Doctor Who

April 15, 2020
Doctor Who and companions go to the Devil. Writing with Goss, Baker, the fourth and most renowned of the long-running TV series' Time Lords, spins a never-produced film script into a two-part, save-the-world adventure. The Doctor and human friends Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan first find themselves on one of the Scilly Isles, where a mysterious contagion is turning all the residents into "primally terrifying" scarecrows, then pass through an ominously expanding dimensional rift to the volcanic slopes of the Land of the Dead for dust-ups with metal Cybermen, giant spiders, and other foes faced in episodes down the years (but, strangely, not Daleks)--culminating in a duel with Lucifer himself in the guise of Scratchman, a nattily attired businessman with a globe of fire for a head. The Devil, it seems, uses and feeds on fears, and it's the Doctor's ultimate challenge du jour to find a way to keep him from turning Earth into a physical as well as emotional wasteland. Along with many nods to series foes and fixtures, the exploit features cameos from no fewer than four other Doctors, including the current one (the first woman to play the role), and generous measures of the show's characteristically whimsical horror. Multiple postscripts in the wake of the good guys' eventual triumph include a history of the original script and reminiscences from its authors. A jolly romp with tidbits for new fans and generations of old ones alike. (Fantasy. 15-adult)

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