Apart from extreme violence, Marter's other trademark is a scene where the villains treat a woman roughly, while her male friend looks on in helpless fury, inwardly determined to have revenge. He does it in Earthshock and he does it again in this book. By all accounts Marter was an interesting bloke though I would have been reluctant to go drinking with him, in case he suddenly accused me of looking at his wife funny.
Marter aims to make the Dominators more kick-arse by making them over 8ft high, and his Quarks (ludicrously) are over 6ft. I think he's missing the point, the Dominators' menace comes from their ruthlessness and their lack of necks, they don't need to be 8ft high.
Zoe's response to Kando's stilted recitation of facts is explicitly ironic in the book, whereas on screen you could interpret it either way (though I suspect it is indeed supposed to be an ironic comment on Dulcian 'university' level teaching).
Jamie (as in the Invasion target by Marter) has his speeches tiresomely written in dialect ('divil' etc) throughout. Terrance is much subtler in this regard, just dropping in the occasional 'doesnae'.
When the first Quark gets shot - an important turning point in the story - it satisfyingly explodes 'in a shower of molten components and clouds of treacly smoke'.
Winner of The Pip & Jane Baker 'Oddest sentence' Award: 'Perplexed and miserable, Zoe gazed listlessly at his grimy, bulbous features.'
Friday, June 11, 2010
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Target: Planet of the Daleks
One of my all-time favourites, with a winning combination of 'companion alone', exciting geography and impressive Dalek civil engineering. That miles-high chimney is one of the coolest things Terry Nation ever invented. If he hadn't been a scriptwriter he could have made a fortune designing D&D modules.
Terrance Dicks doesn't bother trying to fit the start of the book to the end of The Space War. He back-references the Doctor sending a telepathic message, then collapsing, from the screen version of Frontier in Space.
Jo already knows where the log is, the Doctor doesn't tell her. As she walks through the jungle, dawn breaks suddenly 'as if someone had switched on a light.' Wester doesn't dribble juice on her hand, he has already coated it in curative paste when she wakes up, and he gives her the juice to drink.
Wester takes his furs off before smashing the bacteria canisters. And he doesn't become visible when he dies. I expect Terrance thought the effect wouldn't work on paper.
There's a little more connection between the location of the ice fissure, the Plain of Stones and the pools that they push the Daleks into. The bomb cache cave is at the edge of an area that looks like a quarry (!).
Rebec gets in the empty Dalek because Jo, although the logical choice on account of being small, 'was so obviously reluctant'.
The route to the surface for the Dalek army is a spiral ramp, not a 'power ramp'. When the Doctor and Jo say goodbye to Taron, he pops back out of the ship to throw them a couple of sets of anti-fungus protective gear, which they use to get back into the TARDIS.
Apropos of 'The Daleks are never defeated', there's a little digression about how Daleks don't recognise defeat, even when 'for any other life-form it would have been a day of total disaster'.
And finally: it's the Doctor who brings up the picture of Earth on the scanner, not Jo.
Terrance Dicks doesn't bother trying to fit the start of the book to the end of The Space War. He back-references the Doctor sending a telepathic message, then collapsing, from the screen version of Frontier in Space.
Jo already knows where the log is, the Doctor doesn't tell her. As she walks through the jungle, dawn breaks suddenly 'as if someone had switched on a light.' Wester doesn't dribble juice on her hand, he has already coated it in curative paste when she wakes up, and he gives her the juice to drink.
Wester takes his furs off before smashing the bacteria canisters. And he doesn't become visible when he dies. I expect Terrance thought the effect wouldn't work on paper.
There's a little more connection between the location of the ice fissure, the Plain of Stones and the pools that they push the Daleks into. The bomb cache cave is at the edge of an area that looks like a quarry (!).
Rebec gets in the empty Dalek because Jo, although the logical choice on account of being small, 'was so obviously reluctant'.
The route to the surface for the Dalek army is a spiral ramp, not a 'power ramp'. When the Doctor and Jo say goodbye to Taron, he pops back out of the ship to throw them a couple of sets of anti-fungus protective gear, which they use to get back into the TARDIS.
Apropos of 'The Daleks are never defeated', there's a little digression about how Daleks don't recognise defeat, even when 'for any other life-form it would have been a day of total disaster'.
And finally: it's the Doctor who brings up the picture of Earth on the scanner, not Jo.
