I sure have a lot of reading to do before I get to the next Second Doctor story that exists on video in its entirety. But, if there are more tales like this one between now and "The Moonbase", the time will pass quickly because this was a really fun read. (The Doctor is in drag!)
It reminded me of one of my favorite Doctor Who stories, the Seventh Doctor PDA, Storm Harvest. That book is also a tale of a vacation spot under siege. (Storm Harvest was released about 2 years after the book at hand.)
Steve Lyons' The Murder Game begins with the Doctor, Ben, and Polly being summoned to Hotel Galaxian by a distress call. Hotel Galaxian is an vacation hotel ship in orbit around the Earth. The once trendy spot has seen better days as off-Earth tourism has shifted to destinations much farther away leaving it to its fate as an outer space version of The Sands.
One Geoff Hornby is hosting a murder mystery game on the Galaxian but things get serious when one of the participants is found dead. I mean dead in real life. The story takes on an Agatha Christie tone as we struggle to figure out who dunnit. Things get even worse when creatures like this board the ship.
These shark-like creatures are Selachians. Perhaps not as mindlessly destructive as the Krill, they are still quite ruthless nonetheless. And they're strong and have good armor.
There's more of the Doctor here than in Invasion of the Cat People but he's basically all business with fewer moments of whimsy set to a recorder soundtrack. Ben and Polly have larger roles, especially the former. They both struggle with their feelings for one another and Ben for another character named Terri as well. In several instances, Ben's attempts to help prove futile such as when he tries to physically assault the Selachians. Their armor ensures his attacks did nothing. I felt rather terrible for Ben as he wanted to be heroic so badly but was unable to do a lot most of the time and he usually got banged up and bruised for his trouble.
The Murder Game didn't tinker with Doctor Who conventions much, if at all, and it seemed to be a story in line with the Second Doctor era as far as tone and characterization. Lyons did, however, make his story a little too big for the small screen with some underwater scenes. The story was well paced and really a lot of fun.osting.photobucket.com/images/v99/tim_archer/murdergame-cover.jpghttps://hosting.photobucket.com/images/v99/tim_archer/murdergame-cover.jpg
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