he would do his part. For another, this was not a story he scripted. It was actually a Terry Nation script from long before Hinchcliffe joined the team. And there's the simple size of the book. These books were supposed to be short. And that works for shorter stories. But for a six episode story there's a lot to cram into a short space and the first thing that gets thrown out is introspection.
Hinchcliffe does get some bonus points from me for using "lugs" as a descriptive term in the third person narrative. I've never seen that in a book outside a colloquial term used by a character and it made me smile.
That isn't Hinchcliffe's fault. For one thing, I think he's a far better televison script writer and editor than he is a novelist. But all these novelisations were written by the series writers and script editors and I think it was expected that he would do his part. For another, this was not a story he scripted. It was actually a Terry Nation script from long before Hinchcliffe joined the team. And there's the simple size of the book. These books were supposed to be short. And that works for shorter stories. But for a six episode story there's a lot to cram into a short space and the first thing that gets thrown out is introspection.
Hinchcliffe does get some bonus points from me for using "lugs" as a descriptive term in the third person narrative. I've never seen that in a book outside a colloquial term used by a character and it made me smile.
preiman790's review
2.0
A feeble story and profoundly lackluster writing conspire to make this one of the most disappointing books I've read in a long time. It's main redeeming characteristics being it's relatively short length and that it was about the Doctor, all be it nominally. I give it a 2 out of 5 stars and honestly think I am being over generous in that.
jazzab1971's review
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
2.75
I have been reading the Target books every now and then in story order, and my latest dip in brings me here, to Marinus and the 5th novelisation so far. And yet again we get a telling of how Barbara and Ian came to be travelling in the TARDIS. This is the fourth time in five novels. First we had "An Unearthly Child", which is fair enough as that is when it all began, then Whitaker's re-imagening of how it all began in "The Daleks" who can be forgiven as his was the first novel published back in the 60s and I suppose he didn't want it to seem like it was beginning mid story.
However, why this book and Edge of Destruction felt the need to recap the story isn't so clear. They were both published well into the run of collection, so it was pretty much established what the show and the range was about. Surely we didn't need yet another going over of the reason why they are in the books at all. I suspect these recaps have been added to bump up the page count!
Philip Hinchcliffe does an otherwise straightforward retelling of the Marinus tale.
However, why this book and Edge of Destruction felt the need to recap the story isn't so clear. They were both published well into the run of collection, so it was pretty much established what the show and the range was about. Surely we didn't need yet another going over of the reason why they are in the books at all. I suspect these recaps have been added to bump up the page count!
Philip Hinchcliffe does an otherwise straightforward retelling of the Marinus tale.
nwhyte's review
http://nhw.livejournal.com/1015730.html?#cutid2[return][return]Doctor Who and the Keys of Marinus, by Philip Hinchcliffe from Terry Nation's script, was the first new First Doctor novel published for four years (after Doctor Who and the Tenth Planet, and the three 1960s ones) and only one more was published in the next four years. It seemed an odd choice at the time, and it seems an odd choice now; I can only assume that Hinchcliffe had some particular personal interest in the story (this was his third and last - so far - novelisation, the other two being the much more obvious choices of The Masque of Mandragora and The Seeds of Doom). It starts off somewhat juvenile in style, but picks up as Hinchcliffe gets into the story. The third episode (of six) drags a bit, but it's a decent effort.
octavia_cade's review
1.0
I'm watching Doctor Who from the beginning, reading the novelisations as I go, and to be honest they're just not very good. Which is a particular shame for this story, as I found the episodes of "The Keys of Marinus" to be really enjoyable (certainly more so than the horribly tedious "Marco Polo", which preceded it). But as with the other novelisations, this is very short and very thin. Like the others, it does get points for pacing - there's no room for the slightest waffle - but I struggle to see the point of going to all the effort of novelisation if it's just going to be a flat copy. Admittedly, there do exist some very minor changes here, however, and one of them is deeply annoying. There's just no reason to add a scene of Ian slapping Barbara across the face, as he certainly doesn't in the episode (and never would). If Hinchcliffe was going to change anything about the original, he would have done far better to paper over that plot hole of Ian, Barbara, and Altos leaving their transporter devices behind in the snow hut when they went looking for the third key. Ridiculously stupid.
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