Jim Mortimore's cancelled novel has now been self-published. Was it really worth cancelling? And just what is the story like?
It is subtitled An Adventure in Time and Space, but that covers only a part of what's covered in the novel. The story starts with Alexander the Great, going to consult the Oracle of Siwa. He is told that he will become a God, but his close friends the Doctor, Ian, Barbara, Susan and Little Star will die. The story then jumps to the TARDIS following the Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks continuity. Barbara is dead, having died of radiation poisoning, and now the universe no longer exists - all that's left is the TARDIS. Then Barbara walks in - not 'their' Barbara, but the Barbara of our continuity. As the story continues, so do the shifts in characters, we get to meet Biddy, Mandy, Sue, Cliff, Lola, John, Gillian, even Alan and Ada. We see the crew who went to Luxor, Britain of 408 AD, those who ended up crossing a classroom an inch in height, the crew who travelled to Andromeda and met One and the crew who fought the Trods. Mortimore has realised the untapped potential of unused stories, Annuals stories, the TV Comic stories - all without munging continuity. Despite the differences, all crews have one adventure in common - eight years travelling with Alexander the Great.
It's interesting to see the crew adapt to living out their lives inside the TARDIS - the only place in existence - and seeing the changes that take place to them over time.
Mortimore has used a variety of story telling techniques in this novel, which is told in first person, including diary entries, and actual writing tricks to emphasise what's happening to the TARDIS crew, font sizes and wandering paragraphs, as well as illustrations - we even get a section told TV Comic style.
Though the Doctor and his companions change names, personalities and universes throughout the novel, each facet of Ian, Barbara, Susan and the Doctor are clearly defined, each one memorable and unique in their own way.
The end may confuse some people, but it ties in well with the underlying themes in the novel - that of the concept of the individual, of what makes a person unique. This is a book to make you stop and think after reading it, before starting to read it again, just to re-experience the novel again. I fully recommend Campaign to any type of fan. Campaign is a triumph of story telling, and of Doctor Who.
10/10
Aftermath: Having now read the novel, I can see why Justin made he decision to cancel it. The novel, had it been published, would have divided fandom into many factions - those who can't get into the book, those confused by it, those who hate it, those who love it, and those who appreciate it - basically, this book is too experimental for fandom.
I feel that Justin may be right in claiming that only 10% of readers will understand Campaign as written, and I feel privileged to have been one of them - in this universe, anyway.