Prime Time (Doctor Who) | 
 enlarge | Author: Mike Tucker
Publisher: Doctor Who Books
Category: Book
List Price: $6.95
Buy Used: $1.95
You Save: $5.00 (72%)
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Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 1581451
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 288
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7 x 4.4 x 0.7
ISBN: 0563555971
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780563555971
ASIN: 0563555971
Publication Date: April 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Detecting a mysterious sub-space signal in the Time Vortex, the Doctor and Ace land on the planet Blinni-Gaar. They soon discover that the native population are little more than zombies, addicted to the programs of the dangerously powerful Channel 400. As the Doctor investigates, he finds that the television company has a sinister agenda that has nothing to do with entertainment. As the Doctor is drawn deeper and deeper into a web of intrigue and deceit he discovers that he has an unexpected ally of the most dangerous kind.
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Prime Time April 24, 2005
bonsai chicken (United States)
This new adventure finds The Doctor tracking a curious broadcast signal to the planet of Blinni-Gaar, where the populace is hopelessly addicted to television, particularly the programming of the immensely powerful Channel 400. Channel 400 is constantly trying to top themselves in an effort to keep from losing viewers, and they believe they've found the next big thing in The Doctor - televising his adventures as a live reality show.
The plot doesn't end there, however. Hiding in the shadows is a hideous race of dying creatures knows as the Fleshsmiths, and they want The Doctor for their own reasons.
Mike Tucker co-wrote one of my favorite new Doctor Who novels, `Illegal Alien,' so I had high expectations for his first solo run. I came out from it a little disappointed. It's a rather run-of-the-mill adventure, with typical characters, typical villains, and a typical story. Romance begins to develop for Ace, but she gets her heart broken - again. (Inevitable, I suppose, but predictable.) It just all feels a bit formulaic. There is a gratuitous epilogue that I thought was unnecessarily grim - even more so if it's not followed up on in later novels.
To the author's credit, the characters from the show are handled very well, though it's too bad that The Doctor and Ace are separated most of the time. The self-referential concept of turning the Doctor into a television serial is amusing. And there is a nice surprise about halfway through. It's not a bad book, but it's not great either.
Tune into Channel 400 for the new adventures of the Doctor March 17, 2001
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Picking up a broadcast from Channel 400, the Doctor and Ace head to Blinni-Gaar to investigate how they received it. The natives of Blinni-Gaar are TV-addicted zombies, but the TV company has a very hidden agenda. As they investigate, Channel 400 announces its latest star - the Doctor himself!Treading well-trodden ground ('Vengeance on Varos' is the best-known, but the novel 'Time of Your Life' is also up there), the novel takes a leaf out of the books of both 'The Truman Show' and 'Edtv', in the story it depicts. Having said that, the book is a Doctor Who story, so there are alien menaces to be considered, threats to the lives and welfare of the inhabitants of Blinni-Gaar is a substantial consideration in the Doctor's plans. This is Mike Tucker's first solo novel (his previous have been with co-author Robert Perry), and his style is confident. I would like to read another solo novel by him as I think this one lacked some of the zing the writing partnership had, but whether it is simply the nature of the story or Mr. Perry's absence remains to be seen.
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