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‘Doctor Who – Rose’ by Russell T. Davies

Paul Ferry

For anyone who grew up in Britain in the 1970s, the Target novelisations were as much a part of Doctor Who as the television series itself. Along with Doctor Who Weekly in the latter part of the decade, they provided a vital link with the series when it wasn’t on the air. I remember walking home from the local library with a huge pile of the colourful hardbacks; I didn’t necessarily read them all at once, but I was attracted to the exciting, vibrant colours and – when I did eventually read them – by the exciting, vibrant prose. Now BBC Books, under the … Continue reading ‘Doctor Who – Rose’ by Russell T. Davies

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‘The Gradual’ by Christopher Priest

Paul Ferry

For his most recent novel, Christopher Priest returns to the Dream Archipelago, a sequence of exotic pseudo-Mediterranean islands that have formed the backdrop for many of his novels. That said, the Dream Archipelago stories could hardly be said to be a series, as the nature, the geography, the politics and even the physics of the islands changes from book to book. In a sense, they represent not so much of a location for the stories as the central character’s interpretation of that location, seen through the prism of whichever idea Priest is exploring in that story. In The Gradual, Priest takes … Continue reading ‘The Gradual’ by Christopher Priest

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‘Red File for Callan’ by James Mitchell

Paul Ferry

Originally (and subsequently) published under the title A Magnum for Schneider, this book is Callan creator James Mitchell’s first adaptation of the popular late-60s / early-70s TV series. It is an adaptation of his script for the TV play A Magnum for Schneider, which acted as an unofficial pilot for Callan and was also later adapted for the movie version of the show. Released at the height of Callan’s popularity on TV, this Corgi edition is one of several versions released under the title Red File for Callan. For those of you not familiar with Callan, it was a long-running spy series that eschewed the glamour of James Bond … Continue reading ‘Red File for Callan’ by James Mitchell

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‘A Stainless Steel Rat is Born’ by Harry Harrison

Paul Ferry

If you’ve got a child that you’d like to introduce to classic science fiction, you couldn’t pick a much better starting point than Harry Harrison’s series of Stainless Steel Rat books. Fast-paced, clever and incredibly funny, I was a massive Rat fan as a teenager; the first five books had already been written when I became hooked, but this one, A Stainless Steel Rat is Born, was the first that I picked up fresh off the printing press. A few years ago I decided to take a leisurely revisit to these books and this sixth instalment is the first that I have re-read … Continue reading ‘A Stainless Steel Rat is Born’ by Harry Harrison

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‘Alien: Covenant – Origins’ by Alan Dean Foster

Paul Ferry

There are no aliens in this misleadingly titled book. That’s not so much a spoiler as a warning; if you’re a big fan of the Alien franchise and are expecting Alan Dean Foster’s unexpected prequel to the latest instalment Alien: Covenant to feature lots of face-hugging, chest-bursting Xenomorphic action, then you will be sorely disappointed. There’s none. None at all. Not a sausage. It kind of makes sense, of course. I mean, how could there be? This is a novel about the crew of the colony ship Covenant in preparation for its departure from Earth; they don’t encounter any Alien creatures until they are diverted to … Continue reading ‘Alien: Covenant – Origins’ by Alan Dean Foster

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‘Killer in the Rain’ by Raymond Chandler

Paul Ferry

Killer in the Rain is a collection of early short stories by Raymond Chandler from the pulp crime magazines Black Mask and Dime Detective Magazine. Although they don’t feature the iconic Philip Marlowe, many of the concepts were recycled by Chandler in his later and more famous novels. The private detective in the first story, Killer in the Rain, goes unnamed throughout, but to all intents and purposes it’s Philip Marlowe. He talks like Marlowe, he acts like Marlowe and he reacts like Marlowe. Add to that the fact that an expanded version of Killer in the Rain makes up the first half of The Big Sleep and you’d … Continue reading ‘Killer in the Rain’ by Raymond Chandler

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‘Trillions’ by Nicholas Fisk

Paul Ferry

When I was a boy, the name Nicholas Fisk was synonymous with science fiction. His books peppered the shelves of the children’s section of the local library and always cropped up in the latest pamphlet for the school book club. Nicholas Fisk wrote sci-fi for kids; there was no such thing as the ‘Young Adult’ market in those days, so even the most mind-bending of speculative ideas was aimed firmly at the frontal lobe of an inquisitive 9-13 year old. And quite rightly so. In my younger years I picked up a few Nicholas Fisk books, most notably Wheelie in the … Continue reading ‘Trillions’ by Nicholas Fisk

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‘Octopussy & The Living daylights’ by Ian Fleming

Paul Ferry

Octopussy & The Living Daylights was the last Ian Fleming James Bond novel, published shortly after his death in 1966. It’s not actually a novel as such; nor is it the pairing of two novellas that it’s sometimes generously referred to as. It’s actually just a pair of fair-sized short stories cobbled together to squeeze a few more pennies out of the passing James Bond novel range. Running at a brisk 95 pages, the 1966 edition featured only the titular two stories, but later editions bulked out the content with the short stories Property of a Lady and 007 in New York. My copy … Continue reading ‘Octopussy & The Living daylights’ by Ian Fleming

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‘Alien: Covenant’ by Alan Dean Foster

Paul Ferry

Alan Dean Foster’s 1979 novelisation of the Dan O’Bannon and Donald Shussett script for Alien made him the go-to guy for sci-fi and fantasy film novelisations throughout the 1980s. He’d previously novelised John Carpenter’s Dark Star and a bunch of the animated Star Trek episodes before finally scoring a big hit with Star Wars – for which he remains uncredited, as it was a ghost-writing job under George Lucas’ name. Alien was his first successful adaptation of a movie under his own name though, and he would return to the Alien universe to novelise Aliens (1986) and Alien³ (1992), with varying degrees of success. His wise avoidance of the later Alien and Alien Vs Predator films coincided with his … Continue reading ‘Alien: Covenant’ by Alan Dean Foster

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A Brief History of Timebase

Paul Ferry

Timebase Productions were formed in 1994 by the amalgamation of several North East amateur film-making groups who all shared a common love of Doctor Who. Our first 2-part video adventure was Regenesis in 1994, starring Rupert Booth as the Doctor. Production of the second video, the 4-part Cyberman epic Phase Four was delayed and extensive re-shoots meant that although it was the second story chronologically, it was completed fourth. The 2-parter Paradise in Chains introduced a new companion, the psychic vampire Amaryllis, and Long Shadows saw the Doctor meeting up with Shakespeare – 10 years before The Shakespeare Code on … Continue reading A Brief History of Timebase