#21
The Eye Of The Giant
By Christopher Bulis
I’ll say this for Christopher
Bulis: he’s not afraid to try different things.
From the horse’s mouth, in Bernice
Summerfield: The Inside Story, he liked to write for different Doctors in
case Virgin’s editors got “bored” with him.
Naturally he became a recurring nuisance for the Missing Adventures, and
he’s been largely successful, not just at tackling different eras of the show but at making an interesting go of each book.
I loved the pace and the
escalation of Shadowmind, and the moral oddness of its “monsters”. I really enjoyed the colour and the cattiness
of State Of Change. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice was an exception, for me at least, in that it tried to make
something new by just putting different clichés next to each other, but it was at
least a different kind of First Doctor story.
The Eye Of The Giant is the
first Bulis book to really focus on the era details, producing something that
feels not only like it could have come from Season Seven, but is a necessary piece
of the series that somehow went missing.
(A missing... something or other.) It is also, for me at least,
Bulis back on form.
But maybe not right away. After a largely forgettable prologue that
handles a space battle about as generically as possible, we plunge into a 1930s
adventure that feels so like King Kong
that Bulis must reference it and make the whole expedition a response to
it. A group of filmmakers (surprisingly
enough!) arrive on a mysterious island full of giant monsters. What are the odds? The somewhat shaky start continues as he
introduces far too many characters in too short a time – including a movie producer,
his saintly daughter, his fading actress / second wife, plus sundry crewmen and
film personnel. Things get more
interesting as the story ping-pongs back to Pertwee-era UNIT, where the Doctor
finds a lump of extremely radioactive rock that, in conjunction with his old
Time Space Visualiser, forms a gateway into the past. If you think the Doctor using a dangerous
method to travel in space and time (since his TARDIS isn’t working) sounds a
lot like Inferno, then you and Liz would get along fine: “Doctor, you nearly got stranded in that parallel universe the console
took you to, remember?” Well gee, I
think he might! The ultra-subtle writing
includes, need you ask, a description of the Doctor’s “shock of white hair”.
Sure enough, the Doctor and Liz
end up in the ’30s. And it’s worth
pointing out what a pleasure it is to have these two characters together. Liz was gone too soon – fortunately Caroline
John seemed not to bear a grudge – and her brand of scientific rapport with the
Doctor isn’t something we get a lot of. (Of
course, that’s why she went away.) There
are many moments in this where the two of them discuss a problem on almost
equal terms. When it comes to the action
and derring-do that make up much of the Doctor’s life, Liz is playful, and almost
scornful of it in a way no other companion would be: “Isn’t escaping the sort of Boy’s Own thing you do in circumstances like this?” Season Seven didn’t keep the Doctor and his
new friend together all that much, having him in a coma, negotiating with
Silurians underground, going into space or getting lost in a parallel universe.
An argument could be, and probably was
made that two such similar intellects cancel each other out. So it’s a rare treat to have the two of them
mucking in, investigating and surviving dangers in their slightly more
thoughtful Doctor-and-Liz way.
Their involvement isn’t quite as
much barging into the middle of things as usual, and they become more like
supporting characters in an Arthur Conan Doyle adventure novel. (Which is also to say that the ’30s
characters, although entertainingly written, are staunchly archetypal.) I loved The
Lost World, so the mysterious trek around Salutua, encountering various giant
creatures and odd aliens, added up to a fun read for me. The Doctor and Liz inevitably fall out of
favour with their new friends, but oddly not when they announce they’re from
the future. (A weird move from the
Doctor, but then he’s quite big on being honest.) There are ulterior motives for the film crew’s
mission, which have the slight feeling of being improvised in places, and soon the
Doctor and Liz are locked up. But their
captors feel terrible and, uh, let them out again?
The Eye Of The Giant has an interesting take on villainy: for the
most part, there isn’t any. The giant
animals and insects are just going about their business; when a few of them are
inevitably killed for sport or out of panic, I couldn’t help rooting for the creatures. What appears to be the “villain”, who has his
own reasons for wanting a closer look at the island, has basically positive reasons
for unlocking an alien power. (It’s also
bitterness for his own past mistakes, so yeah, he’ll probably turn out to be a megalomaniac
eventually.) When somebody else puts it
to use, it’s purely for selfish reasons due to their litany of hang-ups and
neuroses, but the world they could create with these powers – more or less as a
side effect of their ego and what the alien wanted in the first place – would be
mostly peaceful, even quite advanced.
