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A review by thoroughlymodernreviewer
Doctor Who: The Christmas Invasion by Jenny T. Colgan
4.0
(3.5/5)
Jenny T. Colgan had the hardest job of any of the four authors who novelized an episode for this first wave of new Target books: she had to take an episode that I really didn't care for and make it a good novel. I just really didn't care for the televised version of The Christmas Invasion. The Doctor's asleep for nearly 3/4 of the story and I never much cared for Rose and Mickey, so it's near the bottom of my list of favorite Christmas specials. I say this to explain why I didn't adore this book. All the problems I have with it boil down to the problems I had with the original script and not with the actual writing of this novel. Jenny T. Colgan has a gift for prose and her prose is what makes this novel actually enjoyable. The plot is still extremely weak, but the way Colgan describes everything and the way she's able to get into the heads of each of her characters, and deepen our understanding of them, their emotions, and their motivations makes this book a worthwhile read.
On the surface, it's probably the novelization that stays the closest to what we saw on TV. Like Paul Cornell's Twice Upon a Time, she doesn't change a whole lot from the televised story to the novelization, but she does add some new stuff. Most of that new stuff comes in the form of superb characterization. There aren't many new scenes, but the point of view is often different when compared to the TV version. Colgan takes us into the heads of a lot of different characters, and the way she does that really elevates this mediocre story into an enjoyable one. She spends a lot of time with the UNIT folk and Harriet Jones, and the way she fleshes out all of those characters helps us forget the absence of the Doctor for a little bit. It helps that she's able to do the thing that Terrance Dicks (legendary Doctor Who writer who wrote like half of the original Target novelizations) did: she can weave a tapestry with just a few words and make it beautiful.
The Christmas Invasion is a weak story. The Doctor's literally just regenerated and he spends the vast majority of the story completely unconscious. That may have been super interesting and subversive when it aired, but it doesn't hold up all that well. You spend the whole time wishing it could just get on with it and bring the Doctor into the story. But it doesn't until the very end, and sure, that climax is really good, but it doesn't make up for the forty-five minutes that led up to it. Colgan's novelization suffers from this, too, but it's saved, primarily, by her excellent characterization and her beautiful prose. She's able to turn an episode I really dislike into a book I enjoyed well enough. It's easily my least favorite of the four new Target novelizations, but it's still very good. It's a big improvement on the actual episode and an enjoyable read, overall.
Jenny T. Colgan had the hardest job of any of the four authors who novelized an episode for this first wave of new Target books: she had to take an episode that I really didn't care for and make it a good novel. I just really didn't care for the televised version of The Christmas Invasion. The Doctor's asleep for nearly 3/4 of the story and I never much cared for Rose and Mickey, so it's near the bottom of my list of favorite Christmas specials. I say this to explain why I didn't adore this book. All the problems I have with it boil down to the problems I had with the original script and not with the actual writing of this novel. Jenny T. Colgan has a gift for prose and her prose is what makes this novel actually enjoyable. The plot is still extremely weak, but the way Colgan describes everything and the way she's able to get into the heads of each of her characters, and deepen our understanding of them, their emotions, and their motivations makes this book a worthwhile read.
On the surface, it's probably the novelization that stays the closest to what we saw on TV. Like Paul Cornell's Twice Upon a Time, she doesn't change a whole lot from the televised story to the novelization, but she does add some new stuff. Most of that new stuff comes in the form of superb characterization. There aren't many new scenes, but the point of view is often different when compared to the TV version. Colgan takes us into the heads of a lot of different characters, and the way she does that really elevates this mediocre story into an enjoyable one. She spends a lot of time with the UNIT folk and Harriet Jones, and the way she fleshes out all of those characters helps us forget the absence of the Doctor for a little bit. It helps that she's able to do the thing that Terrance Dicks (legendary Doctor Who writer who wrote like half of the original Target novelizations) did: she can weave a tapestry with just a few words and make it beautiful.
The Christmas Invasion is a weak story. The Doctor's literally just regenerated and he spends the vast majority of the story completely unconscious. That may have been super interesting and subversive when it aired, but it doesn't hold up all that well. You spend the whole time wishing it could just get on with it and bring the Doctor into the story. But it doesn't until the very end, and sure, that climax is really good, but it doesn't make up for the forty-five minutes that led up to it. Colgan's novelization suffers from this, too, but it's saved, primarily, by her excellent characterization and her beautiful prose. She's able to turn an episode I really dislike into a book I enjoyed well enough. It's easily my least favorite of the four new Target novelizations, but it's still very good. It's a big improvement on the actual episode and an enjoyable read, overall.