Doctor Who and the Destiny of the Daleks
by
Terrance Dicks
NOTE:
Target Books would routinely re-use the old ISBN when the
Doctor Who novelisations were re-released with new cover art, so anyone using the
Amazon links below should bear this in mind when ordering a second-hand copy.
HARDBACK
amazon.com amazon.co.uk WH Allen
PAPERBACK
amazon.com amazon.co.uk Target Books
Country UK
Format Paperback
Publisher Target Books
Publication Date November 1979
Original Price 75p
ISBN 0426200969
Cover Artist Andrew Skilleter
Book Number (No.21)
A novelisation of the 1979 television story Destiny of the Daleks, featuring the Fourth Doctor, Romana II and K-9 Mark II.
Later Target reprints would be numbered No.21 in the Doctor Who Library.
Back Cover Blurb
Landing on an apparently devastated planet, the Doctor and Romana make a horrifying discovery.
The planet is Skaro, home-world of the Daleks.
The Daleks are excavating in order to find and revive Davros, the mad, crippled, scientific genius who first created them. They hope that he will give them the scientific superiority to break the deadlock with their Movellan enemies.
Faced once more with the deadly and seemingly indestructible Daleks, the Doctor's wits and strength are stretched to their very limits...
Television Story
Destiny of the Daleks
4 × 25 Minutes | BBC1 | Colour
01/09/79 Part One Terry Nation
08/09/79 Part Two Terry Nation
15/09/79 Part Three Terry Nation
22/09/79 Part Four Terry Nation
Notes
- Rather unusually, the story saw Romana regenerating at the start. In a strange turn of events (surely the work of Douglas Adams) she "tries on" a series of new bodies before settling on one that is identical to Princess Astra from the previous television story, The Armageddon Factor. Strangely enough, both parts were played by Lalla Ward who would remain in the series until Warriors' Gate the following season.
- Destiny of the Daleks was the very last Doctor Who story to be written by Dalek-creator Terry Nation, who had first worked on the programme in 1963.
The story featured the second appearance of Davros, the fictional creator of the Daleks who had been introduced in Nation's 1975 story Genesis of the Daleks, and set up a plot line which was eventually followed up in Resurrection of the Daleks in 1984, in which Davros is still in transit after his capture at the end of Destiny of the Daleks, with the Daleks keen on re-capturing him. Sadly, that particular story was never novelised by Target Books.
Doctor Who and the Creature from the Pit
by
David Fisher
Country UK
Format Paperback
Publisher Target Books
Publication Date January 1981
Original Price 90p
ISBN 042620123X
Cover Artist Steve Kyte
Book Number (No.11)
A novelisation of the 1979 television story The Creature from the Pit, featuring the Fourth Doctor, Romana II and K-9 Mark II.
Steve Kyte's cover art was one of two pieces reproduced in David J Howe's large-format book Timeframe: An Illustrated History (Doctor Who Books, 1993) to represent Season 17 of the television series.
Later Target reprints would be numbered No.11 in the Doctor Who Library.
Back Cover Blurb
The planet Chloris is very fertile, but metal is in short supply, and has therefore become extremely valuable.
A huge creature, with most unusual physical properties, arrives from an alien planet which can provide Chloris with metal from its own unlimited supplies, in exchange for chlorophyll.
However, the ruthless Lady Adrasta has been able to exploit the shortage of metal to her own advantage, and has no wish to see the situation change.
The Doctor and Romana land on Chloris just as the creature's alien masters begin to lose patience over their ambassador's long absence.
The action the aliens decide to take will have devastating consequences for Chloris, unless something is done to prevent it...
Other Editions
UK | Hardback | WH Allen | January 1981 | £4.25 | 0491029918
Released simultaneously with the paperback edition from Target Books.
UK | 4 × CD | BBC Audiobooks | April 2008 | £13.25 | 978-1405687638
Unabridged reading of the novelisation, narrated by Tom Baker who played the Fourth Doctor in the television series. The audiobook was serialised weekdays on BBC Radio 7 between 27/04/10 and 05/05/10, with each day's episode being broadcast three times at 1430, 1830 and 0030.
Tom Baker reads this entertaining novelisation of a classic Doctor Who adventure
The planet Chloris is very fertile, but metal is in short supply, and has therefore become extremely valuable. A huge creature, with most unusual physical properties, arrives from an alien planet which can provide Chloris with metal from its own unlimited supplies, in exchange for chlorophyll.
