The Beast of Babylon

One of the great boons of the 50th anniversary is that it gave us some of the first ninth Doctor fiction since 2005: an audio, a comic book, and this novella. This takes place during "Rose," in what must be a gap of around a century between when the Doctor leaves Rose and pops back for her, traveling alone in the meantime but searching for someone to share his travels with now that he's moving away from the horrors of the Time War. Higson captures the voice of the ninth Doctor well, and the relationship he builds up with potential companion Ali is also very interesting. A nice little story, horrifying in parts.

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The plot takes place between The Doctor leaving the Earth after Rose tells him that she can’t go with him and the beginning of the second episode. It fits the small gap at the end of the episode quite nicely. I’ve read all of the Ninth Doctor NSAs (New Series Adventures) and have to say that this captures the Doctor much better than any of them. I could really imagine him speaking and grinning.

I loved this story and the only thing that I disliked is that it was so short, which makes the whole alien threat not much of a threat because the Doctor defeats the monster in thirty pages (the story is only about 40 pages long), and makes everything feel a bit rushed.

The Doctor’s companion in this story is very interesting. She’s a girl that he meets while he’s following an alien throughout the universe and while you can guess that she’s not from Earth before it’s actually stated, readers will be surprised about a few things.

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El argumento tiene lugar entre que el Doctor deja la Tierra después de que Rose le diga que no puede viajar con él y el principio del segundo episodio. Llena muy bien el huequecito que quedaba al final del episodio. He leído todas las NSAs (New Series Adventures - la colección de libros sobre la nueva serie) y esta historia es en la que el Noveno Doctor está mejor caracterizado. Me lo podía imaginar hablando y sonriendo.

Me gustó mucho esta historia y lo único que no me gustó tanto es que es muy corta, lo que hace que la gran amenaza alienígena no lo sea tanto porque el Doctor vence al monstruo en treinta páginas (la historia tiene sólo unas cuarenta) y hace que todo parezca un poco acelerado.

La compañera del Doctor es muy interesante. Es una chica con la que se encuentra mientras persigue al monstruo por el universo y mientras que se puede adivinar que ella no es terrícola antes de que quede claro, hay cosas que sorprenderán al lector. ( )

At first I wasn't sure about this one, because the Doctor (the Ninth one, in this case) spends longer than usual on making expository speeches to his current companion. But the story was redeemed by the time in which the story takes place in relation to the TV series, and by the companion -- I would love to see more of that in the actual show! Very good story. ( )

Not as bad as the 3rd Doctor entry in this series of e-shorts on the Puffin imprint, but again there's a little more "let's talk about Jesus as a historical figure" than I like in my Doctor Who. If we're going to slot an adventure in to the end of "Rose" where the Doctor departs for a moment, then comes back and mentions the TARDIS also travels in time, I'd rather this were never considered canon and someone else could plug in a story not saddled with misguided pandering to a religious audience. ( )

I feel bad for giving this only two stars, but its uneven writing with run-ons really bothered me. While it was great to see Nine again, the idea that this book happened in a mere minute or two from the reboot series pilot is somewhat implausible. And not having a description for the companion until too late after I'd already developed a mental image of her threw me off.

It was short, which is probably about the best thing I could say about this. ( )