Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Dr. Who: The American Adventures - A Review





Dr. Who: The American Adventures
Dr Who The American Adventures.jpg
by
Justin Richards

A Review

I was looking forward to reliving some of the excitement that filled my many of my hours since I began grad school watching the great Tom Baker starring in some of the earlier Dr. Who adventures and the other actors who filled that position during the intervening years when we saw new reincarnations of this classic Sci-Fi character. Alas, this book did not renew my love of Dr. Who.

The stories were fun - but they did not resemble any of the Dr. Who adventures I have seen over the last five decades. I found myself reading a series of seven rather gentle sci-fi stories that did star The Doctor and many of his implements (i.e. the Tardis and the Sonic Screwdriver, etc.); but they failed to deliver the character or energy of the TV show. Good sci-fi, but not so much good Dr. Who. The books failed to develop the relationships that the Doctor made with the secondary characters in the show. There was no sign of a companion and none of the expected troublemakers (though the Daleks and the Cyberman (sic) were mentioned on the copyright page). The brief pictures of American history did add some value to the book; but they will provide little extra knowledge of history to the average American reader, suggesting that only a bit of research was done in preparation prior to writing each story.

I guess the bottom line is that I was a bit disappointed after making my way through this collection of stories.
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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review.  The opinions expressed are my own.

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