Terrance Dicks

Number 53 in the Doctor Who Library

Doctor Who - The Robots of Death

Mark John Jackman

‘You know, you're a classic example of the inverse ratio between the size of the mouth and the size of the brain—‘

Doctor Who - The Faceless Ones

Sarah Sammis

Doctor Who and the Faceless Ones is a novelization based on a mostly lost (taped over) second doctor episode, "The Faceless Ones." The Second Doctor, Jamie, Polly and Ben end up landing on the runway at Gatwick Airport. If that isn't enough, people are known to go missing from here. Somehow the disappearances are tied up with Chameleon Tours. Can the Doctor sort everything out, get his TARDIS back and save his companions?

As someone who has traveled without my family as a teen, I connected with the promise of adventure and the fears older family members must have of something happening. The opening scene with the plane nearly landing on the TARDIS got my attention. Airports are exhilarating and potentially dangerous. Other reviews have complained that it would be easier to just move the TARDIS than scattering in all directions. Given the TARDIS's unreliability and propensity to breakdown, I'd run too.

My only complaint is with the way things wrap up. After so much build up of mystery and misdirection when things are finally sorted out the doctor and his companions fix things very quickly. I think this is more an affect of the mandated novel length than of the original plot but I can only guess.

Doctor Who - The Robots of Death Number 53 in the Doctor Who Library

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