When I first read Terrence Dudley's novelization of his two-part "Doctor Who" story more years ago than I care to count, I was struck by how Dudley took a simple, two-part story and added something to it. In many ways, "Black Orchid" as a novelizations as pre-cursor to what the Target range would later become--a chance to really expand "Doctor Who" stories beyond the small screen. A chance to fill in gaps, flesh out charcters, fully realize details. It's a novelization I have very fond memories of reading and always one I cite as one of the better novels of the Target range.

So, when I heard it was coming out on audio CD, I was eager to revisit it.

Only to find the memory can and does cheat.

It's not to say "Black Orchid" is a bad novel. It's still a splendid little book and it does a lot of justice to the Dudley's two-part script. But a lot of what I recall as expanding the story really boils down to extended sequences playing cricket (which I appreciate the attempt to explain the game more, though I really still don't grasp it) and the Doctor wandering along corridors for endless sequences.

Part of it is that "Black Orchid" is an interesting little Doctor Who story. It's a hybrid of a lot of various elements from the series past and it works well enough on-screen when you can buy that there are lots of doubles floating around. On-screen, it's easier to buy the mix-up of who is who with the dopplegangers of Nyssa and Anne. In the novel, Dudley has to work harder to keep the fun going, allowing the reader to know who is who while other various character aren't quite sure. Also, the visual tell of Anne having a mole that Nyssa doesn't really doesn't translate as well to the printed page or its audio version.

As I listened this time, I found that Dudley had expanded things, but maybe not enough. The novel assumes the reader hasn't seen the TV version and that works both for and against the story. Dudley doesn't give away the central mystery in the story until the exact right moment, though if you're paying attention it's not terribly difficult to pick up what's going on. But in a story where it's assumed most readers have seen the televised version, it might have been more interesting to hear more about George's trip up the Amazon and the discovery that led to his downfall. Or to hear more about how Lady Cranleigh reacted upon his return and the news of what happened to him.

I guess part of it is being spoiled by the New Adventures where sidetrips like this were allowed and encouraged. It seems like that despite all the pluses for this novel (and there are enough to keep it as head and shoulders above a lot of the Target line, though not in the elite class of novels like "Ghost Light" or "Remembrance of the Daleks"), there are still some missed opportunties in the story.

Not a bad telling of the story. Just not as great as it was in my memory ( )

http://nhw.livejournal.com/1054675.ht...

Two-part stories give a lot of space to add more to the narrative when it comes time to write the novelisation, and this has been done well (Ian Marter) and badly (Nigel Robinson). This is definitely more at the Marter end of the spectrum. Dudley adds much detail about the cricket match (as incomprehensible to me as to Adric and Nyssa) and roots the story in the class structure of the Britain of the period, the Dowager Marchioness coming across as a particularly memorable personality. He even succeeds in giving Adric a couple of memorable character moments.

It's a good book - my favourite Fifth Doctor novel so far - but let down by lousy proofing: repeated references to "Portugese" and "Venezuala" (and by the way, the first is not actually spoken much in the second); also we have someone dressed as "Marie Antionette". A shame that Target couldn't take more care. ( )