Virgin Missing Adventures

#003. Venusian Lullaby ~ 7/10

◆ An Introduction

Regular readers of my reviews will be aware that I love droning on about a little something called world-building. If you’re curious as to whether I’ll enjoy a certain book, flick through and look for juicy descriptions of unimaginable landscapes. Two authors have proven themselves to be exceptionally good in this department; Dave Stone (‘Burning Heart’) and Stephen Baxter (‘The Wheel of Ice’).

It must be nearly six years since I last read ‘Venusian Lullaby’ – my only recollection being those jawbreaking Venusian names! – so I’m basically approaching this book with fresh eyes.

Everyone keeps telling me that this book features some of the best world-building in the series. Here’s hoping everyone is right on this occasion!

◆ Publisher’s Summary

"You want me to help you eat your children?" Ian said.

Jellenhut's eye-stalks twitched. "How else would we remember them?"

Venus is dying. When the Doctor, Barbara and Ian arrive they find an ancient and utterly alien civilization on the verge of oblivion. War is brewing between those who are determined to accept death, and those desperate for salvation whatever the cost.

Then a spacefaring race arrives, offering to rescue the Venusians by moving them all to Earth — three billion years before mankind is due to evolve. Are the newcomers' motives as pure as they appear? And will the Doctor allow them to save his oldest friends by sacrificing the future of humanity?

◆ The First Doctor

Speaking as someone that’s covered five books featuring this incarnation already, I can definitely tell you that this is one of his better outings. Bleak and melancholic stories genuinely bring out the best in this Doctor, which probably explains why ‘City at World’s End’ is my favourite of his novels. Seeing him immerse himself in the culture of a dying world is genuinely fascinating, especially one as truly alien as Venus.

Susan’s departure from the TARDIS weighs heavily on the Doctor’s mind throughout this adventure, occasionally clouding his judgement. About a third of the way into the book, Ian finds himself kidnapped by the Rocketeer faction and, naturally, Barbara wants to do everything she can to help him. Unfortunately, the Doctor seems to favour uncovering the mysteries of the Sou(ou)shi over helping his companions. He comes across as cold-hearted in these scenes – and our resident history teacher rightfully gave him both barrels – but he’s clearly struggling without his granddaughter. Some genuinely excellent writing from Paul Leonard.

He’s not upset, not at all upset. The Doctor has always known that Susan would leave them. She is a grown woman now. It would no longer be right for him to detain her. He has released her to live in a way of her own choosing. The Doctor is as concerned about Chesterton as Barbara is, believe him. But don’t you think that the fate of a whole planet full of sentient beings is more important than the fate of one person? Like it or not, the Doctor has a responsibility to his companions. If he can’t get them home, very well. But at least he can look after them in the meantime. Or if he wont – if he’s too busy with his “mysteries” – then they’ll just have to look after themselves.

◆ Ian Chesterton

William Russell passed away quite recently, so I can’t help feeling a little bit sad reading this novel and knowing that he’s gone. The bloke was an absolute credit to Doctor Who, and I sincerely hope generations to come will enjoy watching his adventures through time and space!

You would expect the science teacher to cope quite well with alien environments, especially after travelling in the TARDIS for so long, but nothing could prepare Ian for the culture shock that awaited him on Venus. He didn’t take part in the traditional ceremony of remembering, and was understandably horrified by the effect it had on Barbara. Later on, Ian found himself wandering through a forest covered in petrol… and was nearly burnt alive for his troubles! Jellenhut – one of the native Venusians – thankfully came to the rescue, patching him up in the process. Ian found some common ground with her, and the two became good friends and allies in the fight against the Sou(ou)shi.

Ian had been telling a lot of lies about the Earth. Taking his inspiration partly from Marinus and partly from Skaro, he had described the petrified forests, the deserts of brown rock, the mountains of blue glass. He had described the burning heat of the day, the unbearable cold of night. He had described the chimerins, the great dust-storms that blew in the winter, shredding everything in their path. He had described the miserable existence of the few remaining Earth-people, buried in salt caverns underneath the remnants of seas. He had done such a good job that Barjibuhi had started asking about Mars as an alternative destination. Ian had told him that it was pretty dry there, too. Ian was beginning to feel sorry for the Venusians. It wasn’t their fault that their planet was dying: as far as he could understand from Barjibuhi, it was a natural process, caused by the steadily lengthening day. For the first time Ian felt doubt. It was becoming increasingly obvious that the Venusians were not at all like the Daleks; their ‘invasion’ was no more than a desperate attempt at escape. And he was, after all, three billions years in the past; if the Venusians went to Earth now, they would find no life more complex than single-celled organisms – possibly no life at all. Perhaps the Venusians had brought life to Earth, in which case, someone was going to have to help them. They were hardly going to get there in wooden spaceships. Ian understands what it’s like to be cut off from his own people. The Doctor isn’t of the same people as him and Barbara, and they’re not sure where he comes from. The point is, he isn’t able to take them home. Or at least, he says he isn’t able to. Barbara and him have to live in the TARDIS; they don’t have any choice about where they’re going to end up. They’ve had some fantastic adventures – he’s seen and done things he could never have seen or done on Earth, not if he’d lived to be a hundred. But it’s not having the choice. Sometimes they get near to their home, to the right place or the right time, so near you could almost touch it.

