Virgin Missing Adventures #21- "The Eye of the Giant” by Christopher Bulis

There are a few writers who’ve gained a rather prolific status amongst fans through their efforts in the Wilderness Years book series. There’s Paul Cornell, who was the poster child for the Virgin New Adventures, and Steve Lyons, who wrote for all four major series and has gone on to be an incredibly popular writer in various forms of expanded media. And then there are oddities like Christopher Bulis, who, despite writing more books than most other Wilderness Years authors, is barely talked about in fandom. His main playground seemed to be the Virgin Missing Adventures, where he wrote five out of the thirty three novels released and, if this book is anything to go by, that means at least 15% of the series is terrible. There is a reason the fandom doesn’t remember Christopher Bulis it would seem, because The Eye of the Giant is atrocious.

Tracking the history of an alien artefact, the Doctor and Liz become trapped on a mythical island forty years in their past. As they become embroiled in history, the Brigadier and UNIT attempt to stage a rescue attempt whilst combatting a slate of UFOs worldwide.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

I did not like The Eye of the Giant. For the most part, it was fine, a solid 6/10, but the final third absolutely destroyed any hope it had for me. Christopher Bulis is a writer I have a lot of problems with, and I’ll get onto those, but first I do want to level some praise at the one thing he truly, properly gets right - characters. Every single character here is solid. Starting with our returning cast, the characterisation for every single one of them is so well realised it takes zero effort on my part to visualise the actors. The dialogue genuinely feels straight from the lips of Pertwee, Morris and Courtney sometimes and that really heightens my immersion personally. As for original characters, they’re pretty much all great; my particular favourites were Amelia and Marshal Grover, their relationship and personalities both felt particularly unique to me and enjoyed pretty much all their scenes. But poor Marshal man, he already blames himself for the death of his wife and loss of his daughter’s arm, and in his attempt to mend that guilt he inadvertently causes the (sort-of) death of his daughter and second wife. He’s never getting out of therapy, is he? As for our antagonists, we have a pretty uninteresting giant called Brokk kickstarting all the wild events in this book with magical serum that causes mass gigantism - he’s not the deepest adversary. And then, we have Nancy Grover, who genuinely might be one of the most detestable characters I’ve ever seen in a piece of media. Hats of to Bulis for making me hate this person so much, she is f**king dreadful and easily the better villain here

So, we’ve established that Bulis’ character work is easily his best strength, but characters do have to have a story to run around in and, if that fails, so too does the book. The story here isn’t perfect, far from it, but I can say that I did enjoy myself for around the first two thirds of the book (I will get onto why the final third faltered in a minute). The plot switches between The Doctor and Liz on the island and the UNIT troops trying to get them back to their own time and whilst the former is a fun but ultimately dull affair I found the latter sections to be the most interesting part of the novel. UNIT is an organisation who we rarely saw work, the formula would be that an alien menace would show up, they’d try to shoot them with bullets, the bullets wouldn’t work, and the Doctor would have to come swanning in to save the day. Not here though, we get to see a UNIT operation in action and see them actually problem solve as a military company, which is infinitely refreshing after this entire group played second fiddle to the Doctor for four years. As for the rest of the book, like I said before, it goes downhill massively after a certain point, but before that it is a simple but somewhat fun little story that reminds me of old universal monster movies, with giant crabs attacking the ship and a giant petrified by the cold. It’s not spectacular by any means, but it’s passable.