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Target: The Space War
(ie Frontier in Space). Malcolm Hulke cuts out a fair amount of incident and adds a little back-story and motivation for the main characters. One of the cargo ship pilots in episode 1, for example, makes 'a young man's pretence that he hadn't been frightened'. It's not a Captain Dent style biography but it does lend the scenes some colour.
Notable differences/expansions: the war that General Williams started killed 500 million people. The incident that sparked it off is mentioned quite early on, which works better than the way the screen version leaves it till the plot machinery needs to be unstuck in episode 5.
The mind probes anecdote is omitted, though the machine itself is still used on the Doctor. Patel (the new prisoner on the Moon) is replaced by one Doughty, but he still gets his chocolate confiscated. A lot of the scenes that demonstrate the prison governor's tyranny are omitted (I think Hulke feels that the point about Earth having political prisoners is strong enough by itself). The amusing list of crimes supposedly committed by the Doctor on Sirius IV is cut short.
Jo and the Master have an interesting conversation on their way to the Moon to pick up the Doctor. 'Why are you so nasty?' she asks him ineffectually - he responds that his badness is a necessary universal counterweight to the Doctor's goodness. It is the Master who takes the sonic screwdriver, not the prison authorities. The Master thinks about the Daleks while reading War of the Worlds, thus revealing their involvement much earlier than on screen.
The captured Ogron eats a foil-wrapped food item foil and all, rather than a banana in its skin. The Master's exasperation with the Ogrons leads to a series of amusing remarks, culminating in the sarcastic suggestion that he and the Ogrons all have a tea party together.
When Jo arrives on the Ogron planet, she's shown an Ogron hanging in chains. 'Him bad Ogron,' explains her guide. When the food arrives later, the guard suggests 'Eat well, get big. Soon you be Ogron wife.' 'There's a thought,' she replies tactfully.
The bits where the Master tries to hypnotise Jo, and then subdue her with the fear device, are both missing, but he already knows he can't hypnotise her. (Did I miss something?)
There's no malfunction with the spacecraft carrying the Doctor, Williams and the Prince. The Prince displays some fine logic - they should look for the lizards in order to find the Ogrons, as the former eats the latter and the latter have enough sense to hide - and some fancy shooting on the planet. The monster is a lizard, not a bouncy castle - and a real whopper too, more of a dinosaur.
The Master doesn't shoot the Doctor, accidentally or otherwise. 'There's always tomorrow,' he thinks philosophically as the TARDIS vworps away. It's all right for him, he doesn't have to explain why the Doctor is going off into Planet of the Daleks totally uninjured.
This is only the second time I've read this one, I enjoyed it much more than on first reading. It seems to flow a lot better than the screen version. In that case it's a shame that the back cover blurb says:
which could be read as a warning not to expect any excitement before page 76.
Notable differences/expansions: the war that General Williams started killed 500 million people. The incident that sparked it off is mentioned quite early on, which works better than the way the screen version leaves it till the plot machinery needs to be unstuck in episode 5.
The mind probes anecdote is omitted, though the machine itself is still used on the Doctor. Patel (the new prisoner on the Moon) is replaced by one Doughty, but he still gets his chocolate confiscated. A lot of the scenes that demonstrate the prison governor's tyranny are omitted (I think Hulke feels that the point about Earth having political prisoners is strong enough by itself). The amusing list of crimes supposedly committed by the Doctor on Sirius IV is cut short.
Jo and the Master have an interesting conversation on their way to the Moon to pick up the Doctor. 'Why are you so nasty?' she asks him ineffectually - he responds that his badness is a necessary universal counterweight to the Doctor's goodness. It is the Master who takes the sonic screwdriver, not the prison authorities. The Master thinks about the Daleks while reading War of the Worlds, thus revealing their involvement much earlier than on screen.
The captured Ogron eats a foil-wrapped food item foil and all, rather than a banana in its skin. The Master's exasperation with the Ogrons leads to a series of amusing remarks, culminating in the sarcastic suggestion that he and the Ogrons all have a tea party together.
When Jo arrives on the Ogron planet, she's shown an Ogron hanging in chains. 'Him bad Ogron,' explains her guide. When the food arrives later, the guard suggests 'Eat well, get big. Soon you be Ogron wife.' 'There's a thought,' she replies tactfully.
The bits where the Master tries to hypnotise Jo, and then subdue her with the fear device, are both missing, but he already knows he can't hypnotise her. (Did I miss something?)
