1. Search for the Doctor
Author: David Martin
Illustrators: Gail Bennett (interior and British cover), Romas Kukalis (American cover)
First Published: 1986 (August for U.S. edition, possibly earlier for U.K. edition)
ISBN: 0-7278-2087-7 (British edition), 0-345-33224-5 (American edition)
Length: 33 sections
Number of Endings: 15 (not including death by bad dice roll)
Plot Summary: You've recently received a mysterious box from Sarah
Jane Smith, and soon you're involved in an adventure to rescue the Doctor
from Omega with the help of K-9 and Drax...
My Thoughts: This really should have been a lot better. It's written
by David Martin, who helped to create such memorable Dr. Who episodes as
The Three Doctors and The Armageddon Factor, and it features a
plot more complex than what is normally found in a gamebook. Unfortunately,
it falls apart in all important areas. As a gamebook, it fails due to its
uncomfortable past-tense style, its overlong sections and its pointless
gameplay which leads the reader by the hand, periodically inserting senseless
(and largely irrelevant) puzzles and dice rolls for no apparent reason. As a
Dr. Who story, it fails due to its surprisingly weak characterization, its
excessive (almost fanfic-like) use of familiar elements from past episodes
and its breaking with continuity. Fans could perhaps theorize that Omega's
characterization here suggests that Mr. Martin was less than pleased with (or
simply chose to ignore) the character's appearance in the episode Arc of
Infinity.... Engaging in such speculation may in fact be more
interesting than reading this book, which is a shame.
Errata: Due to unfortunate formatting, the last choice in section 24
is wrapped around to the next page and is easily missed. This problem exists
in all editions of the book.
2. Crisis in Space
Author: Michael Holt
Illustrators: Gail Bennett (interior and British cover), Romas Kukalis (American cover)
First Published: 1986 (August for U.S. edition, possibly earlier for U.K. edition)
ISBN: 0-7278-2093-1 (British edition), 0-345-33225-3 (American edition)
Length: 70 sections
Number of Endings: 10 (not including death by bad dice roll)
Plot Summary: You must help the Doctor, Peri and Turlough defeat the
evil Garth Hadeez, a maniac determined to destroy the solar system with the
help of a black hole.
My Thoughts: This book is considerably shorter than the previous
entry in the series thanks to its large print, and it's also considerably
worse. Michael Holt, as far as I can tell, has never been involved with the
show, and, from reading this book, it's questionable as to whether or not he
ever even watched it. Not only did Peri and Turlough never travel together
with the sixth Doctor, they also never acted anything like the way they
behave in this book; there's just far too much use of communicators and
laser guns... To make things worse, the dialog is consistently
cringe-inducing, featuring a new terrible pun at nearly every turn of the
page. The gameplay does nothing to help matters; as in the previous book,
most choices are pretty much pointless, and rolling the die serves only to
cause a random possibility of instant death at various points in the story.
Avoid this like the plague, whether or not you're a Doctor Who fan!
Errata: Both the American and British back covers say that the
cover painting "features Colin Baker as The Doctor, Nicola Bryant as
Peri and Mark Strickson as Turlough." However, the hulking and
evil-looking figure on the American cover doesn't appear to be Turlough,
and that girl doesn't look very much like Peri...
3. The Garden of Evil
Author: David Martin
Illustrators: Gail Bennett (interior and British cover)
First Published: 1986
ISBN: 0-7278-2113-X (British edition)
Length: 37 sections
Number of Endings: 17
Plot Summary: You're a refugee on Gallifrey in a time of crisis, and
the Doctor needs your help due to your unusual telepathic powers.
My Thoughts: David Martin's second entry in the series is
disappointingly similar to his first. The gameplay is nonexistent,
consisting of make-the-right-choice-or-die decisions, gratuitous die rolls
that either end the adventure or don't, and meaningless word jumble puzzles.
The story is long and convoluted (once again due to the linearity of the
gameplay), yet it's not very satisfying. It pays no attention to series
continuity, for one thing; no matter what vision of Gallifrey you choose to
accept, it is most definitely not an intergalactic aid agency making room for
refugees and aiding the needy. It's also not patrolled by snake-like
monster-guards to the best of my recollection. While this book mercifully
lacks the excessive inclusion of classic characters found in the previous
David Martin adventure, I would actually have liked to have seen at least a
few more indications that this really was a Dr. Who adventure; as it is, the
flavor and characterization are off somehow (though not as far off as in
Michael Holt's abomination), and the book feels rather like a piece of goofy
(yet not overly thrilling) space opera in the Star Wars mold. Less
combat, less metaphysical gibberish, and more wit would have been most
welcome. A final nail in the book's coffin is the artwork; the human
characters are captured adequately, but the monstrous threats they face are
profoundly unimpressive. It seems they didn't pick the right person to deal
with the story's more fantastic elements. All in all, this is another in a
line of disappointments; it's a shame my favorite TV show couldn't spawn a
better line of gamebooks.
Errata: When section 16 gives you a second chance at your die roll
after your unfortunate demise, it suggests that the target roll for success
is a pair of sixes. This is completely insane, as the original target on
page 11 was merely seven or more.
