The Last Resort

Paul Leonard

for the defence: Venusian Lullaby (NA); Dancing the Code (MA); The Turing Test (EDA)

for the prosecution: Evolution (EDA); Dreamstone Moon (EDA); Revolution Man (EDA)

Good Times Inc is a holiday firm with a difference, taking tourists back to Ancient Rome, Egypt at the time of the Pharoahs, etc. They're not discrete about it either, bringing burger bars and souvenir shops back with them. Of course this changes the past, producing another parallel world each time there is a divergence. Another world, and another set of people - and it soon becomes obvious to all the Doctors, and all the Anjis, and all the Fitzs, that things are getting out of hand...

Incidentally, I think the idea of another world being created every time a change occurs was previously used in the fifth Doctor comic strip 4-Dimensional Vistas. Not that I'm an anorak or anything, I was just saying is all.

This is a very readable book, one which I breezed through in only a few days, and one which I enjoyed right up to the end when the book suddenly stopped and I found myself still confused. Having said that, the Doctor doesn't do very much, Sabbath does a lot but we never find out why, and by the end of it the notion of alternative Fitzs & Anjis dying has started to become rather old-hat. There are some clever narrative tricks (repetitions of text, multiple versions of the same chapter) but the plot just seems to lack a climax.

Not a great deal this time out - the events of Reckless Engineering get a mention, and in a very brief and very odd sequence on pages 233/234 what can only be the Daleks and what are almost certainly the Cybermen pop up. I think they are there to remind us of those occasions in the past where the Doctor's companions have died, but then I thought Bad Wolf would turn out to be a renegade Zarbi, so what do I know?

There are references back to The Adventuress of Henrietta Street too. Juliette from that book is mentioned by Fitz (page 115); also very interesting is Sabbath's comment on page 88 that the temporal chaos is due to, amongst other things, "people having carnal relations across time zones". A warning then, to anybody who thinks there should be hanky-panky in the TARDIS.

Not in any sense of the word continuity, but it is worth honouring the breathlessly cavalier amount of name dropping (or product placement perhaps) that goes on in this book. McDonald's, Microsoft, Coca-Cola and IBM are all mentioned, in the context of being massive corporations intent on raping all of time and space for profit (no change there then). FatBoy Slim gets a mention too, and, although not named, a group that can only be the Village People appears. Respected sci-fi author Robert Heinlein crops up as well, being referred to as the President of the USA. Perhaps in some parallel universe, Robert Heinlein has written a book in which respected sci-fi author Paul Leonard is given the part of Prime Minister of the UK. Hmm, perhaps not...

Fans of "Revenge of the Sith" will be thrilled to learn that Fitz clearly states on page 208 that he once saw all NINE Star Wars movies, in the year 2040. So that means that sometime between now and 2034, George Lucas will be back again. Coming from the same show that predicted a female Prime Minister and BBC Three (and indeed the death of Arthur Fowler) I feel confident that time will vindicate this piece of wild speculation. Oh yes.

Trix appears (yes, again!) and the very end of the book appears to show her finally being discovered by the Doctor. If this is indeed the case, then I suspect that dear Anji's time may be short. First the Ninth Doctor, now Anji - I don't think I can take much more...

Finally, and rather oddly, the TARDIS has a room devoted entirely to umbrellas and hats. How, erm, quaint.

He's back!! And it's about Time!! (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

Actually, Sabbath doesn't appear to be up to mischief on this occasion. Quite the contrary in fact, he seems very keen to sort out the fracturing of the timelines, and for some unexplained reason is the only person who isn't being 'duplicated' every time the world changes. Granted, the resolution, in which the alternative timelines are shut down, does involve a killing or two, but other than that tiny bit of moral ambiguity, Sabbath is apparently on the side of the good guys this time.

Also unexplained is the fact that, despite his welcome absence from Reckless Engineering, Sabbath seems to know what went on in that previous book. Maybe he's one of the last remaining avid readers of the EDAs?

Oh, and for followers of Sabbath's list of aliases, for no apparent reason he spends chapter 12 under the pseudonym of Khal.

The Doctor doesn't actually appear until well over halfway through the book (page 152 to be precise) and to be honest even when he does finally show up, he doesn't do very much. Frankly, the role that would normally be reserved for the Doctor, the investigating and exploring and explaining and resolving (ie, all the actual 'doing' stuff) is taken here by Sabbath; and if it weren't for the fact that this is such a long way into the Sabbath arc, I would be inclined to think it was a book originally plotted without him, and into which Sabbath was shoehorned simply by replacing the Doctor with Sabbath for the lion's share of the novel. Either way, it's a very poor show for the Doctor, who appears by turns baffled, distant, and impotent.

It's worth saying that the Doctor in these past few books has been, in my opinion, very far removed from the eighth Doctor. In fact, in his lack of anything much to do here, he's not really Doctorish at all. Whatever else the failings of the EDAs, I think these later ones have lost sight of who the title character is, and in that sense they do make for very unsatisfying reading. It's a sad fate for a range that started in earnest with Vampire Science, which does an emotional and overwhelming job of making us know and love the eighth Doctor. Maybe I'm just getting old...

This Book: Another bargain from eBay, picking up an absolutely mint copy for £2.20 including postage. That makes a saving of £3.79, which means...

Running Score: ...that I've now broken the £100 pound barrier, with a cumulative saving of £103.00 against RRP to date. Fantastic (to coin a phrase)!!