Who Reviews Target Zone: The Day of the Daleks by DJ Forrest

Written by Terrance Dicks

Published 1974

In the 22^nd Century the world has fallen into chaos. The Earth has been reduced to rubble after nuclear war, and the Daleks have breezed in to take over the planet for its valuable minerals, to create their time travelling machinery to time jump through every century so that Daleks rule supreme. With lumbering Ogrons to carry out their orders, there seems little hope for the human race…except for a small outcrop of rebels, living in the basement of random buildings desperate to undo the present state of affairs by eliminating the one man that put them there in the first place. A small faction of humans prepares to time jump to the 20^th century and Austerly House and assassinate a high-ranking diplomat – except they haven’t factored in the Doctor, waiting for them!

It’s interesting these days how much of the state of the world plays like a Doctor Who novel. I’m sure you’ve all experienced that as you turn the pages of any of the many stories out there and this is no different. In fact, Day of the Daleks reads pretty much how any world news story plays out on the television screen.

The Daleks are always cast as the enemy and let’s face it, you can’t parlay with a mind that is hell bent on destruction for its own reasons. There’s no bargaining with a Dalek. They may let you think that they’re in agreement with a plan. They may go along with it for a while, but as soon as you lower your defences, it’s extermination time, just as soon as the Dalek has what it needs.

Terrance Dicks’ novel keeps the pace throughout and it was edge of the seat stuff when poor Jo Grant was sent back in time to the 20^th Century currently overrun by Daleks and Ogrons.

The story has a wonderful twist at the end and it’s played well. This is one story I want to see on the television, because as much as I recall seeing some of the Pertwee era Who, I can’t place this one in my mind. You’ll like the sneaky twist, that ahhh moment, and cool, and how can they stop history repeating itself?

A great story without giving a child the nightmares we so often face when reading some scary ass story from the Classic era – although Weeping Angels still freak me out from the New era.

On a nostalgic note, wouldn’t it be nice if you could still buy Target novels for 25p each???

Who Reviews Doctor Who and the Tenth Planet by DJ Forrest

The Tenth Planet is the first ever Cyberman story and the last ever First Doctor story. It’s set on Earth in the South Pole in the year 2000, in a Space Station built under the snow, that tracks the lives of the astronauts in a space shuttle, desperately trying to return to Earth, when the Tenth Planet comes into view, and begins drawing on their energy.

From the start of the story the First Doctor is ailing. He’s ageing through the novel, and Ben the sailor, travelling companion in the TARDIS with Polly, a young girl who Ben calls ‘The Duchess’ notices more than once how old the Doctor is becoming.

The Cybermen are much different to those from later years, they, despite not showing any physical resemblance to humans, still seem to hold some of their elements. These, despite their silver exterior show a little humanity when Polly was taken to their space ship as a hostage, while Ben and the technicians worked in the radiation room.

They turned the heating up that kept their prisoner warm. I’m unsure if the Cybermen of today would have shown that much concern.

The Cybermen also were less abrupt in their confrontations with the humans in the Space Station on Earth. There was a touch of a human response in their voices. OK they did shoot and threaten to shoot some of the technicians, and they did eventually cut short the behaviour of the cigar chewing man in charge, but they weren’t all of declaring ‘Delete. Delete. Delete,’ every five seconds.

In fact, I don’t believe any of them uttered that at all.

Who Reviews Doctor Who and the Sea-Devils by DJ Forrest

Written by Malcolm Hulke

Published in 1974

Target Books

Doctor Who and the Sea Devils took me back to my childhood in more ways than one. I vaguely remembered the episode, but it was the book that brought me back to summer holidays and book shops on the beach, with novels ‘read in a day’ with black and white illustrations tucked into a few chapters here and there. So, for that reason alone, I enjoyed leafing through the book seeking out the black and white sketches of the Doctor and the Master. However, I did often chuckle at the Venusian Karate Chops, which even now writing it up makes me laugh out loud.

OK, it was a long time ago and to all intents and purposes, writing the moves of defence by the Master and indeed the Doctor does lead to some tongue in cheek moments. It also seems that the Master lost much of his early ‘look into my eyes’ hypnotic approach, opting for a much more up to date and believable hypnosis by using satellites and phone signals, (Sound of Drums, Last of the Time Lords) and the four knocks, which played into our psyche for ever more afterwards.

