NZDWFC: TSV 31: Doctor Who - The Novelisations: The First Doctor (Page 2)

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DOCTOR WHO - PLANET OF GIANTS by Terrance Dicks

Cover: Alister Pearson (1990)
This was the last of the Hartnell stories to be novelised. Terrance Dicks produced an unusually short, 112 page novelisation, despite his inclusion of some sequences cut when Louis Marks' original four part story lost an episode of material prior to transmission. The cover was painted by Alister Pearson, and was Terrance Dicks' penultimate Doctor Who novelisation. The cover featured the McCoy logo and a grey spine and back cover. There was no hardback edition and the only paperback edition was published 18 January 1990, priced £1.99, with a print run of 22,000 copies. The book was number 145 in the Doctor Who Library.

DOCTOR WHO AND THE DALEK INVASION OF EARTH by Terrance Dicks

Covers: Chris Achilleos (1977; 1977-84); Alister Pearson (1990)
Cover artist Chris Achilleos based his painting on the film Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 AD rather than on the television story. The text however, is faithful to the small screen version, albeit with sections trimmed from Terry Nation's story to come within the 144 page limit. According to the title page the book is based on a serial called 'Doctor Who and the World's End' - which is derived from the title of the story's first episode. The cover originally featured an orange 'curve' logo and white spine and back cover. The book was simultaneously published in hardback and paperback 24 March 1977. The hardback edition was priced £2.50, with a print run of 3,000, and the paperback edition was priced 50p, with a print run of 30,000 copies. The hardback was reprinted as a 'second impression' in 1978, priced £2.95, with a print run of 1,500. The paperback was reprinted 1977 (60p), 17 August 1978 (70p, 'Second Impression', print run 5,800), 1979 (70p, 'Second Impression', print run 15,000), 1980 (85p, 'Third Impression', print run 12,000), twice in 1982 (£1.25), 1983 (print run 20,000) and twice in 1984 (£1.35 and £1.50). The curve logo colour changed from orange to blue for the second edition in 1977. Subsequent editions featured the blue curve, except from the first 1984 edition which apparently had a red curve logo. Later editions were numbered 17 in the Doctor Who Library. The book was re-issued August 1990, priced £2.50, with a print run of 5,000 copies by Virgin with a new cover design using Alister Pearson's painting for the BBC Video release, the McCoy logo and a blue spine. This edition was retitled Doctor Who - The Dalek Invasion of Earth. The novelisation was also included in a hardback called Doctor Who - Dalek Omnibus, which was a collection of three Dalek novelisations all by Terrance Dicks. This book was published 23 June 1983, priced £6.95 with new cover artwork by Andrew Skilleter based on The Dalek Invasion of Earth. The novelisation was again reprinted in a compilation, this time paired with David Whitaker's The Crusaders, in the first volume of the Doctor Who Classics series, published in paperback by Star Books on 18 August 1988, priced £2.95. The cover artwork for The Dalek Invasion of Earth was Andrew Skilleter's artwork from the cover of the hardback Dalek Omnibus.

DOCTOR WHO - THE RESCUE by Ian Marter

Cover: Tony Clark (1988)
Ian Marter died 29 October 1986, and in the two months prior to his death he wrote this, his last novelisation. Editor Nigel Robinson offered him the David Whitaker story to do as a 'reward' for novelising the movie Tough Guys in just nine days. Marter died before completing work on The Rescue. He had written the entire book and had revised about two thirds of it. Nigel Robinson revised the last third and took the unusual step of writing an Editor's Note to go in the front of the book as a tribute. Ian Marter expanded on the two-part story quite considerably, adding in the subplot of an Earth mission approaching the planet and several other extensive sequences which had not been present in the original story so the resulting 144 page book was longer than many four-part story adaptations. The cover was painted by first time Target cover artist Tony Clark who had sent in several cover ideas before gaining this commission. The cover featured a red neon logo and a green spine and back cover. The book was first published in hardback 20 August 1987, priced £7.95. The only paperback edition was published 21 January 1988, priced £1.95, with a print run of 25,000 copies. The book was number 124 in the Doctor Who Library.

DOCTOR WHO - THE ROMANS by Donald Cotton

Cover: Tony Masero (1987)
This was the third and last of Donald Cotton's novelisations, and was the only one not based on one of his own scripts. Cotton was an obvious choice for the task of adapting Dennis Spooner's comedic historical adventure, as his previous books had both been very humorous. The novelisation rates as one of the most unusual in its style of presentation in that the entire 128 page book is a collection of letters and journal entries written in the first person from the perspective of various characters including Ian Chesterton in his journal, the Doctor in his diary, legionary Ascaris in a series of letters to his mother, Poppea Sabina in her Commonplace Book and Emperor Nero himself, amongst others. Many scenes were added, deleted or altered radically in the process, making it possibly the novelisation which deviates most from the story on which it is based. The book is dedicated to Ann Wood. The cover, painted by Tony Masero, featured a purple neon logo and a pink spine and back cover. The book was first published in hardback 16 April 1987, priced £7.50. The only paperback edition was published 19 September 1987, priced £1.95, with a print run of 30,000 copies. The book was number 120 in the Doctor Who Library.

