Seeing I (Doctor Who Series)

Rating:
Summary: I Just Love Doctor Who!
Review: I can't believe this. Here I am sitting down at my kitchen table reading the customer reviews on a book a that I have just ordered and I must say that this is really amaizing. Is this Doctor Who book really that good? If these other reviewes are anything to go by, it must be. All of them seem to give it a thumbs up.I have also read a summary of the plot in one of the reviewes and I must tell you, that I've been waiting for a Dr. Who book like this for years. I loved all the stories where the Doctor was dragged to edge of sanity and back. You see, I am also a Sci-fi writer, and I writer Doctor Who stories for my own enjoyment, but soon I'll be posting them on my website. If and anyone out there is interested email me at [e-mail] and I'll set you up. I hope you like them all. It's good to know that my colleagues are doing such a good job with this sieres. I can't wait until I get Seeing I. Kate Orman and her Co-author keep up the good work. Next to Terrance Dicks, you two are the best Doctor Who writers around.

Rating:
Summary: Sounds familiar, but still a good read
Review: Let's see, the Doctor's companion has to deal with living in one place and time, years pass, the Doctor is imprisoned, and alien insectoids are involved somehow. Now which novel am I talkng about?
A. Set Piece
B. Seeing I
C. All of the above
The answer is C, of course.

That said, I really enjoyed both novels. There was more focus on the Doctor trying to escape this prison, and although it happens several times, it's new and interesting each time. The changes that Sam goes through while trying to carve out a life for herself on an alien world are reminiscient of our own experiences in finding our way as new adults in our own world. This book went really quickly for me, and I was done before I knew it, and wanted more. The Orman/Blum gestalt always produces thoughtful, entertaining, and interesting stories, and this is no exception. Buy it now!

Rating:
Summary: This is a must for Dr. Who fans to have.
Review: Seeing I was one of the best Dr. Who book I have read in a long time. It shows a side of the Doctor that has not been seen since the 7th Doctor and Ace. It starts out with Sam who is stranded on a strange plant not feeling real sure if she wants to see the Dr. again. What she does not realize is that he is looking for her and will do anything to find her,even if this means finding himself in prision. When the two are reunited Sam has trouble not letting her feeling for him get the better of her. You also see a tender and fragile side of the Dr. that I have not seen in any of the other books I have read (until the 8th Doctor). It has moments in it where for the first time he shows real feeling for one of his companions (Sam) and this is given in return. It has a very good ending (but I will not tell it. You have to read it for yourself. I found the book exciting and had trouble putting it down. I read it ihn two nights (I read before I go to sleep. Read and enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: A great return to form for the BBC Doctor Who books
Review: There was one moment while in SEEING I where I cheered out loud. It was the passage in which Sam Jones (having run out on the Doctor in an earlier book) gets fed up with her boring, routine, desk-bound, nine-to-five job and quits to try to make a life for herself that means something. And this portion demonstrates the strength of this book. No longer is Sam merely Generic Companion #1, but a thinking, living, human character who's forced to deal with life after her first series of travels in the TARDIS.

The Doctor is well characterized here, but that isn't surprising as Kate Orman and Jon Blum are the team that gave us the first real characterization of the post-TV-Movie Eighth Doctor. There are a few places where his extreme touch-feeliness may feel a bit shallow and false, but there is something positive to be said about a Doctor who goes bungee jumping in between adventures. The plot is fairly thin and serves mostly to explore the two main characters, Sam and the Eighth Doctor, and their relationship -- something that had not been done as well or as in-depth in this BBC range it had been in some of the Doctor/companion teams of the Virgin-era books. This is something that the series was very much in need of -- in prior books, the Doctor and Sam had become almost faceless, with Paul McGann's one-time portrayal of the Doctor being reduced into small basic mannerisms that captured none of the charm and enthusiasm that had been brought to the role. SEEING I did a wonderful job of giving the Doctor more character than simply repeating his friends' a (not inconsiderable) number of times before addressing them.

All in all, this is an excellent return to form. With far too many of the early BBC books reading like simple churned-out children's books, it's nice to have something that appears to have been thought all the way through. We have an interesting villain in the form of the I, who could have done with a little more face-time. We get to learn a bit more about Sam and we see the authors handle her in a way that doesn't make her seem like the most annoying companion that ever existed. We get a good solid adventure story, and like all of Kate Orman's books, we get to see the Doctor actually going through some suffering during his trials and tribulations. SEEING I definitely left me wanting more.

Rating:
Summary: A great return to form for the BBC Doctor Who books
Review: There was one moment while in SEEING I where I cheered out loud. It was the passage in which Sam Jones (having run out on the Doctor in an earlier book) gets fed up with her boring, routine, desk-bound, nine-to-five job and quits to try to make a life for herself that means something. And this portion demonstrates the strength of this book. No longer is Sam merely Generic Companion #1, but a thinking, living, human character who's forced to deal with life after her first series of travels in the TARDIS.

