Doctor Who and the Horror of Fang Rock is a novelization by Terrance Dicks of the television serial which first aired in 1977. The episode starred Tom Baker and Louise Jameson as the Doctor and Leela.

Dicks was no master wordsmith, but his simple prose style had a distinction all its own. He tended to use the same adjectives when referring to the TARDIS materializing, and his description of the Doctor did not vary all that much from book to book.

The adventure starts off with the TARDIS bringing the Doctor and Leela to an isolated lighthouse located on a small isle ominously named Fang Rock. They arrive in time to find that one of the keepers has died rather mysteriously. As the Doctor and Leela get to know the remaining two keepers, a yacht crashes onto the rocks below, and the survivors are thrown into the mix. A mysterious creature does indeed stalk the shores of this island, however the Doctor soon realizes that a confrontation was happen there, or the world will face the consequences the this latest visit from the stars.

This novel is really just good for striking the chords of nostalgia. The television serial is one of my favorites, and Terrance Dicks sticks pretty close to the original script. It’s an enjoyable enough little romp that was read in about one day, but don’t expect any profound insights from this one.

Next up will be a much grittier read in Lawrence Block’s Out on the Cutting Edge.

A Contest of Principles is a recent Star Trek novel from the mind and keyboard of Greg Cox. It revisits near the final year of the original five year mission where the women wore impractical mini-skirts and the men in red shirts were picked off on a regular basis. A fine period for any Star Trek devotee.

This is a tale of three worlds that are cosmic neighbors or something. They are all in the same star system, parsec, or whatever. Anyway, the inhabitants are all aware of each other, but engage in some rivalry or something. The planet known as Vok is about to hold its first pure election after years of tyrannical military rule. Captain James Kirk and his noble crew of the Starship Enterprise are sent by the Federation to ensure the integrity of the election and remain neutral observers. It seems a simple enough task, but hold on! The crew is made aware of some medical emergency on a nearby planet known as Braco. Dr. McCoy is sent to see if he can lend a hand with a party that includes Nurse Christine Chapel. But hold on! That’s a trick! That landing party is ambushed and McCoy is kidnapped. He is then hauled off to the planet Ozalor to see if he can help an ailing princess. The good doctor finds himself soon enmeshed in palace politics. Kirk can’t leave Vok, however Spock catches up with Nurse Chapel on Braco and begins a search for the purloined doctor. Of course, Spock and Chapel are also taken prisoner by some group dissidents or rebels not happy with the leadership on Braco. Really the only one who manages to avoid capture and captivity is the stalwart captain, but he finds plenty of trouble on his own as well.

This is a rather cheeky summation of the plot, but it’s actually not a bad addition to the still-growing catalog of Star Trek novels. I am not sure that much of it stands out, and there is a fair amount of predictability that is probably unavoidable considering the nature of the series as a whole. Cox has been writing for this franchise for some time, so he has proven himself to be at least a reliably entertaining writer yet again. He does a pretty good job with most of the guest characters, although a couple of them seem more like caricatures at times. No major surprises or plot twists await the reader, however it is solidly entertaining and evokes that sense of nostalgia for the original television series.

The title is borrowed from a quote by a writer named Ambrose Bierce. I don’t usually comment on titles, but I thought this particular one was rather clever and fitting.

Anyway, it’s a pretty good book with a pretty cool title.

Next up, I will be returning to the world of Doctor Who Target novelizations. I have had this collection since I was a wee lad and occasionally find one I not yet read. Terrance Dicks was the most prolific of the Target novelists, yet I somehow I missed out on Doctor Who and the Horror of Fang Rock, so that needs to be rectified. This is one of my favorite television serials, so I shall see if this will become a favorite novelization.

Luna Romana is a Doctor Who audio drama from Big Finish Productions and is an episode of The Companion Chronicles. The story is written by Matt Fitton and directed by Lisa Bowerman. Terry Molloy returns as Quadrigger Stoyn which completes a trilogy of stories with various previous incarnations of the Doctor. Lalla Ward returns as the second incarnation of Romana with Juliet Landau taking on the mantle of her third incarnation. Mary Tamm was supposed to have starred in this one, however she had died not long before this recording which was released in 2014. This ended up being an unapologetic tribute to Tamm, and that was an entirely appropriate decision. There was a moment of flashback recordings of Tamm’s voice which was rather moving.

