Evolution [Paperback]

I was prepared to cut EVOLUTION a lot of slack. Since I wasn't in the mood for anything dense or heavy, I figured a John Peel action-adventure might be just what I was seeking. For a time, I was correct. Despite the book's many obvious flaws, I willingly gave it the benefit of the doubt. But, at the end of the day, there's only so much slack one can cut, and before I reached the conclusion my limit was reached. I crossed the boundary about thirty pages before Doyle blurts out, "This is all getting far too preposterous for me." By the time I got there, I felt his pain.

Getting down to basics, the characterization of the Fourth Doctor and Sarah is actually quite strong when the two of them are bantering together. Peel has clearly spent some time studying how Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen performed off each other. But problems occur when the two characters are separated. Who are these people? His Fourth Doctor and Sarah are reasonably apt at throwing tame insults at the other, but when did they start threatening their adversaries (and innocent bystanders) with all manner of physical abuse? It continues a trend I've noticed in other Peel novels. He seems to equate strong and/or forceful characteristics with physical brutality. Strong people push weak people around. Therefore, the Fourth Doctor isn't just a masterful detective and righter of wrongs; he states on numerous occasions that he "takes great delight" in beating up villains. Sarah Jane Smith isn't just a strong-willed person who speaks her mind; she demonstrates these attributes by threatening to scratch out someone's eyes. It's disconcerting to say the least.

I think one of the bigger flaws is that there is little of substance behind the book's actions. The author borrows a lot of the style of early science fiction and detective stories, but it seems like a cheap façade on a structure with no real foundation. WAR OF THE WORLDS, to take an example, contains a surface of science fiction action-adventure. Yet on another level it also has much to say on the subject of British colonialism. The original Sherlock Holmes stories demonstrated the power of logic and reason. Mary Shelley's FRANKENSTEIN warned Mankind not to meddle in God's domain. You can argue the merits of these messages, but the important thing to note is that there were underlying themes holding the action together. Just what on Earth is EVOLUTION saying? It has a plot concerning genetic manipulation and the alternation of natural evolution. But what is it saying about these issues? Nothing that I can see. What is gained by having the Doctor perform a Sherlock Holmes impersonation in front of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle? Apart from working in a bunch of Sherlock Holmes in-jokes, nothing. Why is a young Rudyard Kipling even in this novel? Any annoying teenager could be substituted with no real alterations.

Although this novel feels like a cobbled together bunch of disparate pieces placed together in hopes that the reader will find at least something to latch on to, you could almost accept it as pure mindless adventure, if only it wasn't quite so clumsy. It's full of annoying little things like Sarah spending valuable time trying to figure out who the book's villain is when the answer is obvious. Hint to Sarah: it's the only other character that it could possibly be! This is not a novel with multiple possible bad guys, where the protagonist must choose between suspects by careful application of logic and reason. This is a novel where there simply aren't enough characters around to attract suspicion. It's like if Hercule Poirot were trapped on the Orient Express with only one other passenger and still taking three hundred pages to figure out whodunit.

There are just too many instances of people doing things solely to drive the plot forward. It holds together competently on a quick read through, but flipping back I noticed plot threads I assumed would have been tied up by the end still were left dangling. Moral complexity and character exploration are not the book's strong features. Sarah takes a few paragraphs battling with the fiercely complex question of "Is Breckinridge a good guy... or a bad guy?" You'd imagine that she went to the Maxwell Smart School of Ethical Theory. One could read this as an undemanding book for children if it weren't for the bizarre (and unneeded) references to child molestation.

On page 62, one character laughingly states: "Well, every good story starts with 'Once upon a time...'". I couldn't help but flip back to the beginning to see if EVOLUTION begins with that phrase. As I'm sure you've guessed, it doesn't. I've written mostly concerning the novel's flaws, but it's worth pointing out that I reasonably enjoyed reading much of it. But at a point, I simply couldn't ignore the problems anymore. Good pacing and reasonably entertaining action can't make up for a bookful of flaws.

As the title says, this was a not-unpleasant way to kill an hour; I enjoy it when the Doctor and his companions get to meet historical figures, and this was an adventure jam-packed with them--though none of them were famous yet, which made it a lot more fun to try to spot them before they were revealed, and then later to pick up on all the little things in the adventure that were going to shape their futures. The Doctor got to play detective, Sarah got to have some kickass moments, and there were some fun original characters.