Back in the Sea Devils story, the ‘look into my eyes’ approach sucked in a lot of soldiers to do The Master’s bidding, but it took Trenchard, who wasn’t hypnotised, a while longer to realise he’d been duped by the Master, and too late to prevent a take over by the Sea Devils in the prison.

The Sea Devils seemed far clumsier than the Silurians if this is who they were cousins of. You could understand their annoyance at the way Man dominates the Earth and abuses all that he touches but the way they retaliated seemed suicidal. As much as their approach to Man sending in ships and sinking them all to protect the seas; when they came up onto the shore, they seemed like ‘fish out of water’ and had very little protection, and it wasn’t going to take much to ‘wipe them out’.

In the earlier stories it seemed that the Doctor also adopted the ‘no second chances’ approach. If they weren’t going to see reason, then destroying a few enemy aliens along the way seemed a justifiable reason. Obviously, the Doctor wasn’t going to destroy based on killing for nothing, it would all be justified.

I did enjoy this story and it was a quick read novel in much the same way as The Tenth Planet currently is. Malcolm Hulke keeps the momentum going throughout.

Who Reviews Target Zone: Doctor Who and the Ribos Operation by DJ Forrest

‘Reluctantly cancelling his well-earned holiday, the Doctor sets off in the TARDIS to trace and re-assemble the six segments of the Key to Time on which the stability of the entire Universe depends.

Assisted by the argumentative Romanadvoratrelundar and K9, he lands on the planet Ribos in search of the first segment and finds himself entangled in the machinations of two sinister strangers, Garron and the Graff Vynda Ka.’

Written by Ian Marter and Robert Holmes

Published in 1979

Target Books

I can’t remember watching this on the television or indeed DVD later, and so trying to figure out the creature lurking in the depths of the catacombs or protecting the Sacred Room that is about to be broken into by a skinny thief, is hard to imagine, apart from the image that does the creature no favours from the front of the book.

The story is interesting but there were a few times where I lost what was being sought after, and Romana (long title) drove me to distraction. It was almost as if she really didn’t need to be there, but for the search of the segments which held the story together.

I was rooting throughout the story for Unstoffe, the young robber of the jewel which was really the priceless segment the Doctor and his companion were after. It was also what the Graff Vynda Ka was after also, but for reasons different to the Doctor.

The Graff was a spoilt brat of a Prince who clearly liked to get his own way and was lost when his manservant was killed in a rock fall, because without Sholakh the Prince lost his mind and became unpredictable in his actions, which cost him dearly.

There was an old man who had predicted life on other planets and who had been exiled because nobody on Ribos believed that life existed anywhere else other than Ribos – bit like Earth then! I felt that his character was too short lived and wasted in the story – it might have saved Unstoffe from being run through by Vynda Ka but I felt that there was so much more in this old man that could have been explored, perhaps in another story. He seemed wasted in this story. A too ‘throw away’ character.

Overall the story was enjoyable and engaging and kept the momentum up throughout. It’s probably not one I’ll read again but I would like to see the televised episode to see just what the creature in the catacombs really looked like.

 

Who Reviews Target Zone: Doctor Who and the Loch Ness Monster by DJ Forrest

Written by Terrance Dicks

Published by Tandem Publishing Ltd

For Target in 1976

There are many alien creatures with a thirst for dominance of a far weaker species, and yet they all seem to think that Earth is going to be such a push over. It always seems to be the arrogance of the alien species that likes to brag about its deeds to the one person who can easily overthrow their plans, and if failing to enable them to see sense, will thwart every single plan of theirs.

Of course, without the might of the Doctor and UNIT, although to be fair, the Brig only has the regular weapons known to man at his disposal and its this kind of military screw up that can push the might of an alien race to declare war on earth, rather than using a more diplomatic approach, or capture the Doctor and watch him take your ship apart and use it against you.

I love a good Zygon story and if I’m pushed to choose between which alien species I like the most, it’s a tie between the Daleks and the Zygons at every turn. Both of them are determined as ever to dominate a planet and begin cultivating it to their own needs. Both have tunnel vision. They see only the end goal and a means to get it, but don’t figure on the might of the human race or the meddling Doctor.

In both stories involving Zygons (in book form) that I’ve read so far, although a little bit more advanced in the 10^th but still, the end game amounts to the same, but at least the Skarasen isn’t a threat in the 10^th novel unlike it seems in this.