The First Romana and the Fourth Doctor end up in Ancient Rome as they search for the final segment of the Key to Time. Romana meets Stoyn and narrowly escapes the encounter. Sometime in the future, the Second Romana and the Doctor arrive on a lunar colony modeled after Rome where Stoyn continues his efforts to destroy the Doctor. Romana must break an important rule of time travel and is set on collision course with her own past.

Landau and Ward share the narration duties and are both quite compelling. Landau’s Romana effectively conveys her affection for her first incarnation, which would seem egotistical in most circumstances, but somehow works well here. I love the chemistry between Mary Tamm and Tom Baker during that era of the television series. Mary Tamm carried off her air of haughty charm very effectively and was a wonderful foil against the Fourth Doctor’s domineering eccentricity. It would be interesting to hear a Doctor encounter this new version of Romana.

The story is a little confusing at times, but still enjoyable. There also seems to be more if a complexity in Quadrigger Stoyn’s villainy than many of the other renegade Time Lords encountered by the Doctor. Molloy, who is better known as playing Davros for a time on the television series and for Big Finish, really does put in an impressive performance as this newer menace.

This particular episode was quite engaging for a variety of reasons. It would have been better if Tamm was still alive to participate, however Big Finish did a fine job memorializing her. It was also a pretty good yarn.

Ghost of New Orleans is a supernatural thriller written by Gerald and Justin Di Pego and directed by Predrag Antonijevic. The cast includes Josh Lucas, Terrence Howard, Lake Bell, and Cary Elwes, The film was released in 2011, so it isn’t that new, but it is still worthy of a blog entry since I have not seen it before.

Lucas plays a disgraced, guilt-ridden police detective in New Orleans who spends a bit too much in the company of the bottle. After a tragic and controversial shooting, Detective Chaney is tasked with keeping a suspect under surveillance. Howard plays the eccentric neighbor who sued the police. He develops an unusual friendship with Chaney, who finds himself in a stranger relationship. A young brunette keeps appearing and disappearing. When she is able to communicate with Chaney, she explains that she was murdered, and her brother was not the culprit. Chaney finally gets intrigued enough to take another look into the case. There is also a serial killer lurking around the Big Easy that is causing some concern as well.

So it has some elements that I like in a film such as a few interesting characters, some murder, and a pretty ghost. Howard and Lucas are two talented guys who have been in a lot of movies and they do their best here. I thought Howard was pretty intriguing as a guy named Drag Hammerman. The character’s name seems a little absurd, but I like it. He has the peculiar habit of narrating the reactions of those around him. He is apparently in the midst of concocting a pretty unique memoir. It’s an intriguing dynamic between the two men. Lake Bell as the ghostly murder victim who was a cellist, does pretty well.

The story is a bit short on explanations such as why Chaney was the only one who could communicate with Corey Little, the dead beauty, who is not happy with how her murder case was closed.

The story was still adequate, but not much more than that. The writing is more of the weak point than the actual performances. The twist at the end was not that much a surprise. Also, I did not get that much of a sense of the unique character of New Orleans.

Anyway, the movie has some interesting aspects in its favor, but not much for it to stand out. It still leaves too many questions unanswered for my liking.

Sherlock Holmes & The Christmas Demon is a pastiche novel by James Lovegrove. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson are visited by a lovely heiress who has been experiencing manifestations of a legendary demon known as the Black Thurrick who supposedly menaces the countryside where her family resides during the Christmas holiday. This nocturnal menace leaves little bundles of twigs as a sign of its presence in the area. The Allerthorpe family has had some recent tragedies with the matriarch throwing herself out a tower window . Young Eve Allerthorpe stands to inherit a nice little financial primogeniture, but one of the conditions is that she keep her sanity. Although Holmes doubts that an actual supernatural being is the culprit, he does suspect some foul deeds are indeed being committed.

