The Devil Goblins from Neptune

by Keith Topping

Doctor Who: Past Doctor Adventure (1), Doctor Who {non-TV} (Novels — PD Novel)

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The human race stands at a worrying political crossroads. UNIT is up to its ears in alien sightings, reporting of UFOs and threats from other worlds - and for good reason; the devil goblins from Neptune have landed.

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3 reviews
This book is so desperate to show you how 70s it is, that it can't stop ramming it down your throat. Between a bunch of poorly executed references to various 70s prog rock
bands, and shoehorned in drug use (of hallucinogens, naturally), the book loses any sense of being a 3rd Doctor story.
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1835481.html

This was the first of the BBC Past Doctor Adventure novels, from 1997, featuring the Third Doctor and Liz Shaw with the core UNIT team of the Brigadier, Benton and Mike Yates. It has its moments, particularly in injecting a past history to the Brigadier and Benton and attributing (separate) sex lives to Liz and Yates. But there's a lot of Stuff here, some of which works OK - Chancellor Goth was responsible for sending the Doctor to Peladon, apparently - and some of which doesn't - the convoluted international back-story to UNIT, the fifth Beatle, the aliens of the title. I suppose it catches the spirit of the very early Pertwee shows quite well, but this isn't necessarily an entirely good thing.
In this Third Doctor adventure the Doctor and Liz travel to the Soviet Union to investigate an alien threat in Siberia, while UNIT business takes the Brigadier to Geneva, and Captain Yates and Sergeant Benton are left home to investigate hippies who saw lights in the sky.

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Author Information

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Author
26+ Works 1,898 Members
Keith Topping is a freelance journalist, novelist and critic who has good reason to remember the first night he saw The Clash in 1978. He lives, works and occasionally sleeps in Newcastle

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Series

Common Knowledge

Canonical title
The Devil Goblins from Neptune
Original publication date
1997-06-02
People/Characters
The Doctor (3rd); Liz Shaw; Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart (Brigadier); Mike Yates (Captain); John Benton (Sergeant); Carol Bell (Corporal) (show all 10); Jimmy Munro (Captain); Control; Julia Franklin; Robert Franklin
Important places
London, England, UK; Siberia, Russia; Ranch 51, Nevada, USA; Nevada, USA
Dedication
Dedicated to Ian Abrahams, who made me do this.
KT

Dedicated to Emily
(a sort of fairy tale for when you're older).
MD
First words
A steady drizzle fell from a gunmetal-grey sky against the pale buildings of Gorkiy.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Just for once, Liz agreed with him.

Classifications

Genres
Fiction and Literature, Science Fiction
DDC/MDS
813Literature & rhetoricAmerican literature in EnglishAmerican fiction in English

Statistics

Members
199
Popularity
165,211
Reviews
3
Rating
(2.86)
Languages
English
Media
Paper
ISBNs
1