What I can not call passable however is how this book is written. Bulis’ prose is genuinely abhorrent, where he excels in dialogue he digs himself a grave trying to write the bits in between. Clunky and overly technical, Bulis seems to fail at the most basic of writing skills and very often will just tell us exactly what a character is thinking instead of letting us work it out for ourselves. You know how you were taught to show not tell in primary school? Well clearly Bulis skipped those lessons. It’s like he thinks his readers aren’t smart enough to infer anything and everything has to be spelled out. And don’t even get me started on the rhetorical questions. He uses rhetorical questions a lot and, instead of using them to ask the reader something, to engage them and let them think, he writes out thoughts that the reader should be thinking, literally trying to tell you how you should be experiencing his book. Do you know how insulting it is to be told what thoughts you should have on the piece of media you are currently experiencing? (By the way Bulis, that’s how you use a rhetorical question). Not to mention how the final 30% of the book utterly drops the ball. The story ends around 215 pages into this 315 page book, Brokk is killed and the Doctor and Liz are returned to their proper time. This is executed very abruptly and unsatisfyingly by the way, having two hundred pages end in a short description of Brokk blowing up before the Doctor and Liz very quickly and safely run away. But, despite this logically being where the story should end, since we have nearly every plot thread concluded, it keeps going. Now, suddenly, it’s an alternate timeline story, with Nancy becoming ruler of the world through the use of Brokk’s alien technology. This entire plot does not work stapled onto the end of what is very clearly a different book, and so feels underbaked, uninteresting and a waste of time. A world ruled by a single narcissist enforcing her image onto every person in the world is a good idea, but we see so little of it because it comes at the very end of a separate novel. This whole sequence is complete padding and entirely unnecessary fluff. Not to mention it then ends again when Nancy is killed, but then Bulis feels the need to mutate her into a nightmare creature boat-hybrid who is then defeated by Amelia, who has turned into an angel, because she took an alien serum with the ability to further the plot. It’s boring, a waste of time, and a weird ending that doesn’t land at all. Not to mention the whole thing’s just dull, I get some enjoyment out of the antics in the first half but it gets tired quickly and there’s so little tension throughout that it just hurts to read it.

I read The Eye of the Giant for two reasons. One, because it apparently leads into the much better received The Scales of Injustice and two, because I wanted to get a taste of Bulis’ writing, since he was so omnipresent in the books. And whilst I’m happy I can now read The Scales of Injustice, I’m unhappy knowing I’ll have to read another Bulis at some point. An insulting read that is composed mostly of pointless fluff that hides a few strengths, but all of which are overshadowed by the painful writing and boring story. An absolute void of a book.

4/10

Pros:

+ Characters are generally well written, especially our returning cast

+ Interesting look into the inner workings of UNIT operations

+ Nancy was a despicable antagonist

+ Good fun for around 70% of the book

Cons:

- Appalling written from a technical stand-point

- Barely has a plot for most of the runtime

- Ends 100 pages from the final line

- Has multiple anticlimaxes

- Little to no tension throughout

- Changes plot two thirds into the book

- Final moments were unnecessary

Virgin Missing Adventures

#021. The Eye of the Giant ~ 7/10

◆ An Introduction

I wanted to spend this evening relaxing, the drone of my desk fan lulling me to sleep in the process, but things have rapidly started going wrong. My copy of ‘Millennial Rites’ decided to disintegrate, with the pages splitting into two large chunks of chapter and verse, and the cover art detaching itself from said pages. Then, to make matters infinitely worse, a wheel from my computer chair fell off and proceeded to do a comical roll across my bedroom floor!

Stressed to the high hilt and fighting against my body’s ever growing need to sleep… what better time than now to dive into my next Doctor Who novel?

Christopher Bulis is the most prolific writer for the ‘Missing Adventures’ range, which leads me to assume that he must have done something right to have been asked back so many times… then again, some idiot seriously decided Peel deserved a second chance after the monstrosity that was ‘Genesys’!

A mysterious desert island in the midst of the Pacific Ocean, inhabited by giant animals, and host to a wealthy film producer and his crew of actors and actresses. A mysterious desert island that the Third Doctor is about to become trapped on!

◆ Publisher’s Summary

"I might have known it," the Brigadier said tersely. "The Doctor and Miss Shaw have managed to lose themselves on an island that doesn't exist."

