VNA #01 - "Timewyrm: Genesys" by John Peel - Doctor Who Book Guide - CtW

[@sycoraxrock]

I am thoroughly in favor of you continuing this series forever and ever, because hot damn, this is a fascinating era of DW and no one ever talks about it... certainly not on KZbin. Great production work here, interesting insights... everything an audio-visual analysis of the Wilderness Years should be. Bless ya, mate. Keep it up. Do you have a Patreon? Because I want to throw money at you.

[@poparena]

Thank you for the kind words! I do have a Patreon, the link's in the description. My video for Timewyrm: Exodus should be done before the end of the week.

[@electricmastro]

I really like how you give in-depth background on the author for the sake of better understanding how the book ended up being made the way it was.

[@ashleytuchin7693]

The Seventh Doctor and Ace are one of my favourite TARDIS teams, so every time you quoted the Doctor, I was shocked, because that's not how the Doctor would talk to Ace. I love this review though and I can't believe that I've only just discovered it. I can't wait to watch the next one! Also, I love the fact that you use the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy theme!

[@starwarsnerd100]

Yeesh. I think I know what Peel was TRYING to do, explore the idea that "heroes" from history would be considered monsters to us, but the way the Doctor just tells Ace to get over the idea that she'll be sexually assaulted is awful. Like, if the Doctor took Martha Jones to meet his friend Winston Churchill, and Churchill said a bunch of racist shit to her, I can't see him telling her "This was normal in this time period, get over it".

[@miradarkpath8738]

Honestly, that kind of us what happened in the Shakespeare Code - not so bad, but kind of

[@jbcatz5]

The whole history in its context thing is far better done in the Big Finish audio Son of the Dragon (a pure historical featuring the historical inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula), where the Fifth Doctor has to remind Peri, an American from the 80's, not to judge things by her 20th perspective. Their other companion Erimem, a former Pharaoh from Ancient Egypt, does appreciate the context of the period and gets further with Vlad than Peri (who has vampire on the mind) or the Doctor (who is trying to keep established history on track). It does help that Peri is appalled by the cruelty of Vlad and how he treats his subjects rather than anything overly sexual.

[@axlrivera8102]

Holly molly, covering the VNA's and EDA's sounds like a titanic job. I've just finished ''No Future'' from the VNA's, and ''The Tomorrow Windows'' from the EDA's. Keep the good work, man. Nice reviews.

[@90RavenBlack]

I stumbled across this series about the Virgin New Adventures quite by accident, but it's something I've always hoped someone would do one day. I'd love it if you did the entire series. :)

[@dannycheesums]

Please keep doing these! Some of these novels were fantastic - ditto the eighth doctor novels. I was a kid when these came out and for me they are the legit continuation of the story when the show was off air

[@bobbyshaddoe3004]

The Timewyrm is a fascinating concept that sadly goes unexplored most of the time, until Paul Cornell actually does something with her three books later.

[@eyeofhorus3286]

"you don't often see the Doctor p around with a comic books super hero" hehehe, Return of doctor mysterio

[@MinscFromBaldursGate92]

Hilarious in hindsight.

[@jaidanielparker]

This book was my 12th birthday present! And it was so bad I didn't pick up another New Adventures novel until I was nearly 16. Thankfully the next book I read was Just War, and I was hooked on the New Adventures after that!

[@tylermane77]

Peel's novelizations are some of the best of the range. His original novels however, not so much.

[@biropgrules]

yeah, this is you at your best, going over the whole shebang, digging deep into the history, and leaving no stone unturned. its been my expirience that the longer your reviews are, the better they tend to be(your animorphs finale being the embodiment of this).

[@Rmlohner]

My first Doctor Who was actually The Five Doctors, because it offered the chance to get to know as many as possible all at once. I wasn't that impressed with the episode itself, but Terrence Dicks' commentary is pure gold and got me to keep going. The only Seven story I've seen is Remembrance of the Daleks, where the Doctor being in control the whole time worked pretty well, but I can definitely see why it happening over and over would get really old.

[@Snakie747]

I enjoyed this review more than I thought I would. I'll give the next one a listen, too.

[@finnarmstrong2359]

Good luck with the new series, man. Wasn't so interested in Animorphs but I was a huge fan of how you did things. This line should be a good one.

