Product Description

The TARDIS brings the Doctor and Martha to Balmoral in 1902. Here they meet Captain Harry Carruthers - friend of the new king, Edward VII. Together they head for the castle to see the king - only to find that Balmoral Castle is gone, leaving just a hole in the ground. The Doctor realises it is the work of the Judoon - a race of ruthless intergalactic mercenary space police. While Martha and Carruthers seek answers in London, the Doctor finds himself in what should be the most deserted place on Earth - and he is not alone. With help from Arthur Conan Doyle, the Doctor and his friends discover a plot to take over the world. With time running out, who will fall victim to the revenge of the Judoon? Featuring the Doctor and Martha as played by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman in the acclaimed hit series from BBC Television.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #69975 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 112 pages

Synopsis
The TARDIS brings the Doctor and Martha to Balmoral in 1902. Here they meet Captain Harry Carruthers - friend of the new king, Edward VII. Together they head for the castle to see the king - only to find that Balmoral Castle is gone, leaving just a hole in the ground. The Doctor realises it is the work of the Judoon - a race of ruthless intergalactic mercenary space police. While Martha and Carruthers seek answers in London, the Doctor finds himself in what should be the most deserted place on Earth - and he is not alone. With help from Arthur Conan Doyle, the Doctor and his friends discover a plot to take over the world. With time running out, who will fall victim to the revenge of the Judoon? Featuring the Doctor and Martha as played by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman in the acclaimed hit series from BBC Television.

From the Publisher
Doctor Who battles the Cyberman in the latest bestselling adventure

About the Author
Terrance Dicks was born in East Ham, London, in 1935. After graduating from Cambridge, he began work in the advertising industry before moving over to television as a writer. In 1968, he began working on Doctor Who. He has written over fifty Doctor Who novels and has also been a prolific author of books for children.

Customer Reviews

THIS IS ACTUALLY ABOUT ROTJ!
This is an extremely bog standard aliens-want-to-take-over-the-Earth plot set in 1902. Don't be fooled by the title, the Judoon barely feature and when they do its almost as though budget limitations have carried over to print form, its only right at the very end that one of them takes his helmet off.

The plot, scant as it is sees the Doctor trying to track down Balmoral castle which has vanished in a cloud of upwards rain whilst Martha and an Edwardian solider are in London in search of the bad guys. The Doctor and Martha sort of sound like themselves but not quite enough to be convincing, both seem to have accents from the Dick Van Dyke school of Cockney Rhyming Slang. Far worse however are the Edwardian characters including King Edward VII himself who all sound far too modern and casual. Aliens try to take over the planet and the King seems barely taken aback and though he was one of the oldest Kings to ascend the throne he doesn't come across as a 60ish year old.

At a mere 120ish pages I breezed through it in 2 hours though this was helped by the fact that there virtually was no story and it more or less switches off once the page count has run out. Arthur Conan-Doyle and Robert Baden-Powell make pointless cameos which add nothing to the plot. Terrance Dicks is the Elder Statesman of Doctor Who fiction and can dash off an adventure in his sleep. Alas that's exactly what appears to have happened here with this utterly pedestrian and instantly forgettable story

You gotta love Dicks
A very enjoyable ickle read. Terrence Dicks really nails the Doctors quirky character, I love the Cybermens new base and the references to it are funny too, read it and see....

Does what it says on the tin!
I think it is important to note that this is not intended to be an epic tale but simply a quick read. At merely 100 pages (large font at that) readers will polish this off in no time.

That aside the plot content is perfectly acceptable providing a fast, fun Doctor Who adventure against that classic mechanised menace - the Cybermen. A bargain at less than two pounds.

The book ties up the slight continuity issue that some Cybermen were created on earth and had therefore never travelled through the void so would not have been sucked into the void at the end of the 2nd season. This story deals with a small Cyber-contingent that were left behind.