1934: Salutua, a legendary lost island in the Pacific. Millionaire Marshal J Grover's expedition arrives to uncover and exploit its secrets. But the task is complicated by a film star's fears and ambitions and a scientist's lethal obsession.

Nearly forty years later: UNIT headquarters, London. The Doctor and Liz Shaw are asked to identify a mysterious artefact and trace its origin. The trail leads them back in time to Salutua and a gigantic discovery. Meanwhile, the Brigadier faces an epidemic of UFO sightings and supernatural occurrences that threaten to bring about global panic. Only the Doctor can help him — but he's trapped on a mythical island four decades in the past.

◆ The Third Doctor

This is my first time reading a Christopher Bulis novel, and his characterisation for the velvet-clad dandy is absolutely marvellous! Jon Pertwee’s mannerisms practically leapt off the page in ‘The Eye of the Giant’.

The Doctor believes his console unit really should work properly now. He got so close during the Inferno Project (though his companion is quick to remind him that he nearly got stranded in that parallel dimension the console took him to). There are several million languages in this galaxy alone, a few of which even he has never come across.

◆ Liz Shaw

This book was the first to feature one of my favourite companions from this era, but Dr Shaw ends up being painfully underutilised. Bulis clearly has a great understanding of her character, so it’s a shame she doesn’t get much to do here.

Liz was planning to wash her hair tonight, then watch a documentary on BBC2. She really didn’t expect to spend it marooned on a Pacific island in nineteen thirty-four! The documentary was going to be discussing popular theories about the possibility of time travel, and she thought it might have been amusing.

◆ Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart

‘The Eye of the Giant’ is an excellent showing for the Brigadier, who Bulis writes perfectly for.

The Brigadier had just gotten off the phone to Sir John Sudbury, the financial liaison between UNIT and the government and a member of Department C-19. He was trying to find out why his request for an additional allocation so that they can at least have a captain on their strength again, has been turned down. The Brigadier was informed that “in the present financial climate” UNIT would have to make do with what they’ve got… which explains why his anger is through the roof. You’d think that after half a dozen confirmed attempts by alien forces to invade Earth, in addition to certain other incidents, that the only organisation specifically set up to counter such threats would receive adequate funding. But apparently, between UN budgetary wrangling and British bureaucracy, that is not so. While the politicians can keep the full truth from the population at large, they seem to think they can treat UNIT finances along with the indents for next year’s supply of paper clips! Mike had rarely seen his commanding officer so angry.

◆ Mike Yates

‘The Eye of the Giant’ puts special focus onto Mike Yates, in his earliest days working for the Unified Intelligence Task Force, and he is honestly the stand-out character of the novel for me.

Mike has heard about the Doctor quite a bit, naturally, but he hasn’t had much to do with him directly. He’s been heading UNIT’s clean-up squad so far and believes that the job has its moments. But, speaking frankly, scouring the countryside for leftover fragments of Autons or cave lizard devices, and trying to keep too many people from realising what really happened as you go – it’s not exactly what he expected. The UNIT laboratory reminded Mike a little of a certain school science lab that he had spent many uncomfortable hours in some years before, goggling uncomprehendingly at the abstruse formulas the teacher would dash off on the blackboard. Perhaps, of course, if his teacher had resembled Miss Shaw, he might have tried harder. Mike informs Amelia of his motto: always try the easy way first.

◆ Story Recap

A mysterious alien artefact has been found in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, almost immediately attracting the attention of UNIT. The Doctor and Liz have been tasked with identifying the origins of the artefact, which leads them to the desert island of Salutua.

Attempting to bypass the conditions of his exile, the Doctor dismantles his old space-time visualiser in the hopes of constructing a time bridge to Salutua in the year 1934. He’s successful, but ends up creating several alternate timelines in the process!

Marshal Grover has recently financed an expedition to the island with the goal of filming a King Kong-like movie, but with real giant animals instead of special effects. He hopes it’ll be the blockbuster hit that stops his studio going bankrupt… but perhaps there are other reasons for his expedition to this tropical paradise.

