| THE INFINITY DOCTORS by Lance Parkin |
| Story ? Synopsis: Gallifrey is about to host a peace conference between delegates of the Sontaran and Rutan Empire, presided over by the Doctor. But Gallifrey is also under threat from even wider afield. A break-in leads to a murder, and the investigation covers the Doctor's friend, Larna. She finds that another Lord, Savar, is partly responsible, under a malign influence. He once travelled to rescue Omega, but nearly died in the attempt, attacked by the I and left blind. Now, a huge energy Effect poses a danger to the Universe, and the Time Lords send a Station into the far future to investigate. Savar wants the link stopped, and kills the President. His replacement, former Castellan Voran, is less cautious, urging the Station to land on the Needle, which is found to be the source of the Effect. The Doctor travels forward in time to the Station whilst wearing the Sash. Working out a way past its defences, the Doctor travels down to the Needle, where he finds Omega, and his wife. Omega wants to return from his anti-matter prison, but needs a body to inhabit, and someone else to run things in his absence. The Doctor is forced to offer his body, and take over. Omega and Larna return to Gallifrey, where he shuts down the transduction barriers, to access a singularity. The Doctor confronts Omega, trying to convince him that he's making a mistake. Omega refuses to listen, so the Doctor tricks him, and they swap places again, saving Gallifrey. The Sontarans and the Rutans decide to end their war. |
| Review:- Devised and published to celebrate the show's 35th anniversary, this book plays hard by providing about as in-depth a study of Gallifreyan life as perhaps possible without also being deadly dull. The twist is that this is a Gallifrey with a Doctor who didn't go wandering the cosmos, and is a fairly well-respected High Councillor and teacher. The Master is just a Magistrate, but Hedin is still keen on Omega. A threat to the cosmos from an unknown power source is more than just a homage to The Three Doctors, it's a challenge to the Time Lords, and to the Doctor personally. The plot at first appears to be about Gallifrey making a reluctant welcome to aliens, as the Doctor tries to moderate a peace conference between the Sontarans and the Rutan/s. But that is soon overtaken by the mysterious theft in Chamber 903, and the presence of a Universe-threatening Effect which baffles the Time Lords good and proper. Once they decide to check it out, they find they're being undermined from within, but by then, the damage is done. Far in the future lies an old and familiar face... It seems rather a shame that the Sontaran-Rutan business comes almost as a misdirection, something to keep the Doctor occupied from realising the danger that's going on. It's rather revealing that this subplot pretty much ends about 1/3 of the way in, only being resolved at the end in a rather twee piece of optimism that insults the intelligence. Of course, if only our wars on Earth could be resolved as easily as this! Come off it... The Doctor is given depth by a friendship, indeed a relationship with a promising student, Larna. But this is no grubby liaison, this is a romance of the heart and the mind, and anyway, the Doctor's got a secret shrine to a woman he loves. As you do. This comes more into focus once the action shifts to the future. With the Doctor stupidly causing Larna's death in the present, he has nothing to hold him back, and he finds the way through to where Omega (surprise! or not) is kept forever, whilst his brethren flourish off the back of his work. He even has his missus around to keep him company, which is lucky because the Doctor still fancies her. Too late, he realises Omega's true plan, by which time his body has gone. Though Omega has only a short time back on Gallifrey, he's very industrious. To stop him, and save the Time Lords, the Doctor must stop him, despite the cost. It's hard to consider a story like this because it can't give justice to each and every character, to each and every facet of the Time Lord story. But if you can overlook the very soapy idea of the Doctor's adulterous relationship with Omega's wife, then it's not all that bad a book. The ending is perhaps a bit contrived, but Omega's plan wouldn't have worked, would it? Would it? As a one-off, this just about works as a celebration, though it might have been better with a bit more trimming, and a bit less smugness. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy. |