After an exhausting series of adventures, the 7th Doctor and
his companion Mel Bush decide to take a vacation. As any fan of Doctor Who in
particular or science fiction in general knows, this will not turn out well. All
Mel really wants is to spend a few days lounging by a swimming pool, and they
fly to the 22nd century's leading luxury apartment complex, Paradise Towers.
They find a building fallen into disrepair, and a divided
population. The Doctor and Mel are split
amidst a confusing situation, but they agree to meet back up at the rooftop
pool. There are roaming gangs of color-coordinated girls, with names like
"Bin Liner" and "Fire Escape." There are caretakers and female
residents, and robotic cleaners gone awry. The only free male in the complex is
Pex, the other men having fled to fight in a war. He appoints himself Mel's
protector, but is less than capable in the role.
In what is a pretty cliché plot at this point, the
artificial intelligence that runs the building has decided that the
"filthy human parasites" must be destroyed, as they have been the
cause for the building's fall into shabbiness. They discover that Kroagnon, the
original architect of the building never liked the idea of humans actually
living in any of his designs. Having killed the Chief Caretaker and animated
his corpse, Kroagnon uses booby traps in the building to declare war on its
human occupants.
But the divided people are brought together by the Doctor to
fight back against their less-than-human enemies. A sacrifice is made and victory
is achieved, ending the building's reign of terror. The outcome is predictable,
and none of the major guest characters are terribly memorable. Only Pex and Bin
Liner rise above the rest as individualized characters. Overall, there is very
little about this story that is other than ordinary.
The unabridged audio performance of this novelization was narrated
by Bonnie Langford, who played Mel in the TV series. She does a fine job
bringing energy to the story.
source: public library.
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