Scan barcode
iphigenie72's review
3.0
Between Whovians a question does always come up... if you could watch one of the lost stories which one would it be? The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve is my answer, every time. After reading this book, I'll have to find another answer: for one, I feel like I've seen the serial now, and two, not sure it would have been a favorite even if it had have been possible to see it.
Don't get me wrong as Doctor Who stories go this is good and quite exciting, really. I think you have to love the First Doctor to appreciate it (and I love every regeneration of our favorite Time Lord) so I would not recommend this to someone who hasn't seen the First in action before, but I don't think someone interested in DW would start by the books, audios or other satellite of the show; the show classic or modern has to be fallen in love with before going for any other medium than television.
The story of The Massacre is not actually, like the title infer, what we see in this story instead we see the days leading to it, that was a surprise since I didn't remember that from what I knew from reading about this serial (have to say, I read this a good while ago and I didn't read the synopsis of the book before beginning it because I'm allergic to "spoilers"... can we call them that when the episodes played before I was born? not sure.). The First Doctor never really meddled with the end game of historical events, I guess in the modern take the massacre would fall under the fix points that the Doctor cannot change, so as exciting and good as the story is, there is fate awaiting the characters you learn to love and with a title like The Massacre it is hard to believe in a happily ever after for everyone.
It's a good book, I think the author did well in adapting his script, but I can't compare... I'm still a little frustrated about that, I so wish episodes still existed,. I didn't think there was a lot of originality in this story, the Doctor and companion get separated, each has his own adventure and off they go at the end having had but little impact in the lives of the people they have encountered... was the episodes exciting? you can't judge from the book, I suspect they probably were a little more than the written word, actors can transform a story from ordinary to exciting and fun although that's just me guessing. The epilogue wants to make us believe that maybe some of the characters future were changed by the Doctor and Steven being there, I doubt it.
Wow, not sure I said a lot about the book or story... This is a very meandering review, that'll teach me to write it at one o'clock in the morning and I can go in a tangent about Doctor Who like any good Whovian.
Final verdict: worth the read and it's out on audiobook too so that's another option... but I rather experience it in my head if I cannot watch the serial and, after all, it is written by the original author so you have to think this was a good adaptation (though I do like the ones written by Terrance Dicks a lot too and I'm sure his take on this would have been very interesting too... sorry, I went off again).
Don't get me wrong as Doctor Who stories go this is good and quite exciting, really. I think you have to love the First Doctor to appreciate it (and I love every regeneration of our favorite Time Lord) so I would not recommend this to someone who hasn't seen the First in action before, but I don't think someone interested in DW would start by the books, audios or other satellite of the show; the show classic or modern has to be fallen in love with before going for any other medium than television.
The story of The Massacre is not actually, like the title infer, what we see in this story instead we see the days leading to it, that was a surprise since I didn't remember that from what I knew from reading about this serial (have to say, I read this a good while ago and I didn't read the synopsis of the book before beginning it because I'm allergic to "spoilers"... can we call them that when the episodes played before I was born? not sure.). The First Doctor never really meddled with the end game of historical events, I guess in the modern take the massacre would fall under the fix points that the Doctor cannot change, so as exciting and good as the story is, there is fate awaiting the characters you learn to love and with a title like The Massacre it is hard to believe in a happily ever after for everyone.
It's a good book, I think the author did well in adapting his script, but I can't compare... I'm still a little frustrated about that, I so wish episodes still existed,
Spoiler
I would have loved to see William Hartnell in his double role as the Doctor and the Abbot of Amboise though I think the device of having an actor doing more than one character is a little tiring, but when being acted this can be actually very exciting to watch like in The Enemy of the World (Patrick Troughton's take on this is a joy), in a book, not so much when it is all due to pure luck and has no explanation to itWow, not sure I said a lot about the book or story... This is a very meandering review, that'll teach me to write it at one o'clock in the morning and I can go in a tangent about Doctor Who like any good Whovian.
Final verdict: worth the read and it's out on audiobook too so that's another option... but I rather experience it in my head if I cannot watch the serial and, after all, it is written by the original author so you have to think this was a good adaptation (though I do like the ones written by Terrance Dicks a lot too and I'm sure his take on this would have been very interesting too... sorry, I went off again).
nwhyte's review
http://nhw.livejournal.com/825455.html[return][return]The novelisation of The Massacre strays some way from the story as broadcast: we experience it as a flashback from the First Doctor's point of view, at a moment when he has temporarily made his peace with the Time Lords and is relaxing in the garden from which he is wrenched for The Five Doctors. Rather than the Doctor disappearing from the scene as he does in the TV story, here he and Steven get completely sucked into the Protestants' attempts to discredit the Doctor's double, the Abbot of Amboise, and to be honest it is all rather confusing; apparently the story had to be rewritten to allow for Hartnell's health (or the unusability of Lucarotti's original script, depending what version you believe). We get the impression that because of the Doctor's interference to save Anne Chaplet, the Time Lords get grumpy with him again. Dodo Chaplet, who appears in the last few minutes of the TV version, does not appear at all here except in that her arrival is referred to by the Time Lords in the epilogue.
More...