Fear of the Dark is actually a very good original Doctor
Who novel. It offers chills and thrills aplenty, along with some well paced
scares.
Originally published in 2003 as part of the of the Past
Doctor Adventures range at the BBC, it features the Fifth Doctor, Tegan and
Nyssa, a short time after the events of TV
adventure Arc of Infinity. It was re-published for the fiftieth anniversary in
2013 as part of boxed set of Doctor Who titles, featuring reprints of earlier
novels, one from each of the first eleven Doctor’s.
“In the year 2382 archaeologists land on Akoshemon's only
moon, searching for evidence of the planet's infamous past. But when the
Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa are drawn into the lunar caverns they find more than a
team of academics -and help uncover much more than ancient history. Something
is lying in wait, deep inside the labyrinth of caves: something that remembers
the spiral of war, pestilence and deprivation that ruined Akoshemon. Something
that rejoiced in every kind of horror and destruction. An age-old terror is
about to be reborn. But what is the hideous secret of the Bloodhunter? And why
does Nyssa feel that her thoughts are no longer her own? Forced to confront his
own worst fears, even the Doctor will be pushed to breaking point -- and beyond.”
Again, this is a creepy, well paced horror tale that would’ve
made a wonderful serial (if they were still doing the show that way). I could
even see this made today, but too much would need to be re-written to accommodate
the current story lines. Part of the reason is in this book, the Doctor sort of
deals with the death of Adric, something the television version never attempted.
Adric’s death was a shocking revelation when Earthshock aired in 1982 (and
while the series had occasionally killed off a companion, it had not done so
since the mid 1960s) and I’ve always wanted the original series to confront
that. But it was never meant to be, I guess.
While a lot of the set of this tale is something Doctor
Who has done before (the base under siege, being hunted by an unknown monster,
Nyssa –instead of Tegan- being hounded by nightmares), writer Trevor Baxendale
does give us a rarity that only books can do: by creating really believable secondary characters, such as Stoker, Bunny, and
even Captain Lawrence, a by-the-book-captain of the Consortium Survey Vessel
Adamantium. There is even more sides than to the human “villain” of Silas
Cadwell than you would normally see on TV. So while they do somewhat conform to
the tropes we’ve seen before, Baxendale still uses them effectively.
The other effective part is the use of fear. The Dark is
as mysterious as it is malevolent and is portrayed as utterly inhuman and evil.
It’s totally alien and latches onto some of us humans basic nightmares: from
the darkness just around the corner, to what lies beyond (if anything) our
fragile and short existence and trepidation that there could be a nothingness.
This is all handled effectively here.
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