| LOVING THE ALIEN by Mike Tucker & Robert Perry |
| Story ? Synopsis: November 1959. An experimental rocket, the Waverider, runs into misfortune on its initial run. Reports of giant ants in London happen. The Doctor brings Ace here to try and prevent her murder, but doesn't let her in on what's happening. They split up, and she finds his bug, and loses it. The Doctor gets reacquainted with Cody McBride, private investigator. Having lost track of Ace, the Doctor meets another old face, CI Mullen, who gets caught in a bomb blast, and has both legs amputated. Meanwhile, Ace starts a romance with zooworker Jimmy. Unfortunately, he is working for George Limb, who shoots Ace in the head, as expected. The Doctor tries to examine the Waverider rocket, and finds it has come from a parallel Universe, which is trying to invade and conquer this Earth. He realises that George Limb is controlling things, and that Jimmy is the rescued James Dean. Limb has been travelling in time, but not getting very far, and he is trying to prevent his death. In the parallel Universe, he is the PM, and authorises invasion. The Doctor tries to stop him, finally causing the invaders to return to their Universe. He gives Limb a gun to shoot himself with. A parallel Ace comes through the rift, unaware of a self being shot. She leaves in the TARDIS with the Doctor. |
| Review:- Well, a story years in the brewing finally lets rip. Tucker & Perry's arc featuring the 7th Doctor and Ace, "Season 27" comes to a throbbing conclusion with references back to events and characters from Illegal Alien, Matrix and Prime Time. The cliffhanger from the latter, wherein the Doctor was presented with Ace's corpse, leads us to Earth 1959, and a race against time involving parallel universes and Cyber-technology. The alternative Universe stuff is a lot more explicable than the Sabbath saga currently going on in the EDAs, and George Limb seems more credible for being one man with clear motivation. Certainly, the other Earth is simple to pick up. The Doctor spends much of the book being out-manoeuvred. Much as happened in No Future, actually. Hmmm... Anyway, he is pretty well-written, and manages to convince as the popular Time Lord who saves the day by his wits, and there are some real near scrapes inside. Ace sadly gets a typical waste, in a very poor reaction to her character. The Doctor dissects her corpse, to tell the readers what she was doing in her final hours. Quite what that is supposed to benefit the reader, I don't know. Then we have the resolution to the dramatic set-up, which, quelle surprise, is an enormous anti-climax. I mean, this event has been awaiting resolution for almost 2 years, and then... it isn't resolved properly. Now that is wicked. Cody McBride and Joe Mullen provide a hefty link back to Illegal Alien, and Cody becomes the Doctor's surrogate companion when Ace goes AWOL. He helps introduce Rita Banks, who gives some useful insights into the other Earth, and also gets a few pages as a companion. George Limb is built up as an amazing controlling nemesis, but I'll bet people haven't been champing at the bit for almost 6 years for his return. He is simply a one-dimensional character, with a pretty simple reason for justification, and spends far too long being just decidedly unsporting, before topping himself at the end anyway. Grief. The fact that Jimmy turns out to be James Dean is one of few surprises, and quite ingenious, helping to enhance George's meddling reputation. Sadly, the people of the other Earth are all unappealing, and thus there is even less dilemma about stopping them. It did put me in mind of that other recent BBC book with an altered Earth, namely The Domino Effect, and this was better done. But I shall be looking forward to the next stage of the Sabbath saga, for the wrong reasons. Overall, a patchy book, with some real downer moments. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy of this book. |