Holmes and Watson trek out to the family estate where they meet an eclectic group of family members who have many other secrets and dark motives to untangle. Just to make matters even more interesting, the scullery maid is killed quite dramatically. I suppose there is not really an undramatic way to commit murder, but there you have it…

So I read and review a lot of Sherlock Holmes pastiche, and I wish I could come up with a more original criticism or something else I have not noticed before in these publications better, however Lovegrove lets me down here on that score. Once again, he is a competent writer and does not really deliver anything all that terrible, but we Sherlock Holmes pastiche readers keep seeing this tendency to have Holmes constantly having to debunk these supernatural shenanigans. There is also almost always some wealthy family with some kind of legendary curse in the background. The patriarch is some gruff rich dude who does not appreciate the presence of Holmes and Watson and then is later shown the error of his ways. There is once again some damsel in distress. The plot is rife with cliched, overused elements. Even if Lovegrove still manages to make the cliches somewhat entertaining, there are still merely cliches.

Next up is a return to the twenty-third century as the crew of the USS Enterprise engage in A Contest Of Principles by Greg Cox.

When a Stranger Calls is a thriller with a few adaptations and sequels, but the original version was first screened in 1979. It was directed by Fred Walton, who was cowrote it with Steve Feke. The cast includes Carol Kane, Charles Durning, Tony Beckley, and Colleen Dewhurst.

The film starts off with a charming young babysitter who suddenly gets terrorized by phone calls from a stranger. While she is trying to get the police to help her, what she does not realize is that her two charges have been murdered quite brutally by a mad Englishman named Curt Duncan. He has been calling the babysitter from inside the house because he apparently was not ready to make his escape. He is arrested and sent to an insane asylum. Seven years later, he escapes from the asylum and soon has a private detective, played by Charles Durning, on his trail. Beckley plays the deranged Curt Duncan, and he is suitably creepy. Anyway, one would think that Kane’s role as the babysitter would be the protagonist, but she does not really appear until near the end as a married mother of two. The private eye has the bulk of the heroism to do here.

Okay, this should have been a more interesting film, but it falls short. The children were apparently torn apart by Duncan’s bare hands, however Beckley, the aforementioned actor, doesn’t look like he could tear apart a slice of bread without difficulty. Durning does his best. He has a long screen history and is a compelling presence, but the script is of little help. Some aspects just needed to be toned down for it to seem somewhat realistic. I just could not buy into it very much.

The cast is talented, but the writing and editing did not really help them much here. This is definitely a film I will not be revisiting anytime soon.,

Expiry Dating is one of a series of Doctor Who audio dramas featuring the Tenth Doctor and River Song, played by David Tennant and Alex Kingston. The script was written by James Goss with Nicholas Briggs in the director’s chair. The guest cast is comprised of Colin Baker, Peter Davison, and Glen MacReady. Yes, a couple of other Doctors are part of this story.

The whole timeline of the relationship between the Doctor and River Song is a little hard to describe or understand sometimes. To be honest, I thought River Song was a little overused when she was in the television series, but she is entertaining enough for me to not dwell on it so much. Alex Kingston is a beautiful and talented actress and works well with whichever Doctor she happens to encounter.

Saying that, I wish I enjoyed this episode a bit more. River Song reaches out to the Tenth Doctor and wants to arrange a date for them to meet at something called the Apocalypse Vault. This version of the Doctor has not worked out River’s true identity, but he was present when her corporeal life ended at the Library. This Doctor has been traveling on his own for a bit after his separation from Donna Noble. The script is written in the form of notes and letters sent back and forth through time and space between the two of them. River has some brief encounters with the Doctor’s fifth and sixth incarnations. The business with Davison’s version was a bit too bizarre for my liking. Apparently, the Fifth Doctor was somehow captivated by her. It was meant to be rather humorous, but the whole scene fell a bit flat.

