Divided Loyalties (Dr. Who Series)

Rating:
Summary: Continuity ad nauseum
Review: This novel starts off quite encouragingly. Russell seems to have captured the Fifth Doctor perfectly, including much of his sarcasm. The initial glimpses of the Celestial Toymaker are also very reminiscent of Michael Gough's performance. 'Divided Loyalties' is also quite short, running to only 252 pages, which makes you think that someone has finally seen sense, and restricted the page numbers to fit the story. But Gary Russell's afterword rings all too true. He seems to have been originally planning a meeting between the 6th and 8th Doctors. Two Doctors feature in this novel too, with an episode from the First Doctor's life to explain why he'd been expelled by the Academy. This is quite enjoyable, although the presence of a large furry animal gives the lie to the thought that Russell might have dropped some of his more irritating habits. The monsters in Doctor Who were never supposed to be cute: only the budget restrictions made them that way (like the giant rat in The Talons of Weng Chiang). If any era deserved a Russell novel, then it would have to be Davison's. Doctor Who's producer at the time, John-Nathan Turner, loved continuity even more than Russell seems to do: 'With an exaggerated sigh Tegan straightened up and smoothed down her uniform. (Nyssa had promised to go through the TARDIS wardrobe... so that they could both choose something new to wear instead of forever getting the TARDIS to work its overnight magic on her lilac air hostess outfit.) His grammar could do with some work too! Well, at least there's only one villain. Koschei does feature, but he's still in angelic mode. The Toymaker does have a nasty henchman, but we can hardly take him seriously, because he's called 'Gaylord'. In like manner, and as an internal continuity to recent Eighth Doctor novels, Russell speculates on the nature of the Guardians - 'The Great Old Ones'. Could these be Lawrence Miles' Time Lords from another universe invading our own? Unfortunately, Russell chooses to spoil their majesty by giving them some very silly names: 'Raah, Nah and Rok, who together would one day cause the end of this Universe'. Although this might just be another reference, this time to the televised adventure 'The Greatest Show in the Galaxy'. But Russell is such a slave to continuity that he spoils his own book. It appears that he became too concerned about the portrayal of the Toymaker in Graham Williams' 'The Nightmare Fair'. In this unrealized script, the Toymaker was rather less fun than he'd been in his debut in the 1960s, so Russell dully contrives to explain this (I mean 'dully'). By the end of 'Divided Loyalties', the Toymaker is thus transformed into a 'Nuthink in this world can stop me now!' type caricature. In order to explain this transformation, Russell feels obliged to disrupt continuity by introducing new characters and events (I don't think William Hartnell's Doctor knew of the Toymaker beforehand). The 'divided loyalties' of the story refers to the Fifth Doctor's companions, and Russell here uses the word 'divided' to its fullest extent. Nyssa, in particular, has a reason to be aggrieved with the Doctor, but Russell chooses to dwell rather too long on her dilemma. The Toymaker's games are also quite banal. Gary Russell could have done with the helping hand of Christopher Bulis here, in devising some really devious puzzles, just as he could learn from Lawrence Miles the way to write a complex plot which grips you all the way.

Rating:
Summary: Continuity ad nauseum
Review: This novel starts off quite encouragingly. Russell seems to have captured the Fifth Doctor perfectly, including much of his sarcasm. The initial glimpses of the Celestial Toymaker are also very reminiscent of Michael Gough's performance. 'Divided Loyalties' is also quite short, running to only 252 pages, which makes you think that someone has finally seen sense, and restricted the page numbers to fit the story. But Gary Russell's afterword rings all too true. He seems to have been originally planning a meeting between the 6th and 8th Doctors. Two Doctors feature in this novel too, with an episode from the First Doctor's life to explain why he'd been expelled by the Academy. This is quite enjoyable, although the presence of a large furry animal gives the lie to the thought that Russell might have dropped some of his more irritating habits. The monsters in Doctor Who were never supposed to be cute: only the budget restrictions made them that way (like the giant rat in The Talons of Weng Chiang). If any era deserved a Russell novel, then it would have to be Davison's. Doctor Who's producer at the time, John-Nathan Turner, loved continuity even more than Russell seems to do: 'With an exaggerated sigh Tegan straightened up and smoothed down her uniform. (Nyssa had promised to go through the TARDIS wardrobe... so that they could both choose something new to wear instead of forever getting the TARDIS to work its overnight magic on her lilac air hostess outfit.) His grammar could do with some work too! Well, at least there's only one villain. Koschei does feature, but he's still in angelic mode. The Toymaker does have a nasty henchman, but we can hardly take him seriously, because he's called 'Gaylord'. In like manner, and as an internal continuity to recent Eighth Doctor novels, Russell speculates on the nature of the Guardians - 'The Great Old Ones'. Could these be Lawrence Miles' Time Lords from another universe invading our own? Unfortunately, Russell chooses to spoil their majesty by giving them some very silly names: 'Raah, Nah and Rok, who together would one day cause the end of this Universe'. Although this might just be another reference, this time to the televised adventure 'The Greatest Show in the Galaxy'. But Russell is such a slave to continuity that he spoils his own book. It appears that he became too concerned about the portrayal of the Toymaker in Graham Williams' 'The Nightmare Fair'. In this unrealized script, the Toymaker was rather less fun than he'd been in his debut in the 1960s, so Russell dully contrives to explain this (I mean 'dully'). By the end of 'Divided Loyalties', the Toymaker is thus transformed into a 'Nuthink in this world can stop me now!' type caricature. In order to explain this transformation, Russell feels obliged to disrupt continuity by introducing new characters and events (I don't think William Hartnell's Doctor knew of the Toymaker beforehand). The 'divided loyalties' of the story refers to the Fifth Doctor's companions, and Russell here uses the word 'divided' to its fullest extent. Nyssa, in particular, has a reason to be aggrieved with the Doctor, but Russell chooses to dwell rather too long on her dilemma. The Toymaker's games are also quite banal. Gary Russell could have done with the helping hand of Christopher Bulis here, in devising some really devious puzzles, just as he could learn from Lawrence Miles the way to write a complex plot which grips you all the way.