Doctor Who: Shakedown

A 7th Doctor Novel

De: Terrance Dicks

Narrado por: Dan Starkey

An unabridged reading of this original novel featuring the Seventh Doctor, as played on TV by Sylvester McCoy.

For thousands of years the Sontarans and the Rutans have fought a brutal war across the galaxy. Now the Sontarans have a secret plan to destroy the Rutan race - a secret plan the Doctor is racing against time to uncover.

Only one Rutan spy knows the Sontarans' plan. As he is chased through the galaxy in a desperate bid for his life, he reaches the planet Sentarion - where Professor Bernice Summerfield's research into the history of the Sontaran-Rutan war is turning into an explosive reality....

Duration: eight hours approx.

©2016 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2016 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Pretty Solid

The narrator plays the Sontarans in the show, so his voices for them are naturally top-notch. The story itself strings along for a bit. The middle of the story doesn’t feature the Doctor at all, and he only hears about the events of this part later in the book. Strangely, though, this Doctor-less middle is the best part of the book, and could easily feature as its own un-related short story. Really, the Doctor’s role and the rest of the book just seem built around this action-packed bit, but he comes back in the 3rd act and the ending carries the momentum of the book to a satisfying conclusion. There are slow parts, but overall I’d give this book an 8/10.

Terrance Dicks great classic doctor who writer.

Great story loved to hear the old school format of doctor who. Decent character developed good action wonderful narration.

Dan Starkey shines as narrator

The story itself is an oddity. Terrance Dicks wrote Shakedown as a screenplay, which was one of those cheap direct to video jobs done before the reboot of Doctor Who. They didn't have permission to use any characters from the show, and they had to change the appearance of the Sontarans to escape being sued. Dicks took this story and threw it right in the middle of a 7th Doctor story, so basically the middle of the book doesn't have the Doctor or any companions. Oddly, the story doesn't suffer much from this, even though it's glaringly obvious. Luckily, the listener is distracted by Starkey's performance, with wonderful voices (especially the Sontarans...naturally!).