| SHAKEDOWN by Terrance Dicks |
| Story 45 Synopsis: On the planet Megerra, Chris and Roz are trying to track a serial killer. On the university planet Sentarion, Bernice is trying to investigate the Rutan-Sontaran conflict, and evades an attempt on her life from religious fanatics. The Doctor tries to inform the Rutan that the Sontarans are onto a big secret of theirs, but they won't talk. The Megerra killer manages to leave the city, stowing away to Space Station Alpha. Desperate, he sneaks aboard a solar yacht, the Tiger Moth, on a shakedown cruise. The Sontarans pursue, killing most of the crew of the Tiger Moth, but succeeding in destroying the killer, Karne, a Rutan spy. But Karne had divided before death, and his new body continues on to Sentarion, where he is greeted with awe, as the Rutan were the gods of the Sentarrii. The Doctor meets up with Roz & Chris, and then charters the Tiger Moth to get them to Sentarion. The Sontarans arrive, too. There is a wormhole leading from the Rutan home to Sentarion, which the Rutan planned to use in case of emergency. The Sontarans plan to send a War Wheel down it to destroy the Rutan. But the Doctor fiddles the wormhole so that the War Wheel can never leave, but the Rutan can never use it again, either. He narrowly escapes Sontaran vengeance to return to the Tiger Moth. Grateful, he, Benny, Roz & Chris help the yacht owner, Captain Lisa Deranne, to win a race. |
| Review:- So, the story that began with Lords Of The Storm, reaches a conclusion, with the emphasis on the pursuit of Karne, and the Rutan big secret. Terrance is an old hand at the game of turning TV drama into novelisations, and here gets the chance to turn fan-made spin-off drama Shakedown into one. Cunningly, that forms the middle of the book, with a before and after bit added to make the whole thing into a complete narrative. After an opening interlude introducing the reader to Kurt, erstwhile smuggler, and Steg, erstwhile Sontaran officer, the chase moves to Megerra and its big city, Megacity, a lawless hellhole where Roz & Chris meet a brain-zapped Ogron. I well recall the then-reviewer in DWM suggesting that this character was inspired by reading Gareth Roberts' novels, which is a stunning indictment of Mr Dicks, really, as if the poor man has a lack of imagination. Anyway, Dicks later used the whole Megacity scenario when Benny got her own spin-off book series. Whilst the fun's happening there, Benny herself is on Sentarion, trying to avoid death whilst trying to uncover the mysterious secret of the Sentarrii. Despite the obvious reluctance of the High Chancellor about her projected studies into the Sontarans and Rutans, and despite the lack of information she finds on the Rutans, she never seems to deduce the obvious fact that the Rutans are the creatures that the Sentarrii worship. Given her background, this is a bit of a lapse. On the other hand, she does skip out of the story for about 100 pages. Which covers the ups and downs of the Tiger Moth. After reading this version, I wonder how few people went on to buy the video. Unless you get a kick out of seeing that cast in action, there's nothing else in it. And so to the big rush to Sentarion and the big reveal, which is actually quite a decent plot, but in the big rush, seems to be over with very quickly. With the Doctor having met up again with Kurt, they both get the chance to meet Steg again. Whilst the Sontaran actually gets some good characterisation, and to save a couple of lives, he comes to a bad end, not once but twice. The problem with the Sontaran-Rutan war now is that both are symbiotic of the other, so that stories can't be created to be considered in isolation. Here, the two books counter this by favouring one or the other, but the end result is status quo. It's rather to the detriment of both races that their ultimate destiny in fiction is so tightly bound up in each other. But in itself, this is a fine little book, that embellishes and develops where it has to, and brings a whole array of colourful characters to life. And sometimes, that's enough. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy of this book. |