The Skarasen I felt sorry for. Most cyborg creatures which were created to do their masters bidding, are often only doing it because they have little choice, and the Skarasen is no different. It becomes the Loch Ness Monster for the story because those were the waters it grew up in, and wearing attached Zygon technology, it charges towards the very person holding the device in order to snuff them out, or at best, to crush the device into the ground, so it can go back to peaceful waters.

The only problem with killing a Skarasen is that you’ll need a nuclear weapon in order to do so.

The Fourth Doctor is helped by Harry Sullivan, Sarah Jane Smith and UNIT which includes the Brig. I’ve always liked the Brigadier but reading through the old novels of the classic series, I am beginning to question what it is about the military fool that I liked so much – because the writings at the time gave UNIT more of a Keystone Cops approach to tackling the alien races that came to earth to dominate us human species.

Maybe I’m not giving UNIT enough credit. Back in the days of the 3^rd and 4^th Doctors, the world was a much different place, and UNIT were only just coming into being, the stiff upper lip and male arrogance was rife back then. And maybe the odd alien landing, Daleks and Zygons and other species I’m still learning about, including the Master, are species that UNIT are only just understanding. Perhaps I shouldn’t be poking a stick at them wondering why they’re not as on the ball as I’d like – especially when you look at UNIT now, it’s more of a military likeness to Torchwood. On the ball with alien species. Has an arsenal of weapons in order to defeat a mighty army and has the daughter of the Brigadier in charge – and you don’t want to mess with her.

As you’d expect, the Loch Ness Monster story is set in Scotland, and around oil rigs that are being destroyed, the reason of which you will discover towards the middle of the story. It’s a wonderful read and you can’t help but smile at Broton and his suckered band of maniacs as they are thwarted at every turn to take over the world.

Who Reviews The Power of Kroll by DJ Forrest

Written by Terrance Dicks

Published by W.H. Allen & Co. PLC

Target Zone

The 49^th novel in the Doctor Who library, this, another by Terrance Dicks was a fascinating story and this time with the Fourth Doctor and Romana. K-9 was limited to the TARDIS for this journey, purely because he’d sink and all his circuitry would fry. The Doctor and Romana are on the quest to find all the Keys to Time and have located one on the swampy marshland – to be more precise, they have located where it might be, but not what it might look like. That is revealed towards the end of the story – but no skipping the pages because that just ruins a jolly good read. I must stop saying jolly it’s a word that conjures up church fetes and tombola stalls and lashings of ginger beer and boys wearing tank tops and shorts and uttering spiffing good show and all that.

I also need to remind myself that Doctor Who is a children’s television programme and so I shouldn’t really expect to find anything ultimately scary in any of the novels.

I’m reliving my childhood. I’m remembering episodes of Doctor Who, with scenery unlike anything we see today, and remembering the Fourth Doctor in all his jolly jaunts and the language of the day, and the outfits, and the general way of how things were back then. It’s jolly. Jolly good fun. Jolly scary!

The Fourth Doctor was how we see our Doctors of today – the 10^th and 11^th especially, and perhaps a little of the 12^th, but most definitely 10^th, with the wide eyes and the beaming grins and the gung ho attitude.

When the methane based catalysing protein refinery threatened to do another orbit shot, which would seal the fate of all those on the ill fated refinery and those living in the swamps, the Doctor worked his magic to save as many lives as he could, while facing the prospect of losing his own life in the process.

It was a long time ago when I first watched the Classic series and yet, scenes were coming alive in my brain, and weirdly in the voice of Tom Baker!

Kroll is an oversized creature of the deep who has come to the surface to feed, because someone woke it up, and unfortunately for them, has an insatiable appetite for anything that moves.

There are some fun characters to be aware of in the story, thankfully there’s no idiot planning to take over the world, but an idiot who has ploughed a lot of time and resources into the refinery and doesn’t want the Sons of the Earth or the Swampies ruining it for him by existing. Not quite the Master but someone who you initially thought was a decent bloke turns out to be a complete nut job.

The green coloured natives who live in the swamps worship the great Kroll, who none of them have seen for hundreds of years because it sleeps beneath the lagoon, but who know that in order to keep Kroll happy should it awaken, must feed it dryfoots – those from the refinery, or all will be lost.

So, there’s religious nuts to contend with also. All in all though, it’s a fun read and the joy (not jolly) thing about Target novels, is that you could, if you had time on your hands, read a book in a day, or over two days as I did.

One rib tickling fact in my copy of the story is that during one portion of the story, it looks as if one of the Swampies might be a descendent from the Midlands. (someone forgot to proofread the novel before publication).