An alien thief has lain dormant on Salutua for half a century, hoping to flee from the species he stole from. But the Semquess know where Brokk is hiding, and they will happily take their revenge!

◆ Established Continuity? Never Heard Of It!

‘The Eye of the Giant’ happens to take place during my favourite run of Classic Who. Season Seven was incredibly unique. The earthbound nature of its stories essentially meant that the Doctor was stranded, stuck helping UNIT deal with numerous threats to homeworld security – shop window dummies coming to life, a tribe of Homo Reptilia who wanted their planet back, and a drilling project pumping out a primordial ooze that transformed all who touched it into savage werewolf-like creatures.

Christopher Bulis takes full advantage of the excellent Tardis team from this era, nailing the dynamic between them. With that being said, I am utterly baffled as to why he thought it necessary to smash up established continuity with a wrecking ball the size of a double-decker bus!

The Doctor is supposed to be in the midst of his exile, correct? Well how come he can dismantle his old space-time visualiser and make a time bridge that extends forty years into the past? Doesn’t that make the whole exile thing a completely moot point? This is a comparatively small issue in what is an otherwise fun novel, but it’s an issue that could have been so easily averted that it just irks me.

◆ Mr Middle-Class Sergeant

I’d like to move onto the topic of Mike Yates, whose middle-class mug is plastered onto the front cover of ‘The Eye of the Giant’. I always had conflicting feelings over Richard Franklin’s character, who it seemed was introduced to the series as useless eye-candy and not much else… until ‘The Green Death’ that is.

Mike was hypnotised by an insane supercomputer, forced to turn a weapon on a friend and a colleague. In a later story, he was manipulated by a powerful politician and recruited into the secretive Operation Golden Age project, which would have reverted the whole Earth to prehistoric times. The conspiracy was thwarted by the Doctor. In return for his past service to UNIT, the Brigadier allowed Mike to take medical leave and quietly resign… his psyche torn to shreds in the line of duty. This is going to sound incredibly depressing, but the character only became interesting when the writers were intent on turning him into a psychological wreck, simply due to it being the only time he really got any significant character development!

Christopher Bulis decides to turn this novel into a retroactive debut for Mike, showcasing his earliest days working for UNIT. After spending a couple of weeks in charge of the clean-up squad, he finally gets a chance to partake in some field work… and it just so happens that his mission is to rescue the two most important scientific personnel in the task force! He spends a fair amount of the novel accompanying Amelia, striking up a rather sweet and chivalrous friendship in the process. His manner when dealing with her is that of a cocksure but friendly agent, eager to impress this damsel in distress who has nearly been devoured by a gigantic spider!

I’m over the moon that there’s at least one more outing featuring Mike in the earliest days of his UNIT career – that being ‘The Scales of Injustice’ – because I have had so much fun with the character in this novel.

◆ Conclusion

“The Doctor and Miss Shaw have managed to lose themselves on a place that doesn’t exist!”

Maybes it’s because I was born at the turn of the millennium and grew up watching the cheesiest movies the 00s had to offer, but reading a novel where the Doctor gets stranded on an island filled with animals suffering from gigantism honestly reminded me of Spy Kids 2.

‘The Eye of the Giant’ had so many cards working in its favour – taking place during my favourite season of Classic Who and featuring my one of my favourite Tardis teams too. Whilst I can definitely say that the Doctor and his UNIT chums are well characterised, that is sadly where my love for this novel ends.

Christopher Bulis is the most prolific writer for the ‘Missing Adventures’ range and this is my first dip into his large body of work. I’m starting to wonder if he was asked back so often because he was brilliant at hitting deadlines, because I doubt it was down to his budding imagination and creativity. ‘The Eye of the Giant’ is the perfect example of a writer playing it safe, creating an adventure that is by-the-book and a little on the boring side. It was a perfectly enjoyable read, just not something I’ll be racing back to anytime soon.