Doctor Who: The Taking of Planet 5

Rating:
Summary: Dr Who Meets the Elder Gods (IE: Cuthulu)
Review: I really enjoyed this book. It is outstandingly well written, and keeps on the plot-line of the Eight Doctor, expanding the story bit by bit.

If you've been following the books, this is a wonderful addition to the storyline.

Also, it is great to see a Crossover story between the Cuthulu mythos and the Dr. Who world.

I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Dr Who Meets the Elder Gods (IE: Cuthulu)
Review: I really enjoyed this book. It is outstandingly well written, and keeps on the plot-line of the Eight Doctor, expanding the story bit by bit.

If you've been following the books, this is a wonderful addition to the storyline.

Also, it is great to see a Crossover story between the Cuthulu mythos and the Dr. Who world.

I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Too dull
Review: THE TAKING OF PLANET 5 just doesn't feel like a complete work. I must agree with other reviewers who have stated that the authors don't appear to be comfortable working with the ideas and themes developed by other writers. This is unfortunate because almost the entire story is nothing but ideas that have been pulled from previous books (most notably, Lawrence Miles' ALIEN BODIES). The concepts never evolve past the point of being Someone Else's Creation, and the result is that nothing feels as though it has any consequence at all.

There are a few good ideas contained in the book, but almost every one of them fails to yield anything of further interest after being stretched out to their full potential. I'll use an example from the very beginning of the book: the Museum of Things That Don't Exist. When this is first mentioned in the story, there's a certain air of mystery about the place. It certainly sounds like an idea brimming with creative potential and something that the Doctor Who format could do particularly well, especially in novel form. The problem with it is that when we actually get there, the museum turns out to be dead boring. Instead of surreal displays or books of magical and unexplained happenings we end up with nothing more than reconstructions of a few hoaxes and fictions that would only be significant to someone from Twentieth Century Earth. A nice idea ruined by poor execution, which is indicative of the majority of the flaws present in this book.

The plot is very complicated and there are several things going on at once. This results in the people involved in the story coming across as rather shallow. There simply isn't room inside the story for all of these characters. This is a pity as there are one or two there who seem like they could have been quite interesting, if only there had been room enough to flesh them out completely.

There are one or two bright points in the book. The Interludes are very strongly written and effectively convey some of the concepts that the main portion of the book had neglected. The Doctor is characterized well in the portions that he's in; it's a pity that those portions are so few and far between. The book seems far more concerned with relating more pieces of the future war between the Time Lords and the enemy than it does with telling a full story. This wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing except that it takes the Doctor out of the main thrust of the story right from the beginning, and the hints about the War (and the fate of the Celestis) simply aren't interesting enough to sustain the book purely on their own. But these hints and disclosures are all that we have here.

All in all, the presence of several big concepts and arc-related revelations don't prevent this book from ending up being extremely dull. It's not a poorly written book, just one that feels more like a vessel for bigger things to be put through it, never once standing up and existing on its own merits. It tries to be hard-SF by throwing around a lot of scientific gobbledygook, but it's never quite as clever as it thinks it is.

Rating:
Summary: Too dull
Review: THE TAKING OF PLANET 5 just doesn't feel like a complete work. I must agree with other reviewers who have stated that the authors don't appear to be comfortable working with the ideas and themes developed by other writers. This is unfortunate because almost the entire story is nothing but ideas that have been pulled from previous books (most notably, Lawrence Miles' ALIEN BODIES). The concepts never evolve past the point of being Someone Else's Creation, and the result is that nothing feels as though it has any consequence at all.

There are a few good ideas contained in the book, but almost every one of them fails to yield anything of further interest after being stretched out to their full potential. I'll use an example from the very beginning of the book: the Museum of Things That Don't Exist. When this is first mentioned in the story, there's a certain air of mystery about the place. It certainly sounds like an idea brimming with creative potential and something that the Doctor Who format could do particularly well, especially in novel form. The problem with it is that when we actually get there, the museum turns out to be dead boring. Instead of surreal displays or books of magical and unexplained happenings we end up with nothing more than reconstructions of a few hoaxes and fictions that would only be significant to someone from Twentieth Century Earth. A nice idea ruined by poor execution, which is indicative of the majority of the flaws present in this book.

The plot is very complicated and there are several things going on at once. This results in the people involved in the story coming across as rather shallow. There simply isn't room inside the story for all of these characters. This is a pity as there are one or two there who seem like they could have been quite interesting, if only there had been room enough to flesh them out completely.