Who Reviews Target Zone: The Time Monster by DJ Forrest

Written by Terrance Dicks

Published in 1986 for

Target Books

‘Together we will become Masters of the Universe’

There’s something very quintessentially English about the Third Doctor era. It’s all very ‘pip pip’ and ‘jolly good show, eh, what?’. It’s very much a man’s world and women mustn’t even think of becoming a heroine, or lift a tyre iron, or the good old Brigadier will come over and patronise them – it’s amazing that he ever managed to marry and have children, what with that stiff upper lip and all.

However, the fictional world can often depict women in a much lesser light, and the Master who only really has eyes for himself, holds women in much the same regard as whatever he’s trodden in that day. Much like his likeness for Krasis, the High Priest of Atlantis, who suddenly finds himself zapped into the 20^th century grasping a crystal and feeling the might of Kronos – a creature that feeds on time itself as the crystal the High Priest is worshipping grows brighter.

Dr Ruth Ingram has been an instrumental factor in the scientific make up of the TOMTIT machine – I mean honestly, could they not have thought up a less ‘snicker behind the hands’ acronym? And when she begins to power up the machine before the big talk with the big wigs of the university it’s currently residing in, the Master can’t get there quick enough to pull the plug.

‘The meddling fools.’

By now we’ve come to realise that The ‘You Will Obey Me’ Master is a little too far up his own backside to notice the flaws in his machine. I guess when you’re that insane, you’re bound to miss a few key ingredients. Such as having the power to summon but not control the Chronivore.

Despite all it’s faults of the 20^th century, the actual story is a jolly good read, and in a way, it was fun journeying back to the 70s, the super speed ride in old Bessie, the Doctor recreating his TARDIS, the Master riding in his TARDIS cleverly disguised as a computer cupboard – of all the things to come up with. Might as well have been a Grandfather’s clock…oh wait…!

The Time Monster was a truly wonderful journey and I seem to remember scenes from the television episode that brought it all back to life for me.

 

Who Reviews Doctor Who and the Zarbi by DJ Forrest

Written by Bill Strutton

Finally, I’m actually reading a Target novel, that reads like a novel. Yes. Yes. Yes!

The instant I picked up the novel about the travels of the First Doctor with Barbara, Ian and Vicki, I wondered if it would be like all the other novels, bar Terrance Dicks, that would read as if the writer was explaining everything that happened in the television series rather than telling a story. The story of the Zarbi is one series I never watched. The First Doctor being a character I never really liked. I found him too pompous I suppose at the time. But reading the stories involving the First Doctor, you realise that, he’s an old, old man who has travelling companions who aren’t his kin, having said goodbye to his granddaughter Susan and takes with him many people from all over history and time, so I suppose, he’s like the grumpy old grandfather, his mind like a vast ocean of knowledge that he finds it equally frustrating to have people travelling with him who don’t carry the same level of knowledge, which for him, would save having to explain over and over.

From reading the novels I’ve found a real liking for the character Ian. Headstrong maybe, but he does like to get involved and do his bit. He is very gallant in his approach to rescue the damsel in distress, and on two occasions (of the books I’ve read) he’s gone off in search of Barbara, so I’m suspecting that he harbours feelings for her.

Ian is very much a have a go hero, and he’s also known for pitching in when there’s work to do, and in this story he’s with a pygmy group of Menoptera’s searching for a way into the Web centre. The Menoptera’s are winged creatures with human voices who are fighting to reclaim their planet Vortis, taken from them many many generations ago. The pygmy Menoptera’s are creatures sadly without wings as they live beneath the ground.

The Zarbi are ant like creatures who are dominated by a voice in the web centre, which I’m still curious to reach that chapter to find out who or what that may be.

It’s an extremely detailed novel, and the chapters are extremely long, so there’s no chance of me completing a chapter during a lunch break, even though I have tried.

One annoying factor in the story is the name of the Doctor. In all other stories he’s been referred to as ‘the Doctor’ but in this story, he’s known as ‘Doctor Who.’ And the ship is known as Tardis, as its name rather than ‘the TARDIS’. So that did take a bit of getting used to, and often I’d alter the name Doctor Who to read as ‘the Doctor’. But all in all, Doctor Who and the Zarbi has been a really exciting novel to read and if you ever happen upon it in a bookshop or online and fancy an adventure story on the planet Vortis, then go for it.