Said character is petty and especially bitter towards the film producer’s
daughter for being too nice, and not noticeably hating her back. In one eyebrow-raising moment, she thinks “just once like to see her break down and
admit what she felt about being crippled.”
But she’s not a stereotypically evil person, just a broken and bitter
one. Which is much more interesting.
And then we have the aliens. A long ago feud over a theft has left the
titular giant waiting underground; weird, jelly-like aliens are trying to kill
him. His stolen cargo is what caused the
gigantic creatures on the island… and none of that is a plan to destroy the
Earth, which is a refreshing change.
Brokk, the giant, is an opportunist: he’ll destroy those who get in his
way, but he’d sooner just get out of here.
The Semquess have every right to want their stuff back. Humanity is just in the middle. It feels weirdly incidental, which is a
different sort of scale for Doctor Who.
And yet, Bulis still manages to
rope the whole world into trouble, simply by sending the Doctor and Liz back to
take part in the story. Ghostly
hallucinations keep appearing in the present, of buildings and people that
shouldn’t exist. It’s pretty obvious
that time travel is the cause of this, but this is a very creative use of that
plot device, making sport of it in a way that Doctor Who didn’t often dare.
What should be a barmy contrivance – I mean, the Time Space Visualiser?!
– ends up being vital. And it gives
Bulis plenty of excuses to keep his story going: just when you think it’s a
simple case of trying to survive the island and solve the mystery, it turns out
the island is due to explode any minute, and the Brigadier must warn the Doctor
somehow! Then when they sort it all out
and get back home, time has changed, and they must avoid being erased from
existence! And then when they must go back and put things back how they should be,
even that doesn’t seem to work, and then…
It’s probably worth mentioning the
book is nearly 320 pages long. And you
can see how. But in a funny way, the
plot’s sprawling nature – not limited to pretty much forgetting about the giant
insects halfway through – only makes it feel more like Season Seven. The Silurians, The Ambassadors Of Death and especially
Inferno had ideas that tallied with what they were about, but still seemed
suspiciously added-in-later. (Looking at
you, Primords. And well, that whole
parallel universe thing, really.) By the
time The Eye Of The Giant got to its
third climax, I could spot boredom on the horizon, but Bulis keeps things rollicking
sufficiently that I didn’t mind.
My favourite thing about it is, bizarrely
enough, the continuity: this feels not so much like an awkward repeat of
Inferno, featuring another disappearing Doctor and parallel Earth, but an answer to it. (Ambassadors sort of does that for Silurians,
now that you mention it.) The Brigadier
isn’t having any of that again, so it’s (improbably!) him operating the gateway
just to make sure they’re all right, with the help of Osgood, best known for another
Doctor Who story where his entire
mission is to prevent a thing from blowing up.
The Brigadier happily sends Yates through to get the Doctor and Liz back,
and when they refuse because they have work to do, he’s ready to wait and send
more help. He has faith in the Doctor,
and at the end, even insists he gets the TARDIS working so he has a less
dangerous method of getting about! With
the stealthy introduction of Sergeant Yates – not, to my surprise, promoted to
Captain at any point, unless I missed it? – the whole thing feels like a
transition from the grim military tone of Season Seven to the UNIT Family of
Season Eight. There’s a jolly feeling of
“Here we go again”, and everyone knowing how to work with one another, and cope
with all this danger and weirdness.
You’re definitely in jolly romp
territory with this one. It’s
slight. But The Eye Of The Giant manages a few interesting character moments
anyway, like Nancy’s inherent lack of empathy, and the Doctor’s surprisingly
matter-of-fact view that if some people aren’t meant to survive these events,
it may be up to him to ensure that’s how it goes. (Fortunately he doesn’t have to test his
theory.) The for-the-most-part lack of obvious
villainy is a delight, and even though it sometimes feels like it’s hitting the
Reset button, I enjoyed the story’s nearly bottomless reserve of jeopardy. Bulis gets the most out of his Pertwee
one-shot, and you’re likely to have a good time.
7/10
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