World Famous Comics: Doctor Who: The Doctor Trap (Doctor Who)
Doctor Who: The Doctor Trap (Doctor Who)
By: Simon Messingham Publisher: Random House UK Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Random House UK Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 256 Publication Date: October 23, 2008 Reading Level: Young Adult
Product Description: Sebastiene was human... once. He might look like a nineteenth-century nobleman, but in truth he is a ruthless hunter. He likes nothing more than luring difficult opposition to a planet, then hunting them down for sport. And now he's caught them all - from Zargregs to Moogs, and even the odd Eternal. In fact, Sebastiene is after only one more prize. For this trophy, he knows he is going to need help. He's brought together the finest hunters in the universe to play the most dangerous game for the deadliest quarry of them all. They are hunting for the last of the Time Lords - the Doctor!
Planet 1 is Not What It Seems "Excitement, tension, the thrill of the chase, these were a few of his favourite things." - The Doctor Trap, p. 187
Sebastiene is physically flawless, incredibly powerful and more than a little bit maniacal. As the ruler of Planet 1, Sebastiene has everything he could ever want, but that will never be enough. He's taken to hunting down alien species, the more dangerous the better. For his ultimate prize, however, Sebastiene must enlist the help of the Endangered Dangerous Species Society, a group of the most ruthless hunters in the galaxy. Sebastiene wants to add the most dangerous being in the universe to his collection: the Doctor, the last of the Time Lords.
Sebastiene uses a genetic copy of the Doctor, a man named Baris, to steal the TARDIS and kidnap Donna. The doppelganger lures the Doctor to Planet 1, but it doesn't take long for the Doctor to turn the tables on his twin. He manages to switch places with Baris, which only complicates matters. Now he has to save Donna, recover the TARDIS and keep the hunters from killing Baris. Can the Doctor escape Sebastiene's trap or will Sebastiene find himself in a trap of the Doctor's design?
The Doctor Trap is an action-packed story filled with twists and turns, alternating between confusing and clever. Sebastiene was an interesting villain but I felt that the story would have been stronger without the final twist; it felt rather anticlimactic compared to earlier revelations.
This is one of the first novels to feature Donna Noble as the Doctor's companion. While they spend most of the story separated (one of my personal pet peeves with the Doctor Who novels), there are some nice moments of Doctor/Donna banter that the show's fans came to expect during Series 4.