This is the third instalment of a guide to the novelisations, each part
covering a complete Doctor's era. The guide has been revised and updated for
this online version, incorporating additional information on all known Target
editions. This instalment covers the Seventh Doctor books as at the time of
publication this was the only other Doctor's era represented by a full set of
novelisations.
This guide concerns itself primarily with the editions published under the
Target imprint and also the associated hardbacks. Other versions - mostly those
produced by publishers outside the UK - are not covered. The paperbacks were
published under the Target imprint of W H Allen (until 1989), and Virgin (from
1990 to 1994). The hardbacks were published by W H Allen.
I am indebted to David J Howe's sterling work in Howe's Transcendental
Toybox and his series of articles The Changing Face of Target in DWM, and also
Tim Neal for his fabulously detailed On
Target website, which is highly recommended for any readers wanting to know
even more about the novelisations than is featured here. The sources for the
original version of this article included DWM, DWB, Time Screen and The
Frame, with thanks to Jon Preddle for additional research.
THE SEVENTH DOCTOR NOVELISATIONS
The first two Seventh Doctor novelisations were published in 1988: Time and
the Rani and Paradise Towers. Four more Seventh Doctor books were
issued in 1989: Delta and the Bannermen, Dragonfire, Silver Nemesis
and The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, followed by an additional five in
1990: The Happiness Patrol, Remembrance of the Daleks, Ghost Light, Survival
and The Curse of Fenric. Battlefield completed the set, published
in 1991.
The Seventh Doctor era was almost completely novelized by the writers of the
respective TV stories, with the sole exception of Battlefield (which was
adapted by Marc Platt from a TV story by Ben Aaronovitch). Unusually for such a
prolific Doctor Who novelist, not one of the twelve Seventh Doctor books was
written by Terrance Dicks.
Cover: Photographic (1988); Alister Pearson (1991)
This was Pip and Jane Baker's third of four Doctor Who novels. The book
featured a number of additions, including an extended prologue featuring the
Sixth Doctor, an explanation of the Rani's escape from her predicament at the
end of The Mark of the Rani, and also an explanation of how the Tetraps'
native language was simply English in reverse. The book was commissioned before
the story was even transmitted, and at first was publicised with the title
Strange Matter since this was the working title of the serial during
production. Tony Masero originally painted the cover artwork, a piece featuring
Tetraps hanging from the roof of their lair, but this was printed upside down
on cover proofs (which also featured a neon logo). John Nathan-Turner then
instructed that the painting should be abandoned in favour of a photographic
version of the same subject. The photograph had apparently been set up and shot
by Chris Capstick for the cover of the Radio Times to publicise the new season.
When the Radio Times replaced the cover, Nathan-Turner asked Target books to
use the photo instead. The cover was printed with the photograph and the McCoy
logo, and two banners, one identifying the book as a first edition, and the
other proclaiming the book to be 'The first adventure of the seventh Doctor!'.
The cover had a violet spine and back cover. This was the only Seventh Doctor
novelisation to have a hardback edition. The hardback was published 17 December
1987, priced £7.95. The paperback edition was wrongly numbered 127 in the
Doctor Who library (it was actually 128; 127 was The Mysterious Planet),
and was published 5 May 1988, priced £1.99 (print run: 23,000 copies). A new
format reprint edition was issued 17 October 1991, priced £2.50, (print run
10,000), with new cover artwork by Alister Pearson and the McCoy logo and a
blue spine.
Covers: Alister Pearson (1988; 1991)
This was the first of Stephen Wyatt's two adaptations for the series, and is a
straightforward retelling with few deviations from the television version. It
was the first Doctor Who novelisation since 1975 to be published in
paperback alone. Due to falling sales of the hardback range, the last hardback
Doctor Who novelisation was The Smugglers. The decision by the
publishers to discontinue the range was made at such short notice that a
hardback cover proof had been printed and Paradise Towers was first
scheduled for hardback publication on 21 July 1988 and then put back to
simultaneous publication with the paperback in December 1988 before being
cancelled altogether. The cover artwork was painted by Alister Pearson, and
significantly marked resumption of using the likeness of the current Doctor in
the cover painting, a practice that had been discontinued in 1980. Pearson was
apparently initially informed that, like his two predecessors, Sylvester McCoy
wouldn't permit his likeness to be used on cover paintings, but Pearson then
met McCoy and secured his consent. The cover was the first to feature Alister
Pearson's later regular practice of incorporating cryptic initials into the
design. The book was numbered 134 in the Doctor Who
library and was first published in paperback 1 December 1988, priced £1.99
(print run: 25,000 copies), with the McCoy logo and an orange spine and back
cover. A new format reprint edition was issued October 1991, priced £2.50
(print run: 9,000), reusing the same cover artwork with the McCoy logo and a
blue spine.
