|
| Doctor Who: Only Human (Doctor Who (BBC Hardcover)) | 
| Author: Gareth Roberts
Publisher: BBC Books
Category: Book
List Price: $11.99
Buy New: $8.90
You Save: $3.09 (26%)
New (9) from $8.90
Avg. Customer Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 49168
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.2 x 4.6 x 1.2
ISBN: 0563486392
Dewey Decimal Number: 741
EAN: 9780563486398
ASIN: 0563486392
Publication Date: January 11, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new book delivered from the UK in 10-14 days.
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The Doctor looks and seems human. He's handsome, witty, and could be mistaken for just another man in the street. But the Doctor is a Time Lord: a 900-year-old alien with two hearts, part of a gifted civilization who mastered Time Travel. Brace yourself for some exhilarating experiences and deadly confrontations across time and space. The human race will survive - but only with the Doctor's help.
|
| Customer Reviews:
 a good read September 1, 2006
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I found "Only Human" to be a very entertaining book.
 Wish it was better August 19, 2006
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
As an SF fan, I love the 9th Doctor series on TV. He's the quirkiest of the lot in many ways, but with so much more depth and sensitivity. He's a tortured soul who is determined to go on and save humans (and anyone else) from themselves and monsters of the universe. It is so unfortunate that those who wrote the fiction novellas based on this series have completely lost sight of what he and Rose are all about. They've made them into cartoon characters more than ever done in the scripts. Yes, they're supposed to be over the top characters who run into bizarre people and nearly ridiculous situations. But these can be handled so much better.
In Only Human, Roberts comes up with a passable plot, but he handles it so badly that I could barely finish the book. His writing shows signs of being professional but he slips into juvenility too frequently. Unlike Stone Rose, Only Human does at least stick to a single story. Heading into the distant past to solve a dangerous mystery, the pair deal with Neanderthals in a typical Doctor Who manner. But Rose's predicament in the end, and how she is saved from the Scarecrow syndrome (Wizard of Oz), was so badly dealt with that even children can not believe it.
The best thing about this book is the cover art. Those who like and respect the Doctor Who mythology should read books based on the 8th Doctor and back. These written about the 9th Doctor are not worth anyone's time.
the Osterberg Experiment !! Journals uncovered!! June 8, 2006
6 out of 15 found this review helpful
ONLY HUMAN by Gareth Roberts
Capt. Jack Harkness Data Record:
I'm a 51st century ex-Time-Agent and reformed after a change of plan & heart, I jumped ship literally during WWII, to join up with an unlikely pair of time travelers w/ a stranger back-story than me (and that's really sayin' somethin'). Rose is a 19 year old from the 21st century and her designated driver (whatever that means) is a 900 yr. old alien known as the Doctor. Life is never dull while you're slummin' it through time and space with these two. Unfortunately, at the moment it so happens that I'm NOT out with them. Let me tell this story from the beginning, really 28,000 years ago, ya see someone sent a caveman, yeah no kidding a really an honest to gods caveman, his name is DAS, well someone sent DAS into the future, here in the "dim-ages" where Rose is from (no offence Rose). The Doctor smelling a time-tripping rat, I.D.s the tech used as dangerous & unstable (not an unfamiliar scenario in this biz), as a result of this, the TARDIS couldn't bring DAS back to his time without killing him in the process. Oh the TARDIS, that's the Doc's time/space machine and the last of its kind, like the Doctor himself. So without so much as a drawn straw I was elected to stay behind, (or ahead if you'd rather be chronologically correct) and introduce our poor Neanderthal to the world of tomorrow, what's likely to be his new home for the rest of his natural days. I feel like the Doctor just kind of dropped the ball on this considering that, without the proper research of the time period, I'm just as much a "fish out of water" as DAS. Meanwhile the Doctor and Rose are off having all the fun by themselves, probably facing genetically engineered predators at the dawn of man. I don't mean to complain, but I did create a "big distraction" back at the hospital, when we rescued DAS, from the locals. Babysitting the "boy that time forgot" wasn't the reward I had in mind.
DAZ'S Journal
Jack has asked me to use our computer to put down my thoughts and practice my writing. Jack tried to explain to me how the Doctor's machine allows me to understand their language and the markings that mean things; I learned that this was called reading. Since the Doctor, Rose and the TARDIS are no longer here with us I don't understand why I can still speak and read their language. Jack says that the Doctor will explain later. Jack and the Doctor are still confused about my tribe's name, I have yet to meet anyone from this Neanderthal tribe. You can't imagine all of the sights and sounds and people Jack introducing me to, while teaching me about mistaken truths on TV, I like he different TV tribes. I met a female who reminds me of the females in our tribe, Jack is also teaching me all about finding a suitable mate, he is very wise and his skills are many and numerous when it comes to this. I hop the Doctor and Rose are having equal success back in my time, it is dangerous at the best of times.
Anthropologist's note (regarding the OSTERBERG experiment):
From what I can deduce from, various journal entries, carbon dated artifact anomalies from 28,000 years ago, even 21st century eyewitness accounts, is that the 51st century Jack and his caveman charge were grossly underused in the events that mainly unfolded in the distant pre-history. Those mentioned in the journals: The Doctor & Rose were adequately described and used to get effect, for example Rose at one point is the bride to a pre-historic groom via the "GREAT FISH of MATROMONY" reminiscent of material by the late great Douglas Adams. As is having Rose's one big contribution to the pre-historic tribe, not fire nor weapon making, but how to manicure. At another point closer to our story's finish Rose quite literally and ludicrously goes to pieces to great, if disturbing comic effect. Thanks to the TARDIS the local languages of the Neanderthal and Human tribes are absurdly colloquial, while further research reveals many more Osterberg experiment time-travelers, a mad-scientist from the future and the Doctor learns the horrors of the Hy-Bractors that lie in wait, behind the Grey Door.
Our research was successful overall, learning of the Doctor's at times preachy side, condemning humankind for the fall of the Neanderthal, as well as man's desire to solve all of life's problems with the quick fix of a pill or a button. In the end things resolve themselves, but not too neatly to be believed.
 This was just...bad May 23, 2006
4 out of 8 found this review helpful
The story was ridiculous even if you take into account that Doctor Who isn't Shakespeare. It wasn't even in the category of so bad it was good. It was just bad. The author didn't come close to getting the character's "voices" right and it read like bad fan fiction. I would recommend either The Monsters Inside or The Stealers of Dreams instead.
Best of the Bunch February 3, 2006
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
By a country mile the best of the 6 Ninth Doctor books. Roberts writes a funny and touching tale, with his trademark spot-on characterisation.
|
|
|
Wildlife, nature and the Environment
Sponsored Links
Learn how to get your own Amazon Book shop | |
