A review by supeskenobi
Doctor Who: The Christmas Invasion by Jenny T. Colgan
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Ah the Target Novelizations. The only way for people to revisit their favourite Doctor Who episodes, in a by-gone era where repeats and VHS/DVDs; didn't exist. Now as someone who grew up with Nu-Who and the almost endless repeats on BBC 3, I consider myself and people of my age incredibly lucky that we had easy access to these stories right from the very beginning of our Doctor Who fandom thanks to BBC 3 and the old basic DVD releases (with up to three and sometimes four Who stories!!!), so when the BBC announced they were bringing back the Target Novels for a brand new era of the show, I was excited and curious to see if it would work. Spoilers: it did.
'The Christmas Invasion' was selected along with a handful of other episodes to be turned into a novel by the BBC due to its impact on the shows history, being a) the first episode of Doctor Who to air on December 25th since 1965's 'The Feast of Steven' (episode seven of the twelve part epic 'The Dalek's Masterplan') and b) the first story of the ever popular Tenth incarnation of the titular hero, played by David Tennant. Whilst being written for television by the then, and current show-runner Russell T. Davies, this novel has been written by author Jenny Colgan whom I can say does a wonderful job of capturing the style and feel of the RTD Era of the show.
Whilst the book does bounce around from different POV's, sometimes in the same chapter (though never for too long), it fleshes out quite wonderfully many moments from the episode, whilst still staying loyal to what was transmitted. OK the story is more or less a copy of what was on screen, with a few addition of deleted material, which could be a turn off for some readers; but because I knew the story like the back of my hand, this was no problem really as it really felt like there was a movie (well TV show) playing in my head.
Where the book shines, is with its fleshing out of certain characters and moments from the episode, giving us more to them and to their fates. Most fleshed out was Daniel Llewellyn, head of the Guinevere One Space Mission. A side character in the episode, Colgan allows us inside his head and gives him a nice little romantic storyline that makes one all the more upset when he is killed by the Sycorax Leader. If you're angry at me spoiling this, it aired nearly eighteen years ago and if you haven't seen it; then what the hell are you doing reading the bloody novelization? Go watch it now, and come back later.
With the inclusion of the Children in Need Minisode 'Born Again' at the beginning and epilogue, we get some truly lovely insights into the thoughts of Rose, Mickey and Jackie and how their lives are effected by The Doctor, which is something the show touches on, but due to the forty-five minute runtime; never got more than a brief moment or two.
A nice little read, that was a breeze to get through (even if you haven't seen the episode for a number of years).
'The Christmas Invasion' was selected along with a handful of other episodes to be turned into a novel by the BBC due to its impact on the shows history, being a) the first episode of Doctor Who to air on December 25th since 1965's 'The Feast of Steven' (episode seven of the twelve part epic 'The Dalek's Masterplan') and b) the first story of the ever popular Tenth incarnation of the titular hero, played by David Tennant. Whilst being written for television by the then, and current show-runner Russell T. Davies, this novel has been written by author Jenny Colgan whom I can say does a wonderful job of capturing the style and feel of the RTD Era of the show.
Whilst the book does bounce around from different POV's, sometimes in the same chapter (though never for too long), it fleshes out quite wonderfully many moments from the episode, whilst still staying loyal to what was transmitted. OK the story is more or less a copy of what was on screen, with a few addition of deleted material, which could be a turn off for some readers; but because I knew the story like the back of my hand, this was no problem really as it really felt like there was a movie (well TV show) playing in my head.
Where the book shines, is with its fleshing out of certain characters and moments from the episode, giving us more to them and to their fates. Most fleshed out was Daniel Llewellyn, head of the Guinevere One Space Mission. A side character in the episode, Colgan allows us inside his head and gives him a nice little romantic storyline that makes one all the more upset when he is killed by the Sycorax Leader. If you're angry at me spoiling this, it aired nearly eighteen years ago and if you haven't seen it; then what the hell are you doing reading the bloody novelization? Go watch it now, and come back later.
With the inclusion of the Children in Need Minisode 'Born Again' at the beginning and epilogue, we get some truly lovely insights into the thoughts of Rose, Mickey and Jackie and how their lives are effected by The Doctor, which is something the show touches on, but due to the forty-five minute runtime; never got more than a brief moment or two.
A nice little read, that was a breeze to get through (even if you haven't seen the episode for a number of years).