Magnificent. Doctor Who does masculine 80s fantasy, cleverly, playfully, and with a theme of the Doctor running into his own future that is 20 years ahead of its time. If this was the version we'd got on telly (and there are lots of reasons, good and bad, we didn't), Battlefield would be remembered as one of the best Doctor Who stories ever. ( )

http://nhw.livejournal.com/1081346.html#cutid1

I'm not the greatest fan of Ben Aaronovitch, who wrote the original script, but Platt has taken the story and makes it work really well on paper. It makes you realise just how much of the TV version's problems were down to poor direction, bad music and lousy acting. We get some lovely back-story for the Brigadier and Doris; we get just enough explanation for the Doctor being Merlin to leave room for further speculation without just being stupid; we get the Bambera/Ancelyn relationship decently treated as well. Interestingly Platt has broken the story up into four parts which more or less coincide with the episodes as broadcast, the only novelisation where I remember this being done.

An easy pass for the Bechdel test, with Ace and Shou Youing defending each other against the forces of darkness (in the book, we are not distracted by their awful acting).

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/battlefield-by-philip-purser-hallard-and-ben-aar...

I still agree with all of that. The middle and end of the story still don’t make much sense, but the beginning is very well developed and that gives you enough momentum to keep going. Intriguingly, Platt’s future Doctor has red hair. ( )