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The TARDIS has drifted into the future and comes to rest hovering over Frontios, refuge of one group of survivors from Earth who have escaped the disintegration of their home planet.

The Doctor is reluctant to land on Frontios, as he does not wish to intervene in a moment of historical crisis - the colonists are still struggling to establish themselves and their continued existence hangs in the balance.

But the TARDIS is forced down by what appears to be a meteor storm, and crash-lands, leaving the Doctor and his companions marooned on the hope-forsaken planet...

143 pages, Paperback

First published December 10, 1984

236 people want to read

About the author

Christopher H. Bidmead

13 books11 followers
Christopher Hamilton Bidmead is a British writer and journalist who wrote several Doctor Who TV serials, all of which he also novelised. He was also script editor for Season 18.

He was attached (agreed, but without a contract) to write several serials that were ultimatelly cancelled. They were In the Hollows of Time, a two-part (forty-five minute) story for the cancelled season 23[1], and a four parter, Pinacotheca (a.k.a. The Last Adventure), which would have been the third part of the The Trial of a Time Lord arc[2].

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5 stars
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66 (29%)
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97 (43%)
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24 (10%)
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
Profile Image for Michael.
1,299 reviews153 followers
August 11, 2015
Christopher H. Bidmead's adaptation of his third (and final) classic Doctor Who script, "Frontios" restores parts of the script that were dropped either due to budget constrnts or they were considered too dark at the time, making this seem like a glimpse of what could have been on our screens.

Bidmead's "Frontios" novelization was one of those Target novelizations I missed in my days of collecting them (as a younger viewer, the story wasn't among my favorites). So coming to it now as an older reader/listener, I must admit I was intrigued by the small flourishes that the adaptation indulges in. (It's also interesting to have the DVD now with the extended and deleted scenes and get some idea of where those scenes would go in the context of the story).

The TARDIS crew arrive on the edge of the Time Lord's knowledge of time and space, drug down to one of the last colonies of humans by a mysterious force. In trying to not become too involved in these later days of humanity, the Doctor is drawn into the mystery of the colony on Frontios. Seems that the colony has been enduring attacks from the skies for thirty plus years with no signs of the invaders coming to follow-up. In the course of one attack, the TARDIS is destroyed, stranding the TARDIS crew in this time and place possibly forever.

As far as cliffhangers go, the TARDIS' destruction is a pretty effective one. It's also a memorable one that was, to my younger self, the only real highlight of the show. As I've gotten older, I've started to appreciate the story a bit more -- and Bidmead's adaptation has helped me see what could have been if they'd had the budget for it. The Tractators who come across on screen as a bit silly are given a bit more menace in the novel. There's also the grim detail that the mining machine used the monsters of the week uses human parts to tunnel under the ground in Frontios as opposed to having it be all mechanical.

And yet for all of this, the same weaknesses that I see in the story are still on display here. Namely, it's a bit oddly paced at times. There are times when it feels a bit too much like the old Doctor Who cliche of wandering down a corridor and biding our time as we wait for something to happen.

As with his previous two scripts, Bidmead reads his own adaptation for the audiobook. And once again, he does a solid enough job, though it's not quite as memorable as some of the other readers we've had in the past couple of months.
Profile Image for Craig.
6,461 reviews182 followers
October 9, 2021
This is a novelization of the third serial from the twenty-first season of Doctor Who, which was broadcast in January and February of 1984. The fifth regeneration of the title character stars, with his two companions stewardess Tegan Jovanka and bad-guy pawn Visior Turlough. Christopher H. Bidmead adapted his own teleplay for this novel version, and was able to incorporate several scenes the way he'd envisaged them and delete some inferior sections. This is one of the stories that I felt the prose version was really superior; the low-budget special effects were pretty bad on screen, but he let his imagination soar on the page, and his enthusiasm is evident. Among the highlights are the seeming destruction of the TARDIS, the Doctor worrying about violating the Galllifreyan version of a Prime Directive that we never hear much about, and Turlough fighting off a fierce band of alien monsters with a coat rack.
Profile Image for Polly Batchelor.
824 reviews96 followers
November 15, 2023
"Oh marvellous. You're going to kill me. What a finely tuned response to the situation."

