Subject: Who Reviews: Evolution

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 1995 19:22:29 GMT

Who Reviews: Volume III #3
				 by
			      Ray Tate
EVOLUTION: John Peel

	EVOLUTION is a Missing Adventure starring Tom Baker's Doctor and one
of my favorite companions Sara Jane Smith.  If there's anything wrong with
Mr. Peel's work, I can't find it.
	His characterization of the Doctor earns him a TARDIS.  Tom Baker
once remarked that he never knew how to play the Doctor, and that any
spontaneity seen by viewers was genuine, but I tend to disagree.  In
"Robot," the Doctor was erratic--logical since he just regenerated, but each
episode, Tom Baker brought forth a consistent alien curiosity and overall
looseness which Mr. Peel's Doctor exhibits in EVOLUTION.  Robin Banks
Stewart, in "Seeds of Doom," et.al., re-introduced the nasty streak the
Doctor always possessed (Perhaps, it is this consolidated nastiness that
results in the Valeyard), and in Mr. Peel's novel, the Doctor's quiet
threats are effective.  His thoughts though not self-explored do not remain
a mystery. Through Sara's eyes, readers view the Doctor, and she peels him
like an orange.  She makes the shallow "I left Gallifrey because I was
bored" origin more believable.
	Once the companion serving the longest--I believe Tegan tied, and
Ace won this contest--Sara doesn't waste words when talking to the Doctor.
They can almost read each other's minds--perhaps in the Doctor's case, this
is literally true, and in Mr. Peel's hands, Sara reaches the potential
hinted at in the series.  She handles a gun as well as she did in "Pyramids
of Mars."  She rides a horse and shows herself to be an excellent
investigator, without the Doctor's help.  She displays the humorous disdain
for schoolboys she exhibited in "K-9 and Company," and she isn't a companion
to be rescued.  Sara plays an integral part in the clever solution of an
accurate Victorian mystery featuring such notables as Arthur Conan Doyle and
Rudyard Kipling.  Well, worth your time and money, EVOLUTION is on the level
of GOTH OPERA, NO FUTURE, LOVE & WAR and TYMEWYRM: REVELATION.

%A John Peel
%T Evolution
%I Virgin Pub. Ltd.
%C London
%D 1994 (pb1995)
%G ISBN 0-426-20422-0
%O pb, US $5.95
%S The Missing Adventures of Doctor Who

E-mailed compliments and criticism always welcome.  Flames doused.

						"Oi!"
						  --Sara

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