The Doctor is well characterized here, but that isn't surprising as Kate Orman and Jon Blum are the team that gave us the first real characterization of the post-TV-Movie Eighth Doctor. There are a few places where his extreme touch-feeliness may feel a bit shallow and false, but there is something positive to be said about a Doctor who goes bungee jumping in between adventures. The plot is fairly thin and serves mostly to explore the two main characters, Sam and the Eighth Doctor, and their relationship -- something that had not been done as well or as in-depth in this BBC range it had been in some of the Doctor/companion teams of the Virgin-era books. This is something that the series was very much in need of -- in prior books, the Doctor and Sam had become almost faceless, with Paul McGann's one-time portrayal of the Doctor being reduced into small basic mannerisms that captured none of the charm and enthusiasm that had been brought to the role. SEEING I did a wonderful job of giving the Doctor more character than simply repeating his friends' a (not inconsiderable) number of times before addressing them.

All in all, this is an excellent return to form. With far too many of the early BBC books reading like simple churned-out children's books, it's nice to have something that appears to have been thought all the way through. We have an interesting villain in the form of the I, who could have done with a little more face-time. We get to learn a bit more about Sam and we see the authors handle her in a way that doesn't make her seem like the most annoying companion that ever existed. We get a good solid adventure story, and like all of Kate Orman's books, we get to see the Doctor actually going through some suffering during his trials and tribulations. SEEING I definitely left me wanting more.

Rating:
Summary: Seeing I
Review: This is an appealing Dr Who novel.

It solidifies the relationship between Sam and the Doctor, after they had been apart for so long. The plot itself has some interesting details involving implant-technology, and aliens that acquire their technology merely by wresting it away from other planets, the inhabitants of which have actually done all the work. This is a colony-world, so I don't mind the exceedingly human face of the culture, or the Earthisms; other aspects of the story are otherworldly enough.

The subplot concerns Sam's growing love for the Doctor. At first glance, it reads as superficial, as she seems most drawn to his appearance. But a few passages allow for a deeper look, and given the fact that the TV show was on so long and, to my knowledge, this type of subplot was not mined, I'm all for it.

I also like the groundwork laid down for revelations that take place in the novel Interference (Books 1 and 2).

A superior Eighth Doctor story.

Rating:
Summary: "Oh boohoo, the Dr. doesn't deserve to be ugly boohoo!"
Review: This is the first of the "New" Dr. Who stories I have read, meaning the "original" stories that are not part of the series. I have got to say that it is one big soap-opra. Most of the scenes are with Sam on some Earth-like world doing Earth-like stuff. Booring. I read this about two years ago, so can only barely remember the scenes with Dr. Who. Most of the chapters are of Sam and her friends, or Sam and her new boyfriend blah! blah! blah! These books, all of them in my opinion, are like this. I don't know if it's the times(1999, 2000, 2001) or what but I guess people prefer soaps on another planet to adventure on another planet like the series. That is why these books have sold. That is why sci-fi shows today are so mushy(eg. Farscape, Star Trek, probably "Enterprise" released this fall, and Dr. Who if it was remade for today's audience, I guess I'm an old codger at age 30, don't know... Hmm!)

Rating:
Summary: "Oh boohoo, the Dr. doesn't deserve to be ugly boohoo!"
Review: This is the first of the "New" Dr. Who stories I have read, meaning the "original" stories that are not part of the series. I have got to say that it is one big soap-opra. Most of the scenes are with Sam on some Earth-like world doing Earth-like stuff. Booring. I read this about two years ago, so can only barely remember the scenes with Dr. Who. Most of the chapters are of Sam and her friends, or Sam and her new boyfriend blah! blah! blah! These books, all of them in my opinion, are like this. I don't know if it's the times(1999, 2000, 2001) or what but I guess people prefer soaps on another planet to adventure on another planet like the series. That is why these books have sold. That is why sci-fi shows today are so mushy(eg. Farscape, Star Trek, probably "Enterprise" released this fall, and Dr. Who if it was remade for today's audience, I guess I'm an old codger at age 30, don't know... Hmm!)

Rating:
Summary: this is a must for any Dr. Who collection.
Review: This was a very fast read. The 8th Doctor and Sam work real good together. For the first time you see a side of the Doctor that has never beem seen before. The realtionship between the Doctor and his companion seems to be getting closer so for the first time he is not only thinking of himself he is thinking of others. I look forward to reading more books with this combination. It did not take me long to reasd this book.

Rating:
Summary: The Doctor REALLY Suffers for Years In Prison!
Review: Though, remarkably, I am actually NOT Jennifer Hopkins [e-mail] from Macon, I too liked this book. The Doctor REALLY suffers for years in prison!