There are one or two bright points in the book. The Interludes are very strongly written and effectively convey some of the concepts that the main portion of the book had neglected. The Doctor is characterized well in the portions that he's in; it's a pity that those portions are so few and far between. The book seems far more concerned with relating more pieces of the future war between the Time Lords and the enemy than it does with telling a full story. This wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing except that it takes the Doctor out of the main thrust of the story right from the beginning, and the hints about the War (and the fate of the Celestis) simply aren't interesting enough to sustain the book purely on their own. But these hints and disclosures are all that we have here.

All in all, the presence of several big concepts and arc-related revelations don't prevent this book from ending up being extremely dull. It's not a poorly written book, just one that feels more like a vessel for bigger things to be put through it, never once standing up and existing on its own merits. It tries to be hard-SF by throwing around a lot of scientific gobbledygook, but it's never quite as clever as it thinks it is.

Rating:
Summary: Typos detract from otherwise interesting story
Review: The Taking of Planet 5 possesses an intriguing plot - the time-looped planet that holds the Fendahl - but suffers from a number of factors - incredibly convoluted explanations that would require a PhD in quantum theory to understand, flimsy characterisation where the 'bit players' are concerned, and dreadful typesetting. At least the last problem cannot be attributed to the authors!

As a result of the extensive over-explanation, it's very hard to visualise a lot of what is actually going on. There seems to be a lack of urgency while the tangent rolls off onto yet another huge explanation.

Compassion is as charming as ever. Miles didn't seem to think when creating such a antithetical companion, it is as a result very hard for the reader to empathise. If the character doesn't care, why should we care what happens to her? If the companion was more emotionally attached to either Fitz or the Doctor, it might make her future 'destiny' a little more bone-jarring and involved. As such, it's all too easy to think of her as a plot device.

There's a cute Transformers reference in here early on, and one of the best lines comes from the Doctor himself.

Overall: An interesting if a little complicated story. Younger readers will find it very hard to follow. Best read it a few times over!

Rating:
Summary: A perfectly adequate Doctor Who book.
Review: There are so many ways that this could have been an outstanding novel that it's frustrating: the core plot is gripping; many of the characters are fascinating; and the imagery and ideas are wonderful. So where did it go wrong? The story leans FAR too heavily on the past. It seems that barely a page goes by without the authors making a "clever" reference to a televised story or previous novel. They even go as far as including a footnote for a previous novel. Another problem lies in the TARDIS crew. Fitz shines, but the Doctor gets tortured yet again while Compassion does a credible impersonation of someone with absolutely no personality whatsoever. The biggest problem, though, is that I never bought into the main threat of the book. Frankly, it says a lot for how well-written this book is that I came away from it entertained at all, something that is a sore diappointment after reading the vastly superior _Interference_ and _The Blue Angel_.

Rating:
Summary: Taking of Too Much Detail
Review: This book would be great if the authors would have left part of the details out. They should have stuck to the Celestis and future Time Lords. The Eldar Ones was a bit too detailed. Going into so much description of the villans (or what appear to be villans) took away from a better view of the Celestis/Time Lord battle. The details of Mictian were good and the authors should have kept with the imagery throughout.

Rating:
Summary: i REALLY wanted to like this book
Review: typically, i am not an avid reader of sci-fi. but since the BBC took the dr. who series back from virgin, the novels have typically been written with a very adult realism and a focus on tight storylines that was missing from many of the virgin books. there were some incredibly unique ideas that bucher-jones and clapman never allowed completely to be realized. their writing style was fast-paced, but many times they substituted huge scientific-sounding words and phrases (some real and some of their own creation) instead of focusing on important visual and conceptual descriptions. the basic plot was engaging and thought provoking, but more than once the action was brought to a screeching halt by some very odd description (compassion smelled musky? what was THAT about...) or an implausible plot turn. it is never fully explained who or what the original elder thing population infiltrated by the time lord soldiers truly is. the reader might assume they are mictlan, but too many aspects of this secret conflict are never clearly explained. And why have they chosen the fictional elder thing form? it is these details that become frustrating because they deserve a much better physical description and plot explanation. the authors have introduced one of the most original concepts of the series. the idea of the tardis as a bio-mechanoid lifeform was one of the most pleasant and exciting surprises of "The Taking of Planet Five". that, and the return of the fendahl, could have made this an incredible story. it is unfortunate that a completely ridiculous conclusion left this reader thinking....WHATEVE.