Author David A. McIntee had been self-outed as a video game enthusiast when he wrote his first Doctor Who novels for the Virgin Publishing ranges, citing the X-Wing game as his inspiration for the space battles in one of his novels. With The Eleventh Tiger it's obvious that his inspiration this time is none other than Mortal Kombat. Tiger is laced with enough detail to actually make a reader feel the heat of the midday sun let alone hear the woosh of thrown punches and the slap of knuckles connecting to faces, right down to a violent fight where the Doctor is challenged. Fear not, though; despite the arse kicking he laid on Ascaris back in The Romans (a memory which makes Vicki a little less nervous when she realizes the Doctor is going to fight someone) the Doctor doesn't exactly go all Yoda vs. Dooku on page. Even McIntee knows there are limits.And let me toss this out there right now in case any of those nu-Who people are getting themselves worked up: the fact that the number eleven is referenced does not mean Matt Smith's idiotic version of the Doctor makes any form of appearance. This was published back in 2004, before Eccleston hit the screens.
A lot goes on in the novel, the most noteworthy things being the continuity - some of it cool, some of it not so. For starters this novel is supposedly placed after The Romans despite the direct lead-in to The Web Planet. Whether this is something that BBC Books decided themselves for the back cover blurb remains to be seen, but there are plentiful references to the events in Turkey and Rome (tying together both The Romans and Byzantium) but nothing at all to the adventure on Vortis (and homage to Marco Polo is strangely absent). Tigers doesn't even pretend that this is where the Doctor claimed they were being dragged down to; we cut right to Ian in the TARDIS washroom having a shave. Pity he wasted his time because within hours of landing he gets his ass handed to him in a bar brawl where everyone seems to know and despise him. His brutal beating is a case of mistaken identity for one Major Chesterton who is there with the British Army, although the Major has taken a knock on the head and doesn't remember much from his past, leaving the reader to wonder if this is actually Ian himself just returned to Earth somewhere in the past, yet in his personal future. The romance between Barbara and Ian and the developing "after story" for them once they eventually leave the TARDIS one day gets a bit more of a prod in this story; it seems that all the original fiction takes a moment to develop this future for them and it's actually nice to read. Their romance is growing out of their adventures together and mutual respect, and doesn't need to be peppered with innuendos like much of what we have seen in the Matt Smith era with Amy and Rory's courtship and wedding and then their eventual really stupid family issues. Vicki doesn't get to do much here except be there to watch it all happen; she's not entirely cast aside but still it's like McIntee didn't really know what to do with her. He handles writing for the Doctor alright, though, getting all that characteristic Hartnell inflection and the odd stammer and line flub down on paper perfectly, including getting Ian's name wrong a few times. The last big bit of continuity fun is the fact that the main antagonist doesn't really get a name although it knows who the Doctor is already. Without saying who the baddie is, it's a foe who will not be encountered until the fourth Doctor is at the helm of the TARDIS.Only minor beefs with this one do I have; I had fun reading it. Thankfully though there was no direct lead into the next televised episode, The Crusades, so there's space here for a couple Big Finish episodes to be dropped in...
NEXT EPISODE: THE DARK PLANET
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