Recommendations For Target Novelizations & Peter Davison Stories

[S. Gomez]

I'm by no means new to Doctor Who, but I also haven't had a chance to catch up with every aspect of it yet. Finding myself getting back into a craze for the Classic series I naturally want to expand my horizons. I've seen all the Doctors up to Tom Baker and before too long I'm going to pick up the "New Beginnings" box set so he can regenerate into Peter Davison. But I wouldn't mind a little guidance as to just which stories are the best from his run, and if any are worth buying blind on DVD.

Second, I want to dip my toes into the Target novelizations. I've heard a lot about them, mostly that they can be really good despite being somewhat different from the actual shows. iTunes has a few of them on audiobook and I picked a few out that I haven't seen yet (or are missing episodes) that I'd be interested in checking out. Does anyone have an opinion as to which of these would give a good first impression?

Doctor Who And The Cybermen
Doctor Who And The Ice Warriors
Doctor Who And The Terror of The Autons
Doctor Who And The Doomsday Weapon
Doctor Who And The Space War
Doctor Who And The Green Death
Doctor Who And The Dinosaur Invasion
Doctor Who And The Planet of The Spiders

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[Starkers]

Hi, as a fan of the Fifth Doctor's era my recomendations would be the following, but you'll probably get differing views from other people.

In chronological order...

Castrovalva
Kinda
Earthshock
Snakedance (semi sequel to Kinda)
The Guardian Trilogy (Mawdryn Undead, Terminus and Enlightenment) The quality is variable, for me Enlightenment is the best of the bunch, but they are a trilogy so probably best to watch them all.
Frontios
Resurrection of the Daleks
The Caves of Androzani

edited to add, I'd probably toss Black Orchid in there as well, bit of an oddity but nice to see something a little different.

 

[Sindatur]

Hi, as a fan of the Fifth Doctor's era my recomendations would be the following, but you'll probably get differing views from other people.

In chronological order...

Castrovalva
Kinda
Earthshock
Snakedance (semi sequel to Kinda)
The Guardian Trilogy (Mawdryn Undead, Terminus and Enlightenment) The quality is variable, for me Enlightenment is the best of the bunch, but they are a trilogy so probably best to watch them all.
Frontios
Resurrection of the Daleks
The Caves of Androzani

edited to add, I'd probably toss Black Orchid in there as well, bit of an oddity but nice to see something a little different.

I like them all, but, I think Starkers mentions most of the cream of the crop, but, I would also add
The Five Doctors

 

[Starkers]

Good call I forgot that!

 

[23skidoo]

In terms of the novelizations, the first ones I ever read were from the Pertwee era, Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters, to be exact, and I'd recommend that one if you can find it. Actually with the exception of DW and the Cybermen and DW and the Ice Warriors, all the books you list are from Pertwee's era. A number of the books fell into a formula after a while, but I found the ones written early on, and the ones written later (when Target adopted the policy of getting the original script writer to do the books, if still alive or willing) work the best. You can't go wrong with any written by Ian Marter (the actor who played Harry Sullivan).

I note you're focusing on the readings. Although I strongly recommend finding the actual books, I've found the readings are generally quite good. The first one I listened to was Planet of the Spiders read by Elisabeth Sladen, so I'd recommend that one for a starter unless you're not familiar with the Pertwee era, in which case you might want to start earlier. The two Troughton-era ones are quite good and if I recall one or both are read by David Troughton, whose voice sounds very much like his father's.

Alex

 

[S. Gomez]

I'm definitely familiar with the Pertwee era, though I've seen less than half of his stories. I actually found a whole bunch of Target novelizations at my local used SF/F bookstore quite awhile ago. I'm hoping to be able to go by there today and see if they're still there.

And thanks for the Davison recommendations. I've been reading DVD reviews and those have been ones that have caught my interest.

 

[Cutter John]

I was rather fond of The Kings Demons, and Black Orchid as well. Both historicals, so they're a nice change from the usual 'running around on a spaceship' stories.

Plus they're two-parters, so the disks can be gotten cheap.

 

[Stevil2001]

KindaKindaKindaKinda

Also Enlightenment is pretty swank.

 

[23skidoo]

I'm definitely familiar with the Pertwee era, though I've seen less than half of his stories. I actually found a whole bunch of Target novelizations at my local used SF/F bookstore quite awhile ago. I'm hoping to be able to go by there today and see if they're still there.

Get them if they don't cost an arm and a leg. They're fast reads for the most part (in some cases it'll take less time than listening to them - not that I'd dissuade anyone from the audio readings as they're really cool), but they're fun, plus some of them are collectables. If you ever come across Wheel in Space for less than $50 you're doing good (it's an anomaly because there was a fire or something that resulted in it having a limited distribution; I've seen it listed for roughly a third of the GDP of Iceland on auction sites. I'm thinking of having my copy "slabbed" - joking!).

If you're expanding beyond the audios, I still say you can't go wrong with the Pertwees for starters. I don't know why but for some reason they just feel more substantial than the others. Not sure why. Maybe it was because those were the first ones I read.

One thing to watch out for - three of the Targets were originally published by someone else in the 1960s - DW and the Daleks, DW and the Crusaders and DW and the Zarbi. They're good books (except Zarbi has the annoying habit of calling the Doctor by the name "Doctor Who"), but the Daleks novel in particular makes a number of substantial changes from the original TV version. Try reading Terrance Dick's novelisation of An Unearthly Child back to back with David Whittaker's Daleks and you'll see what I mean. Same thing happens in the Pertwee era - Jo Grant gets two very different introductions in the books!

Alex

 

[Ghost Bones]

Kinda, Earthshock, Snakedance, Resurrection and Caves. Maybe Frontios too. I'd give the Black Guardian trilogy a miss, I reckon Planet of Fire's better than any of them. But that's what makes horse racing.

 

[CaptMurdock]

Terrance Dicks, former story editor and frequent writer of the classic series, did the bulk of the novelizations. While he sticks pretty closely to the script in straightforward fashion, he will occasionally throw in a unseen nuance that sheds light on the Doctor's character.

E.g. :

Spoiler: this bit in The Five Doctors

The First Doctor, prior to be Timescooped, is in "semi-retirement," basically preparing himself for his imminent regeneration. He had a sanctuary set up, where he could tend his roses and care for his bees. I just loved the mental image of William Hartnell (yes, I know) puttering around in this garden, as his way of saying goodbye.

My favorite of all is probably Ben Aronovitch's novelization of his Remembrance of the Daleks. Lots of background stuff on the early Time Lords, the Daleks civil war, Ace, even Capt. Gilmore and Rachel. Fantastic stuff.

 

[S. Gomez]

Well, that used bookstore still had plenty of Target novelizations, though mostly of stories that are already out on DVD which is a little disappointing because I was hoping for more of the missing stories to choose from. But I did manage to pick up:

The Reign of Terror by Ian Marter
The Highlanders by Gerry Davis
DW And The Ice Warriors by Brian Hayles
DW And The Enemy of The World by Ian Marter
DW And The Doomsday Weapon by Malcolm Hulke (because I'd heard good things about Hulke's novelizations, and I haven't seen Colony In Space yet)

And for $3.95 each. Canadian. Not a bad deal.