NZDWFC: TSV 38: Doctor Who - The Novelisations: The Second Doctor (Page 1)

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Home : Archive : TSV 31-40 : TSV 38 : Feature

This is the fourth 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 Second Doctor books. At the time of the article's original publication in TSV 38 the set of Second Doctor books had recently been completed with the publication of novelisations of the last two remaining stories.

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 Universal-Tandem (1973-75), Tandem (1975-77), Wyndham (1976-77), W H Allen (1977-89), and Virgin (1990-94). The hardbacks were published by Allan Wingate (1973-77), Longbow/W H Allen (1978) and W H Allen (1978-88). W H Allen also reprinted some of the novelisations under their Star paperback imprint, and these are also covered in this guide.

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 SECOND DOCTOR NOVELISATIONS

The first Second Doctor novelisation was The Abominable Snowmen, published in 1974. This was joined in 1975 by The Cybermen and in 1976 by The Ice Warriors and The Web of Fear. There were no Second Doctor novelisations in 1977. 1978 saw the publication of The Tomb of the Cybermen. The War Games was published in 1979, and after another long gap The Enemy of the World appeared in 1981. Subsequently these seven titles were the only Second Doctor novelisations available for a few years. Further books from this era first appeared in 1984 with The Dominators and The Highlanders. Two more were published in 1985: The Invasion and The Krotons, and another two in 1986: Fury from the Deep and The Seeds of Death. Three Second Doctor novelisations appeared in 1987: The Mind Robber, The Faceless Ones and The Macra Terror. Another two were published in 1988: The Underwater Menace and The Wheel in Space, and another, The Space Pirates in 1990. After another gap of a few years the set of Second Doctor titles was completed with the publication of The Power of the Daleks and The Evil of the Daleks in 1993.

The Second Doctor era was novelised by ten authors. Terrance Dicks novelised a third of the set, seven out of a total of 21 books. Of the rest, three were each novelised by Gerry Davis and Ian Marter. John Peel wrote two and six writers each contributed one title: Nigel Robinson, Ian Stuart Black, Brian Hayles, Victor Pemberton, Peter Ling and Malcolm Hulke.

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DOCTOR WHO - THE POWER OF THE DALEKS by John Peel

Cover: Alister Pearson (1993)
This book was originally to have been written by the story's script writer, David Whitaker, who got as far as preparing notes on chapter breakdowns before his death in February 1980. Subsequently Terrance Dicks expressed interest in writing both this book and The Evil of the Daleks, but contractual problems prevented this. John Peel first looked into novelising both stories in 1989. Permission was gained from the estate of David Whitaker but as with other Dalek projects, the publishers encountered difficulties in negotiating with Terry Nation's agents. Consequently, the project was put on hold until such a time as an agreement could be reached. This occurred in early 1992. John Peel was Terry Nation's first choice to novelise the stories as Nation was pleased with Peel's adaptations of The Chase and The Daleks' Master Plan. Peel was directed by the publishers to write to the length of a New Adventures novel rather than a Target adaptation. Peel included an afterword, thanking those who had provided input, and noted that the book was based in part on Whitaker's original unedited scripts. Additional material was included featuring the last scenes from The Tenth Planet, and a prologue sequence originated by Peel to explain how the colonists could have settled on Vulcan by 2020 AD - although all references to the year were subsequently removed including a mention that had appeared on the advance proof back cover blurb. The cover was to have identified the book as part of the Target range but the Target name and logo was removed from all but the title page shortly before publication. The cover featured a new design format, with the McCoy logo and a painting by Alister Pearson. The book was originally scheduled for publication 17 June 1993, but was released the following month, 15 July 1993, in paperback, priced £4.50. The book was number 154 in the Doctor Who Library.

DOCTOR WHO - THE HIGHLANDERS by Gerry Davis

Cover: Nick Spender (1984)
When Target began recommenced publishing adaptations of the 1960s era serials in the early 1980s, Gerry Davis was one of the first of the original scriptwriters who returned to adapt his own serials. He had previously written three books for Target during the 1970s. The Highlanders TV serial was credited to Elwyn Jones, but in fact Davis had written most of the story in his capacity as script editor, and is jointly named with Jones in the book's scriptwriter credits. The book is a faithful retelling of the TV story. The cover painting was by Nick Spender. The cover featured a red neon logo and a red spine and back cover. The book was first published in hardback 16 August 1984, priced £5.95, with a print run of 3,000 copies. The one and only paperback edition was published 15 November 1984, priced £1.50, with a print run of 60,000 copies. The book was number 90 in the Doctor Who Library.

