| SICK BUILDING by Paul Magrs |
| Story 17 Synopsis: The Doctor finds out that a Voracious Craw has landed on Tiermann's World, and he wants to save the natives before they're eaten by it. He and Martha meet the Tiermann family, inhabitants of the Dreamhome, where Ernest went to live to stay away from civilisation. The Doctor tries to get back to the TARDIS, and is accused of trying to damage the Dreamhome, and is banished down to Level -39. The next day, with the Craw getting closer, Ernest is annoyed when his self-built Servo-robots begin to malfunction. The Doctor finds two other abandoned robots, who lead him down to Level -40, where the Domovoi lives. She is the central computer that operates the house, and is annoyed with Ernest - whom she rightly expects will abandon her when he and his family escape. She allows the Doctor back to join the others, but then tries to seal them all inside the building so they will die with her. The Doctor manages to get the Tiermanns to their ship, but when it takes off, Ernest's wife Amanda is killed, causing the ship to crash back to Earth. Ernest stays in the Dreamhome, whilst his son Solin goes with the Doctor and Martha, back to the TARDIS. They use the TARDIS to return to the Dreamhome, but Ernest and the Domovoi kill each other. The Doctor uses a sound system to fool the Craw into thinking another bigger Craw is about, and it floats off. Solin is taken to the new life that Ernest had planned, with one surviving Servo-robot, Barbara the food machine. |
| Review:- A wintry landscape, and a far from ideal home... and a countdown to extinction... Magrs' 1st Dr Who novel in years is a thrilling romp with a small cast that makes great use of characters and locations. Whilst intensely derivative, the mix of elements works well enough, providing a high amount of entertainment, perhaps at the expense of a compelling overall narrative. The Tiermanns are a pretty basic bunch: father Ernest is a mad professor who's shunned society to live in his own little paradise, and built endless robots to make his life hassle-free. His wife is doting and subservient (and her eventual reveal as a cyborg is less than interesting). Son Solin has a spark of daring, but even he isn't individual enough to hold attention. No, it is the robots who draw the eye here, especially the abandoned pair whom the Doctor meets on Level -39: Barbara the vending machine, and Toaster the suntan machine. Both unfairly rejected, they get a new lease of life from association with the Doctor, helping him escape imprisonment, and providing both bravery in Toaster's case, and comic relief in Barbara's case, that help provide colour for the latter half of the book. It is unfortunate that with an exciting "ticking clock" premise, the book rather loses vitality after a while, once the Doctor and Martha manage to escape. Even when they return to the Dreamhome, and the Craw arrives, the drama is rendered futile as Ernest and the Domovoi kill each other with no interference from anyone. That the Doctor should then decide arbitrarily to find a way to thwart the Craw, which would have saved a lot of trouble had it been his first choice, seems laughably dumb, and that his big idea should involve the use of modulated burps is the cherry on the top of a rancid cake. Bodily functions have, regrettably, become a part of Doctor Who in the new series, but perhaps the resolution here is meant as a satire rather than a homage. Throw in Solin's rather pointless crush on Martha, yet another needless reference to Rose, the harmless rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody, and the suggestion that the way to beat bullies is "at their own game", and it feels disappointing that such a promising book should fizzle out so badly. Rather like the soggy crisps that Barbara foists on people when she can. At least the epilogue with the tiger is rather optimistic, which is how a reader might feel with the worst of things being over. |
| Disclaimer: I've read the book. |