Who Reviews Doctor Who and the Carnival of Monsters by DJ Forrest

Written by Terrance Dicks

Target Novel

Published in 1977

Although we have already posted a review of Carnival of Monsters in a previous issue, back in 2015, I felt it is important to have varying opinions about novels. After all, we all view a story differently, don’t we?

As with previous Dicks’ novels, I’ve never found the story a drag, and have always been keen to find out what happens in the next chapter.

The story starts off with as usual the Doctor convincing his companion that he is where he says he is, but if you’ve travelled with the Doctor on any trip in the TARDIS, you know yourself, you’ll be anywhere but where you think you are. It may look like Earth but there’s a distinct feeling that you’re really not, just by the scene unfolding in front of you.

This time, the Doctor has parked his TARDIS on a ship, or so it looks like it, but there are strange happenings on this particular vessel, that’s heading to Bombay in 1926, with its minimal crew and passengers. When Jo and the Third Doctor appear on the deck, it throws a bit of confusion for the staff, but after a sea serpent is spotted rearing its ugly head over the vessel, a series of events prompt the Doctor and Jo, that they really have to get off the ship and back to the TARDIS, but that’s not as easy as it sounds.

I have to admit however that I got a little confused during the read. There are two stories that start off in Chapter One, the journey with the Doctor, and two new characters in another world that you must pay attention to. The Scope is also something you need to pay close attention to, and it’s the scope that I was a little unsure about. Not so much of what happened inside of it, but the dimensions of it – the actual size of the object.

Unlike a lot of the other novels, this one had no illustrations to help you along, this powered the imagination all on its own – except I would have liked to have seen the Scope, to have an idea of size. I may have to find the episode and watch it through.

It’s a short story, as were many of them in the Target Novels that I’ve read so far and reviewed. The writing is quite large and it’s a story that a child could read and not feel scared, although I’m sure the Drashigs are extremely terrifying in the series.

One of the interesting things I noticed about the sonic screwdriver in this story was that, it was unlike that of the 10^th Doctor’s. ‘Of course it was.’ I hear you say. After all, every Doctor has to fashion their own screwdriver, yet I was always under the belief that the sonic screwdriver could open anything apart from a device with a deadlock seal. Ha well, maybe that was something the Time Lord had to upgrade after the 3^rd. It certainly made more sense to.

Overall, I loved the story, and the chain of events that broke out around the chapters really kept you enthralled to the very last page. Terrance Dicks truly is a first class writer and I’m keen to look out his other novels, outside of his Who range.

Who Reviews The Horns of Nimon by DJ Forrest

The Horns of Nimon

Written by Terrance Dicks

Target Novel

Published in 1980

Contradictory to the last review of a Classic Who story (The Green Death), I actually found the Fourth Doctor’s story The Horns of Nimon to be a lot easier to engage with. I found absolutely no faults with the style of writing and found myself smiling at the humour within. Although I must admit, there were a few small comedy elements in The Green Death that I’d forgotten about until now.

The scene is set from the first paragraph of the first chapter, when a once proud alien nation – the Skonnons, who are most feared across the Universe, are given a lifeline from the Nimon ‘god’ that offers them fresh new ships equipped to do battle across the Universe where they can be most feared again, but can only do so if they collect sacrifices from another planet (the Anethans) and give their young as an offering to the Nimon god along with a highly radioactive substance known as Hymetusite contained in lead caskets.

The Nimon who has the body of a human and the head of a giant bull with flaming red eyes and horns that can do the most terrible of deeds, appears to be the only one on the planet, and is shielded inside the Power Complex where he works.

There are men in robes who worship this so called God. Men such as Soldeed, who is given the role of being the only person allowed to speak with the Nimon, and who holds a staff that can kill others who have tried to go against him. Inside the Power complex are a series of corridors that lead off into a maze which all lead to the Nimon. They change at every point, so when the Doctor arrives and marks off certain corridors in order to find his way back, he ultimately can only go forward as all the markings have disappeared. A bit like Hogwarts I suppose with the ever changing staircases. A headache in itself!

The Doctor himself arrives on the Skonnos battle cruiser after discovering that they were awfully close to a black hole that had suddenly materialised on the Tardis scanners. Of course, the Doctor has the TARDIS console in several pieces as he begins to update the ship’s functions. Ideally, it’s like anyone who thinks they can strip down a car and then rebuild it only to find a few screws staring up at you at the end of the task. Hmmm!

Fear not however, K-9 to the rescue. K-9 I feel was far better in the classic series than he was in the NuWho series. He achieved a lot more I think. He fixed the Doctor’s errors that’s for sure. Only, when he’s lifted up onto a bench, he is a little redundant!!!