5th Doctor, Tegan, Turlough

The TARDIS lands on the edge of the universe (no Toclafanes have yet to make an appearance) Where they have discovered the last known colonies of humans. The Doctor is trying to stay out of the way and let history take it course. But in The Doctor's fashion, wants to know more about the colonies. Which is handy as the TARDIS also gets destroyed, meaning they are now stranded on Frontios.

Bidmead was able to expand on scenes that were either not included or due to budget weren't executed very well. But mainly he stuck to his original script. 'Frontios' wasn't one of my most favourite novels from the target range, just thought it was ok.

"I got this one cheap because the walk's not quite right. And then there's the accent..."

"Not hat people are you? Either of you?"
958 reviews5 followers
September 16, 2024
As much as I enjoy the tv story, the book adaptation is rather dull. For a lot of Target novelisations I find myself wishing for an extra 20 or so pages, this one I wish it was only the usual 120.
Profile Image for Jon Arnold.
Author 39 books34 followers
May 27, 2014
If you wanted a textbook on how to write a novelisation, Frontios is pretty much it. The original story is one of the twentieth century show’s neglected gems, an eerie tale of an isolated human colony under siege that perhaps was compromised by the limitations of the TV show. Bidmead takes his original story and, assisted by Nigel Robinson’s editorial directive, frees it of those constraints.

Most obvious is the writer being freed of budgetary worries. He’s better able to get the sense of struggle across now that he doesn’t have to worry about how many extras or the quality of achievable effects. He can bring an epic sense of scale to simple achievement of surviving, painting with a few words that what we see is the remnants of a colony of originally thousands. The tension of people under permanent, almost unimaginable pressure becomes more understandable, even before the attacks are considered. He’s free to give the impression that this is all held together with sticky tape, and that sticky tape is peeling away with supplies running out.

The other area where this is really effective is in the portrayal of the book’s antagonists, the Tractators. There was originally a notion of gracefulness to the creatures, hence professional dancers being employed to work the costumes. As realised on screen they were overly clumsy, capable of little but a slow shuffle. Bidmead rectifies that with relish, freeing the creatures from their design limitations. And he doesn’t limit it to simple physical capabilities, the conception of the Tractator culture is superior in a way the show’s timeslot would never have allowed. The Tractators employ actual machinery on screen, though they use humans as batteries. Bidmead’s vision is far more relentlessly logical and stomach churning. Instead of scavenging machinery (where did they get that technological capability?) they purely scavenge humans, constructing their machinery purely from meat and bone. There’s a zestful relish to the horror of the translation and mining machines, again more effective than would ever have been allowed on screen.

The expansion isn’t purely restricted to cheap shock though – no writer’s better at capturing this Doctor than the writer who had a hand in his creation. He’s more playful and frustrated here than generally written, and the sly enjoyment of the scenes where he makes Tegan out to be an android are a highlight. Tegan’s great too, frustrated and snarky without being unlikable. Perhaps the only element I regret being lost is Mark Strickson’s intense performance, but such is the penalty of translating a performed text to a different medium.

There are also minor rearrangements to what was seen on screen, Bidmead being wise enough to not worry about building his story around cliffhangers. Frontios is a vindication of Nigel Robinson’s ambitious approach to the Target range, both in pursuing the original authors to novelise their work and looking for more than straightforward transcriptions of the TV shows. Few TV shows show the gap between ambition and realisation as much as twentieth century Doctor Who, none benefit so much from that gap being discarded. This is the perfect example of the kernel of genius being allowed to flower by the author being allowed space to recreate their vision.
Profile Image for Daniel Kukwa.
4,766 reviews125 followers
June 7, 2011
It's not quite as rich as Bidmead's novelizations of "Logopolis" and "Castrovalva", but it IS the most biting and graphic of the former script editor's three Doctor Who scripts. Bidmead delights in exploring more of the grotesque aspects of "Frontios", that didn't make it into the televised version...and his enthusiasm for the material is nicely reflected in the prose. It also concludes with one of my favourite final sentences: concise, to the point, and very cute.
Profile Image for Jacob Licklider.
328 reviews6 followers
August 29, 2022
Christopher H. Bidmead novelized all three of his television stories for the Target novelization range fairly close to their original airdate, Frontios being the closest, published not even a year after the television story was aired. This is interesting as while this certainly isn’t out of the ordinary it marks one of the first times the majority of a season’s stories would be put out within the year making the writers have less time to actually flesh out their stories. This might be why Frontios is a story which takes most of its cues from the original television stories without any real sense of expansion. The Doctor, Tegan, and Turlough still arrive on Frontios outside of the general remit of the Time Lords which scares the Doctor and finds the last of the human race struggling to survive. People are being eaten by the earth, the current leader of the colony is losing his mind, and there are things beneath the surface which cause a race memory to emerge in Turlough. The plot beats are there so it is really interesting to see how Bidmead’s prose develops a very stark story with scientific and desperate themes and how he turns up the pulp horror vibes. Under script editor Eric Saward there really isn’t a whole lot of pulp in Doctor Who, yeah there is danger and dark themes (especially in Season 21) but in Frontios on television the direction by Ron Jones is one of those directorial styles which are just fine and the script only plays up the desperation. The production design also is really lacking, especially with the Tractators and the Gravis which are clearly trying, all of the actors are trying (especially the Gravis), but they just don’t work. The novelization of Frontios allows the desperation to play out with a lot of the dialogue being stark and simple, giving it a ragged feel for all of the characters, and by the time the Tractators, their technology, and the Gravis appear Bidmead makes the shift to horror work really well. It’s really only a book that’s let down by not making any plot changes, the stuff with the Time Lords is even made more explicit as a threat while not amounting to anything. They just get a few mentions because it’s apparently dangerous for the Doctor to be here. Same with Turlough and the race memory, we don’t get any further idea of Turlough’s past, just this tidbit though Tegan is a lot of fun in the book, especially when she’s on her own.

