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 Featured Members of the Month Jo's Quantum Cafe : A menu that includes Scott Bakula, Scott projects, Richard Dean Anderson, Travel, and personal encounter stories. Tons of photos and screen captures. A fun and interesting place! Come see for yourself. URL : www.joorl.com/
Star Trek: The Other Generation : A complete picture and info site dedicated to the history and future of Star Trek! URL: www.startrektheothergeneration.com
The New Imperial Federation : Interactive Fiction Roleplaying Network in the Star Wars Galaxy. URL: nifrpg.net Captain k'alaa's Corner Reviewer's Retreat This month, another in the series of Drew's Reviews : Sometime Never..., a BBC Book written by Justin Richards, featuring the Eighth Doctor, Fitz and Trix.The Council of Eight, from their station in the Time Vortex, are manipulating and controlling the timeline. They are creating a future solely for their own aims. If someone or something steps away from their carefully constructed timeline they send one of their "agents" (Creatures hideously deformed by the time winds in the vortex) to stop it. The Council of Eight have all their plans in place, except for one rogue element known as the Doctor.
The Doctor, in his turn, has found some very strange crystals. These lead him and his companions to the Court of King Richard, The Institute of Anthropology in modern day London and a space station at the end of the universe. Along the way they encounter an old friend, an old enemy, a crystal skeleton and two strange children.
This novel is the culmination of the story arc in the previous Eighth Doctor novels, and so the expectation was for a grand and epic adventure but this was sadly lacking here. This 274-page novel unfortunately only had enough plot for a novella of half that length. Set pieces that should have been exciting and tense instead dragged heavily and it felt as if there was far too much padding in between.
Also, the characterisation is disappointing. The Doctor and his companions seem only to serve the plot, there never seems to be any insight into or development of their characters except as plot points. The supporting characters are no better treated and come across as paler characters to The Doctor and his companions. The Council of Eight were so interchangeable that it became difficult to tell them apart.
With this novel there could have been the chance for something epic, an adventure across time and space. Unfortunately, this novel has quite a pedestrian feel to it. It, sadly, feels like a missed opportunity.
The end of the novel has a twist to give an alternative take on The Doctor's origins. This take was so unusual, so fanciful, so opposite to all the mythology of Doctor Who that I, as a long time Doctor Who fan, found it unbelievable and unacceptable.
If you have been following the story arc in the Eighth Doctor novels then do read this one, but do not expect a grand climax to that arc here. If you are new to the Eighth Doctor novels then I do not recommend starting with Sometime Never...
For more interesting insights in the Whovian universe, and more interesting and well-written reviews, please visit Drew Payne's Doctor Who Zone. A Word From The Founder It's that time of year again when we look back at what was and look forward to what is to come in the New Year. This year, Enterprise entered its four season. From what I hear, this season started much like the last three, but a few episodes in really started to get good, with an appearance of TNG star Brent Spiner, playing an ancestor of Data's creator, Doctor Noonien Soong. Will it get a fifth? We'll see. Filming for the first new Doctor Who since 1996 began July 18 2004. We saw the new Doctor, assistant Rose, what the Doctor will wear and of course, the new-look TARDIS. We now know which old enemies will be in the new series as well as what the new logo looks like! The transmission date of the new "Who" is at time of press still unknown. I have even heard they are to bring back the Doctor Who Annual, last published twenty years ago. So 2005 really is gearing up to be the year of Who. Star Wars Episode III continues in post production with one or two scenes to be remounted. I must admit I am getting rather excited about this film. This too is something special to look forward to next year. Stargate SG1 gets a ninth season. Stargate Atlantis will get a second - something for all Gate fans to look forward to. And rumors about Babylon 5 continue to circulate the Net. We are looking at a potentially block buster year when it comes to science fiction. Farscape got a mini movie late this year. It resolved a few loose threads from the series and potentially began several new ones. The 4400, a new mini series just recently shown in the UK on Sky was received enthusiastically by viewers, resulting in a second series next year. It seems to me it has never been a better time to be a science fiction fan, with so much going on this year and so much slated to happen next year. Season's Greetings and Happy Holidays to you all! Admiral Mudd is the founder of the AMAFSR and is a semi-regular contributor to this Newsletter. If you would like to make comments regarding this or any other article in this edition, please email us at kinda@msn.com, with the title of the article you are commenting on. Member Announcements The Action Figure Theatre contains custom made action figures in original stories in a photo/comic strip format. In the past, these have included both stories in Doctor Who and Sapphire and Steel. Soon to come: a new series of stories! (More info to come). The AFT now has a new URL: www.actionfiguretheatre.co.uk Please update your links and bookmarks.
This month: The Eighth Doctor's final story gets underway.
The Infinity Program Part One (Online NOW!)
The Doctor meets a new friend as he investigates the creature in the time vortex.
The Infinity Program Part Two (Due about 5 Jan)
The Doctor learns more about the divergent time channels as the Sentienz move in for the kill.
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