Tell me that it’s Human Nature

Outpost Gallifrey is reporting that Paul Cornell’s two-part script for season 3 of Doctor Who will be a full-on TV adaptation of his absolutely brilliant novel “Human Nature.” I’m filled with both joy and trepidation at this news. Trepidation because I really live in fear of how the story will be vastly simplified to fit into, essentially, 90 minutes, and the inevitable tonal shift that will happen when altering the story from Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor to David Tennant. (For those not in the know, “Human Nature” was published in early ’96 if I’m not mistaken, in the “wilderness years” that stretched from the original series’ cancellation through the 1996 Fox movie starring Paul McGann.)
And yet Tennant is the first Doctor since McCoy who the story could fit. “Human Nature” portrays the character of the Doctor in two distinctly different ways – utterly romantic and utterly ruthless. Tennant proved that the tenth Doctor was definitely a romantic in The Girl In The Fireplace – and oh look, there it is in my review, that episode reminded me a little bit of “Human Nature” too.
I’m enthused at the thought that this story will no longer be limited to “fans in the know.” I read very little licensed franchise fiction – in fact, at a low point several years ago, I sold almost all of my nearly-complete Doctor Who New Adventures novels (including, sadly, Russell T. Davies’ “Damaged Goods,” which I’d like very much to re-read with the benefit of hindsight). But I kept all the Paul Cornell books, and all the Kate Orman books, along with “Lungbarrow” and “The Dying Days.” With no disrespect to the rest of the rising stars who made the New Adventures so interesting, those two were my favorite authors, hands down, and “Human Nature” was the best of the bunch by miles. I think it was after reading that book that I gave up on the idea of ever writing prose fiction, because I don’t think I could ever come up with a story so interesting and simultaneously touching.
And yet I’m troubled by the inevitable compromises that will have to be made to transfer a novel “too broad and too deep for the small screen” to precisely that medium. And I’ve got a nagging little problem with the new series’ persistent mining of bits of both the New Adventures and the Big Finish audio plays – sometimes to the point of retelling/reworking entire stories (i.e. Dalek from Jubilee). I know that the wider viewing public isn’t as acquainted with these stories as I am – I have to keep reminding myself of that. And it should be a compliment to DW:NA editor Rebecca Levene and former Big Finish producer Gary Russell, and their respective authors, that the stories they commissioned and guided to completion are good enough to serve as the backbone of the Doctor’s return to TV. But on a certain level it bugs me a bit, especially as one of those strange people who makes the effort to work all of this stuff into one consistent timeline. It’s sounding as though “Human Nature” is going to be the most direct adaptation yet, which makes me wonder, as Bruce Willis once did, how the same s**t can happen to the same guy twice.
Do find a copy of “Human Nature” sometime between now end then; smart money says to expect it for free in e-book form on the BBC’s site sometime next summer, but it’s such an outstanding story that I really think you should seek it out before it’s reinterpreted for TV, and experience the original story unspoiled. I’d loan mine to you, but that dog-eared old thing is one of my most prized possessions, and one that I intend to get Paul Cornell to sign for me if the poor fellow ever winds up within arm’s reach, which means he’ll have to listen to me blather on about how brilliant his book was.
So very, very torn. Go find it – it’s an awesome book.