- Paperback: 326 pages
- Publisher: Dr Who; paperback / softback edition (15 Jun 1995)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 042620445X
- ISBN-13: 978-0426204459
- Product Dimensions: 17.5 x 10.9 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 470,688 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Synopsis
The fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith land in London in 1998, just as the global information superhighway is about to come on-line. When that happens, OffNet will control everything, which makes them a target for an advanced alien race. The Doctor needs help to foil the aliens' takeover bid.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
This 'Missing Adventure' in the post-TV series Doctor Who strand centres on a rebellion an alien world and a linked kidnapping in Central London in 1998. The head of MI5 is assassinated whilst a seige situation is violently dealt with by SAS troopers. The Fourth Doctor is caught-up in events when a computer disc is surreptitiously slipped into his pocket by a dead man. Along with companion Sarah-Jane Smith, The Timelord tries to prevent the breakdown of society on Earth and at the same time attempts to thwart an invasion by outer-space warriors. This story is canonically in-between 1975 TV stories 'The Seeds of Doom' and The Masque of Mandragora.
One of the better 'Missing Adventures' it benefits from focusing on the most popular and charismatic of the Timelord's incarnations and the show's best companions; out of the thirty odd books in the range it is certainly one of the five best.
One of the better 'Missing Adventures' it benefits from focusing on the most popular and charismatic of the Timelord's incarnations and the show's best companions; out of the thirty odd books in the range it is certainly one of the five best.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
The Internet welcomes alien invaders
2 Dec 2000
Format:Paperback
[Not sure what is happening here - like 'Managra', the earlier reviews, including one by me for 'Sorcerer's Apprentice' are not for this book!]
Something that Doctor Who is usually bad at is the return of regular characters in such a way as to show the passage of time. With 'System Shock', Justin Richards gives this a go by reintroducing Harry Sullivan some twenty years after his travels in the TARDIS.
The Doctor and Sarah arrive on Earth in 1998, where they are drawn into an MI5 investigation of I2, a software company. They meet up with Harry, now an Assistant Chief of Staff of MI5, who assists them in this story of alien takeover via the Internet.
I found the returning Harry to be an excellent addition to the story. At the time of his travels with the Doctor, Harry was an often bumbling do-gooder who seemed more capable of getting in people's way than assisting. His time post-UNIT has made him a much more competent character without destroying his essential Harryness.
Also pleasing are the different reactions of the Doctor and Sarah to this older Harry. It's normal for the Doctor, but Sarah is shocked. It brings home the reality of time travel to her.
The story is pretty stock-standard, not different enough to warrant that close an examination, but it does provide a background on which the interaction of these characters can be watched.
'System Shock' has generated a sequel, 'Millennium Shock' which should please those who enjoy this book.
Good fun; pleasant way to kill some time
27 Oct 2011
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Pros:
1. Justin Richards doesn't take the obvious path of being blindly pro-tech or anti-tech, but delivers a more nuanced picture.
2. He also has a great ear for dialogue, both internal and external. Sarah, the Doctor, and Harry's voices ring true and clear.
3. The villains aren't your typical cyborgs, an imaginative choice.
4. The story is, at least in retrospect, a very amusing and incisive satire of 90s business culture.
5. The choice to explore the emotional impact of time travel, seeing an old friend suddenly aged or suddenly young, gives the story a lovely emotional resonance.
6. Sarah Jane gets some truly kickass moments.
Cons:
1. The prose is a bit off. You cannot grin or smile dialogue, and there was one point where somebody shrugged with their eyes or their eyebrows that jolted me out of the story to try to attempt that for thirty or so seconds. There's definitely a sort of eyebrow motion that goes along with a shoulder shrug, but it doesn't really work without the shoulder involvement. Anyway, I spent too much time thinking about this, which in my opinion is an indication that just saying that the character had shrugged would've worked much better.
Other:
The cover art is kind of hilarious. The reptilian cyborg is pretty cool, and okay, I guess the CD was a plot point so it can be on there, whatever. But then the Doctor shows up in the background, pretty clearly having been drawn from one of the first publicity shots to pop up on Google (or whatever we had back in the nineties; was that Ask Jeeves?), but in such a way that half of his face looks furious and the other half looks about to weep. Meanwhile gun-toting Sarah Jane's head looks too small for her body, or possibly it's just that certain parts of the body seem a bit overlarge--methinks the artist forgot which brunette he was drawing once he got past the neckline and starting going for Peri.
1. Justin Richards doesn't take the obvious path of being blindly pro-tech or anti-tech, but delivers a more nuanced picture.
2. He also has a great ear for dialogue, both internal and external. Sarah, the Doctor, and Harry's voices ring true and clear.
3. The villains aren't your typical cyborgs, an imaginative choice.
4. The story is, at least in retrospect, a very amusing and incisive satire of 90s business culture.
5. The choice to explore the emotional impact of time travel, seeing an old friend suddenly aged or suddenly young, gives the story a lovely emotional resonance.
6. Sarah Jane gets some truly kickass moments.
Cons:
1. The prose is a bit off. You cannot grin or smile dialogue, and there was one point where somebody shrugged with their eyes or their eyebrows that jolted me out of the story to try to attempt that for thirty or so seconds. There's definitely a sort of eyebrow motion that goes along with a shoulder shrug, but it doesn't really work without the shoulder involvement. Anyway, I spent too much time thinking about this, which in my opinion is an indication that just saying that the character had shrugged would've worked much better.
Other:
The cover art is kind of hilarious. The reptilian cyborg is pretty cool, and okay, I guess the CD was a plot point so it can be on there, whatever. But then the Doctor shows up in the background, pretty clearly having been drawn from one of the first publicity shots to pop up on Google (or whatever we had back in the nineties; was that Ask Jeeves?), but in such a way that half of his face looks furious and the other half looks about to weep. Meanwhile gun-toting Sarah Jane's head looks too small for her body, or possibly it's just that certain parts of the body seem a bit overlarge--methinks the artist forgot which brunette he was drawing once he got past the neckline and starting going for Peri.
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