- UK
- Paperback
- Target Books
- January 1990
- Book Number: 145
The Doctor is feeling confident: this time the TARDIS has landed on Earth; in England; in 1963. But when he and his companions venture outside, they are soon lost in a maze of ravines and menaced by gigantic insects. And the insects are dying — every living thing is dying...
Meanwhile in a cottage garden on a perfect summer's day, the man from the ministry arrives to put a stop to the production of DN6, a pesticide with the power to destroy all life-forms. But the man who invented DN6 will stop at nothing — not even murder — in their desire to see DN6 succeed.
Can the one-inch tall Doctor foil their plans?
Planet of Giants
Script Writer: Louis Marks
3 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Black and White
31/10/64 Planet of Giants
07/11/64 Dangerous Journey
14/11/64 Crisis
All episodes exist as 16mm telerecordings and have been released on video in both the UK and United States.
First Doctor / Ian Chesterton / Barbara Wright / Susan Foreman
- Planet of Giants was the very last First Doctor novelisation to be published, completing the era in a mere twenty-six years!
- Planet of Giants was unusual in that it was originally produced as a four-part story, but prior to transmission the decision was made to tighten the story up by editing Crisis and The Urge to Live into a completely new third episode. Sadly, the original versions of these episodes are no longer in existance, but some of the excised material did finally turn up in Terrace Dicks' novelisation. Even so, it still only managed to limp in at an anaemic 112 pages, virtually identical to the lacklustre efforts from the late 1970s and early 1980s such as the novelisations of The Robots of Death and The Horns of Nimon.
- Planet of Giants was the first of four scripts for Doctor Who to be written by Louis Marks. His next would be 1972's Day of the Daleks, with the third and fourth being Planet of Evil and The Masque of Mandragora for Seasons Thirteen and Fourteen respectively.
- UK
- Paperback
- Target Books
- March 1977
- (Book Number: 17)
Doctor Who and the Dalek Invasion of Earth
UK / Hardback / Allan Wingate Ltd / March 1977Dr. Who: Kampf um die Erde
Germany / Paperback / Schneider-Buch / 1981 (Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com)
Dr. Who: Kampf um die Erde was the second of two Doctor Who translations to be released by Schneider-Buch in Germany in the early-1980s. A second German translation of Doctor Who and the Dalek Invasion of Earth was released by Goldmann Verlag in 1989 as Doctor Who und das Komplott der Daleks.
Docteur Who: Les Daleks Envahissent la Terre
France / Paperback / Editions Garancière / May 1987 / 4 (Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com)Docteur Who: Les Daleks Envahissent la Terre was one of eight Doctor Who novelisations to be released in France by Editions Garancière.
Doctor Who und das Komplott der Daleks
Germany / Paperback / Goldmann Verlag / 1989 (Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com)
Doctor Who und das Komplott der Daleks was one of eight translations of Doctor Who novelisations to be released in Germany in the late-1980s and early-1990s by Goldmann Verlag, with all but one being Dalek stories. Doctor Who and the Dalek Invasion of Earth had previously been released in Germany in 1981 under the title Dr. Who: Kampf um die Erde, although this was a completely new translation.
Doctor Who: The Dalek Invasion of Earth
UK / Paperback / Target Books / August 1990 / No.17Doctor Who and the Dalek Invasion of Earth was also included as part of the Dalek Omnibus hardback from WH Allen in June 1983 and in the Doctor Who Classics: The Dalek Invasion of Earth and The Crusaders omnibus from Star Books in August 1988.
The TARDIS lands in a London of future times — a city of fear, devastation and holocaust...a city now ruled by DALEKS.
The Doctor and his companions meet a team of underground resistance workers, among the few survivors, but after an unsuccessful attack on the Dalek spaceship, they are all forced to flee the capital.
A perilous journey through England finally brings them to the secret centre of Dalek operations...and the mysterious reason for the Dalek invasion of Earth!
The Dalek Invasion of Earth
Script Writer: Terry Nation
6 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Black and White
21/11/64 World's End
28/11/64 The Daleks
05/12/64 Day of Reckoning
12/12/64 The End of Tomorrow
19/12/64 The Waking Ally
26/12/64 Flashpoint
The Waking Ally exists as a 35mm telerecording, while the remaining five episodes are all held as 16mm telerecordings. The Dalek Invasion of Earth has been released on Region 2 DVD in the UK and on Region 1 DVD in the United States.