◆ Barbara Wright

Few companions have made quite the same impression on me as Barbara. She was always keen to see the good in all things, believing that there was sometimes more to situations than met the eye. The exception to this rule being the Daleks, of course: she rammed a truck through a whole roadblock of them!

Towards the beginning of the book, our regulars attend the funeral of Jikugihi Dharkhig: a respected Venusian philosopher. Barbara ate part of his brain during the traditional ceremony of remembering, however, the size of her portion was far too large for her metabolism. Dharkhig's personality remained within her mind for hours after the ceremony, allowing her intimate knowledge of Venusian culture during that time. Barbara makes great use of her alternate personality: it spoke through her during a speech which roused the Venusian people against the Sou(ou)shi.

After eating a block of spaghetti bolognese from the TARDIS food machine, Barbara is sent on a trip down memory lane. The only time she had Italian food as good as this back home was when she got the job at the school. Her father took her out to celebrate. The restaurant was called Vincenzo’s. They had red-and-white check tablecloths made out of Fablon, and straw flasks hanging on the walls. Barbara and Ian have seen things no one else in their time has seen, or will ever see. Ancient man; the Aztecs; the French Revolution; Skaro; Marinus. They’ll have that time, those memories. It occurred to Barbara that she hadn’t yet understood a thing that any of the Venusians had said. Just when you thought you’d got a grip on the meaning, the speaker would add another phrase, or another sentence, that made all of it into nonsense. Barbara is not Susan, nor is she a piece of Susan, whatever the Doctor told the Venusians. Neither is Ian. They’re people – people who are travelling with the Doctor, and through no choice of their own.

◆ Eat, remember. Eat. And Remember.

This book begins with our regulars attending a Venusian funeral, and we’re immediately treated to one of their strange customs: mourners are expected to attend a ceremony of remembering, where they would eat portions of the dearly departed’s brain. They would then experience a wave of flashbacks, witnessing memories from the perspective of the deceased. It all sounds rather morbid from a human perspective, but the back of the book did promise an utterly alien civilisation.

The Venusians themselves are as alien as their customs. I remember reading a review of this book on PageFillers which said they had “keyboard-sneeze names”, which I have to agree with. They had twelve eye-stalks in pairs; five arms and five legs. They could also leap several miles into the air, like they were enormous frogs catapulting themselves across the planet. Jim Mortimore is credited with the incredible drawing of a Venusian you see on the front cover, and all I can say is thank God this wasn’t intended to be a telly script! An attempt had already been made to create a truly alien civilisation during the black and white era; it involved several tubs of Vaseline being smeared over the cameras, whilst giant ants bumped into everything in sight. The budget needed to realise something like a Venusian would have been astronomical in 1965.

◆ Venusians at World’s End

Venus is a world living on borrowed time: the temperature of the sun is increasing, making it all the more difficult to live on the planet’s surface. Eventually, it would become completely uninhabitable. While many Venusians preached acceptance of their inevitable fate, various Anti-Acceptancer factions tried to devise ways of avoiding it, resulting in political unrest.

The Rocketeers believed their people could escape the rising temperatures of their homeworld by building rockets to emigrate to prehistoric Earth, something which proved very difficult, since Venus was metal-poor. The Water-breathers believed their people could escape the rising temperatures if they could live underwater, and were convinced the Doctor could teach them how to grow gills!

The Volcano People spent forty thousand years on a project that would trigger a series of volcanic eruptions. This would put large amounts of dust in the atmosphere, reflecting the sun’s heat and lowering the rising temperatures. If successful, they calculated it would give them another ten thousand years of civilisation.

The Below the Sun Believers were perhaps the most unhinged faction. They believed their people could escape the rising temperatures of their homeworld by – you guessed it – living beneath the sun! Hope they’ve got sunscreen with an SPF of one million.

◆ Conclusion

“Presidor, it is my duty to inform you that the Doctor is planning to kill us all.”

Venus is a world living on borrowed time: the temperature of the sun is increasing, making it all the more difficult to live on the planet’s surface. Eventually, it will become completely uninhabitable. But with the arrival of a spacefaring race, salvation could come sooner than expected…

Paul Leonard wastes no time in creating one of the most stunning and unique alien civilisations this franchise has ever seen. Venusian customs are frankly bizarre – the ceremony of remembering becomes a recurring theme throughout the book – but it leaves you wanting to learn more about them. Jim Mortimore is credited with the incredible drawing of a Venusian you see on the front cover, and all I can say is thank God this wasn’t intended to be a telly script! An attempt had already been made to create a truly alien civilisation during the black and white era; it involved several tubs of Vaseline being smeared over the cameras, whilst giant ants bumped into everything in sight. The budget needed to realise something like a Venusian would have been astronomical in 1965.

The major drawback of a book like ‘Venusian Lullaby’ is that almost too much time is spent on world-building – not a complaint I think anyone was expecting to hear from me! If you ignore all the finer details about this truly fascinating civilisation, then the story boils down to the Doctor and friends saving an alien race from extinction. That’s quite a basic premise for such a chunky novel, which would explain why I started losing interest by Book Four – The Grey Water Hour.

I really struggled deciding what to rate this book out of ten, because I want to adore the bones off it! There is so much juicy detail when it comes to Venusian society, and I think the companions are used incredibly well throughout… then you pass the halfway mark, and it becomes such a slog to get through! Paul Leonard has done a fantastic job with this book, but I sincerely believe that it should have been trimmed down during the editing stage.