http://nhw.livejournal.com/902285.html

This was the novel of the TV movie, written by Gary Russell (two of whose other Who novels I have read; I liked one of them). Not really a lot to say about this; he has stuck fairly closely to the script, padding out the introduction a bit more, wisely not expanding on the Doctor's demi-humanity. I see that I found the visuals and the acting particularly attractive in the broadcast version of the story, and inevitably those get lost in the transfer to the printed page. But it's basically OK.

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/doctor-who-1996-by-paul-driscoll-and-doctor-who-...

Actually I liked it a bit more this time around, perhaps because I re-read it so close to re-watching the original version of the story. A lot of the incidental characters are given significantly more back-story. The Doctor himself comes over as a bit more of an enigma, which was possibly wise. I’ve also read enough Who spinoff fiction now to realise that Russell is among the best of the writers in the stable. ( )

I definitely enjoyed the novelization of the film more than the film itself. I still consider McGann my favorite Doctor though, and I really hope that he shows up in a fashion other than stock footage for the 50th Anniversary. ( )

Gary Russell’s Doctor Who: The Novel of the Film adapts the 1996 BBC/Fox film that picked up after the events of “Suvivors,” the final serial of the original Doctor Who series that aired in 1989. The networks intended for the film to serve as the pilot of a new Doctor Who series, but it was not to be.

Russell’s novel follows the plot of the film, with Sylvester McCoy’s Seventh Doctor retrieving the remains of the Master from the Daleks in order to take them back to Gallifrey, only for the Master to use a morphant to seize control of the TARDIS. The TARDIS lands in San Francisco on 30 December 1999 and, as the Doctor exits, he walks into a gang fight, saving Change Lee but being gunned down in turn. An ambulance takes him to the hospital with Chang Lee riding along. The morphant follows and later seizes the body of the ambulance driver, Bruce, burning through the human body until he can take over the Doctor’s Time Lord body. At the hospital, Dr. Grace Holloway tries to operate on the Doctor, using an electric probe to stimulate his heart as the medical team believes his double heartbeat is fibrillation. Unfortunately, the probe kills the Doctor.

In the morgue, his body regenerates, but the Doctor cannot remember his identity. The Master recruits Chang Lee, promising him wealth in exchange for opening the Eye of Harmony in the TARDIS as part of his plan to take over the Doctor’s body. Meanwhile, the Doctor follows Grace as he can remember her but doesn’t know why. She tries to help him and, when the Eye opens, it allows him to recover his memories. From there, the Doctor works to get the materials he needs to repair his TARDIS and evade the Master until he can defeat the Master’s plans.

Russell’s novel offers more details on how the Doctor retrieved the Master’s remains from the Daleks. He also gives more background on Grace’s own history and her decision to become a doctor as well as Chang Lee’s life prior to the events of this story. The Doctor also carries around the Seventh Doctor’s hat and wishes he still had his sonic screwdriver. Russell even includes a possible reference to the Seventh Doctor’s companion, Ace (pg. 146). Even though the Eighth Doctor only appeared twice on film – in the 1996 movie and 2013’s The Night of the Doctor – the nine-year timespan between the Doctor Who movie and the revived series in 2005 afforded the opportunity for him to appear in the most stories of any doctor, including 73 novels, nine years of Doctor Who Magazine comic strips, and regular Big Finish audio dramas from 2001-2015. ( )

The novelization of the 1996 tv movie starring Paul McGann is often called "Doctor Who: The Novel of the Film" (including on the spine), but the title page clearly gives the title as just "Doctor Who," a move that I'm sure has led to absolutely no confusion.

It's by Gary Russell, so it's as workmanlike as you'd expect. Russell fleshes out a lot of background bits. Some work (the prologue with the seventh Doctor is nice, and he almost makes the ending work), but some fall flat (there are bits of the film that are just there to look cool, but fall apart if you think about them, and I would argue that explaining them just makes it worse). I think its biggest problem is that the film succeeds in two areas: visual style and Paul McGann's performance. But those are largely uncaptured on the page; the cool moments don't come across, and the Doctor fades into the background without McGann's charisma.

But hey, if you want a 200-page diversion about the best Doctor, it will do nicely. (Of course, as soon as I track this down used, it's announced that they're re-releasing it as a Target novel with added material. Bah.)