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Doctor Who - The Novelisations

By Paul Scoones

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DOCTOR WHO - THE DOMINATORS by Ian Marter

[The Dominators: cover version 1] [The Dominators: cover version 2] [The Dominators: cover version 3]
Covers: Andrew Skilleter (1984 HB; 1984 PB); Alister Pearson (1991)
This was the first of a new wave of 1960s era serials to be novelised. Prior to this book the last new Second Doctor book was The Enemy of the World (also adapted by Ian Marter), published three years earlier. Ian Marter's adaptation is faithful to the TV version, even to the extent that he even kept the cliff-hanger lead-in to the following story intact. The original cover painting was by Andrew Skilleter. The book was first published in hardback, with a red neon logo and a blue spine and back cover, 19 April 1984, priced £5.95, with a print run of 3,000 copies, and in paperback, with a purple neon logo and a blue spine and back cover, 19 July 1984, priced £1.50, with a print run of 50,000 copies. There were two printings in 1984, distinguishable by a change in Target logo between the two versions. The book was number 86 in the Doctor Who Library, and introduced the practice of printing the library number on the front cover. The novelisation was reissued paired with Terrance Dicks' adaptation of The Krotons, as the third volume of the Doctor Who Classics series, published by Star Books 15 September 1988, priced £2.95. This edition reused Andrew Skilleter's cover artwork on the front cover. The novelisation was reissued 21 February 1991 with a cover painting by Alister Pearson, reused from the BBC video release (in September 1990), with the McCoy logo and a blue spine, priced £2.50 (print run: 8,000 copies).

DOCTOR WHO - THE MIND ROBBER by Peter Ling

[The Mind Robber: cover version 1] [The Mind Robber: cover version 2]
Covers: David McAllister (1987); Alister Pearson (1990)
Peter Ling was contacted by Target and asked if he'd like to adapt his one and only Doctor Who serial. Ling worked from both a video recording of the episodes and his original scripts, taking elements from both and also adding in new material which included a scene set in an underground lake, and the white rabbit. Ling decided to relate the events of the entire first episode as a flashback as he believed that it was more dramatically striking to open with the Doctor already lost and confused in the Land of Fiction. The volcanic eruption which was the cliffhanger at the end of The Dominators is relocated in the book from the planet Dulkis to Mount Vesuvius. Ling offered to change the name of the story's villain, called the Master, but Nigel Robinson told him to leave it as it was and inserted a line into the novelisation so that readers would not confuse the character with the other, better-known Doctor Who villain called the Master. The original cover artwork was painted by David McAllister. The cover featured a yellow neon logo and a red spine and back cover. The book was first published in hardback, 20 November 1986, priced £7.25. The paperback first edition was published 16 April 1987, priced £1.75, with a print run of 32,500 copies. The book was number 115 in the Doctor Who Library. The novelisation was reissued August 1990 as a rejacketed version of the 1987 edition with a cover painting by Alister Pearson, reused from the BBC video release (in May 1990), with the McCoy logo and a blue spine, priced £2.50.

DOCTOR WHO - THE INVASION by Ian Marter

[The Invasion: cover version 1] [The Invasion: cover version 2]
Covers: Andrew Skilleter (1985); Alister Pearson (1993)
Script writer Derrick Sherwin originally planned to the write the novelisation of The Invasion himself, but the task instead went to Ian Marter, who had to resist his usual tendency to expand and elaborate on the story in order to compress the eight-part story into a standard length novelisation. The book is a mostly accurate but abridged retelling and disregards the TV version's link with the previous story. Notably the book also renames 'International Electromatics as 'International Electromatix'. Nicholas Courtney assisted Marter by showing him a video recording of the surviving episodes and Marter named a Russian base 'Nykortney' in the book after his friend. The original cover artwork was painted by Andrew Skilleter. The cover featured an orange neon logo and a black spine and back cover. The book was first published in hardback 16 May 1985, priced £6.25, and in paperback 10 October 1985, £1.50, with a print run of 55,000 copies. The book was number 98 in the Doctor Who Library, and was directly followed by its TV successor, The Krotons, in the publication schedule. The novelisation was reissued 16 September 1993 with a cover painting by Alister Pearson, with the McCoy logo and a blue spine, priced £3.50.

