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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The 7th Doctor meets the 5th, July 21, 1997
By A Customer
Although it says nowhere on the binding, this is a multiple Doctor story with both the 7th and the 5th Doctor. As such it does not shine until the very end when the 7th Doctor has the 5th knocked out right before he realizes the 7th Doctor remembers everything that had transpired.
As far as an enjoyable story goes, it works fairly well. The parts with the 5th Doctor were great, some of the 7th Doctor parts were classic as well. I did not ,however, understand them as well, as I have not read a great deal of the New Adventures. (According to the back cover blurb this takes place between Kate Orman's Return of the Living Dad and The Death of Art If I had read the New Adventures up until that point, it probablly would have helped my understanding of the novel.
This is one of those books that brings up alot of questions. The ending few chapters in particular. Some may frown upon introducing questions in the books, I do not. I believe that is what made Syl's last two years on TV so enjoyable.
Confusing, yes. But enjoyable and extremely interesting. A recomended read.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cold fudge sundae, November 26, 2003
Here's a book with everything in it. You got your multiple doctors, check. Montage of scenes from "The Mind of Evil", "The Brain of Morbius", and "The Creature From the Pit" (!), check. Obscure continuity references, check: members of an alien race referred to in passing in "Time-Flight", and lyrics from a song once recorded by Jon Pertwee.So. What's "Cold Fusion" about? Buried deep in an interview on the BBC Doctor Who Books website, Lance Parkin reveals that the germ of "Cold Fusion" was the war in Yugoslavia. At its heart this was a book about the Fifth Doctor ("Bland") fighting in a local war... and opposed by the Seventh Doctor (the "Dark" one) masterminding the other side. Great idea! However, it doesn't really play out here. "Cold Fusion" is consumed by flashbacks, by references to past and future Gallifreyan history, and by any number of "Oh! Look how clever" moments. The novel is consequently much darker than the dark comedy left on the drawing board. "Cold Fusion" had me scratching my head. The book is seven years old, and subsequent developments in the book lines rendered its revelations moot. I searched the Internet in search for other commentary about just what it all means, but apart from the brief interview with Lance, couldn't find any. This is the plot, all spoilers: The Fifth Doctor, before the death of Adric, lands on a 30th century Earth colony, where the scientific ruling elite is threatened by terrorists, and undermined by the descendants of UNIT. Lost beneath the snow is a TARDIS from ancient Gallifrey. The pilot -- Patience -- is still alive, and regenerates. We learn she's the wife of the Other -- one of the creators of Gallifrey who vanished into history to enter the Doctor's own timeline. Meanwhile, the journey of Patience's TARDIS unleashes the Ferutu -- Time Lords from the end of an alternate Universe. In order to save the web of time, the Doctor must send the proto-TARDIS home to ancient Gallifrey. However, the Seventh Doctor, shortly before the death of Roz, outwits his earlier self, and uses the proto-TARDIS instead to destroy the Ferutu and their universe. Most of the colony is wrecked, and Patience is killed by UNIT. Roz knocks the Fifth Doctor unconscious so the Seventh Doctor can make his getaway. Deep, deep stuff. Any one of the three stories here is interesting, but not all together. The colony story sort of just fades away, both sides thugs, Lance's pointed political asides disappearing into the ether. I came away with a loathing for the Seventh Doctor... who really wasn't about the things he did in this novel. The Ferutu remain inscrutable, not tragic. The black, black comedy intrudes. There are two very funny moments of 30th century hijinks: the Doctor disarms a "war-droid", which rattles out a string of hilarious operating instructions. Later, we learn that robot labor speaks in working-class accents and govern themselves with dilatory union tactics. Both these moments are laugh-out-loud funny. They're also followed by brutal deaths just paragraphs later. Maybe that sums up "Cold Fusion" in a nutshell. It's got these great ideas, but just doesn't know where to put 'em. "Cold Fusion" is sad, sad, sad. There's a lot of death -- maybe the highest body-count ever in "Doctor Who", apart from what was implied in "Logopolis". But the end of the Universe in "Logopolis" was balanced by themes of rebirth. "Cold Fusion" is ambitious, and weighs on the mind when it's all over. However, as dark as it is, what does it all mean? What's it all for?
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Lots of cooks in the soup, September 30, 2006
Boy, this book seems to be selling for a lot of money. What's up with that? Good thing I bought it ten years ago. Tedious economics comments out of the way, this is one of the more sought after Missing Adventures, both for what it is and what it does. Just the very concept on paper makes it rare . . . this is the only pairing of any two Doctors in the Virgin novels. Even better, it starts to delve into insights into the Doctor's past and the past of Gallifrey, bits that were picked up and expanded on in other books, but the foundation was laid here first. The plot starts out simple enough, the fifth Doctor is drawn to another planet and locked out of his TARDIS, a few days after his recent regeneration. Nyssa, Tegan and Adric are with him and soon enough they are embroiled in what appears to be a war between the scientific ruling class and a bunch of rebels. Plus, ghosts are appearing left and right and nobody knows why. To make matters worse, someone appears to be helping the rebels, someone who knows the Doctor quite well. The combining of the fifth and seventh's Doctors respective teams (the seventh brings along Chris and Roz) should have been a mess but Parkin manages to balance the huge cast and not have it all dissolve into a indistinguishable haul. He pulls this off by pairing off the two teams with each other and giving them separate plots, while sort of shoving the seventh Doctor off to the side. Which works, because any scenes the little Doctor is in he more or less takes over, his manipulations, utter confidence and experience bowling over everyone else, including his younger, more innocent self, who just can't keep up with all the machinations. This is an interesting novel in the sense that we have never seen two Doctors essentially opposed, even though their stated goals are the same, and through the eyes of the fifth, we see why all the other incarnations fear the seventh, who comes off as one mean son of a gun, in his full glory as chessmaster. Otherwise the two casts mingle well and there are a lot of nice moments between them. The seventh Doctor and his team's reaction to Adric is both poignant and priceless. The other selling point of the story is the glimpses into Gallifreyan history, as the Time Lady Patience causes all of this by having her prototype TARDIS crash into the planet. The peeks into her thoughts are intriguing, both for a window into a piece of the mythology we've never seen and hints as to where the Doctor came from. Oh yes, and did I mention the Feretu, a race of Time Lord magicians that are killing everyone in sight? It's almost too much story for one novel and it's no surprise that some plots (like the rebel one) sort of fall by the wayside as the book focuses more on the Doctors and the Feretu and making sure the Universe isn't destroyed. As I said earlier, Parkin juggles all of this admirably and I think in the end its reach exceeds its grasp by just thatmuch, the sheer naked ambition involved makes the book fun to read and when it does payoff, it does so in spades. A key book in the novel continuity and fascinating in its own right (I have no idea if it's considered canon or not, I doubt it), snatch it up if you can find it for less than three digits. Otherwise, hope the BBC prints it online.
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