However, the ruthless Lady Adrasta has been able to exploit the shortage of metal to her own advantage, and has no wish to see the situation change.
The Doctor and Romana land on Chloris just as the creature's alien masters begin to lose patience over their ambassador's long absence. The action the aliens decide to take will have devastating consequences for Chloris, unless something is done to prevent it...
Tom Baker, who played the Fourth Doctor in the BBC TV series, reads David Fisher's complete and unabridged novelisation, based on the TV adventure Frontier in Space and first published by Target Books in 1975.
'BBC Audiobooks has chosen well with its books and has taken the right approach with its readers... they benefit from new music and sound effects'
Doctor Who Magazine
Television Story
The Creature from the Pit
4 × 25 Minutes | BBC1 | Colour
27/10/79 Part One David Fisher
03/11/79 Part Two David Fisher
10/11/79 Part Three David Fisher
17/11/79 Part Four David Fisher
Notes
- The Creature from the Pit was the third of four complete scripts to be written for Doctor Who by David Fisher, and the novelisation was the first of two which Fisher would write based on his own stories — Doctor Who and the Leisure Hive, in 1982, being the only other.
Doctor Who and the Nightmare of Eden
by
Terrance Dicks
Country UK
Format Paperback
Publisher Target Books
Publication Date August 1980
Original Price 85p
ISBN 0426201302
Cover Artist Andrew Skilleter
Book Number (No.45)
A novelisation of the 1979 television story Nightmare of Eden, featuring the Fourth Doctor, Romana II and K-9 Mark II.
Andrew Skilleter's cover art was reproduced in the large-format book Blacklight: The Art of Andrew Skilleter (Doctor Who Books, 1995).
Later Target reprints would be numbered No.45 in the Doctor Who Library.
Back Cover Blurb
A freak accident locks two ships together in space — and a distress call brings the Doctor, Romana, and the faithful K9 onto the scene. The Doctor's efforts to separate the two ships involve him with treacherous drug smugglers, ferocious monsters, and a savagely dangerous planet called Eden...
Other Editions
UK | Hardback | WH Allen | August 1980 | £3.95 | 0491021186
Released simultaneously with the paperback edition from Target Books.
Television Story
Nightmare of Eden
4 × 25 Minutes | BBC1 | Colour
24/11/79 Part One Bob Baker
01/12/79 Part Two Bob Baker
08/12/79 Part Three Bob Baker
15/12/79 Part Four Bob Baker
Notes
- Nightmare of Eden was the only Doctor Who story to be written solely by Bob Baker, who had previously co-written eight stories with Dave Martin, and was his final work on the series. He later went on to write the scripts to the Oscar-winning exploits of plasticine favourites Wallace and Gromit
Doctor Who and the Horns of Nimon
by
Terrance Dicks
Country UK
Format Paperback
Publisher Target Books
Publication Date October 1980
Original Price 85p
ISBN 0426201310
Cover Artist Steve Kyte
Book Number (No.31)
A novelisation of the 1979/80 television story The Horns of Nimon, featuring the Fourth Doctor, Romana II and K-9 Mark II.
Steve Kyte's cover art was one of two pieces reproduced in David J Howe's large-format book Timeframe: An Illustrated History (Doctor Who Books, 1993) to represent Season 17 of the television series.
Later Target reprints would be numbered No.31 in the Doctor Who Library.
Back Cover Blurb
In the great maze of the Power Complex dwells the dreaded Nimon, a fearsome monster with immense scientific powers.
The Nimon has promised to restore the Skonnan Empire to its former glory. But first it demands sacrifice — youths and maidens from the peaceful planet Aneth.
The Tardis collides with the space ship delivering the victims, and the captured Romana is condemned to be sacrificed to the Nimon.
Aided by the faithful K9, the Doctor goes to the rescue. In the heart of the maze he confronts the Nimon and uncovers a terrifying plot to enslave the galaxy.
Other Editions
UK | Hardback | WH Allen | October 1980 | £3.95 | 0491022786
Released simultaneously with the paperback edition from Target Books.
Television Story
The Horns of Nimon
4 × 25 Minutes | BBC1 | Colour
22/12/79 Part One Anthony Read
29/12/79 Part Two Anthony Read
05/01/80 Part Three Anthony Read
12/01/80 Part Four Anthony Read
Notes
- The Horns of Nimon was the only complete story written for the television series by Anthony Read, who had been script editor on the series during Season 16 and part of Season 15, during which time he co-wrote The Invasion of Time with series producer Graham Williams.
