Customer Reviews

Last Man Running (Doctor Who Series)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although this book is written by one of the best people who have written for the TV series, the actual 'plot' is so thin it could be mistaken for a sheet of tracing paper.

It is full of one-dimensional characters who are totally unsympathetic. Even Leela, who the author created, is a little flat. If you want to go for a fourth Doctor and Leela book, I would suggest 'Eye of Heaven' by Jim Mortimore, as this book is far better than 'Last Man Running'.

Funny thing about Chris Boucher - he wrote 'The Face of Evil', set in a jungle, then 'Robots of Death', a science fiction story with robots. His two novels, which follow on directly are 'Last Man Running', set in a jungle, and 'Corpse Marker', a science fiction story with robots.

There is a real resemblance between this book and Leela's first appearance - there are strange and vicious creatures in the jungle, but the real threat is from lost technology.

The book's best point is the characterisation of Leela - as the creator of this character, Mr. Boucher shows a real mastery of how to portray her. It would have been better if the story had been different from the earlier story, it would have been more worthwhile.

For some reason, none of the 4th Doctor Virgin MAs had Leela in them. Now we're in the second 4th Doctor BBC MA, and it is the second time we're treated to her appearance.

The book was written for her, really. On many occasions Leela's instinctive "primitive" instincts are the salvation of both her and the Doctor, in addition to the many others the duo encounter on a strange planet they become stranded on.

The whole planet is the perfect place for Leela to show off her skills. Even the alien technology that makes the planet so mysterious and dangerous was made so that only Leela, and not the Doctor, could understand and master it. At one point in the book, there's a big, scary monster that threatens to eat some people. Leela killed that big, scary monster and a few others too.

In fact I would go so far as to say that the main purpose of the book is the exploration of Leela, since in the book everything, including the planet, the Doctor, the alien technology, the soldiers, the TARDIS, and the monsters all work together so she can show off her skills in survival, tracking, conflict resolution, leadership, working with alien technology, hunting, and of course fighting. The exploration of Leela turns at times to adoration. But this is really toward the end of the book.

Regrettably, the book ends in a strange way, even though there is a good buildup of suspense. Toward the middle of the book a sideplot is hatched, which does not really have a lot to do with the last plot running. Furthermore the main plot is split too evenly by the physical middle of the book, into a first half where a mystery is being solved and a second half where a danger is being escaped.

In summary, Last Man Running is a fun book because it gives wide berth to Leela's character and the topics explored as a result give refreshing insights into a number of down-to-earth topics. However, the ability of the alien technology to create anything at all is stretched beyond its elasticity, resulting in a bland toss of action and little enjoyment for the reader.

Yay - a story that shows that Leela is intelligent instead of a stupid savage. Put in her own jungle environment, Leela shines through as the star of this book even making the Doctor realise that even he has underestimated her. The only flaw with this book is it does tend to get a bit confusing at times. Well worth a read!!! Recommended!!

I was so excited to see a new story with Leela. However this plot was so full of holes that I had to re-read several chapters before I could comprehend what was going on. It's poorly written and the Doctor is not the same person at all that we know from the show. It was great to see Leela actually be the warrior that she is however. It was the one bright spot in the story.

Boucher did a great job with characterization. His Leela and Doctor felt very accurate to the series. Set after "The Robots of Death", the Doctor and Leela are not entirely used to travelling with each other. The novel shows how they establish the respect for each other later seen in "The Talons of Weng-Chiang". There was also enough dimension to the supporting characters that I didn't mind the scenes without the Doctor or Leela.

The plot starts off rapidly, and Leela demonstrates her warrior prowess often. However, the plot eventually degrades into a "simple alien abusing advanced technology"story. As the Doctor came closer to meeting the villain, my interest waned.

If you like the 4th Doctor and Leela, then this will be a good romp to read. If you're hoping for a gripping story, though, put down the book after page 180.

I don't know how many stories Chris Boucher wrote in total, but I do know that he wrote two of the more well-regarded stories, "The Face of Evil" (one of the first stories to kind of deal with the Doctor as Myth, doing stuff offscreen that we're not privy to) and "Robots of Death" which I'm told is just overall excellent (even if the one-line description of it in "About Time" is hilarious . . . it's something like, "Robots. Green art deco robots. Commmmiinnngg tooo geeeettt yooooouuu!"). So anyone familiar with the old show was probably expecting great things out of this one. Or at least decent things. Pretty good things.

