Customer Reviews

Doctor Who - the Scripts: "Galaxy Four" (Dr Who Script Book Series)

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William Emms adapts his own script in this novelisation.

The fundamental message of this story is that "beauty is only skin deep". The TARDIS arrives on an unnamed planet, where they have an odd encounter with a robot, named by Vicki as a Chumbly, before being captured by abgroup oif female warriors known as the Drahvins.

The Drahvins claim that the planet will self-destruct in a few days time, and seek the assistance of the TARDIS crew in defeating another downed spacecarft of aliens, the Rills, who have managed to repair their ship. They prompt the travelklers by holding one of them hostage against the success of the mission.

While casting good-looking women as villains may have not been very copmmon in 1965, it is so old hat by now that what may have been surprises when the show was broadcast will surprise no one these days.

This is not greatly assisted by William Emms uninspiring adaptation.

William Emms adapts his own script in this novelisation.

The fundamental message of this story is that "beauty is only skin deep". The TARDIS arrives on an unnamed planet, where they have an odd encounter with a robot, named by Vicki as a Chumbly, before being captured by abgroup oif female warriors known as the Drahvins.

The Drahvins claim that the planet will self-destruct in a few days time, and seek the assistance of the TARDIS crew in defeating another downed spacecarft of aliens, the Rills, who have managed to repair their ship. They prompt the travelklers by holding one of them hostage against the success of the mission.

While casting good-looking women as villains may have not been very copmmon in 1965, it is so old hat by now that what may have been surprises when the show was broadcast will surprise no one these days.

This is not greatly assisted by William Emms uninspiring adaptation.

William Emms adapts his own script in this novelisation.

The fundamental message of this story is that "beauty is only skin deep". The TARDIS arrives on an unnamed planet, where they have an odd encounter with a robot, named by Vicki as a Chumbly, before being captured by abgroup oif female warriors known as the Drahvins.

The Drahvins claim that the planet will self-destruct in a few days time, and seek the assistance of the TARDIS crew in defeating another downed spacecarft of aliens, the Rills, who have managed to repair their ship. They prompt the travelklers by holding one of them hostage against the success of the mission.

While casting good-looking women as villains may have not been very copmmon in 1965, it is so old hat by now that what may have been surprises when the show was broadcast will surprise no one these days.

This is not greatly assisted by William Emms uninspiring adaptation.

When the (first) Doctor, Vicki and Steven Taylor arrive on a seemingly lifeless planet, they are surprised to be taken prisoner by a robot. Stranger things happen when the trio is rescued by a pair of beautiful, if unintelligent female warriors. The women are led by a woman named Maaga who explain that there are two spaceships stranded on this dying planet, and that the others are the ugly and evil Rills. However, things are not always what they appear, and when the Doctor starts to get to the bottom of things, he finds that in this case looks are definitely deceiving.

Overall, I found this to be a pretty good Dr. Who story. Admittedly, the moral of the story - good can be ugly and beauty evil - is far from surprising, even a bit hackneyed. But, that said, it is nonetheless an entertaining story, and I loved reading a story the included Vicki and Steven Taylor.

A good story. It goes without saying that it could have been better written but it is not with out some quirky pleasures. There are some nice character vignettes. Vicki gets to shine as does Steven. The Rills are well presented. The story is the classic don't judge by appearance fable with the added spice of the evil beautiful aliens, the Drahvins, being a dead on critique of Feminism with it's totalitarianism and mind smothering thought processes presented intact. As the Doctor muses, "How do you explain to a fool that he's a fool?" Answer. You can't. Consequently, the book and the story will be hated by the PC thought police but it does add an interesting and unexpected spark to the story. The big character gaffe is having the Doctor thinking and speaking about his coming regeneration. At this stage of the series, regeneration was an unknown concept so it is a mistake continuity wise. Another destroyed story brought to life on print and not all that badly.