The Book Report #75
Episode #74
Doctor Who – The Art of Destruction
By Stephen Cole
The Book
BBC Books published this book in 2006. BBC Books is a publishing imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division, with BBC Studios holding a minority stake.
My copy is the 6th printing with 258 pages. Which includes some acknowledgements, an “about the Author ” page and advertising for other books in the series.
What Did I Think
“Spoiler”
Thousands of years ago, the Valnaxi lost their war with the Wurms. And are in a desperate attempt to save what was left of their civilisation, and not to be completely wiped from existence. They created vaults on planets throughout the galaxy, hiding their works of art, hoping to shield them from the Wurms. And maybe one day return to their former glory.
Someone stumbles onto one of those sites, and an alarm has been triggered; the TARDIS receives a call for help through time and space, and goes to investigate what is going on.
The Doctor and Rose arrive in the twenty-second-century Africa at a research laboratory. The scientists working there are trying to manipulate the genetic material of mushrooms to create a better food source. But not everything is going to plan. The mushrooms are poisonous, and the Geneticist doesn’t know how to fix it.
And again, the humans are at fault for messing with things they don’t know about or understand yet. And because of this, they created the alert to not only attract the Doctor but also the race that the Valnaxi were trying to prevent from finding them.
When the doctor appears, with Rose, it is up to them to help heal and dissolve a war that will do anything to continue and destroy its enemy. And prevent another catastrophe that will end up with the Earth blown to smithereens.
But of course, they also have another problem from the locals, as it looks like a civil war is about to start. And the overlords are getting restless. Blaming the scientist and workers for holding back on provisions and anything else they don’t yet know about.
Storytelling
In over two hundred years, you would have thought the problems that exist in some parts of Africa would have resolved themselves by now. But that wouldn’t be good storytelling. Using what you know.
This, in the end, was a classic Doctor Who episode, but it fell shy of being amazing. Everything that was meant to be there was there, but there was no umph!
And because of this, the episode dragged a bit while everyone was working on fixing the problems that kept springing up from everywhere. The concept was good and the storytelling was spot on, but the ultimate spark was missing, and I didn’t enjoy it as much as I could have.
The ideas that came from the plot in the story I did like: the alien races’ technology, using whatever local populace, whatever creature they could find, turning them into golden zombies, and adding them to their army.
Would I Recommend
As good as it could have been, I would still recommend this book. Any Doctor Who fan will enjoy this adventure of sci-fi weirdness.
Please give this book a go.
Would you like to purchase your very own copy?
You could try these online stores: Amazon UK/USA. Waterstones. AbeBooks UK/USA, Barnes & Noble or eBay UK/USA.
Alternatively, you could try your local bookshop or even your local library.
