The Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Collection. Eleven Classic Adventures. Eleven Brilliant Writers. One Incredible Doctor. I love each and every incarnation of the Doctor, although there have always been two regenerations Ive found difficult to understand. Two Doctors who, were I given the opportunity to write for, I wouldnt know what to do. These are Paul McGanns Doctor and Peter Davisons fifth Doctor. I dont love these Time Lords less than the others, in fact I find them frustratingly fascinating. They live up to the mystery of a mad man in a box. So when I came to Trevor Baxendales novel, featuring Doctor #5, I was a little uneasy. I read the introduction where the author comments on Davisons fallibility and youth, his two defining characteristics. This gave me faith, this sounded like a man who just got this era of the show. Then I started reading the book and wow. Just wow. Every line of dialogue was easy to imagine coming from Davison or his companions. The actions, the words, the mannerisms. Everything fell into place with apparent ease. That is what makes this novel amazing, Baxendale makes it look so easy. One piece of dialogue that really hit me, although Im not sure it was meant to stick out, was how much the Doctor is relied on in this novel. He is pushed to his limits and beyond and yet his companions and allies still rely on him to come up with the plan. Theres a line from Tegan telling the Doctor hell think of something that really strikes and is a painful moment as we know the Doctor is at his weakest point here, but still it has to be him who must think of a plan to rid the evil from their lives. It really makes you connect with the Doctor and feel his suffering even more. This is the first novel from the series of reprints which has made me want to go back and watch the Doctors old episodes at once. Theres just something magical about it and its a crying shame this wasnt a television episode as it would knock The Caves Of Androzani out of the water. The best way to describe the novel is a weird mish-mash of Androzani thrown in with Tennants Midnight. Im not going to go into detail about the alien presence, as the author mentions in the introduction its better to enter the novel with no knowledge and hes spot on. But I have to point out its all very clever and scary and spooky. Its difficult to write a review where everything is spot on and you dont wish to give away any plot points, as it leaves very little to write about, but this is the Doctor Who novel to read above all others. It emits scary from the offset as well, if you thought you knew scary Doctor Who (maybe from the gothic Hinchcliffe/Holmes era) then you have another thing coming. This is the best choice of fifth Doctor novel to reprint to boost the 50th anniversary reprint collection and has now become my Doctor Who novel which all others must be compared to. This is the one to beat and if youre a Whovian lacking this book, I urge you to go and buy it right now. Baxendale makes the fifth Doctor shine in a novel filled with darkness. The Doctor returns in... Players by Terrance Dicks.