Covers: Alister Pearson (1989; 1991)
Malcolm Kohll expanded and restored missing scenes when he novelised his story
for Target. Kohll's first version of one and only Doctor Who adaptation was
apparently 10,000 words short of the usual 40,000 word length, and so he was
asked to add in more detail. The book contains 34 chapters, including the
prologue and epilogue, which is more than any other Doctor Who novelisation.
The first paperback edition and its reprint both feature errors on the spine:
the first edition gives the book's title as 'Delta and the Bannerman' and the
second edition, whilst correcting this mistake, introduces a new one - the book
is wrongly numbered 153. Additionally, in both editions Michael Ferguson is
credited as the story's director when in fact it was Chris Clough. Alister
Pearson painted the cover artwork, which he composed as a silhouette of Mickey
Mouse's head upside down, apparently in reference to the mentions of Disneyland
in the story. A hardback edition had been scheduled for January 1989 and a
cover proof had been printed (which incidentally had the title spelt correctly
on the spine) but this edition was never published due to the cancellation of
the hardback range in late 1988. The book was numbered 135 in the Doctor Who
library and was first published in paperback 19 January 1989, priced £1.99
(print run: 21,000 copies), with the McCoy logo and a blue spine and back
cover. A new format reprint edition was issued 21 November 1991, priced £2.99
(print run: 9,000), reusing the same cover artwork with the McCoy logo and a
blue spine.
Covers: Alister Pearson (1989; 1991)
Even before the book was published, when asked by fans to explain Dragonfire's
Part One cliffhanger Ian Briggs told them to 'read the book'. Dragonfire was
Biggs' first of two novelisations and contains a number of extra scenes,
notably a sequence where Mel rescues Ace when she is overcome by nitro-9 fumes,
and another when the Doctor frees Glitz from an ice fall - a scene which was to
have been on screen. Briggs makes mention of the Doctor's Scottish accent, and
included an internal illustration of a piece of Ace's graffiti, which also
appeared on the cover. Briggs was disconcerted at the amount of editing his
manuscript received, apparently to make it acceptance to younger readers. Some
references to violence and gore were removed and Glitz's attitudes towards
women were was also toned down. The last line was also removed. Briggs included
a thank you to John Nathan-Turner, Andrew Cartmel, and the Ealing teenagers who
inspired his creation of the character Ace. Alister Pearson painted the cover,
and his original cover sketch featured the Doctor's face, the biomechanoid and
Kane's melting face. The biomechanoid was dropped due to a differing
description in the book, and Kane's face was perceived to be too horrific, so
Pearson came up with a replacement design. The final cover composition was
inspired by one of Pearson's favourite Doctor Who book covers, Jeff Cummins'
painting for The Face of Evil. Dragonfire completed the set of Season 24
novelisations and marked the first and only time that Target succeeded in
publishing a complete Doctor Who season of novelisations in the same
order as the stories were transmitted. The book was numbered 137 in the Doctor
Who library and was first published in paperback 16 March 1989, priced £1.99
(print run: 21,000 copies), with the McCoy logo and a black spine and back
cover. A new format reprint edition was issued 17 October 1991, priced £2.99
(print run: 9,000), reusing the same cover artwork with the McCoy logo and a
blue spine.
Cover: Alister Pearson (1990)
Remembrance of the Daleks took first-time novelist Ben Aaronovitch a
very long time to write. Ace's friend Manisha was first created for this book
and after reading the unfinished manuscript Marc Platt wrote Manisha into his
script for Ghost Light. Aaronovitch included many innovations, including
beginning several chapters with fictional book 'extracts', sequences written
from a Dalek perspective, flashbacks to early Gallifrey, and excerpts from
characters' memories. The book is dedicated to Andrew and Anna, and features a
quotation from the Shakespeare play Richard III. Allegedly Terry
Nation's permission was not obtained for the novelisation, and Nation's
annoyance at this is said to have been a contributing factor in getting
permission for further Dalek novels. The book was originally scheduled to be
published in August 1989 as book number 143, ahead of the other Season 25
novelisations, but due to the writing taking a lot longer than anticipated, the
book kept getting rescheduled. Once the book was completed it was scheduled for
April 1990 but due to the sale of WH Allen to Virgin and the Doctor Who range
being put on temporary hold as a result, the book was delayed still further. An
extract from the unedited manuscript was sent out before the book was published
to a number of people applying for the job of assistant editor on the Doctor
Who range. Alister Pearson was commissioned to paint the cover just two
days after the story was transmitted. The book was numbered 148 in the Doctor
Who library and was published in paperback 21 June 1990, priced £2.50
(print run: 25,000 copies), with the McCoy logo and a grey spine and back
cover. It was reprinted later the same year (print run: 5,000).
