“Doctor Who: The Ring of Steel” by Stephen Cole

“Doctor Who: The Ring of Steel”

by Stephen Cole

Read by Arthur Darvill

Published by AudioGO Ltd. & BBC Audio (2010)

1 hour and 18 minutes

Okay, I admit it, I’m hooked.  Hooked on Doctor Who.  What I find amazing is the awesome choice of audiobooks available in the Doctor Who World.  In the new generation of Doctor Who, which includes the 9^th, 10^th and 11^th doctors, there are at least 50 audiobooks available.  Then all sorts of books on the doctors from the “old generation,” so it looks like I may have some fun for a while.  The television series is slated to start another season next fall, so until then I’m gonna listen to all the audiobooks I can lay my hands on.   Some of the se audiobooks are full length books and some are specifically for audio only and are written in a one hour format, much like a single television episode.  This latest one is one of those one hour audio recordings.

Normally I find it even more interesting when the book is read by one of the actors in the series.  Usually when one of the actors reads the story it is based on happenings around their character.  Of course when Matt Smith reads, since he portrays the Doctor, it’s perfect, but when one of the other actors reads it you can count on it being focused on them.  Now maybe that’s just something I’m putting into it because of hearing their voice.  So when I picked out this audiobook I saw it was read by Arthur Darvill, who plays Rory in the series, Amy Ponds boyfriend/husband in the series.  But Rory never made a single appearance in this story so they fooled me.  However his voicework is spot on and when voicing the Doctor, he nearly sounds like Matt Smith, which made the book nice to hear.

When the TARDIS lands on Orkney (or Orkney Islands, in Scotland) in the near future, the Doctor and Amy arrive to find a large demonstration in progress over the construction of new electricity pylons. The Doctor tries to break things up peacefully - but suddenly the road splits open without warning and swallows police, security guards and protestors alike.

Separated from the Doctor, Amy takes charge of transporting the wounded to hospital - but the rescue mission becomes a terrifying ride as the pylons come to life and begin to walk and the road rears up, erupting with boiling tarmac.

The Doctor, meanwhile, has even more than metal monsters and rebellious roads to deal with. Here is where it became really cool for me.  Have you ever been driving along an interstate or even country roads and seen those large high tension electrical wire supports that look like giant metal robots?  I’ve heard some say they look like Farmer John and his wife (different shapes for each sex).  When I was a kid I used to be on long road trips and imagine they would come to life, and like Amy Pond in this story, I used to protect my family by shooting them down with my pretend laser gun (forefinger extended and thumb up).  Well, in this book they do come to life and attack.   So, who is bringing these things to life and sucking the life out of the power company's employees - and just what is lurking inside the Astra-Gen headquarters?  That is for the Doctor and Amy to find out and through the help of the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver (the only weapon ever needed) to fix and save the earth, again.

There was one really interesting moment in this book that made me have to rewind and listen again.  The Doctor says, “you're only young twelve times,” is this a reference to the number of times a Time Lord can regenerate? If so are we looking at a near-future end to the Doctor Who series?  There is a movie supposed to be coming out and that usually marks the end of a television series.  Oh…say it isn’t so.

If you are interested as to where this book falls into the timeline of the Doctor Who series, it occurs after tv episode, “Victory of the Daleks” and before the book, “The Runaway Train.”

"Doctor Who: The Jade Pyramid" by Martin Day

"Doctor Who: The Jade Pyramid"
by Martin Day
Read by Matt Smith
Produced by AudioGO Ltd.
approx 1 hour.


What to do with the Doctor Who TV series on hiatus until fall 2012?  Catch up on my Doctor Who audiobooks, that's what.  I've got a lot to get through and I thought since the series is on the 11th Doctor, portrayed by Matt Smith, I'd get through the latest ones first.  It seems that Matt Smith is growing on me as the Doctor, I wasn't quite sure at first, I had really become fond of David Tenant, but change is inevitable, especially with the doctor.  With this audiobook featuring Matt Smith reading, I've grown a little more fond of his portrayal of the Doctor, he is able to continue with the attitudes that only he could have in this role and this reading makes it easy to escape into another episode of Doctor Who.

