Doctor Who Novelisations in the 70s

Between 1973 and 1991, ***Target Books*** published almost every Doctor Who television serial as a novelisation, starting with new editions of the Frederick Muller books.

Their first publications based on the serial were reprints in paperback of three novels which had been previously published as hardbacks, ‘Doctor Who and the Daleks’, ‘Doctor Who and the Crusaders’ by David Whitaker, and ‘Doctor Who and the Zarbi’ by Bill Strutton. As these sold well further novelisations of the show were commissioned.

The most prolific writer in the Doctor Who range was Terrance Dicks, while actor turned writer Ian Marter, Malcolm Hulke, Philip Hinchcliffe and Nigel Robinson (who was for a time the editor of the range) were also contributors.

Almost every story from the Doctor Who series was produced in novelisation form; the exceptions being three scripts by Douglas Adams (Shada, The Pirate Planet and City of Death) and two by Eric Saward (Resurrection of the Daleks and Revelation of the Daleks). Saward was reluctant to novelise these scripts himself due to the large percentage of the author's royalties demanded by the agents of the creator of the Daleks, Terry Nation, for the inclusion of the creatures, and other writers were dissuaded for the same reason. Adams, when interviewed on video about his involvement with Doctor Who, stated that he was unhappy with the standard one-off fee offered by Target Books for the novelisations saying "I do have this tendency to be a best-selling author". The estate of Douglas Adams eventually permitted a novelisation of Shada to be produced in 2011. It was written by Gareth Roberts and published by BBC Books in 2012.

### 1977

#### November 15, 1977: Doctor Who and the Talons of Weng-Chiang

   ***Doctor Who and the Talons of Weng-Chiang*** was a novelisation by Terrance Dicks, based on the 1977 television serial The Talons of Weng-Chiang.

Stepping out of the TARDIS into Victorian London, Leela and the Fourth Doctor are confronted by menacing, diabolical horrors shrouded within the swirling London fog – a man's death cry, an attack by Chinese Tong hatchet men, giant rats roaming the sewers, young women mysteriously disappearing ...

The hideously deformed Magnus Greel, conducting a desperate search for the lost Time Cabinet, is the instigator of all this evil. Posing as the Chinese god, Weng-Chiang, Greel uses the crafty Li H'sen Chang, and the midget Manikin, Mr Sin, to achieve his terrifying objectives. The Doctor must use all his skill, energy and intelligence to escape the talons of Weng-Chiang.

#### December 8, 1977: Doctor Who and the Masque of Mandragora

   ***Doctor Who and the Masque of Mandragora*** was a novelisation based on the 1976 television serial The Masque of Mandragora.

Forced off course by the Mandragora Helix, the Tardis lands in the province of San Martino in fifteenth-century Italy. Here, the court astrologer, Hieronymous, has been taken over by the Mandragora energy-form – Hieronymous and the other members of his star-worshiping black magic cult will be used as a bridgehead, enabling the Mandragora Helix to conquer the Earth and rule it through their chosen servants.

The Doctor has to defeat not only the Mandragora energy, but the evil schemes of the murderous Count Frederico who plans to usurp the place of his nephew, the rightful ruler of the province.

This is the only novelisation to depict the secondary control room; the others depict it as the normal console room.

### 1978

#### January 19, 1978: Doctor Who and the Face of Evil

***Doctor Who and the Face of Evil*** was a novelisation based on the 1977 television serial The Face of Evil.

Setting the controls for Earth, the Fourth Doctor is surprised when the Tardis lands in a primeval forest. Has the Tracer gone wrong or has some impulse deep in the unconscious mind directed him to this alien planet? In investigating the forest, the Doctor meets and assists Leela, a warrior banished from her tribe, the Sevateem. Through Leela, it gradually becomes apparent that the constant war between the Sevateem and the Tesh has been instigated by the god they both worship, Xoanon.

Xoanon, an all-powerful computer, is possessed by a desperate madness – a madness that is directly related to Doctor Who, that causes Xoanon to assume the voice and form of the Doctor, a madness that is partly caused by the Doctor and that only the Doctor himself can rectify!

The Doctor must not only do battle with Xoanon, but also must escape from the savage practices of the Sevateem, and the technically mind-controlling destructive impulses of the Tesh.