Our review of Terrance Dicks' World Game has been available and can be downloaded here.
This month we bring you our discussion of the Virgin Missing Adventure The Well-Mannered War by Gareth Roberts,
author of two other Missing Adventures, The
Romance of Crime and The English Way of Death, as well as the
screenwriter for the television episodes “The Shakespeare Code”, “The Unicorn
and the Wasp”, “The Lodger”, and “Closing Time”. From the back cover:
‘Destroy
them! Destroy them all – now!”
Barclow – an
Earth-type planet on the fringes of space at an inestimably distant point in
the future. Two factions have laid claim
to it: humans from the nearby colony world of Metralubit, and a small group of Chelonian
troopers. But in nearly two hundred
years of conflict not one shot has been fired in anger, there are regular
socials in the trenches, and the military commanders are the best of friends.
The Doctor,
Romana, and K-9, arriving in the midst of these bizarre hostilities, find there’s
real trouble to come. A crucial election
on Metralubit is looming, and K-9 is forced to begin a new career as a
politician. Meanwhile, Romana meets an
old friend and the Doctor discovers that a sinister hidden force may be
attempting to alter the war’s friendly nature.
What are the
plans of Galatea, leader of the beautiful but robotic Femdroids? Who is killing soldiers on both sides of the
battle lines? And will K-9’s oratory
save the day?
Just what is
going on?
The
“old friend” mentioned above happens to be Menlove Stokes, who previously
appeared in Roberts’ The Romance of Crime. The
Well-Mannered War is notable because it is the last of the Virgin Missing
Adventures, published in 1997 as the BBC was preparing to publish its own
series of novels featuring past Doctors and an entirely new series with the
Eighth Doctor to replace Virgin’s New Adventures.
Special thanks go to Laura of The Ood Cast for doing this month's reading!
Pour
yourself a tankard of Chelonian grog and sit back and relax as we discuss The Well-Mannered War!
Next month, keep a ear out for our review of the Virgin New Adventure The Pit, by Neil Penswick.
Fun links:
The Well-Mannered War at the Doctor Who Reference Guide. (Spoilers, sweetie!)
The Well-Mannered War on Amazon. (Yikes, it's expensive!)
Gareth Roberts' entry on Wikipedia.
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