DOCTOR WHO - THE UNDERWATER MENACE by Nigel Robinson

Cover: Alister Pearson (1988)
This was Nigel Robinson's third of four novelisations for the range and wrote the book shortly after leaving his post as editor of the series. The book came out ten years after the scriptwriter Geoffrey Orme's death. Robinson tightened up parts of Orme's story and modified some of the characters. Lolem took over Ramo's role in early scenes and some of Damon's scenes were given over to the Labour Controller. The cover featured the first painting by prolific cover artist Alister Pearson, who gained the commission after three years of submitting Doctor Who paintings 'on spec' to the publishers. The cover was the second to feature the McCoy era logo and saw the first use of the new cover format that saw the logo imposed over a solid black background that replaced the top third of the cover painting. Uniquely, the book series number appeared in a white box, suggesting that the number may have been changed at short notice after the cover had already been prepared (of the three books that immediately preceded this one, two were wrongly numbered and one had a non-sequential number, so The Underwater Menance may have originally also been wrongly numbered). The cover featured a green spine and back cover. The book was first published in hardback 19 February 1988, priced £7.95. The only paperback edition was published 21 July 1988, priced £1.99, with a print run of 22,500 copies. The book was number 129 in the Doctor Who Library.

DOCTOR WHO AND THE CYBERMEN by Gerry Davis

Covers: Chris Achilleos (1975-76, 1978-80); Bill Donohoe (1981-84)
This was Gerry Davis's first Doctor Who novelisation and the second of the Second Doctor era books. The TV serial was called The Moonbase but this was changed for the book to attract readers. Gerry Davis gave the adventure an exact date, 15 October 2070, which wasn't given on screen, and stated that Ben and Polly originate from the 1970s and not the 1960s. The book links up with the preceding story, The Underwater Menace (as it did on screen), and begins with a section entitled 'The Creation of the Cybermen', in which it is claimed that the Cybermen originated on Telos, not Mondas, contradicting the established onscreen history. The Cybermen was 160 pages long; thereafter Target imposed a shorter page count on its authors for many years (the next time a book of this length appeared was in 1983). As was standard at this time, the book featured eight illustrations drawn by Alan Willow. These illustrations appeared in all paperback and hardback printings. The original cover artwork was painted by Chris Achilleos, and features a Cyberman from The Invasion. After completing this cover artwork, Achilleos took a break from illustrating the Target covers during most of 1975. The cover featured the block logo (this was the last of 12 books to use this logo), and a black spine and back cover. The book was first published as a paperback 20 February 1975 (a publication date of 1974 erroneously appears inside the book), priced 35p; this was reprinted in March 1976, priced 40p. The cover was then altered to feature a red curve logo, a white spine and back cover, and a cropped version of Chris Achilleos's artwork. This version was first printed 17 August 1978 (60p, 'second impression', print run: 10,000 copies) and reprinted 16 August 1979 (70p, 'third impression', print run: 12,000 copies) and 1980 (85p 'fourth impression'). A hardback edition was first published 16 July 1981, featuring new cover artwork by Bill Donohoe, a red neon logo and a red spine and back cover, priced £4.50 with a print run of 3,000 copies. A paperback edition of this new cover design also appeared in 1981, priced 95p, and was reprinted in 1982 (£1.50, print run 15,000 copies, some rejacketed 1981 editions) and twice in 1984 (£1.50, print run 20,000). The 1984 editions were numbered 14 in the Doctor Who library.

DOCTOR WHO - THE MACRA TERROR by Ian Stuart Black

Cover: Tony Masero (1987)
Ian Stuart Black's second of three novelisations was a generally faithful adaptation of his TV story however a notable change is that Medok dies in the TV version but survives the adventure in the book. Black dedicated his novelisation to the Doctor Who Appreciation Society. Artist Tony Masero, faced with a lack of useable photo references from the TV story, instead painted a fairly generic picture of a crab to represent the Macra. The cover featured a blue neon logo and an orange spine and back cover. The book was first published in hardback, 16 July 1987, priced £7.95. The first edition paperback was published 10 December 1987, priced £1.95, with a print run of 25,500 copies and was reprinted the same month. The book was number 123 in the Doctor Who Library.

DOCTOR WHO - THE FACELESS ONES by Terrance Dicks

Cover: Tony Masero (1987)
After novelizing The War Games, published in 1979, Malcolm Hulke was planning to follow this up with an adaptation of The Faceless Ones but he died that year apparently before beginning work on the book. Years later, Terrance Dicks novelised the story as a tribute to Hulke who had been his friend and writing partner. The book is a faithful adaptation of the TV story, and even retained the final scene that linked it to the beginning of The Evil of the Daleks. The cover was painted by Tony Masero and features a red neon logo and a blue spine and back cover. The book was first published in hardback, 11 December 1986, priced £7.25. The only paperback edition was published 21 May 1987, priced £1.95, with a print run of 32,500 copies. The book was number 116 in the Doctor Who Library though unusually the number was omitted from the spine of the book.

DOCTOR WHO - THE EVIL OF THE DALEKS by John Peel

Cover: Alister Pearson (1993)
This was the last Second Doctor TV adaptation and at 288 pages this was also by far the longest Doctor Who novelisation. The Evil of the Daleks was originally going to have been novelised by David Whitaker, then Terrance Dicks expressed an interest, but the adaptation of both this story and The Power of the Daleks were held up for years in a contractual dispute with Terry Nation. This was eventually resolved in early 1992, with Nation giving his approval to John Peel to adapt both stories. The cover was to have identified the book as part of the Target range but the Target name and logo was removed from all but the title page shortly before publication. The cover featured a new design format, with the McCoy logo and a painting by Alister Pearson. The book was published 19 August 1993 in paperback, priced £4.50. The book was number 155 in the Doctor Who Library.