Doctor Who: City Of Death
Hardcover | Kindle
Written by Douglas Adams, James Goss
From a story by David Fisher
Ace Books
Release Date: October 6, 2015

Prior to this review for Doctor Who: City Of Death, I had never seen the Doctor Who episodes of the same name. I am a recent convert to all things Whovian, and I’m slowly getting through the massive quantities of literature and television programming. Nonetheless, I was quite happy to undertake the review for this book thanks in no small part to the fact that the original scripts were written by none other than Douglas Adams, though they were adapted from a story by David Fisher. The mere mention of Adams’s name makes me smile, so entertaining is his work. This publication is more than a novelization of Adams’ efforts, though. Author James Goss has taken the original scripts and created a far more comprehensive work than the program presented to audiences in 1979.

It begins with a knock at the TARDIS door, while still in deep space, and an important message from a long-lost Time Lord friend. The distress signal prompts the Doctor (Matt Smith), Amy Pond (Karen Gillan), and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill) to literally leave the universe, and leads them to a junkyard asteroid. The matrix and power of the TARDIS is immediately drained, leaving them stranded on this odd world, where they confront a mysterious entity called the House (Michael Sheen). What secrets does the mad bitey woman known as Idris (Suranne Jones) hold for the Doctor?

During TARDISblend 26, we review the events of the long-awaited Neil Gaiman-penned episode, The Doctor’s Wife, an episode that proves to be much of the best Doctor Who has offered in a long time.