Reviews

Doctor Who and the Daleks by David Whitaker

andrew_j_r's review against another edition

4.0

This is a book based on the second ever televised Doctor Who story, and the first one to contain the Daleks. It is odd in a couple of ways - firstly, it it written from the point of view of one of the companions (Ian Chesterton) and secondly, the book is written as though it if the story (at the point this was published in 1964 there were no plans to write other books so it had to stand alone).
But despite what are potentially two major barriers (I know at least three of four people who hate books written in the first person) the book is wonderfully written, and all of the characters come live and seem three dimensional, which given that we don't really meet the Thals until about half way into what is a very short book, is a tribute to the writing. The story is simple but gripping, it doesn't contain the padding that stretched out the TV version to even episodes, and is a joy to read. This is clearly one of the best adaptations of a TV Who story that is out there. Enjoy!

the_gob's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

The first appearance of the iconic Daleks. A novelisation of the second story of Doctor Who and certainly the story that made it successful.

espargobookdragon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

saroz162's review against another edition

5.0

I think everybody knows at this point that Whitaker's two Doctor Who novels are a step above, and written to a older child, than the book series begun by Terrance Dicks a decade later. They feel as if they belong to a different, more literate reality, before there was a TV in every home; while they're clearly written as "boy's own" adventure stories, there's nothing terribly childish about them, and in this one, particularly, the first-person perspective of Ian as narrator keeps the tone rooted in the tradition of an Edwardian adventure on land or sea. That fits the story, too: an atomic-age boiled-down version of H. G. Wells' The Time Machine (with some significant borrowing from the George Pal film version), reconstituted for the atomic age and with a new prologue seemingly ripped from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. None of it's groundbreaking, but the specific combination is really entertaining - the sort of thing to make 12-year-old boys' imaginations buzz.

It's very much of its time, of course, with the slightly formalistic language that I actually miss in books - and an attitude toward women that I don't. (The reduction of Barbara's agency in the second half, while allowing for some sweet proto-romantic exchanges, is the weakest change from TV to book by far.) The best part of the whole narrative is how enthused Whitaker seems to be over sheer alienness: the vast unknown of the Doctor's craft, TARDIS; the petrified forest outside the Dalek city; the static electricity that keeps the Daleks' hearts beating; the inhuman glass Dalek that has been introduced into the final scenes. It's good stuff - pacey, exciting, very visual, very crisp. A really engaging slice of early 1960s pulp and well worth the read. Better still if you can find the audiobook narrated by William Russell, who's got exactly the right sound for the material - he is Ian Chesterton, after all.

doctorofmordor's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

elizabeth_d_simpson's review against another edition

3.0

I could have given it five stars if I hadn't been made to experience it in Ian's first person POV. His head was not an enjoyable place to be as he was extremely condescending to everyone. Fortunately all subsequent novelizations that I have read avoid this by keeping it in third person.

neilrcoulter's review against another edition

3.0

I've loved Doctor Who since watching it late on Friday nights on PBS--well before the recent reboot. Now I get to pass that love on to my kids, who have become more obsessed with it than I ever was. I recently bought several of the novelization reissues for the kids--especially for my 4th grader who is just at the point at which he'll may become a lifelong avid reader. Now that the kids have read most of the books, I get a chance to have a look at them too.

As extra features on a number of Doctor Who DVDs will tell you, the novelizations were very important to kids who grew up with the Doctor in the 1960s and 70s who had no other way to revisit past stories. Now with the DVDs, the value of the books is more to see the ways in which the books offer slightly different versions of the stories. In [b:Doctor Who And The Daleks|1417018|Doctor Who And The Daleks|David Whitaker|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1376349833s/1417018.jpg|1407387]--the first book, based on the second story--the major difference is that [a:David Whitaker|127933|David Whitaker|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1250787582p2/127933.jpg] decided to make this the first story, bringing Ian and Barbara to the TARDIS in a different way than in the original Unearthly Child story. The other difference is that the book is told from the point of view of Ian, which gives a different perspective than the TV story.

I look forward to reading more of the novelizations. They are good fun for fans of the series, and a good way of building kids' interest in reading.

shaykelliher's review

adventurous mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

mrcreads's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious relaxing fast-paced

4.25

jaspie's review against another edition

5.0

Unlike many of the Doctor Who novelisations published by Target Books, this is no mere camera-script to page adaptation. David Whitaker has really created a stand-alone science-fiction novel from the bones of Terry Nation's original story. By creating an entirely new opening to the tale he gives a depth of character to the protagonists in a way the television series did not have time to do, yet he never loses the essence of Ian and Barbara's utter astonishment at what they discover beyond the police box doors and the universe that the angry old man, the Doctor, and his guileless granddaughter, Susan, exist in.

Whitaker does not stray from the plot once the travellers have arrived on Skaro; the Doctor is still conniving and deceitful, willing to risk lives even of the ones he cares for, to satisfy his own curiostity; the Thals' society remains as in the television series; the Daleks are at their ruthless best and the adventure bounds along apace, embellished by the freedoms outside the 1960s television studios and Whittakers' tweaks.

I am a fan of first person narratives in novels and here it brings us, the reader, into Ian's head and so gives the story an immediacy. We learn first-hand how he learns to accept what he's experiencing as real, for instance. We stand in his shoes as he faces up against two antagonists, namely the Doctor and the Daleks.

This novel would exist perfectly as an excellent example of its genre outside the Doctor Who universe because the story is so good, so self-contained. I would argue that it remains, even after all this time, one of the best Who books and can hold its own against more recent, original stories.