But instead we get this. The Fourth Doctor and Leela land on another world only to find that the world seems heckbent on trying to kill them and is adapting as it goes along like it's learning. They can't take two steps without being attacked or mind-controlled or tricked by bloodthirsty monsters. Which in itself is kind of fascinating except that a group of people are on the planet as well, with a vague mission that they're not too sure on and the growing sense that they really don't know what they're doing.

And that's the plot. In the past Boucher had a skill at suggesting cultures who had a life off the screen (or the page in this case) and while he does give us hints of a broader culture, it never holds together well enough that they feel "real", as much as a bunch of bizarre quirks. It doesn't help that the team is overall fairly unpleasant, spending most of their time arguing or being generally incompotent, so that when they start dying you're almost relieved that there's less noise. Although the amorous couple is kind of cute at times, even their banter gets annoying after a while.

What this means is that everyone wanders around fending off danger until they reach a point in the book where we have to explain the plot. Not exactly exciting and strangely the only person who acquits herself well in all of this is Leela. Boucher is the guy who created the character and that shows here. Where a lot of writers tended to make her into a dense savage, he shows her to be intelligent but possessing her own system of logic and values that proves to be useful in this case. She's actually interesting and winds up being more proactive than previous companions, as opposed to being someone who the Doctor just explains things to.

But we've still got that plot. And it is a problem because as much as things happen, there's a whole "who cares?" feel about it. It doesn't hang together, the characters aren't that thrilling and even when the explanation comes it's the "Doctor explains about an obscure culture that only he has heard of" tactic of giving exposition. By the time the left field introduction of the rescue team comes about, you're just killing time until you get to the end.

A good effort and fans of Leela will enjoy it for the characterization but beyond that there's nothing much to make you want to seek the book out.

I really feel this book was written by a fan of Leela. She is the most important character in this book since she saves countless people, including the Doctor more times than I care to remember. The plot seems to go awry mid way and just gets more confusing after that.

In reading these Doctor Who books, one of my criteria is "Could this have been an actual transmitted show?" That is, could I believe this was something that could have actually existed as a televised adventure.

Last Man Running definatley meets that requirement. Although they would have had to forget about the lush jungle environment and got Zarbi to chase them for the TV show. This is a good story, good workaday standard plot and good developed but not deep characters. In fact, most of the books failings seem to be very simular to the failings of actual televised adventures.

There is a huge scene change halfway through the book. The first half is an adventure in a jungle with giant bugs and lost soldiers which seem to come right out of Starship Troopers, but nevermind, borrowing is what Doctor Who is about! Its a great first half with lots of chases, daring escapes and Leela slaying monsters left, right and center. The shift to the second half is where the tale starts to loose steam (just like in Stones of Blood).

The second half of the story takes place in a strange virtual reality alien bunker left behind by some vanished empire. There's a very conviluted and contrived attempt to keep you guessing who the villain is as the alien devices keep conjuring up soldiers who got killed in the jungle to get the audience to say "Aha! It was him! I knew it all along!" and then it turns out they were just illusion. I'm not really sure who the villain was supposed to be in the end as this plot device was used ad nauseum. The end seems rushed and contrived actually, but this is Doctor Who. Maybe the budget ran out. Still, the Doctor wins the day and many of the lost soldiers live to go home and face the music (a loose thread in the story about a conspiracy which is never resolved).

I have read that some people find the fourth doctor very hard to write, as Tom Baker put so much of his own eccentricity into the role. Hardly any of this eccentricity comes through in the book. The Doctor does seem like The Doctor, and I never doubted that for a moment. But he's darker and more brooding. I found myself thinking more of Sylvester McCoy's interpretation of the Doctor as I read this book. In fact, it may have been better for this to have been a Seventh Doctor book with Ace blowing up the bugs and lizards instead of Leela stabbing them. Especially in the second half where The Doctor approaches the problem carefully and broodingly. Come along now, Tom Baker would run around like a loon giving everyone jellybabies, we all know that.

Still, all in all, a great read and a nice way to pass a few train trips to work.