The Doctor also travelled with another companion, Romana. She was just as equipped at stripping down a TARDIS console and probably would have succeeded in doing so without dropping the shields and half electrocuting herself in the process.

I have two Terence Dicks Who novels and each of them have been a joy to read, and although The Horns of Nimon may travel to a new home, I’m keeping Genesis of the Daleks. It was a bloody good television story and it worked just as well in the novel format.

The Horns of Nimon is a short novel, same as the last one I reviewed. In less than a week (5 days), I was through the novel and still enjoying the journey as it played out in my head. I haven’t seen this in serial form on the television. I might watch it to see if it lived up to the novel.

Each Doctor Who story is different. Each Doctor is different. So far in my reading quest, I’ve read about the First Doctor, the Third and now the Fourth. Each time I pick up a novel, I’m finding little quirks in the text. Where you can imagine witnessing the Doctor saying or doing the thing that made you chuckle or smile. The Fourth Doctor isn’t short of wit and a great deal of confusion, but that’s the writing. I have so far enjoyed reading the Fourth Doctor adventures, and can only surmise that as the years rolled on, the Target Novel writers began to improve in their writing techniques.

Who Reviews Doctor Who and the Green Death by DJ Forrest

Written by Malcolm Hulke

First published 1975

When I was a kid, Jon Pertwee had been my Doctor, and Jo Grant his companion. He was rarely seen with the TARDIS. He used a sonic screwdriver a few times, and he drove around in a yellow car called Bessie. So with this all ingrained in my memory, it was no surprise that when I selected The Green Death for my lunch time read at work, I could picture the story well from the television series.

The story itself plays out like any other story. You have the alien creature mutated from the regular toxic chemical waste pumped into a disused coal mine. You have the protagonists, those who live a simple life of no meat and Ban the Bomb and living off the land – fungus all the way! You’ve got UNIT and the Brig, the Doctor and Jo, then you have the antagonists, Panorama Chemicals, a local refinery with a man – Dr Stevens, who takes his orders from the Boss upstairs.

I only remember the tail end of this story on the television. It had been the time when Jo Grant had followed Professor Clifford Jones to the church, then sped off to the Amazon rainforest with him, leaving the Doctor to head off into the blue box and travel alone, tearfully!

When I began reading the story, I had a feeling I’d seen a familiar story in the NuWho series, with Christopher Eccleston. It involved Simon Pegg as the Editor and the Mighty Jagrafess screaming the orders from the ceiling. This has a familiar feel. All the staff are brainwashed. Must obey the BOSS. The boss being a megalomaniac computer keen on taking over the world and creating a new world order. Where have we heard that before???

Of course, as with many megalomaniacs, things fail to go completely in their direction and the good old Time Lord with his hippy friends seize the day.

One of the irksome things about this book, and if I’m honest, any book that tells the story of the television serial is, that it’s far from a story, more a commentary of the events.

I understand that there are different styles of writing, and it would be difficult I would imagine to capture the story exactly as a storyteller would, but perhaps if that were the case, perhaps, not telling the story in this way would have been better. (IMO).

One of the other differences that I’ve noticed in the old Classic novels are the illustrations, which really help the story along, even though to be fair, you’ve a pretty fair idea of what the creatures look like from the description in the story. What I enjoy about the illustrations is the detail, and how they always remind me of the old Enid Blyton drawings in the Famous Five novels. They’re dated if anything, but that’s the true nostalgic feel of the novel.

It’s a fairly short story when it’s all said and done. It took me the length of a week to read it – half an hour lunchbreak for 5 days. If you’re a fan of Target Novels you might feel differently to me about how the story is written. I’m a NuWho fan, for me the journey was interesting, in that, the Doctor didn’t rely too much on the sonic screwdriver but used the little grey matter and he wasn’t using the TARDIS as much. I’m unsure where Bessie came from though. I’m sure that she wasn’t part of the transport system on Gallifrey! But, as the TARDIS is bigger on the inside, I guess she came with the ship.

Who Reviews Target Zone: The Creature from the Pit

ISBN 0 426 20123 X

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...

Welcome back to Target Zone, this month foray into the Target Library brings us to the green and I mean GREEN planet of Chloris, can anyone spot the joke there.  This time we are back with the 4th Doctor and this time he excels himself in wackiness, ably assisted by Romana 2 and K9.

