- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: BBC Books; First Edition edition (29 Nov 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0563555890
- ISBN-13: 978-0563555896
- Product Dimensions: 17.5 x 11.2 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 254,133 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Amazon.co.uk Review
If only the more recent TV outings of Doctor Who were as consistently inventive and exciting as this BBC series of novels! Yet again, with Peter Anghelides' Frontier Worlds, we have another adventure of the eighth Doctor written with wonderfully created new locales, plotting that fires on all cylinders and a characterisation of the Time Lord that is richer and quirkier than anything we've seen in TV Doctors in years.
The planet Drebnar possesses a strange attraction--what is it that so frequently lures people to this inhospitable world? When the TARDIS is inadvertently dragged there, the Doctor makes it his business to find out the reason. He discovers that scientists from the shady Frontier Worlds Operation are using the planet as a base, and are creating strange hybrids of people and plants. But when the TARDIS crew become involved in this sinister biological struggle, they are soon caught up in individual crises. And when the doctor is trapped in the freezing wilderness, it appears as if no one will be able save him from a fatal experiment in genetic modification.
Anghelides creates his strange planet and its sinister inhabitants with rich atmosphere and menace, and the extra attention given to the TARDIS crew pays off in dividends: the Doctor remains centre stage, but there are more characters for the reader to become totally involved in. And when a lethal alien organism is lured to Drebnar by the Corporation, things become very nasty indeed. If the latter menace owes not a little to a certain Ridley Scott film, it's no worse for that, and ratchets up the tension considerably. Another winner in an ambitious and arresting series. --Barry Forshaw
Product Description
What strange attraction lures people to the planet Drebnar? When the TARDIS is dragged there, the Doctor determines to find out why. He discovers that scientists from the Frontier Worlds Corporation have set up a base on the planet, and are trying to blur the distinction between people and plants.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This Doctor Who novel starts off in the manner of a Bond movie - the Doctor performing daredevil stunts whilst pursued by hired grunts on skis. There are even blood-red fisheyes. The only thing missing is the theme music, although the adrenaline of the prose more than makes up for it.
The TARDIS has been drawn to the planet Drebnar, home of the Frontier Worlds Corporation. The Doctor is determined to find out why, and so Compassion and Fitz become employees of Frontier Worlds. Whilst Compassion dedicates her time to spying on the company, Fitz dedicates his to spying on and seducing his female coworkers. But the TARDIS crew are not the only aliens to have landed on Drebnar. Before he knows it, the Doctor has become embroiled within a corporate plot of Frankenstein proportions, which even involves Frank Sinatra, seemingly back from the dead. Unless he succeeds, an entire system could be wiped out by human folly...
Following in the wake of Lawrence Miles' Interference, this is another very topical Doctor Who novel. The debate about what we eat and how it is produced is currently at the heart of our culture. Anghelides has displaced the debate by setting it on an alien planet. However, Drebnar is not exactly unlike Earth, and it could be possible to argue that the author has revealed a great lack of imagination by not bothering to provide much of an alien environment. Possible, but futile. Much of Drebnar's fun derives from the fact that it is so much like Earth. Okay, so this scenario is quite improbable, but since when has that been a handicap to Doctor Who? Especially when the Doctor has foes that delight in such paradoxes...
I suppose the television story which most resembles this is The Seeds of Doom. There's certainly the same amount of vegetation involved, and the Doctor's just as ready with his fists as Tom Baker was in that story (always a surprising scene, but then Seeds was written by Robert Banks Stewart, who later created Bergerac). To his credit, Anghelides makes no reference to The Seeds of Doom, and instead concentrates on telling his own story, which is highly compelling and very witty. This book is a joy to read. The characterisation is superb. Before Frontier Worlds, I've hated the very mention of Fitz Kreiner, because he was so flat and insipid. Why would I want to transport myself into adventure with such a wet blanket? A towel may be crucial to your average intergalactic hitchhiker, but a wet blanket is such a drag. But what Anghelides has managed to do seems impossible: he has breathed life into Fitz, given him new vibrancy. Anghelides does this by having much of the novel narrated by Fitz in the first person, and in doing so performs miracles. It's a device that works incredibly well here, and harks back to the very first Doctor Who book, when David Whitaker presented the Doctor's exciting adventure with the Daleks through the eyes of Ian Chesterton. It also helps that Fitz and Compassion are given jobs with Frontier Worlds: many readers will readily identify with the TARDIS crew's workplace experiences. Peter Anghelides too has developed his style considerably from Kursaal, and I shall be awaiting the next installment from his pen with a great deal of impatience.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Cover blurb:
What strange attraction lures people to the planet Drebnar? When the TARDIS is dragged there, the Doctor determines to find out why.
