TITLE

The Sleep of Reason

AUTHOR

Martin Day

PREVIOUS FORM

for the defence: The Menagerie (MA); he was also one-third of the team that gave us the wonderful Discontinuity Guide

for the prosecution: The Hollow Men (PDA)

WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT ALFIE?

An alien race, the Sholem-Luz, tries to manifest on Earth in1903, in a mental asylum. A convenient fire foils their diabolical scheme, but when another 'institute' is established on the site in 2003, they decide to try again...

THE 100 WORD REVIEW

I'd better start by saying that I enjoyed reading this one. But... looking back, the plot is pretty slim - in particular, unless I missed something, there's no actual reason for the events of 1903 to be repeating in 2003. I wasn't keen on the resolution either; there didn't seem any need for the Doctor to defeat the alien menace in 1903, when he could surely have done the same thing in 2003; and it stretches credulity to suggest that the Doctor would spend the best part of a century just lying in a sarcophagus waiting to wake up in 2003.

The book's 'guest' characters, particularly Caroline/Laska Darnell around who much of the story revolves, are all well-drawn and come across as credible, real people with normal, everyday concerns; unfortunately the regulars are less well-served. Apart from a couple of non-PC comments which mark him out as a man from the 1960s, Fitz is largely a cipher, sketched in as 'loyal male back-up'. And Trix has NO distinguishing features at all - her position of 'strong female role model' could be filled by literally any of the new female companions created for the various book ranges, from Benny Summerfield on.

I - AM - THE - DOCTOR! (IN 100 WORDS!)

As for the Doctor, he comes across as more like his seventh than his eighth incarnation, and the book, with its TARDIS crew operating as a crime-fighting team, and with them already in situ when the story begins, wouldn't have been at all out of place in the NA range. The Doctor spends much of the book just occasionally popping up, not giving away anything about what he's actually up to, and although he does actually save the day, we don't see it, we only hear about it! A good book, but not necessarily a good Doctor Who book?

MONEY IN THE BANK ZILDA!

This Book: Have I lost my edge, no longer trawling eBay for bargain, like the David Dickinson of the EDA world? Well, this one was yet another brand new sitting-duck from Play.com, saving another £1.00, so maybe...