Tripwire Reviews Target’s Doctor Who Books

On Target For 2021

Tripwire’s contributing writer Laurence Boyce takes a look at the recent raft of Target books, adapting both classic and Nu-Who stories…

The Pirate Planet by Douglas Adams And James Goss, Doctor Who- The TV Movie by Gary Russell, Dalek by Robert Shearman, The Crimson Horror by Mar Gatiss, The Witchfinders by Joy Wilkinson

For those of a certain age, the Target novelisations of Doctor Who stories were a gateway into otherwise unknown corners of the Whoniverse. Appearing before VHS was a ‘thing’ and there were five million channels repeating stuff endlessly, they were often the only way to catch up on past Doctor Who stories and discover the previous adventures of the various incarnations of our beloved Time Lord. Of course they were variable in quality, some greatly expanding on the scripts of the show on which they based, others barely rising above a literacy which the Target target audience of children would require. But they were a required part of the childhood of many a Doctor Who fan.

So it goes without saying that there was something of a nostalgia rush when a bunch of new Target books dropped a couple of years ago, with the likes of Russell T Davis and Steven Moffat adapting such adventures as Rose and The Day of the Doctor. They proved to be wonderful affairs with a mix of nostalgia as well as an often playful take on existing material.

Now there are seven more in the range (though four of these are reprints of previous material), some which fill in some long missing gaps and others which take on more modern fare.

First up is The Pirate Planet (Douglas Adams and James Goss) which famously was left out of the original run of Target novelisations (by the time it came to commission the story, Adams was too famous to work for a Target budget and too proud to let anyone else have a crack at adapting them). The story is full of grandiose ideas – The Pirate Planet pretty much does what it says on the tin – but the epic sci-fi is constantly undercut with a deadpan wit, very much a trademark for Adams . Goss creates a rollocking adventure based on the TV show (and quite different from the hardback novelisation of The Pirate Planet, also by Goss, which was based on first draft scripts) that moves along at a cracking pace. He manages to pastiche Adams’ writing style without it becoming too overtly parody and it’s a fine adventure for the Fourth Doctor in the style of the original Target books.

Also famously missing from the run of original Target novelisations were two Eric Saward scripted Dalek stories, namely Resurrection of the Daleks and Revelation of the Daleks. After getting Saward to finally adapt them in hardback a few years ago, the new 2021 Target range reprints them in paperback. Sadly, they’re really for completists only. Like the episodes it’s based on, ‘Resurrection’ is a just a dark and nasty story (with the titular pepperpots indulging in time corridor shenanigans in 1980s London Docklands) in which everyone dies horrible deaths and The Fifth Doctor is seemingly powerless to do anything. The bleak pessimism – which Saward tries to alleviate with some Adams like whimsy which is just woefully misjudged – just make the reader feel a bit grubby and it seems not only out of place for the core values of the show (even at the height of the cynicism of the mid 80s) but the Target books themselves. Revelation – in which the Sixth Doctor heads to an intergalactic funeral home and finds Davros indulging in some very shady business – is a little better with the darkness less prevalent and Saward able to provide a little more levity. His Sixth Doctor is impressive – his cantankerous nature still hiding a hero – and there’s a deliciously operatic component to proceedings. But everything still feels a little static and it sometimes lacks energy and flair.

The final reprint is of Gary Russell’s adaptation of Doctor Who – The TV Movie, the infamous Paul McGann starring UK/US co-production which was meant to relaunch the show (spoiler: it didn’t. That would have to wait another few years). Russell adapts the script well, trying to smooth out some of the more glaring plotholes and adding in a few cheeky references to the past (a few more of which are placed in this edition, after being edited out of the original). The pace and excitement is there – though there are still story problems despite Russell’s game efforts – and Russell does a good job in trying to encompass a new Doctor and – all in all – it’s a fun and breezy affair.

In new stories, first up is Robert Shearman adapting his Ninth Doctor season tale Dalek, which brought back the Doctor’s mortal enemies into the folds of the new series. Whilst it’s clear that Shearman needs to do a little filling to adapt his original 45 minute episode into a book (many minor characters are now given back stories and little flashback vignettes), he does so well mixing so relentless action with some genuinely moving musings on the nature of good and evil. The Ninth Doctor comes across well – the person struggling between trying to do the right thing or unleashing an anger spurred on by guilt – as does the titular Dalek who is an oddly sympathetic antagonist. It’s an often clever piece of work and is one of the best of the new releases.

The problem of trying to fill a novel with a 45 minute original adventure is tackled by Mark Gatiss by ostensibly giving over the first third of the adaptation of his Eleventh Doctor adventure The Crimson Horror to a completely new adventure with The Doctor and The Paternoster Gang (AKA Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax). It allows him to add some background detail and indulge his love for Victoriana, before getting into the meat of the original story. He takes some bold structural choices with the work (messing with his original story in a clever way) and it’s a constantly gripping affair with some fine humourous asides. Given that he’s a fan of Who and of the Target range, it’s unsurprising how much he ‘gets’ it and how fun this story is (with a nice aftertaste of horror and genuine emotion). This is a glorious celebration of not only Doctor Who, but of the Target range in general and Gatiss – well – hits the target.

Finally Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor is given the Target treatment in The Witchfinders by Joy Wilkinson as she finds herself in 17^th Century Lincolnshire. It’s an atmospheric work, that veers between camp adventure and dark introspection. Wilkinson captures the Thirteenth Doctor well, all outward blasé happiness concealing the fierce determination to do right, and manages to give justice to a large cast of supporting characters. It’s another well done and fun affair which rounds off the collection nicely.

All the books include some brilliant artwork from Anthony Day which mimics the classic ‘pop art’ stylings of Target covers in the past and fans of the Target range will be relieved to know that there is the obligatory ‘Changing Face of Doctor Who’ paragraph for each cover page. While the first four in the collection are really for hardcore fans only, the latter three ‘Nu Who’ adaptations should appeal to all ranges of fandom, whether or not the Target books were a part of their lives.