Did anyone else here ever much read the DOCTOR WHO novels published by BBC books in the early-ish '00s , the ones which predated the revival of the series?
I could extend this to a question regarding Who in those "interregum (sic??) years"/the media spinoffs of Who, especially in that post-"Survival" period when the paperback novels, etc., were all that was carrying the series .
I suppose that period may be regarded as a Look How Far We've Come From Then depraved Spider-Clone/New Blackhawk Era-like" the time when things were REALLY bad. <sigh>... I've been too poor to have cable and have seen near to nothing of the modern series, though I read Panini's Doctor Who Magazine semi-regularly for a while into the "now era" <sigh> ...
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From that era, all I have is a couple of Eighth Doctors and a team up between the second and fourth Doctors called "Heart of (the) Tardis".
That time period, besides continuing the adventures of the Eighth, was great for unknown/missing adventures, especially team ups between the various incarnations that would not be possible in real life.
Would love to complete my collection from that time, but for some reason distribution was scarce on "this side of the pond" (Atlantic Ocean), especially in the southern states, where I was living at the time of original publication.
But who knows. I'm always looking. Maybe someday...
...Yeah , there were two different franchises of Who series during the BBC Books pre-modern series period , " Missing Adventures " of previous Doctors , complete with notes of where they fit in the continuity , and Eight Doctor stories .
As far as American availability , yeah , I tend to think they maybe weren't " officially " out in America at all (However one defines that)...I would buy them at a big Borders' store (I have a grudge against Borders now and they can go out of business but anyway) , which I assume " internally : imported them (Tho' they had a US price on them...) , one experience I had rather backed that theory up...
...The Borders was in the upscale/touristy Union Square area here in SF , down at Market Street between Mission , on Seventh , there used to be a really nifty old-fashioned kind of paperback bookstore and tobacco shop (& porn) place , a real old-school sort of paperback joint , during thaqt time one time I asked the guy behind the counter there about Doct Who pbs , maybe even mentioning BBC Books , and he said " I haven't seen them in years " !
Now , one thing about the " interregum "-era Who novels , both from BBC and from Virgin , prior to them , is that they exercised the very concept that many people note - possibly complain about - in modern-day US comic books , especially the " traditional " DC-Marvels - they were written more with adult readers in mind , " pesons who'd been following Who for years " , I guess in writing style...And , even in the " edgy " sense of " adult " , the I-era Who novels tended to throw in some " edgy " stuff/references.actions , eben in pop culture refernces !
For that last citation , I just recall that the 00s Whos just seemed to frequently have titles of chapters in the books named after well-known British rock songs of the pubk/post=punk era , titles like " A Town Called Malice " or " THe Boy With A THorn In His Side " not for any direct relevance to the story - Sort of an ( intended ) " hip " reference , much like the umpteen Vertigo stories that have borrowed Sex Pistols/otherwise punk era titles to drop them - How many Vertigos have been called " Anarchy In The UK " or " No Future " ?????????
IT was sort of like that , persumably the editors thought of this as catering to thei assumed 20-/30-something audience , making them feel " We share your background " .
I did some buying of the Virgin books ( Which also had this spin-off series , about a Virgin-owned companion?? - Bernice Summerfield?? - which continued , independently , along for a while after the Who rights reverted to the ol' Beeb . ) but , early on , especially , I think I'd tend to never open 'em/if I did , never finish 'em...
...I believe that the Virgin Who novels have something of a reputation for really ,perhaps , stepping a little too hard on the " adult " accelerator pedal as the series wore on , the " This Ain't ' Watch With Mother ' Anymore , Mate !!!!!!!!! " direction , so to speak .
I am told that varios kinds of sexual contacts , including mass-sex ( Um , that's a clumsy term , but " orgies " is a little , um , tabloid-esque ? ) and same-sex encounters occured in the stories including the Doctor taking part !!!!!!!!! ( I guess " described/alluded to " , were'e not speaking " XXX Tardis " here...Oo-er missus ? )
One late Virgin Who novel which I did read , and , which I just looked up and saw has been reissued as an E-book!!!!! ( Suprising...) will get a SPOILER-festtooned entry all its very own...
...SPOILER ! Even as to the TITLE of the novel although , silly bloody wanker Yank , I didn't put two and two to-gether as to the titles' meaning for a while , even after?? reading it ?...
The title
was
" WHO KILLED KENNEDY " ( That's great , put the title in capitals ! ) , and the Kennedy was JFK and the novel ended with whichever Doctor it was transporting back to the Texas School Book Depository on 11/22/63...and seeing one of his other incarnations ( I don't think it was specified which one . ) pulling the trigger on the rifle , not Oswald !!!!!!!!!!!
Ay yi yi .
Scanning a lil' of the reviews reminds me that the novel was a bit of an interesting " postmodern/disillusioned " play in the fields of Who continuity , sort of revisiting UNIT-era stories and showing UNIT as not quite the wonderful , exclusively benelovent , organization that Uncle Jon's stories presented it as...
I suppos the story's end may have been justified somewhere as " No matter what , Time cannot be changed , my boy !!!!!!!!! " although the Doctor quite happily changed time whenever he's got a ( double?? ) mind to...Much like the 60s/70s portrayal of Ouatu?? , the Watcher , at Marvel..." Time must never be changed !!!!!!! Except THIS time..." !
But anyway .
..." WKK ? " also presented a number of fates for various companions after their final step out of the Tardis , generally tending toward the pretty downbeat:-(...........
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