Deep Blue

Mark Morris

BBC Books Past Doctors series, 1999

This seaside outing for the fifth Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and UNIT is trad without being derivative. Deep Blue is a step-up from The Bodysnatchers, which was frankly risible in places. Morris is an experienced horror writer and I found this is a well enough constructed tale, albeit reliant on a trite deus ex machina at the end. It's an enjoyable read, gripping in places, but rapidly vanishing from one's memory.

As with so much of the BBC's output, Deep Blue is very televisual in style. It reads like a novelisation, as a basic adventure story with bits of deeper characterisation grafted onto the front. The story is too short for a novel, but Morris is a good enough technician to keep the pages interesting until the plot comes around. It's a shame that his opening chapters show so much depth when he swims on to paddle in the shallows of monster runaround.

6/10

Henry Potts, 3 Jul 99

Originally posted to rec.arts.drwho.

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