01 December 2007

Archival Review: Doctor Who: Castrovalva: No. 76 in the Doctor Who Library by Christopher H. Bidmead

Mass market paperback, 128 pages
Published 1983
Read November 2007
Doctor Who: Castrovalva: No. 76 in the Doctor Who Library
by Christopher H. Bidmead

When I was first getting into Doctor Who some six or so years ago, my friend Chris loaned me this book, and I read and enjoyed it-- Bidmead remains one of my favorite Doctor Who contributors (both as a writer and a script-editor). I actually held onto Chris's book for quite some time, because it wasn't his; it was a library honor book he'd borrowed as a wee child and never returned. Eventually, I dropped it into our family's return pile-- and a couple weeks later found a copy in the used bookstore! Convinced it was fate, I bought it. Like all Doctor Who novelizations, it's a fairly slight book, but unlike most, it's interesting even if you've seen the television serial. The written word captures Bidmead's ideas much better than a BBC budget ever could, and is all the better for it. The regulars are all well-written (unsurprising, as he created most of them!), and the ideas (the TARDIS caught in Event One, the recursive occlusion, block transfer computation) shine.

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