| LUNGBARROW by Marc Platt |
| Story 60 Synopsis: The TARDIS lands in a dusty old house, which the Doctor realises is his home back on Gallifrey. It's been submerged for 673 years, since he left. The head of the house, Quences, is in stasis because his will is missing. Chris has visions that suggest the Doctor killed Quences. Meanwhile, President Romana is besieged by the CIA, and trying to establish a vital diplomatic link. She uses Leela and Ace to enter Lungbarrow and find the Doctor. When the events of the past are examined, it shows that the Doctor didn't kill Quences - it was his Cousin, Glospin, trying to frame the Doctor. But evidence also shows the Doctor was the product of the Other entering the Looms of Gallifrey, which Glospin has been trying to prove. Quences reads the will, which leaves the House to the Doctor. He is stunned that the underachiever went on to become Lord President of the High Council. The Cousins are evacuated, and the House tumbles into a chasm. Chris departs from the Doctor, leaving the Time Lord to undertake one more mission: to retrieve the Master's remains from the clutches of the Daleks... |
| Review:- Finally, after 60 New Adventures, and 10 years on from the Cartmel Masterplan, the answers are revealed... and what answers they are. So, to Gallifrey we go, and Platt's original pitch for Ghost Light, which centres on the Doctor's family. What might sound unpromising is given vim by the concept of the Loom, and there being 45 cousins to each House, or whatever it is. Quite why 45 should be the magic number is alas not explained. It certainly puts strange emphasis on population control. But anyway... Chris gives the reader an outsider's view, which is useful as the Doctor becomes typically, if understandably, reticent about the place. Not only that, but the House has many quirks that have to be kept in mind - over-sized furniture, an outlandish damp problem, any number of floors and rooms. On the plus side, the reader does not have to juggle 45 named Cousins, as most have vanished by the start of the story, and those that remain are easy enough to follow: Satthralope the housekeeper, Innocent the Doctor's friend, Glospin the obvious baddie, Owis the repugnant henchman, and so on. Set apart from these events are the further adventures of Dorothee McShane, long past the point of being interesting, and paired up with Leela for plot convenience. In a device presumably relating Leela's husband Andred to his predecessor Hilred in The Deadly Assassin, they're said to come from the House of Redlooms (unimaginative), and the missing guard in the House is called Redred. Laugh? You'll never start. Anyway, they're tied up with Romana's mysterious mission which serves little purpose other than keeping Romana out of the way and pitching Gallifrey towards chaos. Hmm... To aide Chris in telling the story, cousin Arkhew bites the dust. As Chris investigates, he finds himself also following the mystery of who killed Quences, where the missing will has been all these years, and the big one: who is the Doctor. As soon as we learn that the prime suspect for Quences' murder is the Doctor, so we realise he must have been set up. From there, as with a good episode of Columbo (or Scooby Doo), it's just a question of finding the proof that Glospin did it. By that point, we've had a silly excursion into pre-history to witness the Other's abandonment of Rassilon, and his reappearance as the Doctor, and his exit from Gallifrey. Not only was he AWOL at the time of the murder, but it wasn't his fault that the House was buried underground. But at least he finds the will, through one of the more interesting diversions in the book, wonder-board game Sepulchasm. The House is destroyed, the Doctor inherits, and Innocet takes over as Housekeeper. Chris takes the hint to push off, and Romana puts the Doctor's life in peril at the behest of the CIA. The New Adventures drew to a close by embracing the TVM, which killed them off, but in such a way as to make clear they felt just as valid as all the telly stories. Whether they are or not, is up to personal judgement, really. Overall, this is a fairly spirited read, once it gets its act together, which perhaps more questions about the Doctor than needed to be asked, but keeps the reader interested, which is no bad thing. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy of this book. |