1: IRIS WILDTHYME AND THE CELESTIAL OMNIBUS - edited by Paul Magrs & Stuart Douglas (2009)

Four years after 'Wildthyme On Top', Iris returns with another collection of short fiction, with Obverse Books picking up the baton where Big Finish left off. Perhaps sensibly, the anthology sticks closely to the continuity of the most recent Big Finish audio series, with all of the twelve tales starring the incarnation as personified by Katy Manning (who also provides the introduction), and accompanied by the walking talking stuffed toy panda imaginatively known as Panda.

For those not in the know, Iris is, essentially, a slightly wonky fairground mirror reflection of the Doctor, only travelling through time and space in a clapped out bus rather than a police box. As such the character provides a useful device for satirising Doctor Who, and this collection is chock full of copyright avoiding parodies and references, including the Master, Cybermen, the Key to Time, Adric's unfortunate impact with prehistoric Earth and dozens more. The book occasionally casts its net a little further, with Battlestar Galactica providing one of the more amusing moments, as Philip Purser-Hallard deftly highlights the difference between the colourful original '70's TV series and it's incredibly dour rebirth in 'Battleship Anathema'. Taking a similar stance is Paul Magrs' 'The Dreadful Flap', with the disparity between the joie de vivre of Doctor Who's '70's UNIT era and the pompously grim Torchwood leading to great merriment. As Iris' creator, it's perhaps not surprising that Magrs story is one of the strongest in the collection, with the addition of Dracula and Barbara (the robotic snack machine from Magrs' Doctor Who novel 'Sick Building'), making this more just a simple parody. Long time readers of BBC Books Eighth Doctor novels will also find some familiar faces, with the return of Noel Coward and his magic pinking shears (don't ask), MIAOW, and even what appears to be slightly renamed Fitz Kreiner.

Humour is inevitably abundant, but two of the highlights are those stories that marry the comedy characters of Iris and Panda with more serious subject matter. Steve Cole (who also provided one of the highlights in 'Wildthyme on Top') provides some excellent characterisation and deliciously odd moments in 'Only Living Girls', where a pair of fangirls find themselves the sole survivors of a holocaust, and begin to collect the corpses of their favourite deceased TV stars. Likewise Mags L Halliday's 'Sovereign' has a serious emotional core at its heart, using the fantastical figure of a monstrous transformation to highlight the very real growing pains of two women.

A couple of stories here are perhaps a little too determinedly wacky for their own good, and feel rather inconsequential as a result, but on the whole 'Iris Wildthyme and the Celestial Omnibus' provides a much needed adult spin on Doctor Who at a time when the official fiction seems to be targeted exclusively at children.

33: 'DOCTOR WHO - PRISONER OF THE DALEKS' by Trevor Baxendale (2009)

Whilst they appeared in the first of the 'Quick Reads' range, and are pretty much ubiquitous in both television and audio series, surprisingly it's taken thirty-three books for the Daleks to appear in BBC Books range of new series novels. Thankfully, the wait proves to have been worth it, with 'Prisoner of the Daleks' being undoubtedly one of the best of the range so far.

One of the novel's biggest attributes is its failure to follow the normal 'rules' of the NSA's. Whilst narratively ripe for further exploration, the Time War has so far been kept deliberately off limits, but 'Prisoner of the Daleks' audaciously breaks one of the series cardinal rules by having the Doctor travel back in time to before the Time War itself, when the Daleks were at the height of their powers and engaged in a massive interstellar war with the forces of humanity. The Dalek's plans revolve around the mastery of time, and whilst it's not explicitly labelled as such, it's tempting to read this as one of the initial skirmishes in the War. Baxendale is quick to emphasise the wrongness of the Doctor's presence, explaining it away with a 'Space Museum' reference to the TARDIS jumping the time tracks, and for the first time in a long while we get an NSA that actually feels as though it may have some impact on the ongoing mythos, rather than just being a disposable one-off adventure.

