| DEADLY REUNION by Terrance Dicks and Barry Letts |
| Story ? Synopsis: Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart is a soldier on duty, on the meditarrean island of Zante. There, he meets the beautiful Sephie, daughter of Mrs Demeter. But on his way back, Sephie's brother Hermy stows away, telling Alistair that Sephie is in danger, and he is her only hope of rescue. Alistair is stunned to learn that Hermy et al are in fact trans-temporal beings who act as gods. Hades plans to take over the world, and has kidnapped Sephie. With Hermy's help, Alistair rescues her, dealing a blow to Hades' plans. Years later, Hades is back, with a plan to take over the world with help from a drug named Sarg, and the assistance of the Master. Despite their reluctance to help, the Doctor persuades Mrs Demeter and co to contact Zeus, who's otherwise engaged. He arrives, thwarts Hades for all time, and takes his family away from Earth. The Master is allowed his freedom. |
| Review:- To celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Doctor Who, BBC Books have given us a book co-authored by old hands Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks, which exploits their time together as creative minds behind Doctor Who in the early 1970's. Apart from that, it's not a celebration at all. Indeed, it's merely a slight experiment. Barry writes the first 110+ pages, featuring the young Brigadier's escapades, whilst Terrance writes the remaining 160+ pages, detailing what happened later. It makes for a more different style of story, although as the resolution to both parts is quite similar, it does rather diminish the latter story, which is again another lesson on the perils of drugs (which is a fair message, but it seems to be Terrance's only topic now). UNIT are pretty nondescript here, Yates being very bland. Benton shines (for me) when he reverses a vehicle into a parking space. That's pretty much it. Maybe it was deliberate, but I got the impression several times that lines were being spoken by the writers rather than the characters. Still, it's a celebration, so what the heck! The Doctor and the Master are pretty by-the-book representations, so perhaps we shouldn't grumble. Demeter and co get some reasonable background, and we get some by-the-by explanations for the Players (of Players fame). On the whole, it's a reasonable read, not too taxing. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy. |