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chicafrom3Another step forward in my quest to read through the Target novelizations -- I have completed The Ultimate Foe and thus the Sixth Doctor's run!
Honestly the most frustrating thing for me about this run of novelizations, speaking as a Six-and-Peri fan, is that the writers 100% buy into the idea that Six and Peri don't like each other. Despite the rocky start to their relationship, they very much do, and this is the hill that I will die on, and the writers missing that subtext and just writing their banter as outright antagonism did not sit well with me. (Also I still hate Peri's ending(s), dammit.)
Mel is better served than Peri is, although not by a whole lot -- though part of that can be blamed on the awkwardness of introducing a companion from the Doctor's subjective future immediately after the current companion iskilled off married off written off hastily, and then bringing her into the Doctor's present with no real explanation. At least the Target writers appear to believe that she and the Doctor overall like each other, although they also think that her determination to get him to exercise against his will is hilarious, a fault shared by the original show.
There's also quite a bit of the books trying to make up for shaky plotting in the original episodes by imitating Douglas Adams's worldbuilding style and not at all landing it. Which hasn't been a thing in the Target books up until this point, so. That's interesting. I'd kind of like to know where that came from. And the ones who aren't doing that are mostly just transcribing the scripts without making any effort to clean up plot details that don't translate well to the page. There's really no standout books from this run that I would recommend.
Overall, Six is one of my favorite Doctors but he's not well-served by Target, alas.
Onward to Seven!
Honestly the most frustrating thing for me about this run of novelizations, speaking as a Six-and-Peri fan, is that the writers 100% buy into the idea that Six and Peri don't like each other. Despite the rocky start to their relationship, they very much do, and this is the hill that I will die on, and the writers missing that subtext and just writing their banter as outright antagonism did not sit well with me. (Also I still hate Peri's ending(s), dammit.)
Mel is better served than Peri is, although not by a whole lot -- though part of that can be blamed on the awkwardness of introducing a companion from the Doctor's subjective future immediately after the current companion is
There's also quite a bit of the books trying to make up for shaky plotting in the original episodes by imitating Douglas Adams's worldbuilding style and not at all landing it. Which hasn't been a thing in the Target books up until this point, so. That's interesting. I'd kind of like to know where that came from. And the ones who aren't doing that are mostly just transcribing the scripts without making any effort to clean up plot details that don't translate well to the page. There's really no standout books from this run that I would recommend.
Overall, Six is one of my favorite Doctors but he's not well-served by Target, alas.
Onward to Seven!
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