Novel: The Eight Doctors
Something that's great about books, especially Doctor Who books, that I tend to forget sometimes is the fact that poor acting and poor visuals are removed from the equation and you're left with the bare story to think about. This makes it easier for people to look at it and decide whether or not they truly liked it, so it didn't take me long to decide I like The Eight Doctors.
Now before anybody attempts to murder me for this statement, allow me to try and justify my claim. I'll even start off by saying The Eight Doctors is probably the worst thing Terrance Dicks has done. The Eight Doctors has a lot of continuity issues, more than The Movie does, however, I still find it charming in a way.
Dicks, although he's wanking himself Moffat style in this novel, has obviously written this from a place of love for the franchise, and it's entertaining. Although it does have its flaws and they are pretty big flaws, The Eight Doctors is just a fun ass read. It has some pretty hilarious moments and some pretty good dark humor in it, the prime example being Ryoth's death by Drashig or Eight decapitating vampires to save himself and Romana, then cracking morbid jokes. Another fun moment is when we see Six and Eight bond and become fond of each other. I mean it's my two favorite Doctors getting along, why wouldn't I love it?
Speaking of Six, can I just say I loved his section the most out of all of them? Since I first watched The Trial of a Time Lord I've always been interested in the enormous questions it left unanswered and to finally see an answer to so many of those questions in this, especially after listening to the Big Finish audios dealing with the trial and the Valeyard, I can safely say I wasn't disappointed. Towards the end of the sequence it goes downhill, but then Borusa comes back and the rest of it's just chilling.
However, I'd definitely say there's a lot of this story I don't like. The very beginning where Eight is arrested for being in possession of crack is a slog to get through, and the first three Doctors characterizations are off, especially Three's. Yeah, I hate hate HATE Three's sequence in this novel. It's a long boring poorly paced section and at the end of it, Three considers shooting Eight with the Master's TCE and taking his future self's TARDIS. It's a terrible section of the book that needs to burn.
My concluding thoughts? The Eight Doctors is a pretty enjoyable book. Is it stupid? Yes, absolutely, it's probably the fanwankiest thing to ever come out of the franchise but it's still fun, and if you're having fun, that's all that matters.
EIGHTH DOCTOR AMNESIA COUNTER: 2
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