4. Mission to Venus
Author: William Emms
Illustrators: Gail Bennett (interior and British cover), Romas Kukalis (American cover)
First Published: 1986 (October for U.S. edition, possibly earlier for U.K. edition)
ISBN: 0-7278-2122-9 (British edition), 0-345-33229-6 (American edition)
Length: 28 sections
Number of Endings: 19
Plot Summary: The TARDIS materializes inside a spaceship, and you,
Peri and the Doctor find yourselves surrounded by jars containing ominous
and all-too-mobile plants....
My Thoughts: The author of this book only wrote one Dr. Who script,
the early (and sadly mostly lost) Galaxy Four. I can only hope that
his scriptwriting skills were better than those he applied in creating this
odd beastie. I'm nearly speechless. Although things start promisingly, and
the story and characters almost seem in keeping with the series, it all goes
horribly wrong somewhere along the way. The story grows more and more
incoherent, finally ending with a thud, and the prose becomes increasingly
awful (or maybe I just became more aware of its awfulness), frequently going
on pointless tangents filled with an almost 19th-century-style melodramatic
verbosity. The author clearly hasn't a clue what to do with the gamebook
medium. At first, there are a couple of actual choices, but then it descends
into the senseless dice-rolling that permeates this series.... Then, for a
change of pace, it's "write letters on pieces of paper and draw one out
of a hat." Then it's "see which of these anagrams you can sort out
the fastest." Then it's "which math problem do you solve
first?" Unlucky options lead to bizarre and nonsensical ends, and, for
that matter, the correct ones also lead to a bizarre and nonsensical end,
albeit an upbeat one. The whole thing isn't as offensively bad as Crisis
in Space, but it's still pretty horrific.
Errata: (thanks to Ed Jolley for noting this) It is not possible to
reach two of the deaths. The very last decision should lead to them or
success, but the directions lead to the deaths that went with the previous
decision. The problem exists in both the British and American printings.
5. Invasion of the Ormazoids
Author: Philip Martin
Illustrators: Gail Bennett (interior and British cover), Romas Kukalis (American cover)
First Published: 1986 (November for U.S. edition, possibly earlier for U.K. edition)
ISBN: 0-7278-2100-8 (British edition), 0-345-33231-8 (American edition)
Length: 66 sections
Number of Endings: 17
Plot Summary: A dimensional accident lands you in the TARDIS, where
you end up helping the Doctor foil yet another invasion of Earth.
My Thoughts: This adventure, courtesy of Vengeance on Varos
and Mindwarp scriptwriter Philip Martin, is probably the best entry in
the series, though Search for the Doctor comes pretty close; in any
case, this isn't really saying too much. Anyway, the book's sections aren't
as dreadfully long and tedious as those in most of its predecessors, and while
its storyline is pretty generic, it is at least somewhat more in keeping with
the spirit of the show than the competition. Unfortunately, the writing is a
bit on the condescending side, the portrayal of the Doctor is surprisingly
off, and the gameplay is typically meaningless, with the now-expected obvious
choices and pointless dice-rolling featuring prominently. The artwork
suffers from the same flaws I complained about in book three, and the British
cover is about the lamest piece of artwork I've ever seen on the cover of any
professionally-published book. The American cover looks nicer, but why is
K-9 there, and what's with the cherubs?! I just keep getting the feeling
that nobody particularly cared about making this series worthwhile....
Errata: (thanks to Ed Jolley for noting this) The transition from
section 6 to section 13 doesn't make any sense and suggests that some
sections are missing. The problem exists in both the British and American
printings.
6. Race Against Time
Authors: Pip Baker and Jane Baker
Illustrators: Gail Bennett (interior and British cover), Romas Kukalis (American cover)
First Published: 1986 (December for U.S. edition, possibly earlier for U.K. edition)
ISBN: 0-7278-2116-4 (British edition), 0-345-33228-8 (American edition)
Length: 160 sections
Number of Endings: 31 (not including conditional failure)
Plot Summary: The Doctor recruits you to help him defeat the Rani's
latest evil scheme, which involves a dangerous device known as the Time
Destabilizer.
My Thoughts: Although I'm no great fan of Pip and Jane Baker's work,
I approached this book with some optimism simply because of its high section
count relative to its predecessors. Alas, my optimism was misplaced. The
book is just as linear and poorly designed as the other books in the series;
it simply breaks its linear passages up into smaller chunks and has a larger
number of completely gratuitous puzzles and meaningless die rolls. The book
also has the irritating habit of periodically asking you things like "do
you have an idea how to get out of this dangerous situation?" These
questions are often accompanied by hints, like "remember what you saw
in section 104!" If you answer yes, it tells you the solution, then asks
if that's what you were thinking. If you were right, you go on, if not, bad
stuff happens (or, if you're lucky, the Doctor bails you out). This sort of
pop quiz approach to adventuring is a whole lot less interesting than a
meaningful choice that allows you to apply your knowledge and strategies, and
it really increases the feeling of linearity. Besides problems of gameplay,
the book is doomed due to the fact that its plot is nonexistent, its
characterization poor, the transitions between sections frequently jarring
and its writing style condescending and awkward. In short, it displays
nearly all of the undesirable characteristics I've previously complained
about, making it a disappointing end to a disappointing series. It's not the
worst of the bunch, but even if it were the best of the bunch (which it is
not), that would be saying very little.