There's no malfunction with the spacecraft carrying the Doctor, Williams and the Prince. The Prince displays some fine logic - they should look for the lizards in order to find the Ogrons, as the former eats the latter and the latter have enough sense to hide - and some fancy shooting on the planet. The monster is a lizard, not a bouncy castle - and a real whopper too, more of a dinosaur.
The Master doesn't shoot the Doctor, accidentally or otherwise. 'There's always tomorrow,' he thinks philosophically as the TARDIS vworps away. It's all right for him, he doesn't have to explain why the Doctor is going off into Planet of the Daleks totally uninjured.
This is only the second time I've read this one, I enjoyed it much more than on first reading. It seems to flow a lot better than the screen version. In that case it's a shame that the back cover blurb says:
But it's only when THE MASTER appears on the scene that events really start moving.
which could be read as a warning not to expect any excitement before page 76.
Monday, June 07, 2010
Target: The Mind Robber
Quite a knowing auctorial tone in this one - quite appropriate for a story all about the boundary between fiction and reality.
Changes: The opening follow-on from The Dominators is replaced by a trip to Vesuvius, which then erupts.
When Zoe 'sees' the City, she also hears the electronic music of the 21st century - and dances off in search of the vision.
There are one or two extra puzzles for the time travellers to solve. The unicorn turns into a statue, not a cardboard cut-out. The controlling force of the Land of Fiction is a giant brain, whose colour changes according to its mood, an effect which looked pretty good in my imagination.
Changes: The opening follow-on from The Dominators is replaced by a trip to Vesuvius, which then erupts.
When Zoe 'sees' the City, she also hears the electronic music of the 21st century - and dances off in search of the vision.
There are one or two extra puzzles for the time travellers to solve. The unicorn turns into a statue, not a cardboard cut-out. The controlling force of the Land of Fiction is a giant brain, whose colour changes according to its mood, an effect which looked pretty good in my imagination.
Friday, June 04, 2010
Frontier in Space
I found this comparatively compelling this time round, though I admit that if the Master had turned up 5 minutes later I'd probably have felt it starting to sag. Some people say FIS is a poor Master performance but I think it's wonderful: he judges the funny bits perfectly, not too broad, not too stiff. The throwaway War of the Worlds gag, and his contemptuous Dalek impersonation 'Do-not-fail-the-Daleks' are just great.
There's also some good Master/Doctor/Jo interaction. Episode 4 consists almost entirely of this stuff (which is fine by me, but Kroll knows what the casual viewer made of it). Delgado seems to stir our bored season 10 Pert to fresh efforts: just watch the latter's 'ffs' expression when the Master is reading out his list of supposed crimes on Sirius IV.
Jo gets to resist hypnosis and to outwit the Master with her chat about the Brigadier and having to do the filing at UNIT HQ. She also does a very uncharacteristic cocky walk towards the Master when he visits her in her cell on Earth.
Kind of lucky that Gen Williams and the Prince are able to resolve the misunderstanding over 'nearly starting a war' so quickly, once they get talking about it. Pity no-one mentioned it before really.
There's also some good Master/Doctor/Jo interaction. Episode 4 consists almost entirely of this stuff (which is fine by me, but Kroll knows what the casual viewer made of it). Delgado seems to stir our bored season 10 Pert to fresh efforts: just watch the latter's 'ffs' expression when the Master is reading out his list of supposed crimes on Sirius IV.
Jo gets to resist hypnosis and to outwit the Master with her chat about the Brigadier and having to do the filing at UNIT HQ. She also does a very uncharacteristic cocky walk towards the Master when he visits her in her cell on Earth.
Kind of lucky that Gen Williams and the Prince are able to resolve the misunderstanding over 'nearly starting a war' so quickly, once they get talking about it. Pity no-one mentioned it before really.
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Target: The Invasion
I love Ian Marter's adaptation of The Ark in Space, with its heads splitting open and fountains of pus. His talent for unpleasant detail is perfectly suited to a horror story.
But it doesn't work so well in his other Targets, like this one. The Invasion isn't primarily about visceral horror, it's about people bluffing each other and controlling each other. So all the Marter trademarks (sizzling flesh as Packer dies, oily acrid smells from the Cybermen, egg yolks smashing and congealing on the tarmac when the lorry driver gets shot) seem a bit over the top and out of place.
The atmospheric bit in episode 1 about rainclouds and the English summer is sadly omitted. Zoe sabotages Vaughn's reception computer by typing in a program, not dictating it. The tea served by UNIT is treacly and unpleasant (for some bizarre reason).