Another recent formula is the novels aping the TV series in giving the solo Tenth Doctor a temporary ersatz companion for each story. 'Prisoner of the Daleks' initially looks to be going down the same route, offering up an obvious would-be companion - only to suddenly shatter expectations by having the Daleks kill her near the start of the book. It's a good indication of the brutality of the novel as a whole. With the NSA's aimed at a younger audience, the majority of them have felt somewhat neutered, with the general rule being that everything will turn out OK in the end. 'Prisoner of the Daleks' is a much more realistic proposition, with several of the main characters meeting violent and unpleasant ends. The danger level as a whole is upped as a result, with it being impossible to tell who is going to survive to the climax, and the Doctor himself is much more serious as a result, and a long way from the hyperactive comedy child he appears to be in some novels.

The Daleks themselves are brilliantly evil, totally without compassion as they work to achieve their ends of exterminating all other life forms. Baxendale works hard to bring them to life on the page, going so far as to reference the heart-beat incidental sound effect that usually presages their appearance on screen, and the publishers have charmingly managed to use the old 60's Dalek typeface for their speech, which works wonderfully. There are plenty of allusions to moments in the past, including the Daleks using humanoid slaves as mine workers on a planet with a partially exposed core, and even a cheeky flashback scene as previous incarnations of the Doctor are briefly seen. The Dalek torture scene of 'Dalek' is given a new spin, with a scene of humans torturing a Dalek in the novels first half neatly mirrored when they later find themselves held captive. Baxendale also does his best to press all the fanboy buttons, with gratuitous use of Assault and Imperial Guard Daleks, and even manages to introduce a new variation in Dalek Inquisitor General 'Dalek X', who makes a terrific villainous opponent for the Doctor.

Baxendale's natural inclination as a writer is towards horror, and as a result the novel's strongest scenes are the most gruesome, with one scene of a captured Dalek mutant being prised out of its shell like some overgrown oyster being a particular highlight. Compared to the majority of the kid-friendly NSA's, the prose stands out - where else would you get material like: 'Strings of glistening slime hung down like the drool of some strange metal beast that had recently vomited the half-digested contents of its stomach onto the floor'?

Inevitably along the way the novel takes a couple of missteps, with a corny moment of Heroic Sacrifice at the climax a cliche too far, and for all the subterfuge the Dalek's great masterplan simply turns out to be another case of trying to steal the TARDIS, but on the whole this is stirring stuff. A part of me wishes that this had the size and scope to include more of the Doctor's emotions at returning to a point in time where he was no longer the last of the Time Lords, but as it stands this is a rip-roaring adventure, and the evil of the Daleks truly pushes the Doctor towards his best.

Brilliant.

32: ‘DOCTOR WHO – THE SLITHEEN EXCURSION’ by Simon Guerrier (2009)

Another new Tenth Doctor novel, and another set of returning monsters. This time it’s the turn of the family Slitheen, with their money-making scheme of running package holidays for aliens in Ancient Greece threatening Earth’s future. Having just rescued Athens from one set of aliens, the Doctor and university student June soon find themselves taking a trip back to the year 1500BC in order to save history itself...

‘The Slitheen Excursion’ follows the tried and tested formula of inserting the Doctor into historical events, here revealing the SF ‘truth’ behind the myths and legends of the time. On a purely practical level the book does its job, but unfortunately as an exercise in storytelling this is pretty woeful stuff. The novel’s centrepiece moments revolve around a collection of humans fighting for the entertainment of their alien ‘gods’, but the whole gladiatorial aspect feels tired from overuse, and bears unfavourable comparison with such scenes from ‘The Stone Rose’ or ‘The Sontaran Games’. There’s practically no sense of threat or drama throughout, with the visiting alien tourists mostly bland bystanders, and the Doctor and Slitheen spending much of the time coyly pretending not to be at each other’s throats.