First Doctor / Ian Chesterton / Barbara Wright / Susan Foreman
- The Dalek Invasion of Earth was the final regular television story to feature the Doctor's granddaughter, Susan Foreman. The character re-appeared in the television series in the twentieth-anniversary story The Five Doctors, in 1983, and also featured in the dismal Legacy of the Daleks, an Eighth Doctor Adventure published in 1998 which acted as a sequel to The Dalek Invasion of Earth.
- As with The Daleks, The Dalek Invasion of Earth was destined to be re-made for the big screen with Peter Cushing and Roberta Tovey reprising their roles as Dr. Who and Susan. Neither Jennie Linden or Roy Castle was to appear in Daleks — Invasion Earth 2150AD, however, so the characters of Barbara and Ian were replaced by Dr Who's niece Louise (Jill Curzon), and the unfortunate policeman Tom Campbell (Bernard Cribbins)..
- UK
- Hardback
- WH Allen
- August 1987
From his one previous visit the Doctor remembers the inhabitants of the planet Dido as a gentle, peace-loving people.
But when he returns, things have changed dramatically. It seems that the Didoi have brutally massacred the crew of the crashed spaceliner Astra. Even now they are threatening the lives of the sole survivors,Bennett and the orphan girl Vicki.
Why have the Didoi apparently turned against their peaceful natures? Can Bennett and Vicki survive until the Rescue ship fron Earth arrives? And who is the mysterious Koquillion?
The Rescue
Script Writer: David Whitaker
2 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Black and White
02/01/65 The Powerful Enemy
09/01/65 Desperate Measures
Both episodes exist as 16mm telerecordings. The Rescue has been released on video in both the UK and the United States.
First Doctor / Ian Chesterton / Barbara Wright / Vicki
- The Rescue was the introductory television story for Vicki.
- The novelisation of The Rescue was the final book to be written by Ian Marter prior to his death. In total, he wrote nine Doctor Who novelisations, leaving him second in the list behind Terrance Dicks as the greatest contributor to the range.
- UK
- Hardback
- WH Allen
- April 1987
The TARDIS crew members have taken a break from their adventures and are enjoying a well-deserved rest in a luxury villa on the outskirts of Imperial Rome.
But in the gory grandeur that is Rome, things don't stay quiet for long. If the time-travellers can save themselves from being sold as slaves, assassinated by classical hit-men, poisoned by the evil Locusta, thrown to the lions, maimed in the arena and drowned in a shipwreck, they still have to face the diabolical might of the mad Nero.
As if that isn't enough, they also discover that, although Rome wasn't built in a day, it was burnt down in considerably less time...
The Romans
Script Writer: Dennis Spooner
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Black and White
16/01/65 The Slave Traders
23/01/65 All Roads Lead to Rome
30/01/65 Conspiracy
06/02/65 Inferno
All four episodes exist as 16mm telerecordings and have been released on video in both the UK and the United States. The complete soundtrack to the story was released on CD by BBC Audiobooks in May 2008, with linking narration by William Russell.
First Doctor / Ian Chesterton / Barbara Wright / Vicki
- The Romans was the only one of Donald Cotton's three Doctor Who novelisations not to be based on his own scripts, but like those based on The Myth Makers and The Gunfighters it was also written in the first person. The Romans was the only one of Cotton's trio of books to use more than one narrator, however, including entries from Ian Chesterton's journal and extracts from the Doctor's diary.
- UK
- Hardback
- Frederick Muller Ltd
- October 1965
Doctor Who and the Zarbi
USA / Hardback / Soccer Books / 1966Details of this edition are sketchy at best, although it is listed in the Library of Congress catalogue records. If anyone can provide further details, or even a cover scan, please get in contact via the email address at the top of the page.
UK / Paperback / Target Books / May 1973 / (No.73)
UK / Hardback / Allan Wingate Ltd / May 1973Doctor Who and the Zarbi was one of the first three releases by Allan Wingate and Target — the 1960s novelisations of Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks and Doctor Who and the Crusaders were also re-issued at the same time. Over the next twenty years they would go on to novelise all but five of the television stories.
