Remembering the Timewyrm

[Anthony Williams]

It seems hard to believe, but twenty years ago, we were in the middle of the arc that represented the first original, licenced Doctor Who fiction in prose.

From June through to December 1991, the four Timewyrm books made up the first batch of Virgin New Adventures. Almost two years after our favourite tv show had come to an end, The Doctor and Ace were back, battling a powerful new enemy - the Timewyrm!

What are your recollections of this arc? Did you enjoy reading them? How do you feel about them now?

I'm in the middle of reading my way through the first book, Timewyrm: Genesys for the first time, and will be posting my thoughts as I go along

[Dirk Gently]

I remember this quite well, I was reading them when I met my (then) future Wife in November of 1991.
I used to take 1 of them to the field where Angela kept her horse, sit in the car & read them while Angela saw to her horse.
Also did the same thing with the following Cat's Cradle trilogy and the subsequent books until early 1995. Happy times.


Forgot to add; these aren't (IMO) the easiest books to read. I found them difficult to get to grips with but stuck with them as there wasn't anything else out there at the time.
I can't go back & read them again as I've just started reading my way through the BBC range, which will take a while.

[Awesome Wells]

Genesys was grim, Apocalypse was adequate, Revelation was really good and Exodus was excellent.

I didn't read them at the time; I read them in 1996/7. Still occasionally dip in, although never to Genesys, which is a really dreadful novel.

[Andrew Curnow]

I remember being really excited about the idea - I thought the cover artwork for Genesys looked a bit naff when I saw it in DWB, but it actually works really well on the book (I think the colour is a bit richer). I picked it up when it first came out, although for some reason didn't start reading it until August 91.... then because I couldn't find a copy of the second one (Exodus) I started reading Lord of the Rings instead!!!

So actually, I didn't read the whole Timewyrm series until about this time in 1992. I really enjoyed the first one, for all its faults - except the last 50 or so pages, all that faffing about in the TARDIS and actually 'creating' the Timewyrm; up to that point it's not too bad. It has a big sense of scale, lots of big scenery and locations that they couldn't have done on TV. And the conversation near the end between the Doctor and Ace, talking over what happens to their new friends, is rather sweet - the Doctor says something like (as regards a character who isn't recorded in history, I think) that "you may imagine a happy ending there if you like". It's a slightly gentler version of the aloof seventh Doctor, and quite touching.

Dicks' Exodus is very good and readable (and makes a much better use of Hitler and Nazi Germany than Mr Moffat!!), Apocalypse is best forgotten, and Cornell's Revelation is... well, a bit of a revelation. It's a bit too pleased with itself, but certainly at the time was just something rather special.

[SiHart]

It was very exciting. the books came at just the right time for me. I was 15, just done my GCSEs and ready for big boys Doctor Who books.

They didn't disappoint me then. They probably would now, but at the time reading new Doctor Who stories was something rather unique, especially of this length.

Anyway, Genesys was OK. Well at least in 1991. I don't think it'd hold up too well now with it's awkward mix of sex and nudity and Doctor Who-ey bits. Even at the time the "adult" bits seemed shoehorned in and unnecessary, like the swearing that would follow. It was a bit desperate and there because they could put it in, not because it was justified.

Exodus was much better. A really good effort from Terrance Dicks, with loads to keep you turning the page. In fact i read out over a very hot weekend that summer and was stunned by the revelation of who was the villain. It was very well done indeed.

Apocalypse had a dreadful cover and just wasn't memorable at all. I liked the little prologue that closed the last CVE dooming the universe, but otherwise, well, I can't remember anything else about it.

Revelation I loved. I loved exploring the Doctor's head, with the old incarnations there in their little lands, guarding their own space. Mad Pertwee, Hartnell in his garden, and Davison as the voice of the conscience, tied up and lost. It all seemed terribly deep and meaningful at the time and it was just full of lovely images. Good stuff.

I last read them all in 1993. In someways that's for the best. i don't want to tarnish the way I think of the two good ones and find them lacking.

[duncan]

I found them quite difficult to get into and remember enjoying Exodus the best. I didn't like the Cat's cradle trilogy that followed and abandoned Transit halfway through.

[Rob McCow]

They were great at the time, but it's very hard to get excited about them now.

[Dirk Gently]

I found them quite difficult to get into and remember enjoying Exodus the best. I didn't like the Cat's cradle trilogy that followed and abandoned Transit halfway through.

Transit was woeful. But Nightshade and Love & War before it were rather good if memory serves. So there was always hope.

[Awesome Wells]

Transit was the sound of a man frenziedly masturbating over a cyberpunk novel, a tube map and a question-mark umbrella.

[Awesome Wells]

(By which I mean, "great", obvs.)

[Andrew Curnow]

I think they were probably the right thing at just the right time - with almost all the old stories done, and only 4 new stories a year, Target would have had to come up with something new to publish for the other 8 months a year anyway. And having been 'brought up' on the Target books, it was a natural continuation (for me anyway) to move onto the NAs. The fact that by the time they arrived the TV show had finished just gave them an extra sense of excitement.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

I really struggled with Genesys, found it really boring, and didn't finish it the first time (I don't think). I think I tired again a bit later and got as far as the first 3 books, but really found them too plodding and dull and gave up then. Didn't pick up another NA until Lungbarrow.

[Anthony Williams]

So I've now done the first two of the Timewyrm mini-series. Here are my thoughts, so far:

Timewyrm: Genesys

Well, this was probably not the best book to start the New Adventures range with. As someone who has dipped in and out of these stories in the past, this didn't seem too out of the ordinary. But, given that it was the first piece of original Doctor Who fiction since Survival was broadcast, this must've been a bit of a shock to the system at the time, what with casual mentions of sex, bared breasts and the like. To top it off, this isn't the easiest of books to get through, either - the whole thing is setting up the Timewyrm coming into being, and it feels like the whole book is merely a set-up for the last few chapters. That's a shame, because there was plenty of potential here. But I can't help but feel that it was wasted. Ho hum.

So, onto...

Timewyrm: Exodus

I loved this. Uncle Terrance really pulled out all the stops on this, and I couldn't stop reading - to the point where I read the whole book in about three hours at the tail-end of last week! The concept is wonderful, I loved the scenes set in Nazi-occupied Britain, and what could've been (and then re-visiting those scenes at the end, when time is set right). The returning enemy was unexpected, and very much enjoyed! The whole book was just wonderful - and the Timewyrm was used just right. Not too much, keeping her behind the scenes. Absolutely wonderful stuff!