Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen

4th Doctor Novel

By: Douglas Adams, James Goss

Narrated by: Dan Starkey

Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

An unabridged reading of the brand-new novel based on a storyline by Douglas Adams.

The Doctor promised Romana the end of the universe, so she's less than impressed when what she gets is a cricket match. But then the award ceremony is interrupted by 11 figures in white uniforms and peaked skull helmets wielding bat-shaped weapons that fire lethal bolts of light into the screaming crowd. The Krikkitmen are back.

Millions of years ago, the people of Krikkit learned they were not alone in the universe and promptly launched a xenophobic crusade to wipe out all other lifeforms. After a long and bloody conflict, the Time Lords imprisoned Krikkit within an envelope of Slow Time, a prison that could be opened only with the Wicket Gate key, a device that resembles - to human eyes, at least - an oversized set of cricket stumps....

From Earth to Gallifrey, from Bethselamin to Devalin, from Krikkit to Mareeve II to the far edge of infinity, the Doctor and Romana are tugged into a pan-galactic conga with fate as they rush to stop the Krikkitmen gaining all five pieces of the key. If they fail, the entire cosmos faces a fiery retribution that will leave nothing but ashes....

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The Doctor blended with Hitchhiker's Guide

First, the narration by Dan Starkey was amazing. He switched between good impressions of the 4th Doctor and K-9 and a variety of other character's voices and accents so that there was no problem differentiating between them. The story was pretty wild, intricate enough that it took some focus to follow the threads. It had several aspects of Hitchhiker's Guide (and its sequels) but was a rollicking Doctor Who story through and through. Romana really shines in this, more than she was allowed to in the TV show. She is nearly the equal of the Doctor (although several hundred years younger and less experienced) and has a fine balance of correcting the Doctor and admiring his approach. There are some brief cameos from some other Who characters that were enjoyable if you recognized them but it wasn't necessary to enjoy their appearance.

I love Doug Adams

Everything that man writes is gold. This one almost reads like a murder mystery, and I couldn't put it down. I highly recommend.

Great book, audio levels could have been better

Love Douglas Adams and the narrator was an amazing voice actor, but the audio levels were a little uneven and it made it very difficult to hear some parts, especially if there was ambient noise

Simply and Utterly Brilliant.

It's such a treat to see this lost Adams gem recovered and reconstructed at last. James Goss did a fantastic job of completing an unfinished draft by the late genius Douglas Adams, capturing the sardonic whit and charisma the later has become iconic for. It is truly a pity that it was never finished until now, providing incite into a film script Douglas wrote for the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith initially (eventually being reworked into the third Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Novel), with Goss updating it to take place between seasons seventeen and eighteen, the Doctor now being paired with Romana. He manages to tie in other references to not only fragments of Adams' other work such as Out Of The Trees and The Hitchhiker's Guide To the galaxy, but numerous Doctor Who stories of the era such as the only recently completed Shada, The Invasion Of Time, and The Key To Time story line.
The narration is spot on, being performed by the ever fantastic Dan Starkey who gives each character a unique disposition and spot on line delivery. He delivers the witty dialogue masterfully, with the same charisma that he used to play the Sontaran Strax in the revival series. All and all, in my humble opinion this is a must listen for a Douglas Adams and a Classic Doctor Who fan.
(As a side note, Goss will also be reviving another uncompleted film script Doctor Who Meets Scratchman, which was originally being worked on by Tom Baker and Ian Marter respectively. He was also responsible for novelizing other fantastic Douglas Adams Doctor Who stories, such as The Pirate Planet.)

I was expecting a Chesterfield sofa...

It is obvious that large parts of the original script were used in 'Life, the Universe and Everything'.
But you're still in for a great ride even if you think you know where this is headed.

A delightful example of Douglas Adams’ writing style

Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen is an exemplar of the late Douglas Adams’ style, and fans of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy trilogy (all five novels of it) will be interested to hear the bones upon which Life, the Universe, and Everything was based upon.

Doctor Who Versus Hitchhiker's Guide 3

There are some winks at old nemeses like The Black Guardian and Shada, but this is Doctor Who, Romana, and K-9 versus the horrifyingly genocidal Krikkitmen that Arthur Dent originally fought in his third book. Dent's influence is prevalent in references to paperwork and the BBC. The bonus is how the Krikkitmen are part of a larger scheme.

Dan Starkey nails the 4th Doctor's voice.

I thoroughly enjoyed this alternative version of 'Life, The Universe, and Everything.' by Douglas Adams.

Life, the Universe, and the Doctor

Anyone whose read Adams' third Hitchhiker novel will recognize this story, since it's basically that story, only longer, slightly less funny, significantly more interesting, and featuring a different bunch of heroes, namely the Doctor, Romana II, and K9. I always thought Life, the Universe, and Everything stuck out from Adams other books as being a more straightforward adventure than the rest of the Hitchhiker novels. It makes sense, then, that it was originally a Doctor Who story. That said, this is not at all as straightforward as most Who adventures, but it is a great read nonetheless.

The lost Dr. Who adventure from Douglas Adams!

Goss perfectly mimics Douglas Adams's style in his efforts to complete this formerly unproduced script as a novel. Great fun! And who knew Dan Starkey had such a great Tom Baker impression in his repertoire!