He discovers that scientists from the mysterious Frontier Worlds Corporation have set up a base on the planet, and are trying to blur the distinction between people and plants. The TARDIS crew plan to prevent a biological catastrophe -- but their plan goes wrong all too soon.
Compassion finds her undercover work so engrossing she risks losing her detachment. Fitz seems too distracted by the local population to keep his eye on Compassion. So when the Doctor gets trapped in a freezing wilderness, who can stop him from falling victim to a lethal experiment in genetic modification?
For something else has been lured to Drebnar, something that Frontier Worlds Corporation will ruthlessly exploit without care for the consequences -- an ancient organism which threatens to snuff out Drebnar's solar system.
Frontier Worlds is one of the better post TV series Doctor Who novels that I've read. It's a fairly standard story with an engaging if unimaginative plot, but Peter Anghelides' writing style is good enough to raise the novel above its average content.
The Eighth Doctor's curious companion Compassion seems more freed up here than the symbolic, one-dimensional character than she's seemed to date. Cocky 1960s Londoner Fitz also comes across as being a lot more likeable than we're used to, and as the two companions are separated from TheDoctor we see them come into their own at last.
Ultimately this is an Eighth Doctor novel where although absent from the action for swathes of the story, the nomadic Time Lord really seems comfortable in his latest skin while his companions benefit from his absence. Good effort and definitely recommended.
What strange attraction lures people to the planet Drebnar? When the TARDIS is dragged there, the Doctor determines to find out why.
He discovers that scientists from the mysterious Frontier Worlds Corporation have set up a base on the planet, and are trying to blur the distinction between people and plants. The TARDIS crew plan to prevent a biological catastrophe -- but their plan goes wrong all too soon.
Compassion finds her undercover work so engrossing she risks losing her detachment. Fitz seems too distracted by the local population to keep his eye on Compassion. So when the Doctor gets trapped in a freezing wilderness, who can stop him from falling victim to a lethal experiment in genetic modification?
For something else has been lured to Drebnar, something that Frontier Worlds Corporation will ruthlessly exploit without care for the consequences -- an ancient organism which threatens to snuff out Drebnar's solar system.
Frontier Worlds is one of the better post TV series Doctor Who novels that I've read. It's a fairly standard story with an engaging if unimaginative plot, but Peter Anghelides' writing style is good enough to raise the novel above its average content.
The Eighth Doctor's curious companion Compassion seems more freed up here than the symbolic, one-dimensional character than she's seemed to date. Cocky 1960s Londoner Fitz also comes across as being a lot more likeable than we're used to, and as the two companions are separated from TheDoctor we see them come into their own at last.
Ultimately this is an Eighth Doctor novel where although absent from the action for swathes of the story, the nomadic Time Lord really seems comfortable in his latest skin while his companions benefit from his absence. Good effort and definitely recommended.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This novel is simply brilliant. Comfortably the best eighth doctor novel so far, i found it impossible to put down. From Fitz's impersonation of Frank Sinatra to the Raab, an intelligent vegetable this novel will keep you gripped. At times this novel is also extremely dark. The standout point being when one of the characters is minced to death. If you've never read an eighth doctor novel before then this is a great one to start with.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Action packed, intelligent sci-fi
Many moons ago I used to read a lot of science fiction but over the years my tastes have changed and I have drifted away. Read more
Published on 21 Sep 2005 by Sam
Simply superb
"Frontier Worlds" is one of the best novels of the BBC Eighth Doctor range. It has mystery, intrigue, industrial espionage, action, green monsters and witticisms. Read more
Published on 5 Jun 2002
Disappointing-Too slow and uncertain
I found this rather slow and hard work. All the ingredients were there for an exciting story but somehow they never managed to make up a satisfying whole for me. Read more
Published on 9 Aug 2001 by finna
Should be up there with the Dr Who classics
This book is one of the best of the BBC book range. It is gripping throughout. This appears to be more reminicient to "old" Dr Who than most other 8th Doctor novels, and... Read more
Published on 17 Jun 2000
entertaining mix of killer vegetables and office politics
Frontier Worlds is a great book - it reads terribly easily, dragging the reader through a plot that blends genetic experimentation and sinister corporations in a style that owes an... Read more
Published on 30 Dec 1999
Proving SF spin-offs can be well written
Anghelides made it. The strange narrator changes, the atmosphere, the colors and the sound he shows to the reader are on the verge of a big novel, whatever the genre or time. Read more
Published on 10 Dec 1999 by jvalmeida@ip.pt
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