| REVOLUTION MAN by Paul Leonard |
| Story 21 Synopsis: The Doctor detects a major change happening on Earth in 1967, and takes Sam and Fitz there. They meet a revolutionary, Jean-Pierre Rex, but Sam is not impressed by him. When an incident happens in Rome, the Doctor sends Sam there to check it out, but she finds Rex there, and makes little progress. Fitz meets Maddie, a waitress whose boyfriend Ed is part of a pop group, Kathmandu, and who has brought back a drug, Om-Tsor, from Tibet, which has powerful properties. The Doctor knows the drug is actually alien. During a concert, Ed appears to die, and Maddie is shot. Fitz decides to stay on Earth with her. The Doctor and Sam travel forward a year, where they see more work of the Revolution Man. Fitz and Maddie trek to Nepal to investigate the drug, but are found by the Chinese. She is rescued by the Doctor, but Fitz is brainwashed into joining the Chinese army. A year later, he is sent to London with a bomb, and the intention to secure more of the drug. Ed turns out to be still alive, and the real Revolution Man. At a concert at Wembley, with the world on the brink of war, he plans to use Om-Tsor to take over. But Fitz shoots him, and the Doctor has to shoot him also to make sure he dies. Then he uses the drug to stop incoming missiles. Maddie turns nasty, but the Doctor, Sam and Fitz scramble into the TARDIS and leave. |
| Review:- A dangerous trip through the late 1960's, as Fitz learns an early lesson in the dangers of time travel, and relying too much on back-up. The Doctor starts out very pro-active here, having somehow picked up evidence of the Revolution Man, and using a tip from Sam (presumably) to talk to J-P Rex. After a brief skirmish in Rome and at Ed's ill-fated concert, then Fitz splits off on his own, which comes a bit of a surprise, although his inevitable reunion is wholly expected. After the brief silliness in 1968 where Sam meets the Total Liberation Brigade, then it's full speed ahead to the final section with another concert, where the Earth is again threatened with extinction (cf. Genocide) and a resolution with the launch of missiles, impending armageddon, all put right by the Doctor in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it finale (cf. Dancing The Code). If there were more in the book of interest, the obvious rehashing of Leonard's own work might be less notable. But when the amazing wonder drug doesn't really do much except carve giant symbols in a rather juvenile fashion, it's hard to care. That Rex seems so obviously the perpetrator is not repudiated by any other evidence, and Ed's later assumption of the mantle of Revolution Man seems a rather silly twist. We hardly learn anything about either of them, which makes them rather distant characters to care about. Maddie's double shooting would be enough to unhinge anyone, and the added news reports which are included between each 'yearly' segment and help pad the book out a bit, do at least give a neat way to round her story off when it seems that running away in the TARDIS solves the concert. Fitz' problems with the Chinese do give some interest to the story, but as it's so negligible to the main story, all it does is provide welcome distraction from the drab main text. Sam seems painfully tedious, which is odd as she should be the moral contrast to the rather slackadaisical terrorists and hippies. But without the maturity of reflection, her one-dimensional view is quite boring to put up with over and over again. Which leaves the Doctor, who is 'forced' to kill a man to save the world, and then take drugs to mend things. This apparently shocking conclusion seemed pretty lifeless when I read this back in 1999, and time has not altered my view of it. Does it trigger a debate for the Doctor on the ethics of taking life? Not really, no. In which case, it's just a silly gimmick for it's own sake. On the whole, this is a well-paced but tiresome book, highlighted only by Fitz' subplots. It's almost enough to make me wonder if some actual appreciation of drugs would help me like it more. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy of the book. |