UK / Hardback / White Lion / December 1975Rather bizarrely, the cover of the White Lion edition shows Tom Baker, who was playing the Fourth Doctor on television at the time.
Doctor Who en de Zarbi's
Holland / Paperback / Gooise Uitgeverij / 1978Doctor Who en de Zarbi's was one of eight translations of Doctor Who novelisations to be released in Holland in the 1970s by Gooise Uitgeverij.
Doutor Who e os Zarbi
Portugal / Paperback / Editorial Presença / 1983 / 10Doutor Who e os Zarbi was one of ten translations of Doctor Who novelisations to be released by Editorial Presença in Portugal.
Doctor Who: The Web Planet
UK / Paperback / Target Books / January 1991 / N0.73
The TARDIS crew members have taken a break from their adventures and are enjoying a well-deserved rest in a luxury villa on the outskirts of Imperial Rome.
But in the gory grandeur that is Rome, things don't stay quiet for long. If the time-travellers can save themselves from being sold as slaves, assassinated by classical hit-men, poisoned by the evil Locusta, thrown to the lions, maimed in the arena and drowned in a shipwreck, they still have to face the diabolical might of the mad Nero.
As if that isn't enough, they also discover that, although Rome wasn't built in a day, it was burnt down in considerably less time...
The Web Planet
Script Writer: Bill Strutton
6 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Black and White
13/02/65 The Web Planet
20/02/65 The Zarbi
27/02/65 Escape to Danger
06/03/65 Crater of Needles
13/03/65 Invasion
20/03/65 The Centre
All six episodes exist as 16mm telerecordings and have been released on Region 2 DVD in the UK and on Region 1 DVD in the United States.
First Doctor / Ian Chesterton / Barbara Wright / Vicki
Audio Book- UK
- BBC Audiobooks
- 5 × CD
- November 2005
- A second adventure on Vortis never materialised on television, but the setting was considered effective enough to be used for one of the stories in the very first Doctor Who Annual from World Distributors, released in 1965. Lair of Zarbi Supremo was subsequently narrated by William Russell and included as an audio track on the Web Planet DVD, a release which also included a PDF version of the complete annual as a DVD-Rom extra which can be accessed either by PC or Mac.
A full-length sequel to The Web Planet was published as part of the Missing Adventures range of original novels in 1996. Written by Christopher Bulis, Twilight of the Gods featured the Second Doctor, Jamie and Victoria.
More recently, a sequel in the form of Return to the Web Planet was produced as part of the range of original Doctor Who audio adventures from Big Finish Productions. Written by Daniel O'Mahony, and featuring the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa, it has so far only been made available to people who subscribe to the range. As with other subscriber exclusives, it will receive a wider release at a future date. - The Web Planet was the only Doctor Who story ever written by Bill Strutton. In novelising the story for Frederick Muller Ltd, under the title Doctor Who and the Zarbi, he became the first Doctor Who script writer to adapt his own television story into book form, beating David Whitaker by nearly six months. The novelisation was the second of three to be released by the company during the 1960s, but unlike Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks and Doctor Who and the Crusaders, it didn't receive a paperback release until the Target range began in May 1973.
- UK
- Hardback
- Frederick Muller Ltd
- March 1966
Doctor Who and the Crusaders
UK / Paperback / Green Dragon / 1967
UK / Paperback / Target Books / May 1973
UK / Hardback / Allan Wingate Ltd / May 1973Doctor Who and the Crusaders was one of the first three releases by Allan Wingate and Target — the 1960s novelisations of Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks and Doctor Who and the Zarbi were also re-issued at the same time. Over the next twenty years they would go on to novelise all but five of the television stories.
UK / Hardback / White Lion / December 1975Rather bizarrely, the cover of the White Lion edition shows Tom Baker, who was playing the Fourth Doctor on television at the time.
UK / Paperback / Target Books / 1982 / (No.12)
UK / Hardback / WH Allen / January 1985Doctor Who en de Kruisvaarders
Holland / Paperback / Gooise Uitgeverij / 1976Doctor Who en de Kruisvaarders was one of eight translations of Doctor Who novelisations to be released in Holland in the 1970s by Gooise Uitgeverij.