Doctor Who: Shada
by
Gareth Roberts
Country UK
Format Hardback
Publisher BBC Books
Publication Date March 2012
Original Price £16.99
ISBN 978-1849903271
Cover Artist UNKNOWN
A novelisation of the television story which was abandoned during production, featuring the Fourth Doctor, Romana II and K-9 Mark II.
Back Cover Blurb
The Doctor's old friend and fellow Time Lord Professor Chronotis has retired to Cambridge University — where nobody will notice if he lives for centuries. But now he needs help from the Doctor, Romana and K-9. When he left Gallifrey he took with him a few little souvenirs — most of them are harmless. But one of them is extremely dangerous.
The Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey isn't a book for Time Tots. It is one of the Artefacts, dating from the dark days of Rassilon. It must not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands. And the sinister Skagra most definitely has the wrong hands. He wants the book. He wants to discover the truth behind Shada. And he wants the Doctor's mind...
Based on the scripts for the original television series by the legendary Douglas Adams, Shada retells an adventure that never made it to the screen.
Other Editions
UK | eBook | BBC Digital | March 2012
UK | 10 × CD | AudioGO | March 2012 | £13.25 | 978-1445867632
Unabridged reading of the novelisation, narrated by Lalla Ward, with John Leeson as K-9.
United States | Hardback | Ace Books | July 2012 | $25.95 | 978-0425259986
UK | Paperback | BBC Books | January 2013 | £7.99 | 978-1849903288
Television Story
Shada
6 Episodes | Not Completed
—/—/— Part One Douglas Adams
—/—/— Part Two Douglas Adams
—/—/— Part Three Douglas Adams
—/—/— Part Four Douglas Adams
—/—/— Part Five Douglas Adams
—/—/— Part Six Douglas Adams
Notes
- Shada is famously the Doctor Who story which was cancelled partway through production due to strike action. Although all of the location filming had been completed, as well as one of the three scheduled studio sessions, subsequent attempts to remount the production fell through and it was never completed for broadcast.
However, although it never actually made it to television, Douglas Adams' story — or parts of it, at least — have turned up in a number of places in the years since.
- Several clips from the story, featuring the Doctor and Romana punting in Cambridge, were integrated into The Five Doctors in 1983, when it became apparent that Tom Baker was unwilling to participate in the special story for Doctor Who's twentieth anniversary.
- Parts of Shada would be re-used by Douglas Adams himself in his 1987 novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, the first of two stories which would feature the offbeat detective. The most important recycled aspects were Professor Chronotis and his time machine, disguised as his rooms at St Cedd's College in Cambridge. A six part radio adaptation of the novel was subsequently broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2007.
- BBC Video released a specially edited version of the story on VHS in 1992, with newly-recorded linking sections, narrated by Tom Baker, to fill in the gaps where the unrecorded footage would have gone. The UK release was also accompanied by a book containing the complete scripts to all six episodes.
- As a special treat for Doctor Who's fortieth anniversary in 2003, a complete six-part audio version of the story was commissioned from Big Finish Productions for the BBC's official Doctor Who website. However, given Tom Baker's reluctance at the time to reprise his role, the story was restructured to feature Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, although Lalla Ward would still appear as Romana and John Leeson would voice K-9. Some extremely basic animation was also created to accompany the production.
- As well as never being completed for television, Shada is also one of a very select group of five Doctor Who television stories from the original 1963-1989 series which were never to be novelised by Target Books, in this case mainly down to Douglas Adams' reluctance to allow another writer to novelise his own scripts. Of the remaining four stories, The Pirate Planet and City of Death were also scripted — or co-scripted, in the case of the latter — by Douglas Adams, with Eric Saward being unable to reach agreement with the estate of Terry Nation over the splitting of the fee for novelising Resurrection of the Daleks and Revelation of the Daleks.
- The novelisation of Shada has been written by Gareth Roberts, best known for writing a number of television scripts for both Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures, as well as writing seven original novels based on Doctor Who in the 1990s. Three of his most popular were The Romance of Crime, The English Way of Death and The Well-Mannered War, all of which were set during Season 17.
Back to his television work, and for Doctor Who he has so far contributed The Shakespeare Code, The Unicorn and the Wasp and Planet of the Dead, which all featured the Tenth Doctor, and The Lodger and Closing Time, both of which featured Matt Smith and James Corden.
Doctor Who and the Destiny of the Daleks