DOCTOR WHO - THE KROTONS by Terrance Dicks

[The Krotons: cover version 1] [The Krotons: cover version 2]
Covers: Andrew Skilleter (1985); Alister Pearson (1991)
The Krotons was Robert Holmes' very first Doctor Who story and fittingly this book was published immediately preceding The Two Doctors, which was at the time Holmes' most recent serial. Although he novelized the latter story himself, he left the job of adapting The Krotons to his old colleague Terrance Dicks, who had worked on this story as an assistant script editor. The novelisation closely followed the TV version. The original cover artwork was painted by Andrew Skilleter. The cover featured a purple neon logo and a purple spine and back cover. The book was first published in hardback 13 June 1985, priced £6.25, and in paperback 14 November 1985, £1.50, with a print run of 50,000 copies. The book was number 99 in the Doctor Who Library, and directly followed its TV predecessor, The Invasion, in the publication schedule. The novelisation was reissued paired with Ian Marter's adaptation of The Dominators, as the third volume of the Doctor Who Classics series, published by Star Books 15 September 1988, priced £2.95. This edition reused Andrew Skilleter's cover artwork on the back cover. There were plans for The Krotons to be reissued a second time in the Classics series, paired with The Seeds of Death in 1989, but the Classics range was cancelled before this book was produced. The novelisation was reissued 18 July 1991 as a rejacketed version of the 1985 edition with a cover painting by Alister Pearson, reused from the BBC video release (in February 1991), with the McCoy logo and a blue spine, priced £1.50 (print run: 9,000 copies).

DOCTOR WHO - THE SEEDS OF DEATH by Terrance Dicks

[The Seeds of Death]
Cover: Tony Masero (1986)
The story's script writer, Brian Hayles, had apparently intended to write this book but he died before beginning work on it. The novelisation was instead written by Terrance Dicks, who had worked on the story when he joined the Doctor Who production team as assistant script editor in 1968. The novelisation closely followed the TV version. The cover featured the first of many Doctor Who cover paintings by Tony Masero. The cover had a blue neon logo and a purple spine and back cover. The book was first published in hardback 17 July 1986, priced £6.95, and in paperback 4 December 1986, £1.60, with a print run of 32,500 copies. The book was number 112 in the Doctor Who Library. There were plans in 1989 for this novelisation to be reissued paired with The Krotons in the Doctor Who Classics series, but this book was never published.

DOCTOR WHO - THE SPACE PIRATES by Terrance Dicks

[The Space Pirates]
Cover: Tony Clark (1990)
This was Terrance Dicks 64th and last novelisation of a televised Doctor Who story and his seventh book for the Second Doctor. An accurate retelling of the late Robert Holmes's story, this was the last book released before the WH Allen range was sold to Virgin Books which disrupted publishing schedules. The cover was painted by Tony Clark and two versions were produced as the original featured the character Caven. The actor, Dudley Foster, apparently refused permission for his likeness to be used so Clark had to produce a second version. The one and only edition of the book was published in paperback 15 March 1990 with the McCoy logo and a blue spine and back cover, priced £2.50, with a print run of 24,000 copies. The book was number 147 in the Doctor Who Library.

DOCTOR WHO AND THE WAR GAMES by Malcolm Hulke

[The War Games: cover version 1] [The War Games: cover version 2]
Covers: John Geary (1979-84); Alister Pearson (1990)
This was Malcolm Hulke's seventh and last Doctor Who novelisation and came three years after his previous book (The Space War). He returned to the series at Terrance Dicks' suggestion to adapt The War Games, which the two men had co-written ten years earlier. Hulke's health was failing and consequently found the task difficult and not particularly enjoyable. He died 6 July 1979 after completing the book but a few months before it was published. The ten-part story had to be heavily condensed to fit within 144 pages. At the time Target was encouraging its writers to keep their books to a 128 page count, and The War Games was one of the last books to exceed this length for a few years. This was the 50th Doctor Who story and also the 50th published novelisation. The original cover artwork was painted by John Geary. The book was first published simultaneously in hardback and paperback 25 September 1979. The hardback had a yellow curve logo and a blue spine and back cover, and was priced £3.75, with a print run of 3,000 copies. The paperback had a yellow curve logo and a white spine and back cover, and was priced 75p, with a print run of 30,000 copies. The paperback was reprinted in 1980 (85p, second impression); 1982 (£1.35); 1983 (£1.35) and 1984 (£1.50, print run 12,000 copies). From the 1983 printing onwards the book was numbered 70 in the Doctor Who Library. The novelisation was reissued 15 February 1990, retitled Doctor Who - The War Games as a rejacketed version of the 1984 edition with a cover painting by Alister Pearson, reused from the BBC video release (also in February 1990), with the McCoy logo and a blue spine, priced £2.50, with a print run of 6,000 copies.

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This item appeared in TSV 38 (March 1994).

Index nodes: The Novelisations