Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks

Doctor Who Target Books (Numerical Order) #18

by Terrance Dicks

Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Fiction, Time Travel, Media Tie In, Audiobook, Novels

141 pages, Paperback

First published March 24, 1974

About the author

Terrance Dicks was an English author, screenwriter, script editor, and producer best known for his extensive contributions to Doctor Who. Serving as the show's script editor from 1968 to 1974, he helped shape many core elements of the series, including the concept of regeneration, the development of the Time Lords, and the naming of the Doctor’s home planet, Gallifrey. His tenure coincided with major thematic expansions, and he worked closely with producer Barry Letts to bring a socially aware tone to the show. Dicks later wrote several Doctor Who serials, including Robot, Horror of Fang Rock, and The Five Doctors, the 20th-anniversary special.
In parallel with his television work, Dicks became one of the most prolific writers of Doctor Who novelisations for Target Books, authoring over 60 titles and serving as the de facto editor of the range. These adaptations introduced a generation of young readers to the franchise. Beyond Doctor Who, he also wrote original novels, including children’s horror and adventure series such as The Baker Street Irregulars, Star Quest, and The Adventures of Goliath.
Dicks also worked on other television programmes including The Avengers, Moonbase 3, and various BBC literary adaptations. His later work included audio dramas and novels tied to Doctor Who. Widely respected for his clarity, imagination, and dedication to storytelling, he remained a central figure in Doctor Who fandom until his death in 2019, leaving behind a vast legacy in television and children's literature.

Reviews

[Ken · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s not surprising that one of the earliest serials to be novelised was selected for a reprint in 2012.
Not only was this Dicks second contribution to the range (having the time and energy to give delicate care to this one) but it shows that production issues can sometimes damper a good story.

This was the Daleks long awaited comeback after a 5 year absence and it’s quite noticeable on screen that the crew don’t have many Dalek props for the thrilling climatic battle.

I always think that an actor really becomes The Doctor once they meet the Daleks, so it must have risen expectations for this Season 9 opener.
A group of freedom fighters from the 22nd century travel back to our time to prevent World War 3 is such a simple but effective Sci-Fi adventure.

These Target reprints are a delight, I’d just wished we could have more.
I practically like the ‘Between the Lines’ section at the back which compares the printed version to what we see on screen.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here's an enjoyable adventure for the Doctor, Jo Grant & the usual 1970's personnel from UNIT.
The story follows the television episodes faithfully, but gives the reader a few nice additions. You've got action, time travel & the Daleks trying to take control of the Earth. What more could you want ?

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a novelization of the first adventure from the ninth season of Doctor Who, which was broadcast in January of 1972. It stars the third Doctor, ably assisted by companion Jo Grant, and the whole rest of the gang from UNIT, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Captain Mike Yates, and Sergeant Harry Benton. Terrance Dicks adapted the original screenplay by Louis Marks for the book. It's one of my favorites, involving cross-time guerrilla fighting (a theme that would re-emerge in years to come), and a complex plot of intrigue and suspense, underground adventures, mysterious alien technologies, and Daleks. It was the first introduction of the character to North America for many, many readers and fans, as it was the first of ten books reprinted in the U.S. by Pinnacle and had a very enthusiastic introduction written by Harlan Ellison, who was quite a celebrity in the field at the time. Until it appeared, the series was just seen in a very few, limited markets, and the books were almost entirely unknown. They chose a really good one to kick off the craze!

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Resistance fighters travel back through time to try to prevent a future where humans are subjugated by heartless machine creatures. No I'm not talking about The Terminator. In 1972 The Day of the Daleks was one of my earliest memories of the show (The Daemons was the first). I was five years old and I had no clue what was happening regarding plot. All I knew was that it had Daleks (previously viewed through fingers in the Peter Cushing movies) and a lot of people waving guns around. But it was only two or three years later that I'd remedy the situation by first learning to read and then by getting my hands on the Target novelisation by Terrance Dicks. I was pretty enthralled with this one at the time and even without the nostalgia there's still plenty for the older me to appreciate. Terrance Dicks adapted Louis Marks' script with a lot of obvious enthusiasm to improve and embellish, from the opening extra scene describing a meeting of the downtrodden but undefeated human guerrilla fighters of the 22nd century, to the numerous action scenes getting a much needed injection of flash-bang-wallop. What results is a more atmospheric portrayal of the Dalek ruled future and the ruin of war ravaged humanity. The sequence from the serial where the Doctor tries to evade capture using a balloon wheeled trike that barely ever got to jogging pace, pursued by Ogrons trying not to look like they are running on the spot, is replaced by an unrecognisable all out Mad Max trike chase. Most of all I enjoyed the early scenes where the three guerrillas first appear in our time, not in the bright light of dawn but in the dead of night, with Ogrons in close pursuit, getting into a three way shoot out with UNIT troops while the Doctor helps himself to wine and cheese on his ghost vigil. The plot is just about completely unchanged but Dicks just gives it all a good polish, even reinstating a few scenes that were planned but never made it into the show due to production issues, most notably the bookended time anomaly gag where the Doctor and Jo meet themselves for the second time.
Original artwork , features on script to novel, Terrance Dicks, Louis Marks and a new introduction by Gary Russell.

[Simon Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brought back fond memories. Last read it when I was about 9.

It's basically about people going back in time to change history so that bad stuff doesn't happen, but actually causing the bad stuff by accident in the process. Remarkably similar to the Terminator films but predates them by 10 years or so.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

If there has been one glaring omission from the classic Doctor Who Target novels audiobooks line, it's "The Day of the Daleks." One of the first serials adapted by Terrance Dicks, "Day of the Daleks" was one of the first Target novels I read (though it was under the U.S. Pinnacle reprint, including the fantastically, ranting introduction by Harlan Ellison) and it's easily one of the strongest adaptations the line ever produced.

