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Title: Seeing I (Doctor Who Series) by Jonathan Blum, Kate Orman ISBN: 0-563-40586-4 Publisher: BBC Worldwide Pub. Date: July, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.2 (10 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A great return to form for the BBC Doctor Who books
Comment: There was one moment while in SEEING I where I cheered out loud. It was the passage in which Sam Jones (having run out on the Doctor in an earlier book) gets fed up with her boring, routine, desk-bound, nine-to-five job and quits to try to make a life for herself that means something. And this portion demonstrates the strength of this book. No longer is Sam merely Generic Companion #1, but a thinking, living, human character who's forced to deal with life after her first series of travels in the TARDIS.
The Doctor is well characterized here, but that isn't surprising as Kate Orman and Jon Blum are the team that gave us the first real characterization of the post-TV-Movie Eighth Doctor. There are a few places where his extreme touch-feeliness may feel a bit shallow and false, but there is something positive to be said about a Doctor who goes bungee jumping in between adventures. The plot is fairly thin and serves mostly to explore the two main characters, Sam and the Eighth Doctor, and their relationship -- something that had not been done as well or as in-depth in this BBC range it had been in some of the Doctor/companion teams of the Virgin-era books. This is something that the series was very much in need of -- in prior books, the Doctor and Sam had become almost faceless, with Paul McGann's one-time portrayal of the Doctor being reduced into small basic mannerisms that captured none of the charm and enthusiasm that had been brought to the role. SEEING I did a wonderful job of giving the Doctor more character than simply repeating his friends' a (not inconsiderable) number of times before addressing them.
All in all, this is an excellent return to form. With far too many of the early BBC books reading like simple churned-out children's books, it's nice to have something that appears to have been thought all the way through. We have an interesting villain in the form of the I, who could have done with a little more face-time. We get to learn a bit more about Sam and we see the authors handle her in a way that doesn't make her seem like the most annoying companion that ever existed. We get a good solid adventure story, and like all of Kate Orman's books, we get to see the Doctor actually going through some suffering during his trials and tribulations. SEEING I definitely left me wanting more.
Rating: 4
Summary: Sounds familiar, but still a good read
Comment: Let's see, the Doctor's companion has to deal with living in one place and time, years pass, the Doctor is imprisoned, and alien insectoids are involved somehow. Now which novel am I talkng about?
A. Set Piece
B. Seeing I
C. All of the above
The answer is C, of course.
That said, I really enjoyed both novels. There was more focus on the Doctor trying to escape this prison, and although it happens several times, it's new and interesting each time. The changes that Sam goes through while trying to carve out a life for herself on an alien world are reminiscient of our own experiences in finding our way as new adults in our own world. This book went really quickly for me, and I was done before I knew it, and wanted more. The Orman/Blum gestalt always produces thoughtful, entertaining, and interesting stories, and this is no exception. Buy it now!
Rating: 4
Summary: Seeing I
Comment: This is an appealing Dr Who novel.
It solidifies the relationship between Sam and the Doctor, after they had been apart for so long. The plot itself has some interesting details involving implant-technology, and aliens that acquire their technology merely by wresting it away from other planets, the inhabitants of which have actually done all the work. This is a colony-world, so I don't mind the exceedingly human face of the culture, or the Earthisms; other aspects of the story are otherworldly enough.
The subplot concerns Sam's growing love for the Doctor. At first glance, it reads as superficial, as she seems most drawn to his appearance. But a few passages allow for a deeper look, and given the fact that the TV show was on so long and, to my knowledge, this type of subplot was not mined, I'm all for it.
I also like the groundwork laid down for revelations that take place in the novel Interference (Books 1 and 2).
A superior Eighth Doctor story.
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Title:Doctor Who - The Seeds of Death ASIN: B0000WN0Z0 Publisher: Warner Home Video Pub. Date: 02 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $34.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $30.43 |
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Title: Corpse Marker (Dr. Who Series) by Chris Boucher ISBN: 0563555750 Publisher: BBC Worldwide Pub. Date: December, 1999 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
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Title: Doctor Who: Loving the Alien (Doctor Who) by Mike Tucker, Robert Perry ISBN: 056348604X Publisher: BBC Worldwide Pub. Date: May, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
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Title: Sometime Never... (Doctor Who) by Justin Richards ISBN: 0563486112 Publisher: BBC Worldwide Pub. Date: January, 2004 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
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Title: Doctor Who Emotional Chemistry by Simon A. Forward ISBN: 0563486082 Publisher: BBC Worldwide Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
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