Not our name, but our passion
The Doctor Who Roleplaying Game was a table top game published in 1985 by the Gaming company FASA. This is the players manual for the game.
I am not a gamer myself but the booklet has the forms needed for gameplay and a lot of information that would make the game more immersive. 6 out of 10.
Auton was a direct to video film written and directed by Nicholas Briggs and produced by Bill Bags and BBV Productions during the Wilderness Years of Doctor Who. It is the first of a trilogy of videos produced in the late 1990s.
Dr Sally Arnold has been studying a Nestene sphere similar to the one seen in the Doctor Who TV story Spearhead From Space. After the death of her friend and assistant a UNIT containment team led by psychic operative Lockwood comes in to investigate. Among Lockwood’s abilities is the ability to access all information from any computer mainframe in the world with his mind. Dr. Sal and Lockwood make a good team that develops through the story. You can see flashes of Briggs writing skills that is fully on display in his Big Finish work. 7 out of 10.
Doomwatch was a television show that ran for three seasons in the early 1970s. Doomwatch is the nickname for the Department of Measurement of Scientific Work. Under the leadership of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Dr. Spencer Quist they dealt with incidents of pollution and environmental disasters. This film was a 1972 spin-off of the same series.
The waters around a small island community have become exposed to some industrially produced hormones that are affecting them adversely. The main TV stars are not heavily featured but Ian Bannen and Judy Geeson make for interesting protagonists. The scientific basis of the story may not be very based in fact but the actions are well presented in the story. Bannen plays the part of the investigator as a tough no-nonsense hero archetype and Geeson as the concerned school mistress is charming eye candy. Series writers included such Doctor Who luminaries Kit Pedler, Gerry Davis and Louis Marks. 8 out of 10.
The Pit by Neil Penswick was the twelfth novel in the Virgin New Adventures series.
The novel is a prime example of why you should never trust conventional wisdom and form your own opinions. This book is widely considered one of the worst New Adventures novels and although it is far from the best it is not as bad as most people say. I decided to read the novel because a spinoff book Signet: Night of the Yssgaroth was just released based on the character from this book.
The story is not however perfect. I found the use of the great poet William Blake to be superfluous to the story the character could have been anyone from his time period. When he asked the Doctor about some events in the future The Doctor listing Mother Theresa as a paragon of virtue was distressing knowing her true nature. I found myself being very interested in the narrative when Benny or The Doctor were involved but dropping off when other characters were being followed. Liall Kopyion a Mahejetsu as the ancient Gallifreyan fighting the Yssgaroth was an interesting edition to the story. 7 out of 10.
The Dæmons of Devil’s End is an anthology of stories featuring Olive Hawthorne from the Doctor Who story The Dæmons.
Autographs
The anthology edited by Sam Stone follows Olive from her time as a young teen when she first inherited her legacy as a witch to her old age when she is near death with many interludes in between. The throughline of her life is well envisioned as we see her progression as a witch and get to participate in some of her major life events. The disappearance of her sister Poppy, her romance with a charismatic vampire and her final moments are highlights. 8 out of 10.
