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[dreamer_easy]

To help with my Big Finish Benny novella, All Mimsy Were the Borogoves, I'm re-reading my 1996 Doctor Who novel Return of the Living Dad. There's too much repetition, too many in-jokes, too many characters, and far too many POV shifts, but the prose is generally holding up all right. There are certain similarities with the new show: the emphasis on relationships, the self-awareness - and it's tempting to think that the NAs influenced RTD's thinking, but I suspect that more than anything both books and show are products of their times.

Comments

[dinosaurcostume.livejournal.com]

I read Dad ages ago, but I remember it as an intensely pleasurable read - a sort of "Why can't they all be like this?" thing. (Argh, I mean the NA's, not the Orman-oeuvre). Two things stick in the memory - Nestene spatula, and an incredibly moving Benny-Doctor scene toward the end of the book.

Only realised recently, some of my best experiences of Who have been through the books, both Target and NA. But I love the new series, and I do really believe it owes a lot to the books. I think most importantly, the NA's cut through to some of the core ideas and themes of the TV series, and then either explored them or played with them. RTD's reinvention avoids referring back to an individual era of the TV show, but builds its characters and story arcs out of aspects of the show that have come to be taken as read. The Paul McGann failed-comeback does the opposite. I really believe RTD's understanding of the series (as something passionate, moving, about loneliness and alienness) comes out of the work done by the NA's.

What a loooong comment! I am sorry.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

Yay!

I had to stop reading it for a bit to recover from the endless character POV switches. Every time I start a scene, I start in media res with a different character, so I must spend half the bloody word count trying to explain what the heck is going on.