En
route, as ever to Metebelis III, the TARDIS is forced to land upon the moon of
Verd by a mysterious power. Their visit coincides with Perihelion Night
and the eve of Lady Ria's marriage to Lord Esnic. Unfortunately, Lady Ria
is far more in love with her cousin Tonio, and Esnic's greed for power goes far
beyond his fiancée's dowry. It's not long before the Doctor and Jo
discover that they have landed on yet another strange world, full of courtly
eccentrics. The ruler of Verd, Duke Altero, has changed somewhat
from the father Ria once knew and loved, and seems to spend most of his time
deep in meditation, despite the fact that the whole experience leaves him far
more agitated than chilled out. Verd is a small moon, but the Doctor and
Jo are perplexed to see that it is covered in trees. And then there is
the moon's strange, inconsistent gravity, that forces all its inhabitants to
swim through the trees like the participants in Ang Lee's famous movie.
Despite this seeming reference to 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon', much of
'Nightdreamers' is distilled from the Doctor Who of thirty years
ago. Tom Arden's representation of the Third Doctor and Jo is spot on,
especially when he introduces a rocket bike for the Doctor to play with.
Verd itself is not a million miles away from Peladon and its courtly intrigues
(but perhaps Tom Arden takes a couple of the triple bluffs a little too
far). The Novella is divided into four Acts, just as most of the Doctor's
classic adventures were. Yet Nightdreamers seems to be more of a pastiche
than anything else. Yes, you can taste the Pertwee era here, you can
revel in the sense of fun Tom Arden obviously has as he plays with scenes
derived from childish nostalgia. But there is little of substance and of
novelty here. It does not take a genius to work out that much of the plot
has been borrowed from Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', but Tom Arden
does not seem to be doing anything in particular with his plunderings.
Although the flavour of the Pertwee era is very much present, the tone does
derive more from the Graham Williams' era, with its silly pantomimes of classic
fables, such as Theseus and the Minotaur in 'The Horns of Nimon', and Jason and
the Argonaughts in 'The Underworld': two of the most unloved Doctor Who
adventures of all time. One can just see Sophie Ellis Bextor playing Lady
Ria... Not all of these pastiches were a waste of time: one is reminded
of Robert Holmes's take on Conan Doyle's famous detective in The Talons of Weng
Chiang, and of the many complex layers he added to that story. Tom
Arden, despite his surname, could never really hope to produce a definitive
play on the works of William Shakespeare, and his use of terminology reflects
his desire to produce a farce rather than a tragedy (he calls the ultimate
weapon in his story "the Vorgon Ray"!). Tom Arden's love of
Shakespeare does seem to have been a factor in his choice of pen name. It
may be that some of the drama of Nightdreamers is also derived from Shakespeare's
As You Like It, which was set in the Forest of Arden. I suspect that even
the bumbling palace staff who capture the Doctor could have put on a better
drama than this, and the resolution of the piece is more Trek than Doctor
Who. All in all, despite a fantastic piece of cover art work by Martin
McKenna, a charming introduction by Katy Manning, and the exquisite bindings of
these novellas, Nightdreamers does not really live up to editor David J. Howe's
desire for each one to be a special event. Tom Arden himself misses out on
a chance to show a new market what he can really do, and thus an
opportunity to add to his own readership. Yes, Nightdreamers is fun, but
it is as insubstantial as many of the ghostly images that it presents.
Authortrek Rating:
6/10
Kevin
Patrick Mahoney
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