Some people were holding out for J.K. Rowling being the final author of this book series (the collected paperback edition is out today), or were disappointed when a writer who had already written for the TV series was announced. Likewise, some people were hoping for a person of colour or a woman to be the Twelfth Doctor. However, in both cases there is a strong argument in the incumbent’s favour: they’re Neil Gaiman and Peter Capaldi. That’s at least a little bit exciting, surely? Given that he has form with The Doctor’s Wife, it’s not a surprise that Gaiman writes the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond credibly well (especially Amy, and especially her motivations). Considering one chapter is almost just those two trading exposition, it flies by with the voices of Matt Smith and Karen Gillan captured perfectly. The Time Lords, however, are quite bad at capturing things perfectly. They were complacent with the Daleks, and also with Gaiman’s creation for this story: the Kin. The Kin are, like a lot of The Doctor’s Wife, visually creatures of fantasy tropes who appear to fit in with Gaiman’s reputation as a purveyor of gothic imagery juxtaposed with real-world scenarios. However, as with The Doctor’s Wife, there’s also a really good Science-Fiction explanation of the kind that Barry Letts might smile at (He probably would not be so pleased by the fate of young Polly Browning though). Terrance Dicks would, I assume, also nod appreciatively at the Kin’s method of conquering the Earth, which is both horrible and incredibly cheap to realise on television. However, they are blips. Some people might find them developing into niggles which in turn bloom into disappointments, but this is a story that balances satisfying pseudo-scientific explanations with something Gaiman really wanted to do: scare people. The Kin are unnerving. For some, they might be downright terrifying. I suppose it depends on how willing you are to reap what you sow if you choose to read this to your child as a bedtime story, as that’s really the tone I get from Nothing O’Clock: the sense of a spoken story that got out of hand. In this case, it’s a good thing. Now, let’s see if someone can persuade Gaiman to write a Doctor Who comic… Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
