Story: The events of this story are precipitated by a typical Third Doctor plot accelerator – the building of a totally unscientifically based invention called (now don’t laugh) a “Personal Time-Line Prognosticator.” This device shows events that are going to happen sometime in the future. So, the Doctor fires this machine up, and it shows the Brigadier shooting and killing the Doctor and Jo! These events are a fact, and cannot be changed – or so the Doctor says. So, of course, he tries to change them by coming up with the plan to split the three of them up, thereby making it impossible for this event to take place.
The other plotline concerns the fictional Middle Eastern country called Kebiria. UNIT has sent an operative to investigate a strange “anomaly” somewhere in the desert mountains of this foreign land, which was photographed by reconnaissance aircraft. Lethbridge-Stewart receives a phone call from a reporter who is covering peace talks between this country and its neighbor, who met this UNIT operative just prior to his grisly death. He drove out of the desert in a UNIT jeep, and this reporter found that he was severely bloated (and it wasn’t the water he drank) and babbling something about “dancing the code.” He then proceeds to burst open, and out flows yummy honey! The Bedouin tribe this reporter is staying with also witnesses this, and burns the remains. Apparently there is a story in their folklore relating these same events – and of course, it is a bad omen. So the Brig decides to send Mike Yates and some troops to check this out, and Jo follows along so she doesn’t get shot and killed by the Brigadier. (She doesn’t want to get shot and killed, so she goes to a war-torn Middle Eastern country…good thinking!)
Review: Well, I was none too thrilled when the time came to read this book. The last Third Doctor Missing Adventure I read was “The Ghosts Of N-Space”, and it completely stank. But, to my surprise, this one was actually good. Paul Leonard has done the memory of the third Doctor some justice. All the separate plots merge into a pitched battle for global supremacy by quite an interesting enemy – and no, it is not the Master for a change!
The characterizations in this book are spot on. You could actually hear the words being spoken by the actors. Jo even blushes and becomes embarrassed when she hears another person swear! Quite realistic in all, and a very enjoyable Third Doctor adventure. My review does not do it justice, and I recommend reading it. It is a 7.5 out of 10 for sure, read it if you can find it. If you like the Third Doctor, it will bring back some funny memories of grainy footage, and make you want to drag out the old videos to re-watch some super over-the-top acting.
Year: 1994
Author: Paul Leonard
Publisher: Virgin
