KOOL TV REVIEW: 'DOCTOR WHO - THE WHEEL OF ICE' NOVEL

DOCTOR WHO: THE WHEEL OF ICE

A novel by Stephen Baxter

Published by BBC BOOKS

Reviewed by Scott Weller

Resilience. Remembrance. Restoration.

NOTE: This review contains mild spoilers...

Once upon a time it was invading little green men that humanity used to worry about, but now, out on the fringes of our solar system, within the frozen mineral climes of the “Wheel of Ice” mining colony of Saturn's rings, its little bluemen putting the willies up all and sundry, as that travelling cosmic hobo of space and the Fifth Dimension, the second incarnation of DOCTOR WHO, aided by his loyal companions, the highlander of Earth’s ancient past, James Robert McCrimmon, and sprightly technological marvel, the future born Zoe Herriot, encounter one of their most unusual and creepy threats yet when they arrive at an important point and location for Humanity as it continues its journey out into the stars; its early pioneers on the edge of scientific discovery and exploration, enterprise and danger…

Within a space station composed of junk yard spaceships wrapped around a planetary core being mined for the rare mineral Bernalium, the mystery of an ancient artifact located around a young child’s neck, the sabotage and disappearance of vital equipment plus an eons old predicament from a looming alien force with a mission that must be fulfilled at all costs- that could also lead to the destruction of the galaxy and the very fabric of time itself if it isn’t soon corrected- are just some of the big situations capturing the readers attention within acclaimed British sci-fi writer Stephen Baxter’s enjoyable new book for the continuing original series WHO range from BBC BOOKS: THE WHEEL OF ICE.

Presumably set somewhere between the monochrome era’s final TV season stories The Space Pirates and the epic The War Games, Baxter’s grasp of writing for our main cast is superb, his fondness for their little family group clearly showing as he delivers them into the story via a seemingly grouchy TARDIS which has a built-in directive/mission our heroes must obey. (And, let’s face it, if the Doctor and his friends didn’t arrive somewhere and not receive an ignorant and hostile welcome from the locals then I’d be very worried indeed!)

Often difficult for writers to bring to life on the printed page, Baxter grasps his childhood hero, the Second Doctor, and Troughton’s versatile performance of him, particularly well. There’s also fine use of continuity and mentions of various characters, planets and adventures from his three-year period, as well as other links to Earth history visited by the Doctor in his past (and future) incarnations.

Sharing a lot of the story and plot investigation with the Time Lord, Zoe gets the most to do in the book as a companion (of which there’s lots of links and references to her introductory story The Wheel in Space, set after the events of this book but keeping within a believable timeline). Sadly, adaptable Scots hero Jamie has the least to do, which is a bit of a shame, apart from acting on and off as an older figure guardian, occasional protector, to the satellites older revolutionary children, who take the brunt from their parents and authority figures for some of the strange and inexplicable things happening within their industry home.

The books cast of supporting characters, mostly female, are the type of important plot delivering cyphers that exist in most of classic WHO’s successful base under siege type storytelling: the overall colony leader under fire, the slightly pompous security commander distrusting of outsiders, and an overbearing and belligerent human threat making things worse for everyone: this time from a corporate baddie with a hidden axe to grind. There’s even a haughty and likable Glasweigan mind inhabited robot, MMAC, aiding our heroes, which proves to be one of the authors more enjoyable additions to the overall story.

Very much an attempt at sophisticated Eleventh Doctor storytelling within the Second Doctor’s baggy clothing, Baxter’s efforts to fuse classic and new eras of WHO, so as to appeal to a wider spectrum of modern readers, prove mostly successful, what with the families and children aspect of the book (relatable to people who aren’t necessarily WHOvians), alongside a comprehensive display of high tech science and the kind of classic monsters concept that the original series often did so well.

The aforementioned scientific aspects of the book are well handled and accurate, mixed with the kind of added fun speculation of which WHO has always excelled, but there are times when such technobabble, however important to the plot, verges on the kind of nonsense that always bogged down STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATIONs later storytelling. On the fantasy spectrum, though, the blue men and their mysterious benefactor of life are intriguing, with some well described moments and plotting, whilst the threat to the universe is just the right side of preposterous for our heroes to stop in the nick of time…

With its nice prose style, THE WHEEL OF ICE ultimately reaches a satisfying conclusion and is a highly readable, if not all-time classic, new addition to the continuing range of diversified and intelligent DOCTOR WHO adventures from BBC BOOKS.

KOOL TV RATING: 3.5 out of 5

Get the book here: Doctor Who: The Wheel of Ice: Amazon.co.uk: Stephen Baxter: Books

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