Customer Reviews

Last of the Gaderene (Doctor Who)

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
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Mark Gatiss writes probably the best Third Doctor novel to date. The Doctor and Unit are informed that a strange military group known as Legion International have taken over an old WWII aerodrome in a small town called Culverton. Although, this group claims to have the towns peoples interest in mind, The Doctor feels that there is more to this Legion International than meets the eye. This novel is so engrossing that you'll find it hard to put it down. Mark Gatiss writes the story so well, you almost want to believe that this was an episode. All the characters, not only the lead ones, have depth and personality that makes the story all the more enjoyable. In the wake of how The Third Doctor was mistreated in parts one and two of "Interference", this book is a breath of fresh air. A compelling story that is a must have for all Doctor Who fans. Plus a surprise I'm sure everybody will enjoy. Great work Mr. Gatiss.

I'll admit to being somewhat jaded in this review on two counts - this was the first Dr. Who novel I had ever read and the Third Doctor/Jo Grant combination is my favorite Dr. Who era.

Simply put, this is a very well done story that stays true to the Dr. Who legacy. It's got the perfect combination of a UNIT adventure and the "strange goings on in small town England" story line going for it. The characters are well rendered and the whole thing is just fun.

While I doubt that any Dr. Who novel would win the Booker or the Noble Prize for Literature, they are a fun break from the "hard stuff" - read and enjoy.

Mark Gatiss is obviously a great fan of Doctor Who. Not only in his BBC-published novels, Big Finish-produced audio adventures, his portrayal of the Doctor in a series of sketches on BBC's Doctor Who night, but several earlier fan-produced video and audio stories, show his wide appreciation of the show in its every aspect.

'The Last of the Gadarene' is set towards the end of Doctor Who's tenth season - the Doctor's exile to Earth has ended, although he still uses it as his base of operations. Jo Grant is still his assistant (but not for much longer - how long between this book and 'The Green Death' is debatable), and UNIT are more the Doctor's friends than employers.

The Brigadier is contacted by an old friend after a private company purchases an old air force aerodrome. ALC Whistler is suspicious as to exactly what is going on. And there's more to him than the Brigadier is aware of...

The Doctor and Jo head off to Culverton to investigate. There is certainly something strange about Legion International's operation and even personnel.

A fairly traditional Doctor Who story, well told and thoughtfully plotted. A delight.

When Mark Gatiss first wrote this book around 2000 or so, the new series wouldn't be broadcast for another five years, so it's interesting to note that he would have no way of knowing that he would both act and write for the revived series in the coming years, probably one of the few Eighth Doctor writers of the BBC line to get picked up for that little honor. Of course, in Gatiss' case, being fairly familiar with the ways of television didn't hurt either, as he had been active with his "League of Gentlemen" show, but it does speak to his dedication as a fan that he'll get involved in the production any which way they'll have him.

And it's no fluke, the lad goes way back. His first Who novel was the Virgin New Adventure "Nightshade" in 1992, when everyone was still holding their breaths and holding out hope that the BBC might come to their senses and renew the show. That particular novel wasn't all that great from what little I remember of it and after that he seems to have become the go-to guy for pseudo-historicals, with his BBC Past Doctor Adventure novel involving the actual past and his three episodes all heavily based on history. On the plus side, he seems to have improved since those days with "Nightshade", on the other hand, "Victory of the Daleks" proves that nobody is perfect.

But what about this novel? Here, Gatiss returns to the Past Doctor territory that served him in "The Roundheads" but instead of setting it in history, he takes us back to the grand ol' days of the UNIT family and the Third Doctor, as the crew gets together to investigate a sleepy English village when something strange seems to be going on. An aerodome has been sold to a new company that appears to have been given the okay by the Ministry of Defense, but the newcomers are weird, moving in trucks of stuff at odd hours of the day or night, and there are black clad soldiers everyone, always smiling in a creepy fashion like everything is really really funny. The Doctor and Jo go in to see what's up and find that it's all a terrible misunderstanding.

Um, no. They find aliens, and if that counts as a spoiler for you, then you clearly haven't been watching a lot of the TV show. Given the chance to go play in the UNIT toybox, Gatiss approaches it like he's never going to ever write one of these things again, throwing in nearly every character for at least walk-on or small role and doing his level best to recapture the old-school feel of those heady 1970s days when all you needed to stop an alien invasion was a man in a velvety coat and a bunch of people who didn't mind shooting at things with leathery wings. Clearly, it's not like Torchwood was getting the job done.

And strangely enough, this works. Don't ask me why, because great chunks of it feel like riffs on other, better SF and TV shows . . . his television roots show in several places, especially in how he styles the cliffhangers (one chapter ends with someone carrying an unconscious body into a house, interrupting the conversation with some dramatics . . . boy, we've never seen that before) and it's probably safe to say that the aliens taking over scheme owes more than a few debts to Heinlein's "The Puppet Masters" but he has a good enough grasp of when to employ this stuff so it doesn't feel as derivative as it should. All the elements add up to what you would consider "classic" television, in other words just like they used to make when you were a kid. Now, I don't have any real nostalgia for them to make the show "just like they used to" so generally people slavishly recreating different periods of the series tends to rub me the wrong way but Gatiss knows his way around a plot and has enough interesting set pieces to keep things moving, even when the Doctor is still working on stuff you've figured out ages ago.

Yet, he also makes time for several instances of rather chilling body horror (spider-like creatures aren't exactly rare in SF but they never stop being creepy), a old WWII pilot and a weird sea monster/marsh beast type of creature, as well as the surprise appearance by someone I will fully admit that I never saw coming, even though I probably should have, all things considered. But I give Gatiss for not really telegraphing it and using him somewhat effectively, even if he probably should have seen the end result coming.

Yeah, it's all real standard. Yeah, UNIT doesn't seem to do all that much until the need for guns a-blazin' arrives. But he's clearly not shooting for high literature here and sometimes a well constructed story is all you're really looking for. My past experiences with some of the Past Doctor Adventures had jaded me somewhat as to the charms of these old eras but I will say that Gatiss has put together a solid adventure that manages to be entertaining and true to the old style without sounding creakily enslaved to it. He's not recreating his youth, he's merely writing a story, and that sometimes make all the difference.

From the title you guess the ending. However when you get there it is quite rushed and unsatisfactory. The doctor and his trademark clothes can be seen in this sleepy village and UNIT plods on in its never ending fight for....... I miss a bit of character development and all within seem shallow and thin compared to other books about the doctor; 3rd or 4th. But then it's the perfect book for a rainy Saturday afternoon. Jelly Baby anyone?

Something strange is going on in the small village of Culverton when a convoy of trucks and black shirted troops appear and take over a Second World War aerodrome. People are going missing and there is something terrifying in the swamp.

Mark Gatiss has once again brought us to a quaint small village to create (as he did in Nightshade) a spooky, creepy feel to his novel. The story is set after the 3rd Doctors exile on Earth has been lifted. This has enabled the writer to begin the Doctor's adventures by finishing off a solo jaunt on another planet.

The book is a very light/fun read, great for an escape from the harder, multiple plotline Doctor Who novels. It features great representation of the Doctor, Jo Grant, the Brigadier and the rest of UNIT plus the surprise villian. You will find scenes remeniscent from ALIEN to THE LIVING DEAD movies here all adding to the enjoyment to this traditional era novel. RECOMMENDED to all!!!!