DOCTOR WHO AND THE ZARBI by Bill Strutton

Covers: Chris Achilleos (1973-76; 1978-90); Alister Pearson (1991)
Bill Strutton novelised his one six-part story The Web Planet as Doctor Who and the Zarbi, taking about three weeks to produce the adaptation, and based his 178 page novelisation very closely on the television episodes, even to the extent of matching the six chapters to the episodes, and the chapter titles to the episode names, except for the last, which changed The Centre to 'The Centre of Terror'. Strutton, like fellow noveliser David Whitaker, called the main character 'Doctor Who' and gave the name of the Doctor's ship as Tardis. The book has fifteen sketch illustrations by John Wood throughout the text. The original novelisation was published in hardback by Frederick Muller Ltd on 16 September 1965, priced 12s 6d, with a cover by John Wood. The hardback was not reprinted by Muller and prior to Target there were no paperback versions of this title. The first Target cover was painted by Chris Achilleos, who wanted to paint elaborate giant ants but was directed by the BBC to remain faithful to the look of the television story. The cover originally featured a black 'block' logo and orange spine and back cover. The first paperback edition was published 2 May 1973, priced 25p, with a code number of 10129 (which was part of the ISBN) on the spine. The first edition also featured the line 'Based on the popular BBC television serial' on the front cover. Both this line and the spine number were dropped from later editions. A hardback version was also issued 2 May 1973, with a print run of 49,000. The paperback was reprinted with block logo and orange spine and back cover in October/November 1973, January/February 1974, November 1974 (30p), 1975 (30p, 'Second Impression'), 1975 (40p, 'Second Impression'), 1975 (40p, 'Reprinted Autumn'), 1975 (60p) and January 1976 (40p). The cover was then redesigned, retaining the original Chris Achilleos artwork, but featuring a black curve logo and a white spine and back cover. With this look, the book was reprinted in 1978 (60p, 'Second Impression', print run 10,000), 17 August 1978 (70p, 'Third Impression', print run 4,000), 1979 (70p, print run 12,000), 1981 (90p, 'Fourth Impression', print run 15,000), 1982 (£1.50), 1984 (£1.50) and November 1990 (print run 5,000). From 1984 editions were numbered 73 in the Target Doctor Who Library. The book was re-issued 17 January 1991, priced £2.50, with a print run of 3,000 copies by Virgin with a new cover design using Alister Pearson's painting for the BBC Video release, the McCoy logo and a blue spine. This edition was retitled Doctor Who - The Web Planet. The John Wood interior illustrations appear in all editions.

DOCTOR WHO AND THE CRUSADERS by David Whitaker

Covers: Chris Achilleos (1973-78; 1979-80); Andrew Skilleter (1982-88)
David Whitaker's first novelisation, Doctor Who and the Daleks, proved to be a success so Frederick Muller Ltd asked him to write a second book. Whitaker chose to adapt one of his own stories, The Crusade, writing the novelisation in 1965, the same year as the story was broadcast. Whitaker invented a prologue set aboard the TARDIS. This section explained Susan's absence and also referred to an unseen adventure involving talking stones on the planet Tyron. The adaptation closely follows events on screen for the first three episodes, with some scenes reorganized to create longer sequences, however the fourth and final episode is told very differently in the book. The book was first published 25 February 1966 (the year is wrongly stated in many editions as 1965) by Frederick Muller Ltd, with fifteen sketch illustrations and cover art by Henry Fox, priced 12s 6d. Dragon Books issued a paperback edition in 1967 by, featuring cover art and six interior illustrations by an unknown artist. The catalogue number was D67, part of the 'Green Dragons' range, and priced 2s 6d. A hardback edition was issued 2 May 1973, with a print run of 51,500. The first Target paperback edition was published 2 May 1973, priced 25p, with a code number of 10137 (which was part of the ISBN) on the spine. The first edition also featured the line 'Based on the popular BBC television serial' on the front cover. Both this line and the spine number were dropped from later editions. The cover artwork was painted by Chris Achilleos and featured a black 'block' logo and red spine and back cover. The fifteen sketch illustrations by Henry Fox were retained throughout the Target editions. The book was reprinted with block logo and red spine and back cover in October/November 1973, January/February 1974, November 1974 (30p), 1975 (30p, 'Second Impression'), 1975 (40p, 'Reprinted Autumn'), January 1976 (40p) and 1978 (70p, print run 5,500). The cover was then altered, retaining the original Chris Achilleos artwork, but featuring a red/brown curve logo and a white spine and back cover. With this look, the book was reprinted 24 May 1979 (70p, 'Second Impression', print run 15,000) and again in 1980. A new cover painting, by Andrew Skilleter, first appeared in 1982 with a red neon logo, and a white spine and back cover. There were two 1982 printings, priced £1.35 and £1.50 respectively, the latter having a print run of 19,000. The book was reprinted in 1983, this time with a blue spine and back cover, published 20 Oct 1983 (£1.50). The Andrew Skilleter artwork with a red neon logo and a blue spine and back cover appeared on further printings in 1984 (£1.50) and 1988 (£1.50, print run 2,500). From 1983 the book was numbered 12 in the Doctor Who library. (There are unconfirmed reports of a couple of cover variations: the first 1982 edition apparently featured the red/brown curve logo over the Andrew Skilleter artwork; there was also apparently another 1983 edition, priced £1.50, that reverted to the Chris Achilleos cover artwork and red/brown curve logo). A hardcover edition with the Andrew Skilleter cover and red neon logo was published 17 January 1985, priced £5.95. The book was reprinted in a compilation, paired with Terrance Dicks' The Dalek Invasion of Earth, in the first volume of the Doctor Who Classics series, published by Star Books 18 August 1988, priced £2.95. The back cover featured Andrew Skilleter's artwork for The Crusaders.

