Doctor Who BOok Review: Last of the Gaderene

Third book, Third Doctor. Last of the Gaderene was written in 2000 by Mark Gatiss, who, incidentally, would go on to write episodes when the show rebooted.

Basic plot as follows: In a small little British village, a group of shady individuals buys the recently-defunct WWII era aerodome to turn it into a large scale airport. The company, one Legacy International, is so shady that one of the village's old timers, a survivor of the War, decides to call in a favor from his old war buddy, one Brigadier Alistair Lethbrage-Stewart. Naturally, the Brig sends in the Doctor and Jo Grant to investigate. Naturally, since the Brig has sent in the Doctor to investigate, it turns out to be an alien invasion. In fact, it turns out to be an alien invasion spearheaded by none other than the Master.

This story is a bit different than the previous two. For one thing, it's Earthbound rather than spacebound. For another, it is--as I've had the Doctor say a couple of times in Storm of Chaos--"an actual mission, very Double Oh Seven," rather than something the Doctor just accidentally stumbled upon. This is largely because of the fact it's a Third Doctor story, of course. Even after he had his banishment annulled at the end of the Three Doctors (and this book does take place during that time, he even spends a couple of chapters offworld wrapping up one of his accidentally stumbled upon adventures.) he kind of made then-modern Earth and UNIT his home. It took a regeneration into an insane scarf-wearing candy eater for him to really take the TARDIS and run. This book actually does touch upon the fact that, now that the Doctor is free, he really has no reason to stay at UNIT full time and the day will come that he will leave his position for good. And of course, this Doctor gets into physical altercations at least as much as he finds clever solutions to the task at hand. He is the Third Doctor, after all.

The real joys of this book are the Doctor and Jo, and the Doctor and the Master. In one moment, the Doctor and Jo are clearly very close, almost in sync, and Jo is noting how he's actually treating her with respect, like a colleague, the next, he's accidentally belittling her, making her storm off in a huff. Then of course, there's the Master. The original Master. The overtones of their long-gone friendship are there, but the Master's sheer, unrepentant evil kinda overshadows it. His whole reason behind helping the invasion is just to see the human race destroyed, and even after it all inevitably goes to Hell, he continues to keep his plans going to the end out of pure spite. Of course, he also bellows his famous line "and you will obey me!" multiple times, as he hypnotizes a few hapless citizens.

Overall, probably my favorite book so far 9/10. Next up, the Fourth Doctor. Gotta admit, I'm looking forward to it.