[@rosecityandbeyond]

Is that the Hitchhiker's Guide Radio Series theme? lol I do remember Douglas Adams wrote some Doctor Who episodes, and even heard that Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency was based off of an unused script. If I'm correct, I see what you did there : P

[@ANewShadeOfBlue]

I look forward to seeing where this new series will go and what running gags will sprout from it.

[@nintendonut100]

Boy it sure sounds like the kind of thing someone who hates the seventh doctor would write lmao

[@TWKReviewsOLD]

Right off the bat this series already took quite the unexpected turn.

[@forty_two42]

Journey of the Sorcerer!!! Hell yeah dude. I also never got the hang of Thursdays. Also I'm watching this on a Thursday at work when I should be working.

[@calebroberson1331]

I know this is a very dumb and irrelevant question but, does anyone know what font was used for the printed versions of the new adventures? I've seen PDFs with sans serif font, the font like these youtube comments. But most printed books are usually serif, think Times New Roman. I'm just wondering. Serif font is supposed to be easier on the eyes for printed books and I know it's completely irrelevant but I've been taking a typography class and so I have it all stuck in my head.

[@ratboy6617]

ive got all these na books, the best dw books in my opinion. the timewyrm series was my favorite. i love ace and the 7th doctors dark side.

[@ratboy6617]

revelation was the best in the timewyrm series.

[@BifdusRegularis]

Very interesting stuff. Been meaning to read the old Who books. Will you be covering more?

[@poparena]

+BioCellGames Oh yes. We're only just getting started. :)

[@Isthecakereallyalie]

Jesus Christ, that is out of character as hell for the Doctor to be endorsing or even tolerating rape. Pretty sure that 11 killed a guy for threatening it.

[@TheRealUnkn0wn_289]

Exactly

[@chronovore3726]

Was the Doctor actually rebuffing Ace for fearing molestation or for her disapproval of Gilgamesh's behavior or the underlying civilization? It's been twenty years but I remember reading it that way. Of course, it's still a dumpster fire for all the other reasons discussed here...

[@bobbyshaddoe3004]

I freakin lobe that you use HHGTG theme for this show. Once you hear the opening strains of that banjo its just so awesome and so fitting with a show called Crossing the Wilderness.

[@TheMister123]

By the way, someone on Gallifrey Base referred us to this video series. Check out "Grafty's New Adventures Marathon" in the books subforum.

[@Newt5996]

While I like Timewyrm: Genesys for its set up for the arc and novels, but the sex stuff was just awful! I gave it 75/100 when I reviewed it last November as my first written review. Looking back the score would probably be lower, more like a 55 or 60. I really didn't get the hang of scoring things fairly until Timewyrm: Revelation and of course the actual reviewing process until Blood Heat after some suggestions from the Divergent Universe forum. That said I'm up to Return of the Living Dad in the novels and I recommend any Seventh Doctor fan read them.

[@baritonejoe458]

He's still making vids yay!!!!!!!

[@DigiRangerScott]

I'm a Fenric too! But I don't condone or defend rape. I'm very intrigued by this series, as even though I got into Doctor Who in time for the 50th anniversary celebration (Premiere of Asylum of the Daleks), most of the specials, both in The Doctors Revisited and web series I followed, it was 99% TV episode-based. To go in depth on the books of the Wilderness years is a great field to traverse

[@deathcrist2000]

So are you doing the Past Doctor Adventures as well or is it just the main line of 7th and 8th Doctor stories?

[@poparena]

I honestly haven't decided yet. There's a lot of interesting things in the Missing/Past Adventures, plenty of books I'd love to talk about, but it would effectively double the workload. We'll see.

[@deathcrist2000]

Well, you obviously need to do Infinity Doctors and Goth Opera. And you'll need something to wash Fall of Yquatine out of your mouth and nothing in the main line directly after that'll do the task.

[@paulflint6254]

Would love a new series of VNA books.

[@domsquared9878]

Finally read it! I kinda liked it but maybe that’s because I’ve spent the last year reading Target novels so I was dying for something different

[@jonmahashintina]

story was okay. read it after reading the eight doctors, so anything is really decent after reading that. not a fan of amnesia. story picks up after a while and is fun enough to make it to the end.

[@PCveteran117]

Have the books been compiled into omnibi?

