Kursaal (Dr. Who Series)

by Peter Anghelides

The Doctor and Sam travel to a planet being made into a giant pleasure palace. Eco-terrorists are sabotaging the project because the construction crews are destroying the old civilization. The Doctor... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0563405783
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Bbc Pubns
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.3" x 1.0" x 4.5"

Customer Reviews

Werewolves on planet London

Boy, things went back to being run of the mill very quickly. After the depth charge that was "Alien Bodies" the line clearly wasn't ready to build on its innovations right away (granted these books were probably being written around the same time, so the author here had no idea what he was even following) we more or less went back to business as usual. And what business we get here is werewolves. Sure we're on another world and the "wolves" are actually aliens but what you get in the end are people changing into wolf-like creatures, no matter how much you try to dress it up in science. The Doctor and Sam arrive on a world that is being converted into an amusement park, a world where the dominant race died out centuries ago or (ominious music) did they? Before long exploration teams are finding hidden lost cathedrals from the vanished race and giant wolf-men are starting to attack people left and right. And the people who are attacked are being changed in strange ways. Does the Doctor need to get involved? You bet! The story does try to mix a lot of elements together, you not only have werewolves but environmental concerns rammed in there as well, with an ongoing battle between those who want the planet left the way it is and the security forces for the developers, which adds a nice wrinkle to all the bloodletting going on. But unfortunately all the wrinkles serve to do is try to disguise the fact that the story really is rather pedestrian at its heart, you can put it on another planet, you can make the wolves aliens, you have the supporting cast be police and tree-huggers but it's still a werewolf story. And a werewolf story needs to be scary, which this really isn't. There are some creepy scenes, especially in the beginning when you don't know where all the bodies are going but once it becomes clear that it's wolves, wolves, wolves! you more or less shift into the typical Who running around corridors, with the occassional death of a supporting character. It doesn't help that there's really nothing special about it, although it's well told and moves things along at a nice clip, but it's also clear there isn't much "there" present, once you have the basic concept down it's just marking time until you get to the conclusion. There are some nicely rendered scenes, a scattering of gore here and there but nothing really shocking. By the end you've got Sam converted (and in the beginning she's very annoying, I lost count of how many times they had her say, "My Dad says" . . . don't take this the wrong way, kid, but who cares?) and a time jump that really only serves to pad out the page count. On the plus side we get a lot of the Doctor this time, probably more so than the other books and he acquits himself well here, clever and bold and moral and slowly starting to take on his own identity. But in the end it can't hide the fact that we're dealing with a very deep story and now that we've seen what the line is capable of, merely "okay" i

A clever book - within the limits of the Doctor Who universe

Kursaal is a dark story containing well constructed, essential, and sharp characters that we actually watch change. We catch glimpses of the Doctor's weariness, we see his companion - Sam - with her teeth for much of the story, and the other detective of the story transforms from a glutton into an introspective street-smart chief of police. Angelides credits his reader with a good deal of intelligence. He deals with politics, drugs, capitalism, archaeology, and an alien civilisation that with all its technology and culture raises Kursall at times to the level of the Alien moves. This is a superb story where much is gained yet also much is lost that explores environmental degradation, land rights and the loss of cultural diversity - issues all too topical to our own age.

Loved Sam, not the gore! Risky plot well worth the read!

Enjoyed the idea, but Dr. Who is not a horror movie. I love how Mr. Anghelides wrote Sam. BRAVO! I'm glad you took a risk in this story and I enjoyed it.

One of the better 8th Dr & Sam books; very fun reading

Overall very enjoyable, though not a classic. Although the writing is not quite the caliber of the Orman/Blum duo who wrote "Vampire Science," I actually enjoyed "Kursaal" better. The relationship between the Dr. & Sam is well-explored, as in "Vamp" and "Legacy of the Daleks." The storyline is quite typical of a BBC-TV story, so if you don't expect too much, you'll fly through this one with a smile. Enjoy.