| DEEP BLUE by Mark Morris |
| Story ? Synopsis: The Doctor lands the TARDIS in the seaside resort of Tayborough Sands, sometime in the 1970's, ostensibly to allow Tegan and Turlough a holiday. But he is soon on the trail of a vicious killer, and a deadly mutating infection. He is helped by Mike Yates, who is in town to check out a mysterious light seen at sea a few weeks before. The town has since become subject to increasingly mindless violence. It's soon clear that the light that fell to sea was an alien spaceship. The Doctor takes Turlough in the TARDIS to check it out, and find a Morok ship, now taken over by the Xaranti, mutant hybrids who have infected the local area through the fish and gelatinous deposits on the beach. People are mutating into Xaranti, including the UNIT troops, though not Mike. The Doctor tries to communicate with one of the Xaranti, but is disturbed and then stung by its tail. Mike and Tegan try to get him to hospital, through a town now devastated by hordes of Xaranti. Turlough flees for his life. At the hospital, the Doctor recovers but admits he is a danger and forces Mike to let him go. He returns to the TARDIS, where he has been running tests on the nature of the plague. He pilots the machine on board the Xaranti ship, and confronts the Xaranti 'queen', with his antidote. Having realised the infection works psychologically, his antidote works with fast effect, releasing the hold the infection had on the town, though with the side effect of small memory loss. Tegan, Turlough and the Doctor leave in the TARDIS, only Mike knowing the full effect of what happened. |
| Review:- It's another high-concept book masquerading as a simple horror movie... pitting the Season 21 team of regulars in a Season 10/11 setting, replete with UNIT. In fact, the horror element is the more interesting, and quite beyond the normal parameters for the show. The death toll is huge, and the Xaranti make for quite impressive monsters. A mix of crab, spider and scorpion, their inherent mongrel nature allows Morris to include several nasty tricks at once (indeed, years before the Krillitanes in School Reunion). Their lack of a central intelligence prevents any sense of dramatic confrontation, or reasoning with an enemy, and the ultimately bogus nature of the infection totally weakens all that goes before. Quite how so many people undergo such a rabid genetic transformation because of little more than mind control is pretty ludicrous. Contrasting with the nebulous aliens, Morris draws his human characters well, both the regulars who are familiar, and his guest cast who all have understandable motives to them. The tragic family who wind up with the useless father dead, the shiftless teenage son dead, the brave yet stoic daughter pregnant are cliched but still give the story some interest. Tegan gets a romantic subplot for what seems like a change, though it ends tragically. As for Turlough, he tries to make an effort, and gets scared witless by a trip to the Xaranti ship, and then chased around his hotel by Xaranti. Still, perhaps it's a relief that he stays untouched by the infection. Mike Yates is similarly unaffected, which makes for a contrast with his commanding officer who is all too vulnerable. Cunningly, the short-term memory loss suffered explains why the Brigadier won't recognise Turlough or the Doctor by the time he gets to Mawdryn Undead. As for the Doctor, he's soon onto the mystery infection, and happy to work with UNIT, blithely unconcerned about nudging history in this way. His frustration at being unable to find an antidote is brief, and he's cavalier in taking a trip down to the Xaranti base. Though desperate to make peace, he is still calm after being infected, and smart enough to deduce the only solution. He doesn't really get on well with Tegan, and her side is more understandable than his. He does at least show gratitude to Mike, despite obviously knowing what the future has in store for him. So it's a pretty good read, split into 4 episodic chapters, complete with cliffhangers. It doesn't ask too much of a reader, apart from maybe a strong stomach, and is rewarding. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy. |