[@GPage-he4kw]

Great video. Looks like I’ll stick to the summary of this novel. Though I’m with Peel on one thing. Never thought much of the 7th Doctor. other than Remembrance of the Daleks, Ghostlight and Survival, stories through the era and the design of the character were not great. Hopefully the New Adventures (which I’m about to dive into) have made the era more compelling.

[@nickbrough8335]

I read this and all the New Adventures and missing adventures in sequence as they came out. Some I read more than once, but I don't think this was one of them. I thought this was ok and certainly good enough to keep me interested. I was 26 and had watch Who from before I can remember. Jon Pertwee season 2 is the easiest I recall. I cant say I found this gross in the way you appear to. It felt like History was being described warts and all, which was then and even now rather rarely done.

[@cartooningfanart]

Great review :) Can't wait for you review of goosebumps next time :)

[@WHOCares2005]

I really want to watch this series but am currently in the middle of buying the new virgin adventures. Would this series majorly ruin the books or is it reletiveky safe in terms of spoilers

[@TheMister123]

It is possible to defend cultural relativism well while also acknowledging and affirming the offended character's agency over her own body and right to her own opinion. John Peel did neither.

[@Nickman826]

Yeah I don't think I can finish this novel. It woefully misunderstands 7 and Ace, and is full of questionable sexual bits

[@TheRealUnkn0wn_289]

@@Nickman826 That seems to be the VNA overall

[@bearinokc1047]

was going to read along but the copy I found not heater yet don't think I'll read the first one now please tell me it get better

[@poparena]

Don't worry, the series gets way better.

[@sycoraxrock]

Heck, the series gets way better in the *second book.* Skip the third, though the *fourth* is mind-blowingly perfect.

[@magnusgreel275]

Wow. I'm really glad I missed the first few NAs... =/

[@SouthPark333Gaming]

I actually found this book quite decent, not great, but alright 6.5/10

[@wacmack]

[@bobbyshaddoe3004]

hot garbage, I love how you say it in reference to this book.

[@DixyRae]

I keep trying and failing to get into these books mostly due to how gross I find Timewyrm Genesys. Glad I'm not just imagining how dated and misogynistic it seemed. Maybe I'll skip ahead? I dunno.

[@seanfulldark]

Well, it's easy to see how you salvage a book like this! You get people are known for burning books! And this is before the church discovered Harry Potter.

[@TheRealUnkn0wn_289]

I don't think I like these Virgin New Adventure Novels, I'll stick with the Seventh Doctor in TV and what Big Finish do with the Seventh Doctor which is a natural continuation of his TV stories and his TV Character Arc, though it was a bit of a mess when they started with him, though that's the same for all their early releases trying to figure out what they wanted to do with him, the other doctors and their audio stories though it doesn't take too long that they find their footing, and then it's some great and good stories one after the other aside from some occasional messy stories, silly things and what not, until recently where in the past 5 maybe 6 years they've been getting a lot more weaker and not as creative as well as a bit sloppier in their writing, though they do still have good and decent stories coming out and some occasional great and fun ones

[@Nickman826]

Ooh boy I'm glad this review exists. I started reading the novel got to the bit about sexualizing a 13 year old and decided to see if anymore gross sex stuff came up

[@rojansfandoms]

Ggreattt review

[@QueenStodge]

Omg the stuff about Ace not wanting to be sexually assaulted and The Doctor telling Ace to be ok with it, is extremely fucked up. This sort of stuff may have been commonplace back then, but this stuff was not OK back then. The Doctor stating that Ace should've been ok with it, is extremely fucked up and not acceptable in any sense. And with the poor writing, this book sounds terrible. But this is a good series.

[@lazerdave]

"Expecially"? "Manevolent"? "Inkidnu"? Come on now....

[@Rmlohner]

+Dave Zachritz Plus "anagram" when he means "acronym."

[@dansmart3182]

I wonder if they tried to pull this bs so they didn't have to explain why the doctor isn't basically running around and stopping young marriages from before the 1900s.

[@golgarisoul]

I... uh.... have several problems with this cultural relativism. Jesus.

[@jadominek7116]

I've never liked Virgin New Adventures - it's the worst series of DW books.

[@TheRealUnkn0wn_289]

It sounds like it

[@joshuacorum8376]

TARDIS is an acronym, not an anagram.

[@QueenStodge]

It's an anagram of SIDRAT, but that's an anagram of Tardis in itself