Doutor Who e os Cruzados
Portugal / Paperback / Editorial Presença / 1983 / 8Doutor Who e os Cruzados was one of ten translations of Doctor Who novelisations to be released by Editorial Presença in Portugal.
Docteur Who: Les Croisés
France / Paperback / Editions Garancière / February 1987 / 2Docteur Who: Les Croisés was one of eight Doctor Who novelisations to be released in France by Editions Garancière.
Doctor Who and the Crusaders was also included as part of the Doctor Who Classics: The Dalek Invasion of Earth and The Crusaders omnibus from Star Books in August 1988.
Back through time go Dr. Who, Ian and Barbara — back to the twelth century, to Richard the Lionheart and the Crusades.
Barbara is captured by the Saracens. Adventure piles on adventure as Ian and Dr. Who, in their different ways, attempt to rescue her. This is a book brimful of excitement!
Back Cover Blurb — Target Books (1973)
Back on Earth again, Tardis lands DOCTOR WHO and his friends into the midst of the harsh, cruel world of the twelfth century Crusades. Soon the adventurers are embroiled in the conflict between Richard the Lionheart and the Sultan Saladin, ruler of the warlike Saracens...
Back Cover Blurb — Target Books (1982)
Within minutes of the TARDIS's arrival on twelfth-century Earth, the Doctor and his companions are in serious trouble.
They happen to intercept a Saracen attack on Richard the Lionheart, thereby enabling the English King to escape otherwise certain capture.
But Barbara is kidnapped and carried off by the Saracen's to the Sultan Saladin's court.
Saladin spares her life — on condition she entertains his court by telling stories. And like Scheherazade, if she fails, then she must die...
The Crusade
Script Writer: David Whitaker
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Black and White
27/03/65 The Lion
03/04/65 The Knight of Jaffa
10/04/65 The Wheel of Fortune
17/04/65 The Warlords
The Lion and The Wheel of Fortune exist as 16mm telerecordings and have been released as part of the Lost in Time collection on Region 2 DVD in the UK and on Region 1 DVD in the United States. The Knight of Jaffa and The Warlords only exist as off-air audio recordings which were included on the DVD releases without accompanying narration. Audio recordings of the complete story were released on CD by BBC Audiobooks in May 2005 with linking narration by William Russell.
First Doctor / Ian Chesterton / Barbara Wright / Vicki
Audio Book- UK
- BBC Audiobooks
- 5 × CD
- November 2005
- The Crusade was one of eight stories written for Doctor Who by David Whitaker, but was the only one with a historical setting.
The subsequent novelisation was Whitaker's second and final Doctor Who book, although he had co-written the first two Dalek annuals from Souvenir Press with Terry Nation and had also scripted the Dalek comic strip in TV21. Whitaker's final published piece of Doctor Who fiction was the short story Rennigan's Record, written during the 1960s and finally published in Issue 200 of Doctor Who Magazine in 1993, over twenty years after his death. - Doctor Who and the Crusaders was the third and final Doctor Who novelisation to be published in the 1960s, after the success of Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks and Doctor Who and the Zarbi. The next new title to be released was Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion in January 1974 — the first Doctor Who novelisation specifically written for Target Books.
- The scripts to The Crusade were released by Titan Books in 1994.
- UK
- Hardback
- WH Allen
- January 1987
The TARDIS materialises on what, at first sight, appears to be a dry and lifeless planet, serving only as a graveyard for spaceships.
Then the TARDIS crew discovers a magnificent museum housing relics from every corner of the galaxy. These have been assembled by the Moroks, a race of cruel conquerors who have invaded the planet Xeros and enslaved its inhabitants.
Upon further exploration the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki seem to stumble upon the impossible. For suddenly facing them in an exhibit case they find — themselves.
The Space Museum
Script Writer: Glyn Jones
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Black and White
24/04/65 The Space Museum
01/05/65 The Dimensions of Time
08/05/65 The Search
15/05/65 The Final Phase
All four episodes exists as 16mm telerecordings and have been released on video in both the UK and United States.
First Doctor / Ian Chesterton / Barbara Wright / Vicki
- The Space Museum was Glyn Jones' only contribution to the Doctor Who universe.
