Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Novels #3 Last Of The Gaderene, by Mark Gatiss
Its no secret that Gatiss has a strong love for the third Doctor and with Last Of The Gaderene he provides us with every item on the checklist for the atypical Pertwee adventure. I suppose the television story this novel captures most is 1971s The Daemons. The author has sent the Doctor to a small village, Brig and the rest of the UNIT clan turn up late, we have strange locals, Bessie and the Doctor crossing off another vehicle in his attempt to pilot or drive everything on Earth.
Whilst the book is very strong, it isnt one Id recommend if you want a plot youve never seen before, this one does like to rely on some of the stereotypes, but, as is evident here, that isnt always a bad thing when it comes to Doctor Who. Gatiss also reuses a lot of the same descriptive phrases once too often, particularly the Doctors frequent habit of stroking the back of his neck. This was a nice touch at first, but Im sure Pertwee must have a rash there by the end of this adventure.
Occurring somewhere between Carnival Of Monsters and The Green Death, the Doctor has the ability to travel in time and space again, which means its also near the end for the Doctors time with the lovely Jo Grant. Gatiss takes full advantage of this and provides us with some poignant moments of narration as we get a glimpse into the minds of both Jo and the Doctor, who both briefly think of moving on from UNIT. With what we know as an audience, Jo almost on the out and the Doctor not too long before regeneration, it provides a very moving scene which is the best thing Ive got from anything Gatiss has written.
Something to look out for is a plot twist (that I shouldve spotted) coming two-thirds of the way through the novel. Im not going to spoil it here, but it is possibly the most exciting page turn I have ever encountered, causing a long sleepless night where I had to carry on as my eyes ran along the best four words possible in the Pertwee era of Doctor Who. For those who own and have read the book, these events took place at the end of chapter twenty!
Overall there isnt much new material in this novel and yet its one of the best and most reliable Doctor Who stories Ive read. This really is the missing Pertwee story that is so easily imaginable in the television series, being able to fit in and not look out of the ordinary. That is something any fan of Jon Pertwees time as the Doctor can truly appreciate and fall in love with. So forget the Ice Warriors, Dickens and Lazarus, this is the true gem that Mark Gatiss has given us.
As a bonus, the "guess what publicity still the Doctor is from" on the cover for this one is easy!
The Doctor returns in...Festival Of Death by Jonathan Morris.