Cover: Alister Pearson (1990)
Graeme Curry's only Doctor Who novelisation expands quite considerably
on the society and characters presented in the story and also includes extra
scenes which were present in the rehearsal scripts but were cut from TV
version. Curry's description of the Kandy Man was based on his concept of how
he wanted the character to look, rather than how it actually turned out. The
book was originally going to be published ahead of Silver Nemesis and
The Greatest Show in the Galaxy but was delayed in the schedule. Alister
Pearson painted the cover; his initial design sketch featured a montage of the
Kandy Man, Susan Q, a Pipe Person and the pink TARDIS, but this was rejected,
partly because the description of the Kandy Man differed in the book and also
because it was deemed too cluttered, so Pearson came up with a much simpler
illustration in its place. The book was numbered 146 in the Doctor Who
library and the only edition was published in paperback 15 February 1990,
priced £2.50 (print run: 25,000 copies), with the McCoy logo, a white spine and
back cover.
Covers: Alister Pearson (1989; 1993)
Although it was not originally intended as such, this ended up being the first
Season 25 novelisation published, and was published a year to the month after
the story was broadcast. Kevin Clarke based his one and only novelisation on
his original scripts and included scenes which were not seen on TV and also a
number of things that were changed in production, including Mrs Hackensack
(Remington on screen), and a building site instead of a warehouse as the
location of the final action sequence. Clarke dedicated the book to 'DHF
Somerset' which was an in-joke as this was the name that appeared on new bank
notes, reflecting the fact that Clarke hated writing the book but was motivated
by the money. Alister Pearson painted the cover, the original design for which
had the Doctor in a different pose. Pearson was initially concerned about
including a swastika in the design, but was reassured by the publishers that
they were okay with this. The cover was painted at short notice when the book
was rescheduled earlier than had been planned. The book was numbered 143 in the
Doctor Who library and was first published in paperback 16 November
1989, priced £1.99 (print run: 22,000 copies), with the McCoy logo and a blue
spine and back cover. The back cover noted that the story celebrated 25 years
of Doctor Who on television. A new format reprint edition (timed to
coincide with the publication of the Cyberman New Adventures novel Iceberg),
was issued 16 September 1993, priced £3.50, with the McCoy logo and a blue
spine, and unusually saw Alister Pearson replacing his own cover artwork with a
completely new cover painting.
Covers: Alister Pearson (1989; 1991)
By his own admission, Stephen Wyatt disliked the process of novelising his
stories, and would much rather have simply published the scripts. He said that
the only appeal of writing the book was the money. As with Wyatt's first
novelisation, Paradise Towers, his second and last adaptation is a
faithful retelling of the TV version with very minor changes and very few
additional scenes. Alister Pearson painted the cover; his original design
sketch featured a montage of faces including Mags, clowns and the ticket
collector placed around the Doctor's head, but these were not included in the
final painting. The book was numbered 144 in the Doctor Who library and was
first published in paperback 21 December 1989, priced £1.99 (print run: 22,000
copies), with the McCoy logo and a blue spine and back cover. A new format
reprint edition was issued two years later, 12 December 1991, priced £2.99,
with the McCoy logo and a blue spine.
