DOCTOR WHO

THE CROOKED WORLD isn't the first Steve Lyons' novel to take the TARDIS crew to a fictional world. CONUNDRUM and HEAD GAMES took the Doctor and his companions to the Land of Fiction, and here he takes them to the world of Saturday morning cartoons.

A world of talking animals that follows cartoon rules - birds twitter when someone's knocked out, gravity doesn't work unless you think about it and look down, and so on - the Crooked World is thrown into chaos when the TARDIS arrives, unleashing a Plague of Questions upon the population.

The action takes place in and around Zanytown, and involves many familiar cartoon characters, although they've all got different names to avoid those pesky copyright problems.

Even so, it's easy to spot them. Angel Falls is clearly Penelope Pitstop (both the PERILS OF PENELOPE PITSTOP and WACKY RACES versions), the Skeleton Crew of Mike Leader, Thelma Brains, Harmony Looker, Tim Coward and their dog Fearless are obviously the Scooby Gang, and Jasper and Squeak are simply Tom and Jerry under different names.

These characters, and many others, are happy doing cartoon things - taking part in the Funny-Car Derby, investigating ghosts that turn out to be a bloke in a sheet, and chasing each other round a house - until the TARDIS materialises.

The arrival of the Doctor, Fitz and Anji upsets this natural order. Interacting with them causes Angel Falls to realise that her nemesis the Masked Weasel is really her kindly guardian in disguise, while the Skeleton Crew realise that their van only breaks down near a haunted house and that their behaviour is always the same.

Even worse, Jasper does what real cats do, and bites Squeak's head off. The Crooked World is in turmoil, and it's up to the TARDIS crew to try to put things right.

The three regulars are quite well catered for, although the Doctor doesn't take centre stage as much as I'd expected. I'm starting to tire of Fitz, but at least he works with Angel Falls. Naturally he spends his time trying to get into her knickers, which as Anji discovers when she finds two of the Skeleton Crew in a cupboard, is a rather pointless exercise since she's as well developed as Barbie.

The early chapters have some fun with the Crooked World's cartoon rules, but anyone expecting a laugh a minute read is out of luck as it's actually quite a serious novel. Hardly surprising given the horrific nature of Jasper's crime, and the fact that the inhabitants of Zanytown discover that bullets can kill and that falling off a cliff can be fatal.

The nature of the Crooked World is eventually explained, and again this is in keeping with the serious nature of the book.

Overall, THE CROOKED WORLD might not be the novel I'd expected to find myself reading, but it was still a highly enjoyable one. BACK TO THE TOP

THE CROOKED WORLD

Written by STEVE LYONS

BBC BOOKS

£5.99

RATING: 7/10

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