STORY PLACEMENT

 THIS STORY TAKES

 PLACE BETWEEN THE

 NOVELS "DEMONTAGE"

 AND "DOMINION."

 

 WRITTEN BY

 PAUL LEONARD

 

 RECOMMENDED 

 PURCHASE

 OFFICIAL BBC 'EIGHTH

 DOCTOR' PAPERBACK 

 (ISBN 0-563-55570-X)

 RELEASED IN APRIL

 1999.

 

CLICK TO ENLARGE

 

 BLURB

 1967: The Revolution

 has just started. All

 you need is love - but

 the ability to bend

 space and time helps.

 An entity called the

 Revolution Man is

 writing his graffiti

 across the surface

 of the Earth, using a

 drug called Om-Tsor.

 1968: CHAIRMAN MAO

 wantS to defeat the

 capitalists. Om-Tsor

 is the most powerful

 means available, and 

 A source is on their

 doorstep. If half of

 India is immolated -

 well, you can't make

 an omelette without

 breaking eggs...

 1969: The Revolution

 Man has decided.

 Mankind is evil, not

 good, AND The only

 way forward is to

 destroy all of it.

 The Doctor and Sam

 struggle to find him

 but time is running

 out...

 

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Revolution Man

APRIL 1999

 

 

                                                       

 

 

Paul Leonard’s Revolution Man stands out as one of the most controversial of

the eighth Doctor’s adventures in print, not to mention one of the most alluring. The blurb is intriguing - the late 1960s settings are a really big draw, particularly as they examine the era in a way that the series never had done before - and, more principally, Black Sheep’s stylish and succinct (and ultimately very telling) cover illustration really catches the eye.

 

But for two hundred pages or so, Leonard’s novel is a quick and easy read – big print, few pages, and a narrative that’s gripping without ever really taxing the reader. Revolution Man concerns the Doctor’s ardent attempts to undo the nebulous Revolution Man’s meddling with history, and the consequences that inevitably ensue. With the story’s principal action spread across three separate time zones (each of which are just a year apart), events move along

at a rate of knots and are punctuated with some thrilling psychedelia-soaked set pieces and some burning, really quite profound images. The pyramid with the Revolution Man’s brand carved into it lingers especially.

 

This novel is more of a character study than it is a rip-roaring adventure though, as Leonard systematically goes about crucifying the three regulars. Sam is presented very well indeed, gifted with the opportunity to make some aberrantly astute observations about the type of life that her parents must have led back in the 1960s, as well as the chance to assume a more protective role in the TARDIS following the tale’s dramatic conclusion.

 

And Fitz really comes into his own here, becoming much more than just the writers’ comic whipping boy. Leonard really focuses on the character’s anguish, exploring his feelings of isolation and loneliness and using them to steer him down a path that will see him fall for (literally!) the most unsuitable of all potential lovers, be brainwashed by iniquitous Chinese despot Chairman Mao Tse-tung, and shoot a baddie in the head… badly.

 

Which brings me to Revolution Man’s big taking point: the Doctor’s execution of Ed Hill. At the end of the book, in a moment of bungling panic, Fitz puts a bullet in one of the villains of the piece, but it doesn’t quite finish him off. And so in order to save the world and spare his  newest friend the trauma of having to shoot a man twice, the Doctor has to step in, pick up the weapon, and shoot the villain dead in cold blood.

 

 

It’s easy to see why this audacious

scene caused such uproar. After all,

it’s one thing for the Doctor to blow

up planets and the like from a hazy

distance, but to shoot a villain dead,

execution-style? “Inflammatory” just

doesn’t do it justice. Yet I think it was

an inspired move on Leonard’s part. After years of watching the previous

Doctor scheme and plot to try and get people to do his dirty work for

him, the eighth Doctor does something altogether more brave - he takes the responsibility

himself to pull the trigger and end a life, and in doing so save the world and spare a friend

a lot of pain. The fact that he has to make the decision to do so in less than a heartbeat only makes it even more excruciating. Had he ruminated on the choice, I have no doubt that he’d have done something else; found another way. A better way. But he didn’t have time to, and that’s what makes Revolution Man such an exceptional Doctor Who story – it doesn’t veer away from the tough calls with traditional science fiction trickery. The fact that the Doctor’s actions provoked such a fervent reaction from many readers only serves to underline just how effective Revolution Man is: the Doctor did something that we all thought he wasnt capable of, and were all disappointed with him. For me, this only makes him more real.

 

Perhaps the real beauty of this bold conclusion was the opportunities that it presented. As this novel draws to end, Sam is infuriated with Fitz for putting the Doctor in that impossible position, and Fitz is even more scathing of himself. And that’s just the companions…


In sum then, this pill-popping, monster-less examination of the regulars offers much. It’s fast, evocative, and unprecedentedly provocative, and given the choice between that and some generic Doctor Who pulp fiction, I’d pick the shotgun and the drama every time.

 

Copyright © E.G. Wolverson 2010

 

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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