Lungbarrow

Summary: 8/10 It's the end, but the moment has been prepared for. The last seventh Doctor story, and the climax of the Doctor Who New Adventures. The Doctor is going home.

I'm in a crowd that thinks Marc Platt is quite often overrated. Ghost Light, Downtime (which I haven't read the book of yet), and Time's Crucible are all alright, but nothing that really shines to the uppermost levels of Doctor Who.

Lungbarrow is almost certainly the best of the work he has done for Doctor Who. The plot is a little tighter, it's got a little bit more of a sense of humor, and it's an interesting story. In many ways, Lungbarrow is close to a "last Doctor Who story" that you are likely to get, as secrets are revealed and old friends return. Leela finally makes a print appearance, and it's an interesting evolution to see how she has become accustomed to life after her unlikely departure on Gallifrey. I was impressed that something that could have the potential to be quite silly was pulled of successfully. With Romana, Leela, and K9, there's certainly a bit of Graham Williams style whimsy in the story.

Well, we'll get into the spoilers here, so if you don't want to see those, time to turn your eyes....

Spoilers

I promised a comparison between Fathers and Brothers from the Nth Doctor (already reviewed).

Both have their similar problems -- both try to tell "origin" stories of the Doctor. I don't think that's a terribly wise thing to do, and I'm glad to see that BBC Books is not going to encourage that sort of discussion. However, I think that Lungbarrow creates a Doctor that still has some sense of mystery about him -- obviously, it does do some of the work by pushing of some of the mystery on the Other. There weren't any surprises in the Doctor's relationship to the Other -- after all, Human Nature pretty much gave away the whole story while Doctor John Smith wrote his fairy stories. There are certain similarities -- both position the Doctor as having an extraordinary origin, even for a Time Lord. I don't think it would be a long journey to turn the infamous "Quest for Ulysses" into the "Quest for the Other". And as the Doctor isn't necessarily the only one with the Other's genetic material, there are also a whole bunch of potential Others out there...

Lungbarrow gets lots of nitpick continuity points -- it explains how Susan can "name" the TARDIS, and how the Doctor can be a "pioneer" well after the peak of Time Lord civilization. [Of course, one would have thought Rassilon would have recognized the Doctor in The Five Doctors, or Omega on a few occasions -- especially when he recieved the Doctor's bio-extract. That's the problem when a book pulls out a lot of continuity references -- you're likely to do the same when you start to look at it more...]

However, Lungbarrow is also more successful because it, unlike Fathers and Brothers, recognizes that, as Leela so wisely put it "He is a Mystery". It wisely pulled on elements of the Doctor's half human claims in the TV Movie -- but didn't necessarily explain how it might be possible. Obviously, Leela's pregnency establishes the precedent [and also reminds all of the fanboys that yes, we've seen Time Lord-Human relationships before.] It's of course another cliche to have the "sterile alien race uses Earth women for breeding stock", but as long as we don't start getting the Invasion of the Sex-Starved Time Lords, I suppose we'll be alright.

Because of its nature, Lungbarrow is certainly required reading for any serious Doctor Who fan. While some of the features don't work as well unless you've been following the New Adventures, and are perhaps familiar with A History of the Universe. Marc has closed the book on the seventh Doctor, and his story is done. When the seventh Doctor first appeared, in Time and the Rani, almost ten years ago now, I'm sure none of us would have expected to see the Doctor [or the franchise] follow the course that he -- or it -- has had. It's been a wild ride. Goodbye Doctor.

Next, A new Doctor comes back, and it's about time, in The Dying Days.