That said, though, Sarah's dialogue (internal and external) suffered from frequent head-desk moments. Time and again, a phrase would pop out of her mouth that seemed too modern, or too young, or too American, for a directly post 'Brain of Morbius' Sarah Jane. A lot of it seemed more suited to Ace, or occasionally Peri. This irregularity frequently jerked me out of the narrative and undermined my investment in the story.

I also liked the acknowledgment of the Doctor's darker moods, though the amount of attention paid to it in the beginning made me hopeful for it becoming a larger plot element then it eventually did.

Conventional wisdom amongst Doctor Who fandom is that John Peel's non-novelization Doctor Who novels were nothing but continuity fests of middling quality. That is certainly true of his sole Virgin New Adventure Timewyrm Genesys and his Dalak novels for the BBC's Eighth Doctor Adventures. Yet, either to prove it wrong or be the exception to the rule is Peel's 1994 Virgin Missing Adventure Evolution. Setting Evolution between The Brain Of Morbius and The Seeds Of Doom, peel crafts a story that is utterly believable as a tale from the thirteenth season of original Doctor Who.

In reading Peel's other Who novels, it was clear he really wanted to write for the fourth Doctor and here he gets his chance. Peel perfectly captures the fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith (both of whom make their novel debuts here). It is clear that Peel studied them both from the fourth Doctor's speech at the bottom of page 149 to Sarah's reactions to a group of teenage boys who reoccur throughout the novel for example. The dialogue and mannerisms throughout is spot on as well, giving the novel a strong air of authenticity as a season thirteen tale. In fact, Peel does something here that he never did again: he captured the right TARDIS crew for the right story.

The supporting character's hold up well for the most part as well. A young Arthur Conan Doyle is a major supporting character in the story and, whether by accident or design, comes across a Harry Sullivan type to the point that some of the dialogue sounds as though actor Ian Marter could be saying the very line in some alternate universe TV version of the story. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is for the reader to judge but I judge it to be a good thing as it is A) great fun and B) helps to add to the authentic atmosphere of the novel. Helping to the novel the atmosphere of a Robert Holmes script are the various Victorian supporting characters from Colonel Ross, his "manservant" Abercrombie, Sir Edward Fulbright and the various children who appear in the story. That isn't to say their perfect as both the villains and a group of teenagers (who become reoccurring characters) come across as being rather one dimensional, which is a shame. The various supporting character's overall are good ones and help the novel rather than hinder as in the case of some of Peel's other Who novels.

The novel's plot seems perfectly suited to season thirteen and the Robert Holmes scripted stories of that season. Indeed the plot usage of strange creatures in and around Dartmoor also brings up the famous Sherlock Holmes story The Hound Of The Baskervilles, a piece of literature from the era Doctor Who was drawing inspiration from on TV. Indeed, both that era and the novel invoke strong memories of both Pyramids Of Mars from the previous season and The Talons of Weng-Chiang as well. While some aspects of the novel, such as its water set pieces and its finale, are hard to imagine being done on the show's 1976-77 budget, there is a strong feeling of authenticity to the novel's plot as being one that could easily have been from the era in question.

Being a John Peel novel, one would expect continuity and there indeed is some.Peel gets a bit of continuity in costume wise as the Doctor gets the costume he wears later in The Talons of Weng-Chiang and Sarah wears her costume from Pyramids Of Mars as well but these are throwaway references. Perhaps a bigger piece of continuity comes towards the end of the novel with a piece of backstory being tied into the crash of a spacecraft in London's West End. Peel also manages to slip scenes in involving the TARDIS swimming pool as well as references to the recent (for the Doctor and Sarah Jane) events of The Brain Of Morbius. Compared to some of Peel's other novels, these are largely throwaway and perhaps most shockingly Peel works them into the plot of the novel rather than tacking them on. It's as good as you're likely to see Peel in the continuity department.

As part of the Virgin Missing Adventures range, Evolution does what it says on the box. From its excellent characterization of the fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith, its Robert Holmes inspired supporting cast and its overall plot it has a feeling as if it could have been ripped from the era it is set in. In regards to John Peel's oft- ridiculed use of continuity, you're unlikely to find him use it better than he does here. While there isn't anything groundbreaking to say about it, if you are after a pastiche of one of TV Doctor Who's best eras then you can do no wrong by reading Evolution. In fact, it may well be Peel's best non-novelization Who novel.

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