This story is one of them that, make you think okay is this the season when K9 finally realises that he is a bit buggered anywhere but flat solid ground, you wonder if his batteries are the same as smart phones and the laser is like a small torch.  Romana is in this story starting to think the Doctor is a bit loony and maybe thinking, soon I must leave.

In fact if you read the novelisation ably done by David Fisher, you will find a big change compared to the TV programme.  You start to see the plot, understand why the planet is in a fix, how dumb the robbers are and how cruel Lady Adrasta really is.  Let alone the raft of funny or sadistic characters which seem to get drowned out by the TV programme.  You realise how terrifying the monster is without the belly laugh you would get if watching it. 

So I say come to the green world of Chloris and be hugged by the wolf weeds, squashed by the metal producing blob monster, a hippy and a little sadistic maniac and the funny robbers, if you don’t love it then Lady Adrasta has a special for you.

Who Reviews Target Zone The Claws of Axos by "Green Tentacles of Death"

ISBN 0 426 11703 4

‘Axos calling Earth, Axos calling Earth...’

The creatures stood before them, beautiful golden humanoids, offering friendship and their priceless Axonite, in return for - what?

Only Doctor Who remains suspicious.  What is the real reason for the Axons’ sudden arrival on Earth?  And why is the evil master a passenger on their spaceship?  He very soon finds out...

Welcome to Target Zone this month, currently writing this in between times at dimensions.  So who is for another lesson from the minds of Dicks and Letts, originally written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin, a team that wrote a lot of good stories but were never fully thanked.  The Target book is put into novel form by Terrance Dicks who was the script editor at the time of the original show, and as usual he seamlessly combines the air of the original script with a few tweaks to bump it along for the reader.

Now how many of you would accept a gift from somebody you don’t know, who says that it is free and has no strings?  Well this story takes up this idea and expands it to government and international level.  If an alien race came to earth saying free energy to all and please share, wouldn’t you be suspicious, you would wouldn’t you.  As normal the governments involved all seem to run to par, yes please thank you and how much can I charge the others for it.  Baker and Martin seem to have observed various governmental organisations and have written a lesson to us all.  Greed is bad; sharing can also be bad if given items by a golden smiling humanoid.

Okay I hear you say, they might be good, well there is an old saying never judge a book by its cover, and this story seems to give valid reasons why not.  As normal the Doctor smells a trap, though has a little quake in his goodness this story.  The Master is evil as ever, and damn smooth and charming (people wonder why I love this character, this story is one of the reasons why), Jo is ever resourceful in her own way and acts as a sort of conciseness for the story.  The Brigadier is his normal lovable self, with the ever loyal and hard working Sargent Benton, as well a raft of totally believable government figures.

So I suggest to one and all buy this book, as if you get it free the Axons will get you.

Now special mention, for this story goes to the ever great and modesty Bernard Holley, who I had the good fortune to meet at one of the Dimensions.  He takes a monster character and transforms him/it into a creature that will stick into your memory for ever.  Also a lovely appearance by Tim Piggot-Smith and Donald Hewlett, two great actors and one of the reasons why this story works.  An extra special mention has to go to Richard Franklin, for playing Yates so well and a certain Derek Ware for the amazing performance as the tramp.

So read the book and then watch the story.

Who Reviews Target Zone Cave Monsters by Simon Mallinson

009 Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters

ISBN 0 426 11471 X

All is not well at the Wenley Moor underground atomic research station: there are unaccountable losses of power-output; nervous breakdowns amongst the staff; and then – a death!

UNIT is called in and the Brigadier is soon joined by DOCTOR WHO and Liz Shaw in a tense and exciting adventure with the subterranean reptile men – SILURIANS – and a 40 ft. High Tyrannosaurus Rex, the biggest, most savage mammal which ever trod the earth!

Welcome to the October issue of Target Zone, for new readers, let me explain.  In this article I will review an old Target novel, yes pre new era.

This month it’s the turn of the reptiles to come to the fore and the return of Unit.  Yes its Doctor vs Silurian’s, not the sexy ones now on the screen but the original rubber men with flashing bulbs sticking out of their heads.

Now Malcolm Hulke and Terrance Dicks can be a great writing team, with interesting plots and quirky monsters and in this book dear Malcolm succeeds with room to spare.