Overall, Frontios as a novelization works about as well as its television story outside of being a bit longer and still not doing anything to explain why the Time Lords might want anything. Turlough doesn’t get depth but the colony itself has more life and the horror elements are actually played up throughout. 8/10.
Profile Image for Van.
68 reviews
January 1, 2022
Doctor Who – Frontios, by Christopher H. Bidmead. Target, 1985. Number 91 in the Doctor Who Library. 143 pages, paperback. ISBN 0-426-19780-1. Original script by Christopher H. Bidmead, BBC 1984.

SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.

This adventure features the 5th Doctor, Tegan Jovanka, and Turlough.

The TARDIS has drifted too far into the future and sits in orbit above a colony that is the last outpost of the peoples of Earth. Against the Doctor's warning about non-intervention, Tegan wants to peek in on the colonists to see what's become of humanity. Having satisfied Tegan's curiosity, the Doctor prepares to leave when suddenly the TARDIS is pulled down to the planet.

The TARDIS materializes on Frontios in the midst of a meteorite storm. The Doctor and company immediately set about trying to help the wounded. It isn't long before they are suspected of being the enemy, for the colonists believe they are at war with an unknown force. While trying to convince the colonists that they were not the enemy, Tegan witnesses the leader, Plantagenet, being sucked into the ground. As the Doctor and company try to use confusion as cover to escape, they discover that the TARDIS has been destroyed, marooning them on Frontios.

A journey into a warren of tunnels reveals the real enemy to be Tractators, a race Turlough has encountered on his home planet. Intelligent and powerful, the Tractators can control gravity and are the ones who have been bringing down meteors to pummel the colonists. Their plan is to take control of Frontios and steer it around the galaxy and multiply their numbers. Tegan discovers bits of the TARDIS scattered throughout the tunnels. The Doctor fools Gravis, leader of the Tractators, into putting it back together.

This seems to be a fairly straightforward retelling of the televised story. Bidmead's novelization of his own script is well-written but doesn't really add anything to the TV version. Frontios, to me, is a middle story. It's not bad, it's not great, it's right in the middle. I think this is probably the most “human” I've seen Turlough. From what I can recall, he seems better realized here than in other stories. The storyline about the Doctor's concern over the Time Lords leaves me puzzled. He's hardly been all that worried before. Why now? I thought the solution to the Tractator problem was overly simple, and the ending felt rushed.

