“Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen” is a novel based on an unrealized script prepared by the late, great Douglas Adams of “Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy” fame. James Goss was able to novelize the material he salvaged from somewhere in Adams’ archives or vault or wherever he tucked such things away.
Goss does a pretty good job of emulating Adams’ prose style, however that means there is some lengthy and somewhat overblown exposition that sometimes slows the story down a bit. Also, this is an adventure featuring the Fourth Doctor and Romana. I had some trouble imagining Tom Baker and Lalla Ward uttering the dialogue at times.
The Krikkitmen are a race of killer robots that ran afoul of the Time Lords at some point and had to break free of some kind of time barrier. They apparently have killer cricket bats or something. There’s also a computer that considers itself some kind of god. The Time Lords are on hand here with Cardinal Borusa making another appearance.
This is a bit of a confusing effort here. A lot of the issue may be the way in which Adams delivers his tales. He does have a unique and quirky writing style. Goss does get that element right, but he has adapted a couple of prior Douglas Adams scripts.
I am not sure how well this would have worked on television, so I guess it’s just as well to leave it as a novel. It is new Doctor Who, so that’s a plus. I may just have yet to develop the profound appreciation for Douglas Adams that others have discovered. I may understand this volume a little better when I reread it in a few years.
I will next be checking in with another one of the exploits of Jack Reacher with “The Midnight Line” by Lee Child.
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