The effects of the Cyber-beam are conveyed by different events (more suitable to the written word). When Vaughn dies, his burning corpse gives off plastic soot, because he's been partly cyberised. The Doctor still poses for Isobel's pictures after the battle, but oddly holds up bits of Cyberman in triumph - most unDoctorly behaviour!
The Pip and Jane Baker Award for the Sentence Most Closely Resembling A Typing Exercise goes to 'Jamie looked daggers at the pouting, countyish girl.'
But it doesn't work so well in his other Targets, like this one. The Invasion isn't primarily about visceral horror, it's about people bluffing each other and controlling each other. So all the Marter trademarks (sizzling flesh as Packer dies, oily acrid smells from the Cybermen, egg yolks smashing and congealing on the tarmac when the lorry driver gets shot) seem a bit over the top and out of place.
The atmospheric bit in episode 1 about rainclouds and the English summer is sadly omitted. Zoe sabotages Vaughn's reception computer by typing in a program, not dictating it. The tea served by UNIT is treacly and unpleasant (for some bizarre reason).
The effects of the Cyber-beam are conveyed by different events (more suitable to the written word). When Vaughn dies, his burning corpse gives off plastic soot, because he's been partly cyberised. The Doctor still poses for Isobel's pictures after the battle, but oddly holds up bits of Cyberman in triumph - most unDoctorly behaviour!
The Pip and Jane Baker Award for the Sentence Most Closely Resembling A Typing Exercise goes to 'Jamie looked daggers at the pouting, countyish girl.'
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Target: Carnival of Monsters
Always a favourite. Interesting that when I read it now my original picture of Vorg as a raffish, young wideboy type returns, along with my mental image of the huge spaceport apron under the baking twin suns, with all the action taking place in a tiny corner of it.
There's no Illustrated London News to tell us the date. Jo reads out the publication date of Major Daly's novel instead. (NB in the screen version that the weekdays on the calendar, and the one on the masthead of the magazine, can't belong to the same year - the one on the masthead is correct for 1926, the calendar isn't).
Jo does not call the audience 'horrible'. Rather the situation itself is 'terrible'. She and the Doctor repeatedly get caught walking past the saloon door, rather than trying to sneak out of the saloon. Her stay alone on the ship (while the Doctor gets outside the Scope) is more protracted, and Terrance hangs over it the threat of the Scope breaking down and the world ending in 'choking darkness'.
Pletrac is rather more sympathetically portrayed, as tradition-bound but fair-minded. Kalik is more of an out-and-out villain. He thinks Orum is a contemptible fool too. Kalik ends up prising open the Scope with a crowbar to let the Drashigs out, and is eaten for his pains 'crowbar and all'. (On screen it isn't certain whether he gets killed or not). Vorg heroically blasts down a whole succession of Drashigs with the Eradicator to save the day.
In the final ship scene, Clare's near-success in remembering what happened is transferred to the Major, who has a confused series of memories as he falls asleep, about the Doctor and Jo and monsters. 'Probably jumbled memories of some blood and thunder story he read long ago,' he excellently thinks.
The full Five Credit Bar rating for this one.
There's no Illustrated London News to tell us the date. Jo reads out the publication date of Major Daly's novel instead. (NB in the screen version that the weekdays on the calendar, and the one on the masthead of the magazine, can't belong to the same year - the one on the masthead is correct for 1926, the calendar isn't).
Jo does not call the audience 'horrible'. Rather the situation itself is 'terrible'. She and the Doctor repeatedly get caught walking past the saloon door, rather than trying to sneak out of the saloon. Her stay alone on the ship (while the Doctor gets outside the Scope) is more protracted, and Terrance hangs over it the threat of the Scope breaking down and the world ending in 'choking darkness'.
Pletrac is rather more sympathetically portrayed, as tradition-bound but fair-minded. Kalik is more of an out-and-out villain. He thinks Orum is a contemptible fool too. Kalik ends up prising open the Scope with a crowbar to let the Drashigs out, and is eaten for his pains 'crowbar and all'. (On screen it isn't certain whether he gets killed or not). Vorg heroically blasts down a whole succession of Drashigs with the Eradicator to save the day.
In the final ship scene, Clare's near-success in remembering what happened is transferred to the Major, who has a confused series of memories as he falls asleep, about the Doctor and Jo and monsters. 'Probably jumbled memories of some blood and thunder story he read long ago,' he excellently thinks.
The full Five Credit Bar rating for this one.