Matrix

Book 235 - Robert Perry & Mike Tucker - Doctor Who : Matrix

Many moons ago when there was a pause in Doctor Who activity…post 1989 Classic Series…post 1996 Paul McGann false dawn one off movie and before its triumphant return in 2005 NuWho…the BBC allowed for some original Doctor Who novels to be written. This was one of those…one of a series written by this pairing and set as an almost Series 27 continuation of the classic series.

The novels are more adult in nature with definitive adult themes and a smattering of bad language. I haven’t lifted this in 25 years…but knew there must be a reason for keeping it…there was…it is brilliant…terrifying but wonderfully crafted.

It begins with the Doctor and Ace having just show more escaped WW2 and a battle with the Cybermen….a story that was almost made for the classic series…I digress again…can’t promise it won’t be the last.

The Doctor and Ace are contemplating life on a sea shore when they come under attack from an enemy the Doctor seems to recognise. They escape and decide to regroup in Nov 1963…the Doctor plans on leaving Ace in the protection of his 1st incarnation…unfortunately the 1963 they land in, isn’t one they recognise…Britain is now a US state and the land cowers in fear …of…something. On meeting 2 wonderful old friends they discover that history pivoted around a death just over 60 years earlier….one that shouldn’t have taken place…the only way to fix the timeline and hopefully defeat their faceless enemy is to go back to London and stop the 6th killing that shouldn’t have happened…and stop the monster that terrifies this alternative world…the monster still known …as Jack the Ripper.

Terrifying. show less

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1670136.html

Matrix is a Seventh Doctor / Ace Past Doctors Adventure, set not long after Survival, which couldn't really have been done as a New Adventure because by the time the series had matured to the stage where a story like this could have fitted, Ace's continuity had moved on. It has a remarkable section featuring an alternate Ian Chester and Barbara Wright in whose world the UK has been annexed by the USA, and also manages to breathe fresh life into the Sixth Doctor's trial and the Cheetah Planet, neither of which is normally my favourite bit of continuity, with Jack the Ripper and the Wandering Jew thrown in. Perry and Tucker keep it remarkably well disciplined. I couldn't recommend it unless you show more are familiar both with the Trial of a Time Lord season and Survival, but if you are, it is well worth reading. show less