Campaign

v2.0

MARCH 2008

Campaign began life as a submission to BBC Books’ ‘past Doctor’ range, back in

the wilderness years between the TV Movie and the new series. Ostensibly it was to be a novel concerning an adventure for the first Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara, set during the

life of Alexander the Great. In the event, Jim Mortimore’s final draft had only a passing resemblance to his original outline; not amenable to publishing a book they essentially

hadn’t commissioned, the beeb scrapped it. Thus would a unique novel have been lost,

if Mortimore hadn’t then published the book privately, with all proceeds going to the Bristol Area Down’s Syndrome Association. The book had a limited run, and became something

of legendary lost treasure amongst fans, until this year, when Jimbo decided to republish, both as a limited edition hardback copy and a PDF (the online version being free, although

a donation to the cause is much appreciated).

So there’s the background. The question is, after years of hype, is the book actually as good as its reputation would have it? Well, yes and no. It’s certainly a complex work. The story, at its outset, presents us with a TARDIS crew mourning the death of Barbara, who died shortly after leaving Skaro, the effects of radiation on her body greater than was previously thought. Already, things are clearly wrong here. Events become decidedly peculiar very quickly; first Barbara walks into the control room, oblivious to her apparent death but mourning Ian, and having never had heard of Skaro (although she does remember a planet named Luxor). The crew aren’t given much time to deal with this before the Doctor reveals that everything out-side the Ship, the entire Universe of space and time, has ceased to exist.

The novel’s complex scope then takes in various conflicting accounts of the crew’s recent journeys, focusing mainly on their time with Alexander in Macedonia. There are some stunning, even horrific revelations about the characters – is Susan really the mother of Alex-ander’s son? And is Ian really a murderer, responsible for starting and participating in a terrible massacre in Alexander’s name? We aren’t given long to ponder such questions before the shifts in perspective become shifts in reality itself. Various versions of Ian, Barbara, Susan and the Doctor appear and disappear, sometimes aware of this, more

often not. Decades go by with the crew trapped in the Ship, gradually becoming aware of

the fluctuating nature of reality around them. As the bizarre truth is slowly revealed, you’d better pay attention, or you’ll be completely lost.

There are some stunning moments in the book. Aside from fan-pleasing continuity refer-ences, bringing in various versions and counterparts of the characters from such diverse origins as early series bibles; scrapped raft scripts; early comic strips; and The Invasion from Space, there are moments of philosophical debate and existential horror. The nature

of life and freewill are explored, while such grim subject matter as suicide and incest are covered.

Mortimore’s prose is excellent, but sometimes he drops out of it altogether. Certain pass-ages can only be described as poetry, while, towards the end of the book, the action jumps to comic strip form. Chapter 25 is just a picture of some cartoon robots. However, in many cases, this smacks of simply trying to hard to look clever. Pages of twisting nonsense words, constant jarring repetition of phrases, and a page with nothing on it but a full stop; this isn’t arty, it’s just annoying. There are many moments when I wished he’d stop fannying around and just get on with telling the story. However, the graphical representation of the complex levels of reality within the Ship is a stunningly effective method of illustrating the situation.

All in all, Campaign is without doubt one of the most complex and though-provoking works

in the Doctor Who array. Although there are many moments of aggravating opaqueness and incomprehensibility, pushing through to the end is rewarding. Mortimore proves that he is a very fine writer, albeit, perhaps, a pretentious one, and I can imagine that, had he actually written the novel that he originally promised the BBC, it would have become a favourite of

the range. A damned good proofreader would have been an asset, too. The new edition of the book is accompanied by reams of notes, detailing the author’s inspiration (mainly the monkey that apparently lives inside his head and overrules his plot decisions); the original PDA pitch; sources and research for the various iterations of the TARDIS crew; and num-erous other titbits. Campaign is definitely worth reading, but be prepared to put some work in yourself.

Copyright © Daniel Tessier 2008

Daniel Tessier 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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