If I were in the habit of giving numbered ratings, I'd put Frontios at 7 out of 10.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
869 reviews6 followers
June 21, 2021
A good horror type story this one, first one in a while it feels.
An interesting overall idea to the story, and the first part is definitely quite creepy, with a lot of mystery. Unfortunately once the mystery is resolved as such, the plot doesn't hold together as well, with some of it not really making sense to my mind (the time the Tractators gave them initially, then the fact that doesn't seem a sustainable society anyway - might as well have gone harder initially it feels). The Tractators themselves also don't seem quite as threatening once revealed either.
The Doctor is in good form here though, forcing his way into things well, and is a very good story for Turlough as well - giving more backstory and characterisation for him, and many good scenes.
Tegan, while present, seems to fade into the background a bit more though, and her more whiny side comes through a bit stronger here, which is a shame, as can be quite a strong character when not doing so.
All round though, a nice change of pace and a good read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
641 reviews10 followers
August 31, 2018
"Frontios" was not one of my favorites of the Davison TV serials. No matter what, insect villains have never looked right on Doctor Who. And the sight of Turlough slobbering "Tractators" is off-putting all by itself. The name "tractators" simply conjured bizarre images of potatoes dressed up as trains. Bidmead's novelization of his own script, however, makes up for many deficiencies. The reader can create a fully functional and truly frightening tractator in his/her imagination. The plight of the people of Frontios comes through with greater clarity and elicits greater pity from the reader. And the tractator machines ae more terrifying given Bidmead's descriptions. There are some problems, such as no awareness of how gravity actually works. The Chief Orderly seems inconsistent and prone to sudden changes in direction. Nevertheless, reading this novelization will clarify many of the fuzzy issues in the TV serial.
Profile Image for Pete.
1,114 reviews78 followers
October 1, 2023
Doctor Who : Frontios (1984) by Christopher Bridmead is the novelisation of the third serial of the twenty first season of Doctor Who.

The TARDIS with the Doctor, Turlough and Tegan malfunctions and they are drawn to the planet Frontios where the remnants of humanity are struggling. Meteor showers regularly injure people and the survivors also try and avoid going deeper into the planet. Upon landing the TARDIS is also dismembered threatening to trap the crew there.

Frontios is quite a good, somewhat scary Doctor Who serial. It’s worth a read for anyone fond of the travels of the Doctor.
Profile Image for Andy.
1,966 reviews
February 13, 2021
I need to do a rewatch of classic who because this is another episode I do not remember. I love the trio of Tegan, Turlough, and the 5th Doctor. I always thought they did well together the bummer part of this story was they seemed to be separated from each other for large sections of the book. Plus the plot dragged a bit although the villain of the piece was unique.
14 reviews
April 9, 2021
Mostly a straight adaptation of the television story, pretty much scene for scene, though still an entertaining read with a strong story. This adventure was one of the better stories from 80s Who that really felt like adult sci-fi. There are great characters and even the companions are soused well, though Tegan does her usual whining. :)
Profile Image for Ian Banks.
1,123 reviews6 followers
July 30, 2025
You wouldn’t think it was possible for a book of 140 pages to be a slow burn but Frontios manages it. It crawls towards the conclusion which then happens at a rather breathtaking pace. Far more gruesome than its broadcast counterpart, this manages to retell the story faithfully but with a lot more atmosphere.
Profile Image for Rob Cook.
797 reviews12 followers
July 22, 2024
Christopher Bidmead offers and entertaining read of his novelisation of the classic Who story.
Profile Image for Julian White.
1,718 reviews8 followers
January 1, 2022
pdf; 141 pages

Unusually I enjoyed this as one of the superior novelidations: the prose works better than the onscreen visuals - and the regular cast are especially fine.
Profile Image for Nicholas Whyte.
5,372 reviews207 followers
Read
April 8, 2009
http://nhw.livejournal.com/1063804.html#cutid3[return][return]I had moderately high expectations of this after reading Bidmead's other two, and I wasn't disappointed; this is the best of the Season 21 Fifth Doctor novelisations (though they are not a fantastic batch). I noted for the first time how each of Bidmead's stories involves a transdimensional threat to the structure of the Tardis, a tinkering with one of the basics of Who which few other writers have attempted. The story works decently enough on the page, though Turlough's insights into the Tractators could have done with more explanation. An interesting characterisation of the Doctor, absent-minded and failing to tell his companions what is going on.
Author 27 books37 followers
February 8, 2009
Interesting idea to have the Tardis crew stranded on a colony world at the fringe of the universe, just feels rushed. Would have worked better if there'd been a sense of them being stuck there for more than a half hour before the monsters show up.

The monsters are pretty creepy and there's a nice sense of menace, and everyone on the Tardis crew gets to do something, but it stills feels like too much jammed into too short a time.
246 reviews
July 13, 2012
It was okay. Didn't seem to be one of the better stories and carried a lot of excess baggage along the way that seemed to clog up the plot.
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