| BLOOD HEAT by Jim Mortimore |
| Story 19 Synopsis: The TARDIS is attacked, and Bernice disappears into the Vortex. The Doctor is able to land on Earth, but one where dinosaurs once again rule the land. He and Ace learn the year is 1993, and they are on a world where he was killed before he could stop the Silurians taking over the planet. Whilst the Brigadier still leads UNIT in a futile struggle from Cheddar Gorge, the Doctor wonders what he should do to settle things. When Ace and Benton head for London on an ostensible search for medical supplies, the Doctor frees a Silurian prisoner, travelling first to Glasgow, and then back to Cheddar Gorge during an attack. He finds Bernice aboard a Silurian airship, and sends her down to the Gorge, whilst he travels on to Ophidian, the Silurian world capital, in North Africa. Whilst Benton retrieves a book for the Brigadier, Ace heads north with the dead Doctor's TARDIS, to find his key. With it, she materialises it around the planet. The Brigadier gives the book to General Hobson, aboard the last nuclear submarine, with firing codes for its missiles. Then he leads a suicidal diversionary attack on Ophidian. The missiles are launched, despite Bernice's efforts after sneaking onto the submarine, during which she is shot. But the TARDIS has neutralised the missiles, and the Doctor is able to delete them all, with Ace's help. The Silurian leader, Morka, has long wanted peace, but the war-like Brigadier still needs final persuading, from Liz. Back aboard the TARDIS, the Doctor tells Ace and Bernice that someone deliberately caused this timeline, and he must let it die to save the one they know about. |
| Review:- The mood aboard the TARDIS is deteriorating, and doesn't much improve when the ship is attacked... after Bernice disappears, the Doctor and Ace can only watch as the TARDIS is knocked into a tar pit... and then the dinosaurs turn up. The opening book in the Alternate Universe series, this fashions what amounts to a sequel to The Silurians, with the end of that story altered to allow the plague to run rampant, and kill off the Doctor, creating a changed world, 20 years on, with the last vestiges of humanity preparing for one last big assault against their Silurian overlords. So, to some extent, it's a variation on The Dalek Invasion Of Earth, but here there are shadows cast over the "goodness" of the humans, putting the Doctor in a difficult position. In one respect, this book scores hugely. The dinosaurs are just one aspect of the suggestion that the Silurians have remade Earth as it was when they had the run of the place, and this presents the always-fascinating spectacle of an Earth which is familiar and yet not the same place anymore. This is, of course, best covered by a seemingly-arbitrary trip into London, showing familiar landmarks overgrown with greenery, and broken buildings summing up the situation. What works a bit less well is the new versions of people we knew before, like the Brigadier, Liz and Benton. At times, it's almost a rerun of Inferno, with a madly militaristic Brigadier, but this time under the cosh. His repeated defence of "I did it for the children" is specious claptrap, and it's a wonder anyone much puts up with him. With Ace and Benton sent to London on differing missions, the Doctor breaks for freedom with a friendly Silurian. So far, so good. But when he reaches Glasgow, he finds that some of the Silurians are as pig-headed and violent as the Brigadier. Oh, satire, I see. Showing that both sides are similar underneath, even if one is undeniably more powerful than the other. Shame that the search for peace is predominant amongst most leading characters, even if their aims are diametrically opposed. The Cheddar Gorge attack does at least allow the Doctor to find Bernice alive, and to get her to pass on her special germs to UNIT & co. Ironically, what turns out to be Morka's master-stroke to promote peace allows the humans to make their final desperate attack more easily. The Brigadier's ace up his sleeve, the nuclear submarine led by General Hobson, is perhaps as far-fetched as UNIT's convenient prolonged survival, and Ace's friends in London (some of whom seem suspiciously like the Nuthutch community from The Green Death!). But there's a rhyme and reason to it that makes it feel fitting to the book. What's less acceptable is the distance from Cheddar Gorge to London, which seems vast early on, but ludicrously small by the time Benton has managed to march back on foot! Perhaps the passing of time makes allowances for this, but it comes across as very silly. Luckily, the Doctor's ace up his sleeve is rather more effective than General Hobson, and when Ace fetches his old TARDIS as a replacement, it allows him to conveniently delete all the missiles. That just leaves the Brigadier to make the final moral leap, which Morka has already made long before. Spread across a vast canvas, and written to fill up every inch of space, this is a thrilling book which does justice to its aims, and sets this latest mini-series off to a flying start. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy of this book. |