Let this book transport you to the 70s, okay forget the raving sex maniacs and the weird fashion if you can, but look at the start, of the start of Who being Green and Hip.  So have you ever noticed the most dangerous places in Who are always scientific centre’s, research stations and strangely enough power stations.  It’s like the writer is trying to tell you look after the world and be open minded, but how many of us will be.  Oh come on we all love cheap energy, no costs too much to keep the ever increasing consumption active.  Well Malcolm gives us a good little story to the dangers of this, and what is it we can awake???

Now this story is set in the first season of Jon Pertwee, so the Doctor is like a cross between a naughty schoolboy and a lecturing schoolmaster.  On the TV Jon plays this role with perfection, but he is a perfect professional, with the width and talent to do this.  He is ably helped by a still wary Liz Shaw, ahh how a brainy sex symbol she was, specially played by Caroline John, a great loss to us all and the Brigadier now in his most interesting version, played by the ever great Nicholas Courtney.

Well the new series made the Silurians, yes I am using the old term, sexy and sleek and mostly female, and I have to say yes I LOVE YOU VASTRA, okay got it out of the system now.  Many of the ideas of the new version have their base here.  Ever wondered why they think of people as monkeys and men as apes, well look no further Malcolm will tell you. The plague that hit the bloke in new series, maybe this is where the idea sprung from.

Now it’s fair to say that the original attempts at Silurians are at best funny, and the worst, maybe lack of time and budget watered down the idea.  So when you read this book, please use your imagination.  If you do this, then the story certainly comes alive in a new and unexpected dimension, and this is what Who is supposed to do.  What do you mean I hear you say?  I am saying think, shut your eyes, err not right now and be transported back.  See if this story doesn’t make you think.

Now here is a challenge for you, read this book and answer me this question.  Who was right??? The Doctor?  The Brigadier?  Or the Silurian’s themselves.  Do this with an open mind and be amazed to what you start to see.

Now there is no Big Finish Zone this month, this is because I have a special planned for the November issue and a report on Dimensions Convention, so keep your eyes peeled for November, you will not be disappointed.

Who Reviews Target Zone Carnival of Monsters by Simon Mallinson

Published by Target

ISBN 0 426 11025 0

The Doctor and Jo land on a cargo ship crossing the Indian Ocean in the year 1926.

Or so they think.

Far away on a planet called Inter Minor, a travelling showman is setting up his live peepshow, watched by an eager audience of space officials...

On board ship, a giant hand suddenly appears, grasps the Tardis and withdraws. Without warning, a prehistoric monster rises from the sea to attack...

What is happening? Where are they?

Only the Doctor realises, with horror, that they might be trapped...

Ah it had to happen, Carnival!!!!

Okay got that out of my system, this is one of the only Pertwee stories I ever watched on BBC in the Eighties as a repeat.  As it goes its a weird story, set in a world which everyone is grey and very strange looking, obviously it has two castes, the speaking morons, the bosses, and the downtrodden underclass, the workers who look like they need to get a life and kill the bosses.  Okay quite like real life.

As always when you read a story that is on as a TV story, you tend to visualise that, but Terrance Dicks does it again.  He takes a mediocre story and works his magic on it.  Although the original writer Robert Holmes does his best to make you laugh and cry.

The 3rd Doctor explodes out of the story, and what can I say about a certain Miss Grant, well the book has less screaming, only just.  Jo in book form comes out as a capable assistant (yes I am using the 70s term).  Okay maybe a bit absent minded but hey wouldn’t we all, faced with her travels.

The great thing about this book is that it takes the two dimensional figures on the boat and makes them come to life just a little more than the TV show.  Ah how the mind brushes over the faults.

The Showman and his travelling assistant (again 70s), instead of looking like something you might see on an acid trip, turns into quite likeable creatures that you may find in a Paul Daniels show or one of them Bank Holiday magic shows they used to show.

So for a trip into the twilight zone and a good hearty laugh, I advise you to buy this and escape the horrors of the day.

The TV show, if you do watch it will make you smile and revel in an early appearance of Ian Marter as Lt John Andrews, the sheer brilliance of the triad of bosses in Michael Wisher (Genesis fame), Terence Lodge and Peter Halliday.  Never forgetting the fun filled style of Leslie Dwyer (who you be thinking I have saw him in something else) as Vorg and the wonderful cheekiness of Cheryl Hall as Shirna.

As always my special commendation for Jon Pertwee forever the Dandy but ever enjoyable Doctor, and the beautiful and talented Katy Manning whose appearance as Jo Grant never fails to make me smile, laugh, cry and shout NOOOOOOO!!!!!