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Past Doctor Adventures #unpublished
Doctor Who: Equilibrium
- GenresDoctor Who
274 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2005
89 people want to read
About the author
Simon A. Forward
35 books28 followersSimon A. Forward is an author and dramatist most famous for his work on a variety of Doctor Who spin-offs. He currently lives and works in Penzance with his wife as a full-time writer.
Forward specialises in sci-fi novels such as Doctor Who. His most recent work is Evil Unlimited for the Kindle. Simon's first published work was the short story One Bad Apple in BBC Books' Doctor Who anthology More Short Trips (BBC Books, 1999). Following this, Simon had a proposal for a Past Doctor Adventure accepted, and the subsequent novel, Drift, was published by BBC Books in 2002.
Having a successful novel behind him, Simon contacted Gary Russell about the possibility of writing for Big Finish's range of audio adventures. The enquiry resulted in him writing the audio play The Sandman (Big Finish, 2002). Simon went on from this to write several short stories for the Big Finish Short Trips volumes, as well two subsequent audio adventures.
Forward also wrote the novella Shell Shock (Telos Publishing Ltd., 2003). This was part of their range of Doctor Who novellas and is now out of print. In the same year, Simon also had another Doctor Who novel published by BBC Books, the Eighth Doctor Adventure Emotional Chemistry (BBC Books, 2003).
2009 saw two novelisations of the BBC television series Merlin, followed by a third in 2010.
2010 also saw the independent publication of an original SF Comedy, Evil UnLtd, in ebook form.
Forward specialises in sci-fi novels such as Doctor Who. His most recent work is Evil Unlimited for the Kindle. Simon's first published work was the short story One Bad Apple in BBC Books' Doctor Who anthology More Short Trips (BBC Books, 1999). Following this, Simon had a proposal for a Past Doctor Adventure accepted, and the subsequent novel, Drift, was published by BBC Books in 2002.
Having a successful novel behind him, Simon contacted Gary Russell about the possibility of writing for Big Finish's range of audio adventures. The enquiry resulted in him writing the audio play The Sandman (Big Finish, 2002). Simon went on from this to write several short stories for the Big Finish Short Trips volumes, as well two subsequent audio adventures.
Forward also wrote the novella Shell Shock (Telos Publishing Ltd., 2003). This was part of their range of Doctor Who novellas and is now out of print. In the same year, Simon also had another Doctor Who novel published by BBC Books, the Eighth Doctor Adventure Emotional Chemistry (BBC Books, 2003).
2009 saw two novelisations of the BBC television series Merlin, followed by a third in 2010.
2010 also saw the independent publication of an original SF Comedy, Evil UnLtd, in ebook form.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 3, 2018
DNF (Sadly struggled to get to the end) Not a great start to 2018.
Maybe it's a sign to avoid stuff which failed to get published.
Like Campaign and Time's Champion, Equilibrium is an unpublished Doctor Who Novel. Campaign
was self published by the author because the BBC thought the novel was too abnormal and Time's Champion due to it going over controversial topics concerning Doctor Who's Canon.
Equilibrium goes way back and was Simon A Forward's first novel. Even before Drift. It was originally going to be apart of the Virgin Missing Adventures range but didn't make it. The author tried again and release it later on in the BBC PDA Range but again it never got published.
I found out about this unpublished work about a month ago and was interested to check it out and potentially review it on the YouTube channel to give it some form of attention that this is actually exists. As I bet hardly anyone besides a handful know of this. However, due to the outcome of the unpublished book for me, I decided to cancel my plan of reviewing it on TJ Productions because it wasn't really worth it.
I've experienced some of his work he's done for Doctor Who and I wouldn't consider myself a fan of him. Not a bad writer at all. Drift I found disappointing and Dreamtime started out fantastic but it went off the rails after. The Sandman is his best work (7/10) has a great concept just like Drift and Dreamtime but I feel the execution of his stories are always the downfall and my main problem with him. With that said, I respect him as an author as his stories always have a good intriguing concept and would hope one day a story of his is incredibly well executed and delivered.
Right on to Equilibrium. Somewhere in Season 7 and after Inferno.
Plain and simple: It's not worth it.
Equilibrium is (was) supposed to be the prequel novel to the BBC EDA novel 'Emotional Chemistry.' You don't need any knowledge of Emotional Chemistry to go into Equilibrium. Since the PDA's were going through a renovation in the later years of the range, the BBC decided not to do stories were it's a sequel or prequel to an TV episode or an earlier book which gives us the reason why 'Equilibrium' didn't get published by the BBC.
Since it's a prequel to 'Emotional Chemistry' I expected this novel to be a war style story. Hopefully bleak and action packed.
From what I got from the setup of the novel. I didn't get a Season 7 feeling unfortunately. Season 7 has in my opinion one of the greatest formula's in Doctor Who's history. The story felt like to me it would be dealing with mythology, legends and a fantasy style story. The setup of lightning and a bleak sky, the references to Mythology and the notes on the seven Chieftains makes it feels like something from the 'Myths and Legends' DVD Box set.
So..... uhhh. Something like 'The Time Monster?' Regarded to many as a very bad story. One of the worst of 70s Classic who.
