Doctor Who and the Light of Truth

Douglas Adams and James Goss, Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen

The Doctor and Romana receive an alert that the universe is about to end, again. Must be Thursday. So they trace the signal to its source: Lord’s Cricket Ground, London. They arrive just in time to witness murderous robots in cricket players’ uniforms storm the field. It seems the consummately British game of cricket is secretly a reenactment of an ancient interstellar war, and after centuries, the Krikkitmen have returned.

If this sounds hauntingly familiar, well spotted. Douglas Adams pitched this story to the BBC twice: first with the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane, then years later, with the Fourth Doctor and Romana. When Auntie Beeb passed twice, Adams felt strongly enough about his spec script that he removed all franchise references he didn’t own. He rewrote it as the third Hitchhiker’s Guide novel: Life, the Universe, and Everything.

When the TARDIS crew return to Gallifrey, the Time Lords dismiss their urgent pleas. Everyone knows the Krikkitmen were defeated æons ago; the idea they might return is preposterous. But apparently, there’s a higher power at play. Some transcendent being is prepared to destroy reality itself in order to complete a mission left half-finished in dark and distant ages. So once again, the Doctor and Romana must fight alone.

James Goss formerly managed the BBC’s dedicated Doctor Who website, making himself a nexus of fan culture. Since then, he’s written (or ghostwritten) several DW-related novels, perfecting the ability to mimic franchise writers’ voices from ages past. Here, he perfectly channels not only Douglas Adams’ fast-paced Oxbridge humor, but his themes, particularly his disdain for warmongers and organized religion. It really feels like a Douglas Adams novel.

Douglas Adams

Dedicated Douglas Adams fans will recognize how Goss sets himself a difficult challenge here. Goss uses Adams’ final DW-branded notes, striving to recapture Adams’ sardonic but scientifically informed tone. But he can’t just recreate Life, the Universe, and Everything beat-for-beat. The hybrid story does resemble Adams’ previously-written plot enough to feel familiar, but also recaptures the smart, languorous tone of 1970s-era Doctor Who.

The resulting story recaptures what fans loved about the series during that era. It caroms among dozens of planets, features loads of explosions and dramatic cliffhangers, and drops punchlines at unexpected dramatic moments. It takes jabs at then-current politics, direct to the face. And it features the Fourth Doctor in his element: bored in the midst of galaxy-spanning conflict, tired of his extremely long life but unwilling to die.

It also shoehorns in Adams’ notorious erudition. While the story’s political jibes are overt and aggressive, its intellectual themes are more subtle. By stressing how cricket, the game, quietly recreates a terrible war that game-players have long forgotten, it emphasizes how much of everyday ritual is designed to memorialize [sic] historical events we’ve forgotten. Adams was a follower of Sir J.G. Frasier, which some readers will recognize.

Specifically, Frasier believed that certain traditions, like patriotism and religion, were rituals conducted to remember important events that happened in the honored past. Unfortunately, those rituals eventually become more important than the events they commemorate, and the original events get forgotten. People go to church, or go to war, to acknowledge important truths. Exactly what those truths are, however, becomes lost in the clouds. This story makes that symbolism explicit.

James Goss

In contrast, the Doctor exists entirely as he is. As a time traveler, he can’t lose track of the original meanings behind favorite traditions; chances are, he was there when those traditions were created. He has the ability to pierce the veil that covers the minds of mere mortals. Which, in this book, he does literally, bringing the light of truth to a civilization shrouded in generations of darkness.

It’s possible to read this novel as a fun, fast-paced, silly adventure. It captures what fans love about classic Doctor Who, which isn’t entirely surprising; Douglas Adams was showrunner during the series’ highest-rated years. But it also continues Adams’ longstanding pattern of using slapstick comedy to address the themes he considered important, particularly humankind’s tendency to cling mindlessly to traditions. For broad, dumb comedy, this story is remarkably erudite.

In reviewing books, I don’t normally recommend particular formats for reading. However, for specifically this book, I strongly suggest fans consider grabbing the audiobook. It contains the unabridged novel text, but voice actor Dan Starkey, famous among Doctor Who fans as Strax the Sontaran, manages to create a roster of distinct voices, including a Tom Baker impersonation so uncanny, I thought the Fourth Doctor was in the studio.