I left the reading of Hunter’s Moon till last for the April Doctor Who
book releases, as its premise didn’t seem all that exciting. Quite a
few of the most recent books have been quite innovative in their use of
‘timey wimey stuff’, which has led to some quite exciting plots and
narrative structures. Hunter’s Moon, on the other hand, is just
a straight narrative, and thus seems quite tame in comparison. Since
most of the action takes place on a dour, deserted moon, this
book appears quite similar in mood and tone to some of my least
favourite TV episodes, such as 42, The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit.
I’m not familiar with Paul Finch’s work, although he has previously adapted one of the classic series’ ‘Lost Stories’ for audio. This adventure, Leviathan, was originally written by Paul’s father, the late Brian Finch, who enjoyed a long, successful career as a TV scriptwriter for many series such as All Creatures Great and Small, Bergerac, and Heartbeat. However, Paul Finch is evidently a Doctor Who fan who knows his stuff, as there are references to Terileptils, Black Light, transmat, and Aggedor. Although he’s perhaps too big a fan of Eighties’ Doctor Who, as part of the plot involves Amy having to pilot the TARDIS (albeit via the Doctor’s instructions), which is much akin to Tegan’s attempts to fly our favourite time vessel during Peter Davison’s reign as the Doctor. Much in keeping with the present series of Doctor Who is the Doctor’s anger at the kidnapping of his friends. In much the same way, the Doctor’s morality is a bit inconsistent here, as he saves the life of a malevolent amoebous blob by transmatting it, yet later he kills one of the humanoid villains with some plastic explosive without any compunction. Indeed, the dispatching of the main villains at the end is quite similar in distasteful tone to the notorious acid bath scene from Vengeance on Varos; although here, as in that earlier adventure, the Doctor is only indirectly responsible for these deaths.
Paul Finch is a good and capable storyteller. However, as above, we’ve recently been spoiled with some really fantastic writers for the Doctor Who books range, and Hunter’s Moon doesn’t sparkle in comparison with their books.
I’m not familiar with Paul Finch’s work, although he has previously adapted one of the classic series’ ‘Lost Stories’ for audio. This adventure, Leviathan, was originally written by Paul’s father, the late Brian Finch, who enjoyed a long, successful career as a TV scriptwriter for many series such as All Creatures Great and Small, Bergerac, and Heartbeat. However, Paul Finch is evidently a Doctor Who fan who knows his stuff, as there are references to Terileptils, Black Light, transmat, and Aggedor. Although he’s perhaps too big a fan of Eighties’ Doctor Who, as part of the plot involves Amy having to pilot the TARDIS (albeit via the Doctor’s instructions), which is much akin to Tegan’s attempts to fly our favourite time vessel during Peter Davison’s reign as the Doctor. Much in keeping with the present series of Doctor Who is the Doctor’s anger at the kidnapping of his friends. In much the same way, the Doctor’s morality is a bit inconsistent here, as he saves the life of a malevolent amoebous blob by transmatting it, yet later he kills one of the humanoid villains with some plastic explosive without any compunction. Indeed, the dispatching of the main villains at the end is quite similar in distasteful tone to the notorious acid bath scene from Vengeance on Varos; although here, as in that earlier adventure, the Doctor is only indirectly responsible for these deaths.
Paul Finch is a good and capable storyteller. However, as above, we’ve recently been spoiled with some really fantastic writers for the Doctor Who books range, and Hunter’s Moon doesn’t sparkle in comparison with their books.