Cover: Alister Pearson (1991)
Unlike every other Seventh Doctor novelisation, this book was not written by
the story's scriptwriter. Ben Aaronovitch started work on the adaptation and
completed a couple of chapters before giving up, realising that he didn't have
the time to work on it. Aaronovitch asked Marc Platt to write the novelisation
instead. Platt incorporated some of which Aaronovitch had already written into
the novelisation. The book's dedication acknowledges this handover saying:
'Written For Ben, the perfect gentle Knight who let his humble squire take over
the reins'. The book was originally scheduled to be published in September 1990
as book number 150 between Ghost Light and Survival, but the
delay caused by Aaronovitch's lack of time to work on the book and subsequent
handover to Platt meant that the book's publication was delayed by almost a
year. The novelisation features many additions and enhancements to the story,
most notably near the beginning, which material likely to have originated from
Aaronovitch. The prologue is set in the time of King Arthur with a future,
red-haired incarnation of the Doctor as Merlin. This was Marc Platt's second
and last Doctor Who Target novelisation (although he went on to write
for the New Adventures and Missing Adventures series). The cover was painted by
Alister Pearson in early 1990, long before it was needed. Battlefield was the
last of the Seventh Doctor novelisations to be published. The book was numbered
152 in the Doctor Who library and the only edition was published in
paperback 18 July 1990, priced £2.50 (print run: 22,000 copies), with the McCoy
logo and a white spine and back cover.
Cover: Alister Pearson (1990)
Marc Platt's story was heavily edited before it reached the screen, so in
writing this novelisation he took the opportunity to reinstate many of the lost
sequences, as well as creating new material that includes dialogue referencing
the author's passion for opera, Light's whirlwind trip outside Gabriel Chase,
and an entire first chapter featuring a 13-year-old Ace. This was Marc Platt's
first Doctor Who novelisation. Platt dedicated the book to 'Ian,
Margaret and the wonderful Alice.' Alister Pearson painted the cover artwork. The book was to
have been published in August 1990, but a printing error involving the cover
caused it to be delayed by a month. The book was numbered 149 in the Doctor Who
library and the only edition was published in paperback 20 September 1990,
priced £2.50 (print run: 25,000 copies), with the McCoy logo and a white spine
and back cover.
Cover: Alister Pearson (1990)
Briggs delivered the manuscript for his second of two Doctor Who novelisations
shortly before the story screened on UK television. At 192 pages the book is
equal in length to Fury from the Deep as one of the longest novelisations in
the range. As this book is based on a story only four episodes long it greatly
expands on what appeared on screen, including a map, four 'documents', and an
epilogue set in Paris 1887 after Ace has left the Doctor. Additions to the
story included making Nurse Crane an agent for the Russians and Dr Judson the
victim of Millington's adolescent jealousy. The Haemovore descriptions were
based on an earlier, unused design for the creatures, considerably different
from what appeared on screen. Briggs had difficulty writing the final televised
sequence when Ace dives into the water as he wasn't sure himself what this
scene meant. As he had done with Dragonfire, Briggs included an
acknowledgement to JNT, Cartmel and a dozen teenagers in Ealing. Briggs' name
was accidentally left off the title page. Alister Pearson was commissioned to
paint the cover before the story had even screened, and finished the painting
on the day the third episode was transmitted. He admitted to not knowing what
the story was about when he created the painting. Pearson was instructed to
include a haemovore even though Briggs didn't want one depicted due to his
conflicting description. The book was numbered 151 in the Doctor Who library
and the only edition was published in paperback 15 November 1990, priced £2.50
(print run: 29,000 copies), with the McCoy logo and a white spine and back
cover.
Cover: Alister Pearson (1990)
This had the honour of being numbered the 150th Doctor Who novelisation. The
adaptation of the last Sylvester McCoy television story was Rona Munro's only
contribution to the series. The book contained several changes and extra
scenes: the grocers Len and Harvey get transported to the Hunting Planet, Ace
burns Karra on a funeral pyre instead of a Cheetah Person taking the body away,
Patterson is from the police rather than the army, and the ending is
substantially rewritten in that it is not based on either the TV version or
Munro's script. Munro said that she wrote the adaptation closer to her original
ideas than the TV version was. The cover painting by Alister Pearson was to
have featured the Master's face (merged with the black cat), but this was
removed when actor Anthony Ainley refused permission for his likeness to be
used. The realistic looking claw tears were achieved by Pearson ripping the
actual mounting board on which the picture had been painted. Pearson never
received the artwork back, and believes that "someone who didn't know better
thought it had been badly damaged and threw it away!" The book contains a
postscript by editor Peter Darvill-Evans, which informed readers that although
Survival was the last televised TV story, there still were still further
novelisations to come and that the New Adventures were also on their way. The
only edition was published in paperback 18 October 1990, priced £2.50
(print run: 25,000 copies), with the McCoy logo and a white spine and back
cover.