Reviews

Doctor Who and the Daleks by David Whitaker

royzee's review against another edition

3.0

This is a curiosity in the Who fiction pantheon. One which I read yonks ago and rediscovered lately when having a turn out. Kind of can't part with these old Target books but...
Don't expect hard SF, don't expect the usual Who trademark, get in, fix it, leave without really engaging. Our innocent protagonist Mr Chesterton is waaaaay out of his depths in this unsettling take on Doctor vs Daleks. And not just those spooky pepper pot things... He has always bothered me from the TV series. Wooden isn't quite the word but he and his companions in this novel remind me of soap opera in space. Maybe that is what the original concept was; create engaging characters then torment them to see how they get on.
Here they champion the cause of the weaker denizens of a planet that might or might not actually be Earth. Dr Who knows because he is up to tricks that threaten the lives of all of them. Some kind of "link" that needs "mercury" you know, the sort of thing you can get from any city. "Special Offer this week! Mercury, buy one get one free..." Twaddle.
Of course, you need a trigger because personally one look at Skaro and I would reset the coordinates! Somewhere there is fan fiction where just such a thing happens. "Dr Who Stays in and Puts His Feet Up".... etc.
There is much here to amuse but much to annoy. Much to feel sold short. Much to question.
For a start the ethics of the whole thing. This is especially acute when musing on later encounters between the Doctor and the daleks, Tom Baker vs Davros especially.
Then there is the physics... oh dear oh dear.... how a thing with one eye and a prod could build a city... how come the Thaals who are little more than cavemen can develop drugs? What do they subsist on? Does no one have religion?
Nothing is explained... the names for a start "daleks". They suddenly start calling them that... but the daleks did not as far as I recall introduce themselves as such. And how come everyone speaks ENGLISH?! Nonsensical plot devices...
Anyway, I got a bit tired of it all and I found the ending predictable and unsatisfying rather than charming so maybe it will go to the jumble sale after all.

karoliina's review against another edition

4.0

As a Doctor Who fan, this was a must have book. I've seen the first season of the Classic Who so Ian and Barbara are familiar for me as companions.
It was interesting to read a book through Ian's POV. Ian is well developed character and the Doctor seems much better character in the book.
I feel like the book was much stronger than TV story.

dodau's review against another edition

1.0

This is an alternate version of how Ian and Barbara met The Doctor and Susan. Totally wrong as we know An Unearthly child is the correct version. I'm not that impressed by Target books in general but this was really bad.

octavia_cade's review against another edition

2.0

Not the greatest, but in fairness the largest part of the reason the Daleks are so awesomely scary is their creepy creepy voices, and no novelisation can capture that; they're bound to be more disappointing in print. That being said, it's amazing how much more tolerable Susan is here than in the tv programme - must be the absence of that nails-on-chalkboard scream. Anyway, it's been a while since I've seen the episode this is based on, and while there are some changes the book version skips along at an enjoyable pace. I'm not sure that it's a total success having Ian be the narrator - he comes across as a bit unpleasant, and the relationship between him and Barbara here is wholly unconvincing.

cjdavey's review against another edition

2.0

An interesting trip down memory lane, but an awkward, self-conscious first novelisation. The decision to use Ian Chesterton as a first-person narrator seems an odd one: he has little agency through most of the story, and often does no more than listen to lengthy exposition from the other characters.

jazzab1971's review

adventurous tense fast-paced

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

4.0

An interesting read when comparing this to the original TV story.
Published in 1964, less than a year after it had aired, this book is written by the then story editor of the show who would have an intimate knowledge of the programm so any deviations from how it was originally presented are interesting and make you wonder why these changes were made.
The biggest difference is that this book is presented as Ian and Barbara's first encounter with the Doctor. As such it creates a whole new scene of a car crash that Ian comes across. In this telling Ian does not know Barbara prior to the events of the adventure. Why, I wondered, did David Whitaker simply not tell the events of the first episode of "An Unearthly Child"? As it is Ian and Barbara have a rather cool relationship in this telling for much of the story. Towards the end it becomes clear that Whitaker seems to have chosen this version of events so that he can develop their relationship and hint at a possible romance.
Other changes include Susan being callled Susan English, rather than Forman, the daleks initially being described as being 3 feet tall (later they are described as being 4 and a half feet tall) and Ian being a smoker - he lights up a cigarette and then tosses it away on the ground just a few moments after he had heard a match being struck and was worried it would cause the leaking petrol from the crash to ignite! The match in question being another invention for this telling - the Doctor's everlasting matches!
This story generally is well written. It is told in the first person narrative of Ian. Although this does give us greater insight into the thoughts of this Ian, it does mean any scenes Ian doesn't take part in (such as Susan's journey back to the ship to get the medicines or the Doctor's frontal assault on the dalek city) are relayed to us by another character telling Ian what happened after the event in a brief paragraph of dialogue. 
Finally, Susan tells Ian that "Tardis" [sic] stands for "Time and relative dimensions in space"...is this the first time this error is made in the history of the show?

noah18's review against another edition

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

mcampany's review against another edition

2.0

Okay, so I was really excited when I saw a Doctor who novel at my university library. It was exciting and I learned a lot about Skaro, Thals, and Daleks, though some of the bits with Daleks didn't really match up with the current seasons. Don't care, it was still an interesting story, and I was really interested in the Thal's position on violence (or lack of). What bothered me though was how Ian treated Susan and Barbara, like they couldn't do things that men could do and needed constant protecting. It's really subtle how sexist he is, but since I read most of it during the break after my Women's studies class, I was thinking about it anyways.

Anyways, it's a good book to read, but reading it didn't make me as happy as anticipating reading it did.

sureya's review against another edition

5.0

Great!

secrethistory's review against another edition

3.0

Doctor Who and the Daleks is the first Doctor Who novelization ever, and is based on the second televised story. Because it was considered a one shot at the time, as opposed to the first in a series of Doctor Who novels, the origin story is here (An Unearthly Child) in very changed form. The Cave of Skulls, The Forest of Fear, and The Firemaker are omitted entirely. The changes read well, but nonetheless will disappoint if you were looking to relive the episode. There were other changes as well, including a love interest between Ian and Barbara, in its early stages. This is made somewhat interesting, if not exactly canon, by the fact that this adventure is told from Ian's point of view. Although the character isn't quite how he seems to me on television, I thought this was done very well.

Specific to this edition, there is an introduction by Neil Gaiman--a pleasant surprise for me. It was very good, not spoiling anything for those who haven't been exposed, and very nostalgic. It also has a somewhat extensive About the Authors (David Whitaker and Terry Nation for concept and script) section, and a Between the Lines that gives a comparison of the televised and novelized versions of the story, and other helpful information such as currency and measurement conversions.

I think the book is a good thing to read for most Doctor Who fans. I've talked to some fans of New Doctor Who who wanted to watch Classic Doctor Who, but weren't pulled in by the episodes. I think this is a good place to start on the First Doctor for people who aren't fans of the old series. It will, of course, be enjoyed by First Doctor fans as well, provided they aren't upset by the fact that it isn't entirely canon.