Guerrier supplies the expected temporary ‘companion’ in the shape of history student June, and though one of the most developed characters she seems curiously unfazed by the whole experience of travelling in time. Possibly it’s down to the author having to cut to the chase and get on with the action, but June seems remarkably comfortable with both the ethics of causality and the workings of the TARDIS – she even plucks the explanation that the ship is responsible for translating languages out of thin air – so much so that I kept awaiting a sudden twist where the character was revealed to be someone else. Things are not helped by the fact that Guerrier’s take on the Doctor is off for much of the novel. Again, I’ll be charitable, and try and explain it away with the area of ‘atemporal mismatch’ that the TARDIS passes through at the novel’s start – a truly bizarre sequence that leads to the Doctor turning into a monosyballic vegetable for a few pages - but for much of the time the Doctor acts oddly out of sorts. Knowing that the Slitheen are up to no good he initially doesn’t want to interfere on some vague hunch that maybe events are already part of history, then later in the novel when faced with an actual event he knows has already killed people in the past (having actually been present at the time), he decides to try and stop it. At times the pair are so out of sorts that it almost feels as though the Doctor and June’s lines have become transposed. At one point the Doctor even gets lectured by the Slitheen (who have got their hands on time travel technology courtesy of Big Finish’s Navarino’s) on causality. Very strange.

As for the Slitheen themselves, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. To the author’s credit there is absolutely no use of skin suit disguises, nor the faintest whiff of any fart jokes, with the aliens standing proud and undisguised in the own forms throughout. Unfortunately they also have practically no individual characterisation, and feel about as threatening as a bunch of naughty school kids.

Thumbs up for the author attempting something different with the Slitheen, but it’s ultimately a hollow exercise. With a pedestrian plot and characterisation that is either negligible or in the case of the leads off colour, ‘The Slitheen Excursion’ is one of the weaker new series novels so far.

31: ‘DOCTOR WHO - JUDGEMENT OF THE JUDOON’ by Colin Brake (2009)

What links computer glitches in Terminal 13 of Elvis the King Spaceport, missing luggage, a case of spontaneous combustion and an Invisible Assassin? The Tenth Doctor is on the case, this time accompanied by a Judoon Commander and a precocious teenage private investigator...

For at least the first half of 2009 all of the scheduled Doctor Who novels feature returning monsters, almost as though the Doctor’s old foes are queuing up for one last rematch with the Tenth Doctor before his imminent regeneration. It’s all very Season 20, and I suspect that I may well be suffering from fatigue (‘Oldmonsteritis’?) before the idea runs its course. Out of the announced returnees the Judoon are perhaps the most offbeat, as despite their monstrous appearance they are not actually villains in any classic sense. As such, despite the novel’s title (which I suspect was an editorial diktat), the Judoon themselves offer little more than a supporting role to the action, largely thanks to the Doctor teaming up with one Commander Rok Ma during his investigation into the criminal goings on in New Memphis. Whilst boasting a great prosthetic design, the Judoon as a species aren’t particularly interesting creatures, but Brake manages to invest Rok Ma with enough personality to make him stand out from the crowd. In the process the author lampoons that terribly lazy Doctor Who convention whereby all members of an alien species share utterly identical traits. With a dry sense of humour and a paternal instinct, Rok Ma is pleasantly unconventional.

Away from the Judoon, the storyline revolves around organised crime, with the hunt for a pickpocketed McGuffin leading the Doctor into the midst of a power struggle between two rival gang lords. Despite the SF setting, the story bears all the hallmarks of the classic hardboiled crime thriller, with corrupt cops, gun toting henchmen, a gorgeous female boss draping herself decoratively over a chaise longue, and more than enough twists, imprisonments and escapes to keep the pages rattling past. The plot twists verge on the ridiculous at the novel’s conclusion, with multiple unmaskings as various characters are revealed to be other than what they first appeared. It’s all faintly ludicrous stuff, but it fits perfectly well with the pulp thriller feel. Ersatz ‘companion of the month’ Nikki Jupiter similarly strains credulity, with this teenage Private Eye an expert in martial arts and computer programming, and seemingly immune to any danger.

It’s only at the end, as evil is utterly defeated and the good guys appropriately rewarded, that the novel overtly displays its essentially juvenile ‘aimed at children’ nature. Up until then, ‘Judgement of the Judoon’ is an entertaining pulp thriller romp, and written with enough charm to overcome its more blatantly cheesy moments. As is ever the case with these ‘New Series’ novels, this could never be described as anything approaching a deep read, but it’s a pretty fun one.