I wouldn’t consider Goss to be a favorite writer of mine, but he is at least usually fairly reliable. This episode was a disappointing misfire. Tennant and Kingston were fine, but the script needed some work. Hopefully the other two installments of this particular pairing will be better.

The Judgement of Sherlock Holmes is an audio boxset from Big Finish Productions. It contains four stories that are really connected. The whole saga was written by Jonathan Barnes and directed by Ken Bentley. I would usually take each installment individually, however since it is all one story anyway, I may just save myself a little bit of time.

First, I will mention some of the cast members. Nicholas Briggs returns as the Big Finish version of Sherlock Holmes, once again paired with Richard Earl as Dr. John Watson. Nicholas Chambers, Gemma Whalen, Jemma Churchill, and John Banks are included in the cast guest. There are a number of other actors involved, but one can read up on them in another blog or more official review.

So this collection delves into the years that Holmes and Watson were separated after it was thought Holmes fell to his death locked in battle with Professor Moriarty over Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland. Holmes turns up three years later after that dramatic encounter, but of course he had to be doing something worthwhile during those years. He is still Sherlock Holmes after all.

The first story is entitled Poppyland where the audience learns of Watson’s marriage and Holmes is exploring the land of Tibet. Holmes has learned that a mysterious innkeeper has deduced his identity just in time for a murder to occur. Watson is having to defend his wife from another murder attempt with the help of Inspector Lestrade.

At the Garden of Shambhala is the second story where the machinations of some strange organization known only as the Society are coming to light. Watson is having to convince members of the Society that Holmes is dead, but we all know otherwise.

Sherlock Holmes faces some revelations of some secrets with roots back to his childhood in The Man in the Moonlight with the whole business coming to a fairly impressive conclusion in The Tragedy of Pargetter Square.

Nicholas Briggs does not give a bad performance as Holmes, but I wish I could get into it more. It’s really Richard Earl as Watson that is the more memorable, which does still seem appropriate since he is the narrator. Also, the goals of this Society seems a little murky even after a series of four stories. There are several troubling and compelling moments though that does makes this still a worthwhile listen. Obviously, when I say troubling, I mean it in a good way, at least in the context of a fictional thriller.

Briggs may not be my favorite actor to play Holmes, but he does have some pretty engaging scenes, especially during the times of victory. Also, mysterious, seemingly ubiquitous organizations seem to be a dime a dozen with Sherlock Holmes stories. At least, he wasn’t chasing ghosts as many other pastiche writers are prone to have him do.

I enjoyed this set for the most part in spite of the cracks. I have seen better interpretations of Holmes, but Briggs does just well enough to keep me interested. Some of my misgivings about this series may have more to do with my personal preferences when it comes to continuing Holmes’ exploits.

Strangers on a Train is a suspense novel by Patricia Highsmith that was written in 1950. It was adapted for the silver screen by Alfred Hitchcock the following year. After reading the novel, I was rather surprised with the liberties Hitchcock took with the material in the screen version. Well, this little entry concerns just the book, so I will get to it.

A young architect is on a train to meet with his estranged wife to see if he can finalize his divorce. Another passenger sits down in his compartment an strikes up a conversation. The second fellow has some resentment of his father he wants to discuss. During this unexpected encounter, Charles Bruno offers the suggestion that he and Guy Haines exchange murders. Since the motive would remain rather murky, the murders should remain unsolved. Haines has a few more scruples than Bruno, however shaking his persistent fellow passenger becomes a bit harder than he anticipated.

The plot is a rather fascinating concept. There is an intriguing character study in the midst of the convoluted prose. I get that the prose styles in the mid-twentieth century were a bit different than what modern readers would expect, however this one was a little more challenging to stay involved. Highsmith seems more fond of long exposition than I even expected for that era. She does not seem to adhere to the maxim of “show, don’t tell”.

Highsmith is not without talent though. There is a rather distinctive flow to her writing style, but there are times where the story dragged and getting through some of her chapters was more of a chore than I preferred.

The experience was not without some merit. Train rides still tend to be intriguing settings for mayhem and menacing encounters. There wasn’t much actual mayhem on the train, but the encounter was menacing enough.

