A review by lokster71
Doctor Who: Battlefield by Marc Platt
3.0
Firstly, it is a shame that Ben Aaronovitch didn't novelise his own story as it would have been interesting to see how he saw the story before the BBC got to it. However, I think Marc Platt does a fine job.
He does what I like about a lot of the later Target novelisations. He expands on parts of the story, filling in gaps and adding depth to it. For example, we get a description of the future incarnation of the Doctor that will be Merlin. Characters like Brigadier Bambera get better, more detailed introductions and still the story gets told.
Basically, Battlefield is the story of the final battle between Morgaine, her son Mordred and Merlin, who might be the Doctor. They've come to find Arthur, who legend tells us is resting until Britain's greatest need. Except these people come from a parallel world. Where, in the reverse of Clarke's law, a sufficiently advanced form of magic is indistinguishable from technology. It's a world of knights and honour. Of magic and demons. It is a bit of an odd fit for Doctor Who but it just about seems to work.
We get to see the Doctor's old friend Brigadier Alexander Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, who himself feels like a visitor from an older world. The Brigadier was always cannier than the Doctor thought. A bit smarter too and that Brigadier is the one that pops up in this book, which I like. He also gets his best moment in my opinion, when he takes on the Destroyer.
This is also a story about nuclear weapons. Both literally and figuratively. There is a real one, which UNIT are trying to deal with and the Destroyer. I suspect named because of Oppenheimer's famous quote at the first successful test of an atomic bomb: "I have become death, destroyer of worlds." It seems like a story of its time. Now perhaps climate change - which gets a nod in the novelisation - would be the more likely focus.
Oh, and the other thing I like is the way it makes UNIT seem like a proper massive military organisation.
Enjoyed that.
He does what I like about a lot of the later Target novelisations. He expands on parts of the story, filling in gaps and adding depth to it. For example, we get a description of the future incarnation of the Doctor that will be Merlin. Characters like Brigadier Bambera get better, more detailed introductions and still the story gets told.
Basically, Battlefield is the story of the final battle between Morgaine, her son Mordred and Merlin, who might be the Doctor. They've come to find Arthur, who legend tells us is resting until Britain's greatest need. Except these people come from a parallel world. Where, in the reverse of Clarke's law, a sufficiently advanced form of magic is indistinguishable from technology. It's a world of knights and honour. Of magic and demons. It is a bit of an odd fit for Doctor Who but it just about seems to work.
We get to see the Doctor's old friend Brigadier Alexander Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, who himself feels like a visitor from an older world. The Brigadier was always cannier than the Doctor thought. A bit smarter too and that Brigadier is the one that pops up in this book, which I like. He also gets his best moment in my opinion, when he takes on the Destroyer.
This is also a story about nuclear weapons. Both literally and figuratively. There is a real one, which UNIT are trying to deal with and the Destroyer. I suspect named because of Oppenheimer's famous quote at the first successful test of an atomic bomb: "I have become death, destroyer of worlds." It seems like a story of its time. Now perhaps climate change - which gets a nod in the novelisation - would be the more likely focus.
Oh, and the other thing I like is the way it makes UNIT seem like a proper massive military organisation.
Enjoyed that.