4: ‘DOCTOR WHO – THE SONTARAN GAMES’ by Jacqueline Rayner (2009)

Another year, and another Doctor Who offering in the ‘Quick Reads’ range. Here, the Tenth Doctor (travelling without any companions this time) lands in a complex where British athletes are training for the Globe Games (ie: the non-Copyrighted version of the Olympic Games), only to find that several people have been mysteriously murdered during regular power cuts. And then the Sontarans turn up...

It’s obviously difficult to critique this on any meaningful level, especially considering the whole idea behind the ‘Quick Reads’ range is to provide books aimed at beginning level readers, be they children or adults who never learned the habit. As it stands, this is a brisk straightforward adventure, perhaps a little thinly sketched on the characterisation front, but a functional story that works well enough on its own terms. The actual narrative will feel familiar to long-term Who fans, with the main storyline an inspired variation on the battery of tests performed in ‘The Sontaran Experiment’, whilst the addition of one of the Sontaran’s arch-enemies the Rutans means the clued-up reader will be fully expecting the ‘twist’ when one of the cast is revealed as a shape-changing alien.

A fair enough analog of one of the more breezy new series TV episodes, it’s only appropriate that this book took me exactly 45 minutes to read from cover to cover.

2.4: 'IRIS WILDTHYME AND THE PANDA INVASION' by Mark Magrs (2009)

Having homaged the 60's, 70's, and 80's in the previous three installments, it falls to this story to look to Doctor Who in the '90's for inspiration. Of course, in terms of televised Doctor Who stories that doesn't leave much room for maneuver, and appropriately enough 'The Panda Invasion' is Iris Widthyme version of the 1996 Paul McGann telemovie.

It's an affectionate and amusing pastiche of a story that increasingly seems to exist in its own strange little universe, with Iris' attempt to take Panda to a millennium party in San Francisco leading to a rift being opened between parallel dimensions. The telemovie references work well, with Iris hooking up with a hunky male Doctor, suddenly developing a talent of being able to read people's futures, eager for a high-speed motorcycle chase, etc but crucially there's enough of a new spin in the tale of a threatened invasion from an army of evil alternate world Panada's to stop this from becoming a completely one dimensional skit. Toby Longworth is charm personified as evil Lionel Pandeau (or, more amusingly, Lionel Bear), with his furry Panda-ized version of the Master being more Roger Delgado than Eric Roberts (and yes, he even has a furry little goatee), which adds immensely to the fun. If you are the sort of listener who will instantly recognise and chuckle at such deathless lines as "No way/Yes way!" then this is the story for you.

Ultimately, despite the slightly uneven initial installment of 'The Sound of Fear', the second audio season of Iris Wildthyme is rollicking good fun, and I look forward eagerly to the promised 'The Claws of Santa'. Hmmm - a pastiche of the Russell T Davies era Christmas Specials perhaps?

3.2: ‘IRIS WILDTHYME – THE TWO IRISES’ by Simon Guerrier (2009)

The third in Big Finish’s second series of Iris Wildthyme audios takes Doctor Who in the 80’s as its cue, primarily ‘Warriors of the Deep’ and ‘Logopolis’, though the script is peppered with pleasing references and lines from throughout the era. The biggest influence of all however is Tom Baker’s infamous resignation tease regarding the possible sex of his successor, with Panda horrified when Iris regenerates into – gasp - a man!

The actual plot – basically a reprise of the warring power blocks of ‘Warriors of the Deep’ with the addition of one of the alien Naxians from ‘Iris Wildthyme and the Sound of Fear’ (ie: pointless '80's style continuity)- is fairly rudimentary, and in terms of pacing the action can drag a little at times, with long scenes of characters standing around discussing the supposedly imminent threat of nuclear missiles. What really makes this shine is the interplay between the characters, with Iris' regeneration into her wildly different male counterpart (nicely underplayed by Dan Hogarth) leading to some great moments of character drama, whilst the allusions to ‘Caves of Androzani’ et al combine to give the material a nicely satirical edge for the long-time fans.

An affectionate tribute to possibly Doctor Who’s wildest decade, ‘The Two Irises’ is great fun from start to finish.