Anyway, I had some trouble staying focused due to the lengthy pages of unnecessary exposition, but I can still see why there is some affection from other fans for this work. This also may not be the only time I wade into the depths of Highsmith’s imagination.

Well, I will next return to the lodgings of 221 B Baker Street in Victorian London where James Lovegrove’s The Christmas Demon awaits the attention of Sherlock Holmes.

Black Widow is the latest offering from Marvel Studios starring Scarlett Johansson in the lead role. Black Widow usually runs with a little group of super-powered buddies known as the Avengers, but in this one she is out on her own being reunited with her fake family comprised of Russian spies who had their own super powers or fighting chops. Jac Shaeffer and Ned Benson are the pair who came up with the story, however Eric Pearson actually wrote the screenplay. It then fell to Cate Shortland to actually the direct the film. Johansson is then joined by Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Rahas chel Weisz, Ray Winstone, Olga Kurylenko, and William Hurt onscreen. There are some other people involved, but I think I hit the significant ones in my little post.

So this is a flashback story set around the time of Avengers: Civil War and Infinity War. The Avengers have been scattered, and Natasha Romanoff is on the run. The film starts off with her as a kid living with a supposed sister and parents in Ohio, however they were actually Russian operatives who have been found out. They have to make their escape which leads to Natasha being pressganged by the Russian into becoming a hot assassin known as a Black Widow. It turns out that she was just one of a good number of killer babes sent out by the Russians to get some killing done. After a rather harrowing and implausible prologue, the audience catches up with the Johansson version of Natasha who is on the run from the government, who has sent a bunch of burly troops led by Thaddeus Ross, the secretary of state, who looks amazingly like William Hurt, the actor who is cast in the role. She then receives a message from her fake sister, played by Florence Pugh, along with vials of a substance known as Red Dust, which is the antidote to the mind control drugs that are used on the Black Widows to better keep them loyal to the demands of Russian agendas. Once the “sisters” are together again, they find that they need the assistance of their “parents”, played by Harbour and Weisz. Apparently, Harbour’s Alexi Shostakov is also the Russian knock-off of Captain America known as the Red Guardian. Also, Black Widow has a crazy fully armored opponent on her trail. This thing is known as Taskmaster, and it has the ability to mirror the fighting style of an opponent and use it right back against them. Anyway, the whole story then shifts to the bigger mission of destroying the training ground and headquarters of the Black Widows known as the Red Room and the mastermind of it all, General Dreykov.

Now that I made the plot recap probably so unnecessarily long, I can now share some thoughts and impressions about this little cinematic experience. Since Black Widow did not survive the previous Avenger outing, the fact that her fate is known after this film is a bit of a letdown in some ways. The movie could have been more intriguing if it felt more like a continuation of Black Widow’s story rather than merely an opportunity to have her headline her own solo venture. Saying that, there were some things the producers got right. The chemistry between Johansson and Pugh felt pretty genuine. I rather liked Pugh’s Yelena Belova and the ribbing she would give Natasha for the fighting poses and other idiosyncrasies. Once the “family” was together, there were some pretty amusing scenes. Marvel movies do have their fair share of comedic moments, and this one did provide some reason for me to let out a few snickers. The Russian accents seemed to work well enough for me, but I am no expert in such matters.

Basically, the movies placement in the whole MCU canon seems a little problematic, but I may just have a bias about doing movies about characters who we have already seen die onscreen. The cast members all seem pretty solid in their performances. The casting director did their job well enough. There were some pretty decent one-liners to break up the overload of action sequences. The implausible fight scenes were entertaining. They were also ridiculous, but this is a comic book movie so that will have to be forgiven within reason.

Overall, I do not consider a major waste of time to see this film. It may just be a minor waste of time. There were a few elements that worked quite well. The humor and the performances were pretty good, but as mentioned before, once I have seen an onscreen death of a character, my enjoyment of subsequent appearances is just a bit tainted. I am doubtful I will consider this entry into the MCU franchise to be the most memorable.