Well, on the topic of the box set; all three of the stories are hated! (The Time Monster, Underworld and The Horns of Nimon) I don't mind The Time Monster but I don't think it's a good formula to go for and would be a lot better to go for the Season 7 formula.
The characterisation of the The Doctor and Liz at the setup of the story is alright. Other authors I feel can do a much better job. However, I like the reasoning behind why Simon A Forward decided to do this story with Liz Shaw, and not Jo because he believes The 3rd Doctor and Liz had this great professional and honest relationship. I agree 100% and Liz is such an underrated companion.
As I said, it was Simon's first work and it most defiantly shows. Simon likely worked on this story and changed things during the years it was attempted to get published. I think the writing is okay and I can see a difference of writing with this and Drift. Drift was stronger. Even if I rated it a 4/10.
It didn't feel like a third doctor story to me and not Season 7 at all. I suggest just going to these third Doctor stories:
The Devil Goblins from Neptune, Scales of Injustice and Eye of the Giant for a book which actually feels like a Season 7 story.
Overall, I didn't like it. I failed to finish it. Sadly, the YouTube review on TJ Productions is cancelled as I don't think it's worth the attention from my channel as a recommendation as an example.
If you like Myths and Legends and the Time Monster formula; then maybe. If not, and you want a season 7 story; don't bother.
Rating: DNF
Maybe it's a sign to avoid stuff which failed to get published.
Like Campaign and Time's Champion, Equilibrium is an unpublished Doctor Who Novel. Campaign
was self published by the author because the BBC thought the novel was too abnormal and Time's Champion due to it going over controversial topics concerning Doctor Who's Canon.
Equilibrium goes way back and was Simon A Forward's first novel. Even before Drift. It was originally going to be apart of the Virgin Missing Adventures range but didn't make it. The author tried again and release it later on in the BBC PDA Range but again it never got published.
I found out about this unpublished work about a month ago and was interested to check it out and potentially review it on the YouTube channel to give it some form of attention that this is actually exists. As I bet hardly anyone besides a handful know of this. However, due to the outcome of the unpublished book for me, I decided to cancel my plan of reviewing it on TJ Productions because it wasn't really worth it.
I've experienced some of his work he's done for Doctor Who and I wouldn't consider myself a fan of him. Not a bad writer at all. Drift I found disappointing and Dreamtime started out fantastic but it went off the rails after. The Sandman is his best work (7/10) has a great concept just like Drift and Dreamtime but I feel the execution of his stories are always the downfall and my main problem with him. With that said, I respect him as an author as his stories always have a good intriguing concept and would hope one day a story of his is incredibly well executed and delivered.
Right on to Equilibrium. Somewhere in Season 7 and after Inferno.
Plain and simple: It's not worth it.
Equilibrium is (was) supposed to be the prequel novel to the BBC EDA novel 'Emotional Chemistry.' You don't need any knowledge of Emotional Chemistry to go into Equilibrium. Since the PDA's were going through a renovation in the later years of the range, the BBC decided not to do stories were it's a sequel or prequel to an TV episode or an earlier book which gives us the reason why 'Equilibrium' didn't get published by the BBC.
Since it's a prequel to 'Emotional Chemistry' I expected this novel to be a war style story. Hopefully bleak and action packed.
From what I got from the setup of the novel. I didn't get a Season 7 feeling unfortunately. Season 7 has in my opinion one of the greatest formula's in Doctor Who's history. The story felt like to me it would be dealing with mythology, legends and a fantasy style story. The setup of lightning and a bleak sky, the references to Mythology and the notes on the seven Chieftains makes it feels like something from the 'Myths and Legends' DVD Box set.
So..... uhhh. Something like 'The Time Monster?' Regarded to many as a very bad story. One of the worst of 70s Classic who.
Well, on the topic of the box set; all three of the stories are hated! (The Time Monster, Underworld and The Horns of Nimon) I don't mind The Time Monster but I don't think it's a good formula to go for and would be a lot better to go for the Season 7 formula.
The characterisation of the The Doctor and Liz at the setup of the story is alright. Other authors I feel can do a much better job. However, I like the reasoning behind why Simon A Forward decided to do this story with Liz Shaw, and not Jo because he believes The 3rd Doctor and Liz had this great professional and honest relationship. I agree 100% and Liz is such an underrated companion.
As I said, it was Simon's first work and it most defiantly shows. Simon likely worked on this story and changed things during the years it was attempted to get published. I think the writing is okay and I can see a difference of writing with this and Drift. Drift was stronger. Even if I rated it a 4/10.
It didn't feel like a third doctor story to me and not Season 7 at all. I suggest just going to these third Doctor stories:
The Devil Goblins from Neptune, Scales of Injustice and Eye of the Giant for a book which actually feels like a Season 7 story.
Overall, I didn't like it. I failed to finish it. Sadly, the YouTube review on TJ Productions is cancelled as I don't think it's worth the attention from my channel as a recommendation as an example.
If you like Myths and Legends and the Time Monster formula; then maybe. If not, and you want a season 7 story; don't bother.
Rating: DNF
Displaying 1 of 1 review