- UK
- Paperback
- Target Books
- July 1989
- Book Number: 140
Through a Space-Time Visualiser the Doctor and his companions are horrified to see an execution squad of Daleks about to leave Skaro on a mission to find the TARDIS and exterminate the time travellers.
Eluding the Daleks on the barren planet Aridius the Doctor and his friends escape in the TARDIS. But this is only the beginning of an epic journey.
As they travel through space and time they try to shake off their pursuers by making a series of random landings — but the Daleks don't give up easily. This is a chase to the death.
The Chase
Script Writer: Terry Nation
6 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Black and White
22/05/65 The Executioners
29/05/65 The Death of Time
05/06/65 Flight Through Eternity
12/06/65 Journey Into Terror
19/06/65 The Death of Doctor Who
26/06/65 The Planet of Decision
All six episodes exists as 16mm telerecordings and have been released on video in both the UK and United States.
First Doctor / Ian Chesterton / Barbara Wright / Vicki / Steven Taylor
Familiar Faces
The Daleks
- The Chase was the first of five novelisations to be written by John Peel, and this run would see all of the remaining Dalek stories from the 1960s becoming available. Sadly, despite hopes being raised on a number of occasions, Resurrection of the Daleks and Revelation of the Daleks, both from the mid-1980s, were never to be released in print form. The Chase was also the first novelisation of a Dalek story never to be released in hardback.
Peel later went on to write Timewyrm: Genesys, the first book in the series of New Adventures from Virgin, as well as contributing the Fourth Doctor novel Evolution to the Missing Adventures range. With the arrival of the Eighth Doctor Adventures from BBC Books in 1997, he also penned two original Dalek novels — War of the Daleks and Legacy of the Daleks.
Away from Doctor Who he has contributed to numerous other series of TV tie-in books, including those based on The Avengers, Eerie Indiana, Quantum Leap, The Secret World of Alex Mack, Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, - The Chase was the final television story to feature Ian and Barbara as they return to Earth inside the Dalek's time machine at the conclusion of the story. Needless to say, several original novels during the 1990s decided to pop in and see how the characters were doing back on Earth, including the Seventh Doctor tale Matrix, and the Doctor-less UNIT story The Face of the Enemy.
The Chase also marked the first appearance of space pilot Steven Taylor, played by Peter Purves, who stumbled into the TARDIS at the conclusion.
- UK
- Hardback
- WH Allen
- October 1987
When the TARDIS materialises on an apparently deserted Northumbrian beach, Steven disputes the Doctor's claim that they have travelled back to the eleventh century. The discovery of a modern wristwatch in a nearby forest merely reinforces his opinion.
But it is 1066, the most important date in English history, and the Doctor's arrival has not gone unnoticed. Observing the appearance of the TARDIS is a mysterious monk who recognises the time-machine for what it is. He also knows that the Doctor poses a serious threat to his master plan — a plan which, if successful could alter the future of the entire world...
The Time Meddler
Script Writer: Dennis Spooner
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Black and White
03/07/65 The Watcher
10/07/65 The Meddling Monk
17/07/65 A Battle of Wits
24/07/65 Checkmate
All four episodes exist as 16mm telerecordings and have been released on Region 2 DVD in the UK. The story is due to be released on Region 1 DVD in the United States in August 2008.
First Doctor / Vicki / Steven Taylor
Familiar Faces
The Monk
- The Time Meddler was the second of Nigel Robinson's four Doctor Who novelisations to be published.
- The Time Meddler was the first of two television stories that featured the character of the Meddling Monk, who turned up again on television screens the following year in the epic The Daleks' Master Plan. Nearly thirty years later, the character's misguided influence was felt once again when he was revealed as the villain in the New Adventure novel No Future, the conclusion to the five-book Alternate Histories arc that had begun with Blood Heat.
Although the story is far from a classic, it is of some note as it was the first time that someone else from the same planet as the Doctor and Susan was ever seen — a fact which was revealed in the highly effective cliffhanger to A Battle of Wits, when Steven and Vicki stumbled upon the Monk's TARDIS. Despite this, it would be another four years before the Doctor's race were explicitly named as the Time Lords in The War Games, and a further four before we discovered that his home planet was named Gallifrey, in The Time Warrior.