Another aspect of the audiobook being easy to perceive as another episode is that it is just over one hour of listening time.  Sure Doctor Who can run a multi-episode story arc, but some of the best are simple one show adventures, and that is exactly what this book is.  The audiobook even begins and ends with the iconic them music so you know you are ready for a ride in the TARDIS.

The story begins with the TARDIS receiving a distress call from a Shinto shrine, in medieval Japan on Earth.  The Doctor and Amy Pond arrive in a small village and met by the village elder,  Shijo Sada. He finds the Doctor an intriguing sort, who seems aloof yet full of the knowledge of the ages.  He takes them to a holy site that is guarded by small ogre-like statues called Otoroshi.  The Otoroshi are said to guard the ancient jade pyramid in the heart of the temple.  The temple is so holy that only the monks are allowed in and that the temple has strange healing properties. 

It turns out the Shogun, the ruler of Japan, wants the pyramid and has ordered seven samurai to take possession of the temple.  Amy ventures into the temple and discovers that the guardians can come to life to protect the temple.  The Doctor is attacked by a niinja and the adventure runs from there leading the Doctor deep within the temple to discover the secrets of the Jade Pyramid.

With Samurai, Ninjas, Aliens and the Doctor, this story is full of fun and adventure and is a must hear for any Doctor Who fan, and who knows, maybe able to attract the few that have yet to discover the fun in Doctor Who.

Doctor Who: The Coming of the Terraphiles by Michael Moorcock

"Doctor Who: The Coming of the Terraphiles"
by Michael Moorcock
read by Clive Mantle
produced by AudioGO/BBC Audiobooks (2010)
Approx 11 hours

While anxiously awaiting the Christmas return of Dr. Who on television, I have to get my fix.  This time around I dive into a Dr. Who audiobook that is unlike any other. 

First of all the length.  This one is just about 11 hours where most Dr. Who audiobooks tend to be from one to three hours in length.  So I was strapped in and ready for a good long run.  This story would have easily taken an entire season to run.

The next feature that makes it unique is the writing.  Michael Moorcock is a well know award winning author of science-fiction and fantasy, and I have heard his name bandied around in sci-fi circles, but I've never picked up one of his stories until now.  This story takes the Dr. Who universe and seems to pop it into a more surreal almost absurd series of events that seem to blend the writing styles of Douglas Adams and P.G. Wodehouse.  At times the story is a humorous romp through the multiverse and at others a bit of a humorous whodunit.   Needless to say this is a fun book featuring the 11th Doctor and his companion Amy Pond.

The reader Clive Mantle does a great job of delivering the story through this audiobook.  In some cases the characters are over the top and Mantle voices them just that way.  From his vocalizations you can nearly picture the faces of the characters.  Superb delivery.

At times this story reminded me of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," with Amy pod as Alice and the Doctor as the White Rabbit, and there are a couple of hatters that do seem mad. 

In the beginning it at first seems as though the Doctor is out for a bit of sport as he and Amy join the Terraphiles, a group of humans in the far future obsessed with recreating Earth's distant past and reenacting medieval Earth sports.  By the far future I mean about 50,000 years into the future, so you have to forgive if they get some of the sports wrong.  There's a version of, I'm thinking Rugby, where the ball is an arrow and the bowmen/archers shoot the arrow and catch it.  I did say they didn't quite get it right. 

As it turns out, though, the Doctor is trying avoid the collapse of the Multiverse from the mysterious "dark tides" that have begun to appear.  The Doctor and his new friends compete in a Grand Tournament in the Miggea star system, which lies on the border of parallel realities. The prize of the contest is an ancient artifact called the Arrow of Law, sought also by the Doctor's old foe Captain Cornelius and his crew of space pirates.

With the multiverse on the verge of collapse the Doctor, Amy and the Terraphiles have to team up with the space pirates to try to save all of existence.  With some fun moments, the theft of a gaudy hat, and some strange sports, this is one adventure with the Doctor that you won't soon forget.