Doctor Who - Timewyrm: Apocalypse

STORY PLACEMENT

THIS STORY TAKES

PLACE BETWEEN THE
NOVELS "TIMEWYRM:

EXODUS" AND "TIME-

WYRM: REVELATION."

WRITTEN BY

NIGEL ROBINSON

RECOMMENDED

PURCHASE

OFFICIAL VIRGIN 'NEW

ADVENTURE' PAPERBACK

(ISBN 0-426-20359-3)

RELEASED IN OCTOBER

1991.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

BLURB

The TARDIS FOLLOWS

the Timewyrm to the

edge of the Universe

and the end of time -

to the lush planet

Kirith, a paradise

PLANET inhabited by

a physically perfect

race.

The Doctor AND ACE

ARE troubled: If the

Timewyrm is here,

why can’t TheY find

her? Why have the

elite Panjistri lied

consistently to the

Kirithons THAT they

govern? And is it

possible that the

catastrophe that

The DOCTOR FEELS IS

impending is A result

of his own actions

IN THE PAST?

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Timewyrm:

Apocalypse

OCTOBER 1991

After thoroughly enjoying the first brace of New Adventures, the third came as big disappointment to me. Timewyrm: Apocalypse sets itself up to be a tale of absolutely epic proportions, yet fails to deliver on any front really, save for some half decent flourishes of characterisation. Nigel Robinson’s blurb promises “The end of the Universe. The end of everything”, and the book even opens with a quote from Logopolis – an adventure where

the stakes are genuinely higher than anyone could possibly imagine – before it descends into a small-scale romp.

What’s more, in the preceding

Timewyrm novels, even if she

wasn’t physically present, the

eponymous villainess played a

major role in the proceedings,

and on both occasions the larger

story arc was pushed forward

considerably. Here, however,

Robinson’s “big reveal” is given

away the moment that the second Doctor locks eyes on the little girl in the flashback scene, and come the end of the story matters are pretty much as they were at the end of Exodus. Worse still, when the Timewyrm does finally appear, she is defeated easily; a mere shadow of the invincible goddess that we met in the first novel.

On a more positive note, Robinson’s characters - particularly Miril and Raphael - are really quite compelling, and each share some nice scenes with the Doctor and Ace respectively. Notably, this book sees Ace start to be treated as a young woman, as opposed to just a teenage girl, as is evident from her budding relationship with the Ninja Turtle-namesake.

Timewyrm: Apocalypse also succeeds in creating some moments of real revulsion – the author’s descriptions of both the Homunculus and the mutated Kirithons create some truly disturbing images in the mind’s eye. And whilst the concept of “Zavat” (the Kirithons being fed the processed corpses of their dead) may have been plagiarised from Revelation of

the Daleks, it does work well in the context of this story.

And so whilst I do have some positive things to say about this book, at the end of the day it is, at best, quite routine. I wish I could suggest reading it even just as part of the Timewyrm saga, but to be honest you could probably jump straight from Exodus to Revelation without missing a thing.

E.G. Wolverson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

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