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TARDIS Guide

Overview

Released

Thursday, January 24, 2019

Written by

James Goss, Tom Baker

Pages

295

Synopsis

The Doctor, Harry and Sarah Jane Smith arrive at a remote Scottish island, when their holiday is cut short by the appearance of strange creatures — hideous scarecrows, who are preying on the local population. The islanders are living in fear, and the Doctor vows to save them all. But it doesn't go to plan — the time travellers have fallen into a trap, and Scratchman is coming for them.

With the fate of the universe hanging in the balance, the Doctor must battle an ancient force from another dimension, one who claims to be the Devil. Scratchman wants to know what the Doctor is most afraid of. And the Doctor’s worst nightmares are coming out to play...

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2 reviews

Ngl I was expecting more it just want really clicking the switch in my head half the time didn’t feel that engaged with it there where some scenes I liked with the toucher scene for example but that’s about it really


Not many Doctor Who books could say they are written by the Doctor himself, but here we are, with a book by a former Doctor.

And simply put, it's just brilliant. Tom Baker effortlessly captures the voices of the Fourth Doctor, Sarah and Harry from the very start, and delivers a book that is creepy one minute, stark raving bonkers the next.

Which feels like a perfect description of Tom Baker's era really. It had these brilliant dark moments, but also these totally barmy ideas that suited his Doctor like a tea.

There are some nice surprises from some, shall we say, familiar faces (including one from the Doctor's future), and a wildly inventive pinball game, but my favourite moment without a doubt was reading about the scarecrows terrorising the village, in 'Book One'. It feels so authentically 'Doctor Who', and like something that would slot with ease into Philip Hinchcliffe's time as producer, that I wish we had got to see this scarecrow horror onscreen (although we did get something similar with Series 3's Human Nature/Family of Blood).

 

 

 


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