Corpse Marker

One more time, for those just tuning in: Chris Boucher was the writer behind two fairly well-regarded Fourth Doctor TV stories, "Face of Evil" and "Robots of Death". Unfortunately he's also the author of the not-as-well-regarded "Last Man Running", which somehow managed the feat of having a book full of people who don't add up to one actual character. I'm sure it has its fans, but it wasn't exactly a real deep reading experience. This is an improvement. Not a masterpiece, mind you, but a step up. Boucher revisits the world of "Robots of Death", taking us a few years forward in time to visit with the three survivors of the sandminer disaster, a world that isn't aware that robots can kill. A world where robots are starting to kill again. As several others have said, one of the great things about "Robots of Death" is that it suggested an entire world without really living the sandminer, you really did get a sense of the culture of this robot-oriented society. It gave us a glimpse of a rich world just off-screen that could conceivably exist and here Boucher tries to take us more into it. He's partially successful. The problem is that what seemed strange before now is just another future world, just with more robots. While we get a sense of the decadence and dependence, the culture doesn't come through as strongly. The setting is strong enough to be distinctive and Boucher wisely doesn't totally strip-mine memories of the beloved original TV story to drive the entire plot. It would help to know who the three characters are before you start, but it isn't necessary and they don't seem to play a big a role as you might think. The result winds up being a bit of a muddle. Robots are trying to kill those survivors, and there appears to be a cult forming around the memory of Taren Capel, who was the lad behind the original robots o' death. The Fourth Doctor and Leela wander into this, and things proceed in a fashion that somewhat resembles a plot. Part of the problem is that the novel squanders a wonderfully creepy beginning with Poul screaming at the sight of a corpse marker (due to his nervous breakdown) and doesn't really effectively use the scenes of robots killing people (there's one good scene later when the Doctor walks in on the aftermath of a robot slaughtering an entire room). Plus, with the view expanded to include an entire society, we don't get much of an idea of how this might affect the whole society, beyond "Nobody is really going to believe this." Meanwhile, the cult becomes cultier, and there might be a mad computer behind it and well, hey, now the book is over. The end result is more interesting than his last effort, but still oddly colorless. None of the characters really seem to resonate before getting their necks broken and special mention goes to the cultists, who get real annoying after a while. All the pieces of the society that we see don't feel like they belong in a cohesive world as much as little fiefdoms wi

This is an exciting sequel to the TV episode "Robots Of Death." It is written by the same author who wrote that teleplay. A great Tv show and a fine sequel. Featuring the fourth Doctor and Leela.

A wonderful portrayal of the Doctor in all his unflapableness (that is a word in whoness). As he is fond of saying "it's always a happy surprise when it turns out not to be" and this book was. Leela is a bit more human than savage and her role more pivotal while the Dr. is his witty self throughout. The plot I leave for others, suffice to say the Doctor is back in all his glory.

This book didn't rock the Who Universe, but it /did/ succeed in telling a very good, atmospheric, 4th Doctor/Leela story. Plus, I enjoyed a closer look at the robot-dependent society from "Robots of Death," extending the bits gleaned from the episode into some logical assumptions.

The second of Boucher's books I have read. It is much better than his previous offering "Last Man Running." A sequel to an actual televised adventure, Robots of Death, which Boucher wrote, it is very easy to get into the story if you are a fan of the program. Or have seen the televised episode. As he wrote both, the returning characters act and feel like their TV counterparts. It is easy to imagine them because you've actually seen them and know what they look like.On the downside, where "Last Man Running" errs on the side of an oversimplified plot, "Corpse Marker" goes the other direction. There are at least five seperate factions in this story, all with characters and motivations. Plus, The Doctor and Leela get seperated and spend the first 2/3 of the book in seperate subplots. It becomes too much, spread too thin, over too little time and space. The ending is a flurry of trying to tie up loose ends, leaving some very obvious plot gaps and questions (apart from the fact that Boucher was trying to end the book).Other than three returning characters (from the televised adventure), there are a number of new characters. The most memorable to me is the cocky pilot that the Doctor teams up with for a time. Spouting pseudomilitary and fliers jargon, he's a stereotypical jock pilot, always worried about his aircraft over anything else. His fear and mistrust of the Doctor is comical (he thinks the Doctor is a dangerous deadly secret agent). I couldn't put the book down and finished it in no time at all. A recommended read and a good Doctor Who adventure.