DOCTOR WHO - THE SPACE MUSEUM by Glyn Jones

Cover: David McAllister (1987)
When Glyn Jones was contacted about a novelisation of his only Doctor Who story he elected to undertake the adaptation himself. Jones expanded on the story, developing backgrounds for the characters and adding in an element of comedy, as well as creating a robot called Matt and a universal translator, which did not appear in the television version. In his original manuscript, Jones refers to Vicki as Tanni (which was the original name for the character). The cover, painted by David McAllister, featured a red neon logo and a black spine and back cover. The book was first published in hardback 15 January 1987, priced £7.25. The only paperback edition was published 18 June 1987, priced £1.80, with a print run of 32,500 copies. The book was number 117 in the Doctor Who Library though unusually the number was omitted from the spine of the book.

DOCTOR WHO - THE CHASE by John Peel

Covers: Alister Pearson (1989; 1991)
This was the first new Dalek novel in almost exactly a decade, and sales of this book were consequently very high, creating an almost immediate demand for a reprint. Ex-patriot British fan writer John Peel, now living in America, had befriended Terry Nation, who suggested that Peel should novelise The Daleks' Master Plan. In negotiations with Target, it was decided that it would be preferable to novelise The Chase first. Nation provided Peel with his copies of the original, unedited scripts, which Peel considered superior to the TV version, and so elected to work primarily from these, cutting and changing some sections of the story which he regarded as inferior on screen. Peel altered the Marie Celeste and Empire State Building sequences, and foreshadowed his forthcoming adaptation of The Daleks' Master Plan by mentioning that the Daleks' taranium power source for their time craft. Peel highlighted the reasons behind some of his changes in an Author's Note at the front of the novel. The cover was painted by Alister Pearson and featured the McCoy logo and a white spine and back cover. There was no hardback version and the first paperback edition was published 20 July 1989, priced £1.99, with a print run of 24,000 copies. The book was number 140 in the Doctor Who Library. The book was reprinted later the same year and was re-issued again 18 July 1991, priced £2.50 with a print run of 5,000 copies. The reissue featured a new cover design reusing Alister Pearson's painting and a blue spine.

DOCTOR WHO - THE TIME MEDDLER by Nigel Robinson

Covers: Jeff Cummins (1988; 1992)
This was Nigel Robinson's second novelisation and he chose this one because it was one of his all-time favourite Doctor Who stories. In novelising Dennis Spooner's original scripts Robinson toned down the comedy aspects to create a book with darker tones and also included a prologue to tie it into The Chase, the novelisation of which had not yet been commissioned at the time that this book was written. The cover painting was by Jeff Cummins, with a red neon logo and a blue spine and back cover. Cummins was a former regular Target Doctor Who cover artist who had last contributed to the range almost a decade earlier. The book was first published in hardback 15 October 1987, priced £7.95. The first paperback edition was published 17 March 1988, priced £1.99, with a print run of 22,500 copies. The book was number 126 in the Doctor Who Library. The book was re-issued at short notice in May 1992, priced £2.99, to tie-in with the BBC2 repeat of the serial (as noted on the cover). Because there was no time to commission new cover art, Jeff Cummins' artwork was reused, but printed in reverse, with the McCoy era logo and a blue spine.