And while I was delighted that the story was finally getting the audio treatment, part of me was still a bit nervous about visiting this old friend from my Target-obsessed days. Could it live up to the greatness associated with it in my memory?

The good news is that it not only lived up to my fond memories of it, it may have even exceeded them.

"Day of the Daleks" shows exactly how good Terrance Dicks is at adapting the television series when he's given time to really get into and develop the story and he's not constrained by a page count. In fact, this adaptation is so good that when I finally got to see the four-part televised version a few years later, I was a bit let down by it. Dicks does a fantastic job of character and world building on the pages of this story, making the story far richer than anything we see on our screens. Even a recent "special edition" on the DVD that adds some new effects, corrects some Dalek voices and offers a few other tweaks can't compare to just how effective the printed version is.

For a series about time travel, classic Doctor Who rarely looked into the mechanics and implications of it. "Day of the Daleks" is an exception where time travel and its implications play a pivotal role in the story. When a high ranking British official is mysteriously attacked by commandos who seemingly vanish into thin air, the Doctor and UNIT are called in to investigate. Turns out the guerrillas are resistance fighters from the future, trying to change history so the Daleks won't conquer the Earth and enslave all of humanity.

Dicks' adaptation not only develops the characters of the various guerrillas who travel back in time but also gives us a more nuanced looked at the top human servant of the Daleks, the Controller. Dicks delves into his motivations and even makes us understand and feel a bit of sympathy for him, even as he's trying to help the Daleks maintain their stranglehold on humanity.

The world-building involves a far bleaker view of the future than was realized on the screen, where it felt like it was just another Doctor Who episode filmed in a rock quarry. Limited only by the power of the reader's imagination, Dicks paints a world like something out of the pages of Orwell. Dicks even manages to make a weakness of the serial (the absurdly silly chase on a motorized tricycle) seem exciting, fast-paced and memorable.

All in all, Dicks turns "The Day of the Daleks" into an absolute delight and one of the true highlights of the Target range.

Returning to the audio range for "The Day of the Daleks" is Richard Franklin, who starred in the original serial as Mike Yates. Franklin has delivered some solid audio performances with a couple of other Pertwee-era stories, so I was looking forward to seeing what he'd deliver here. Maybe it's that Yates isn't quite as pivotal or as involved in this story as he was in "The Claws of Axos," but this one doesn't feel like Franklin's strongest work. For every good choice he makes (the Controller's accent, the Ogron voices), there are some that left me scratching my head. The biggest is how Franklin interprets the voices of the Doctor, the Brigadier and Benton. I suppose that part of it could be familiarity with the actors who play these roles on screen. But something felt distinctly off about how Franklin brings them to life in this reading.

And since this is a Dalek story, we get Nicholas Briggs bringing the Dalek voices to life. Briggs does a superb job of distinguishing one Dalek from another (helped immensely by Dicks creating some distinction between the pepper-pot shaped baddies). The voices used are authentic to how Dalek voices were created on the show at this point in the series run. They are more from the corrected special edition DVD than the original version. (The original voices were VERY off due to the long absence of the Daleks from television as their creator tried to find new ways to exploit them).

I'll admit part of me wished that Briggs (and the production) would really have a good go at fans by delivering the Dalek lines in the original television voices.

Again, "Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks" is a highlight of the Target novels. And while the audiobook isn't quite as solid as I'd hoped it would be, it was still a fun way to revisit my fond memories of reading this story during my early days of Doctor Who fandom.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not old enough (or British enough, for that matter) to claim original viewership of Doctor Who's inaugural broadcast on that November evening in the 1960's. Despite this, one of my early childhood memories does involve the program which was broadcast in the evening on WTTW, Channel 11, the public television station out of Chicago. Mom and dad were big fans of this, and even before I dove whole-heartedly into the fandom in the early 1990's, I know that "Doctor Who" was a curly-haired chap wearing a scarf far too long to be either fashionable or comfortable who fought evil aliens and rescued the innocent.

I have memories of sitting in the living room in my old house, creeping glances at the television from my hideout behind the sofa, and on the screen seeing a strange black pyramid descend from the sky to scoop up one hapless person after another. Then, since this was during pledge drive, I also remember the soothing voice of Marty Robinson when they took a break to offer some incentives to subscribers.

Why include this backstory in a book review, especially when the story doesn't involve this particular Doctor Who production? Because it influenced how I've viewed the show ever since. When I was around twelve years old, in the eighth grade, I decided to take the plunge and see what Doctor Who was all about. Mom dug out the VHS copy of The Five Doctors she and dad had taped off television a decade previously, and we watched it together. This, I am convinced, is the best way I could have possibly been introduced to the show.

I was utterly blown away by everything. Well, maybe not everything.... For a kid raised on a steady diet of Star Wars and other high-budget fantasy and sci-fi productions, the special effects were admittedly not as mind-blowing. Everything else though was phenomenal, especially the story, which thrilled me with an exceptional cast of heroes and villains, a deep conspiracy, and the revelation that the immortality we all covet would be a curse rather than a blessing. I quickly realized one got more out of the show if it (much like classic Star Trek episodes) was viewed through the lens of watching a stage production instead of a television program, where the producers and the actors did their parts, but the audience had to meet them halfway by willingly suspending disbelief so as to be fully immersed. Doctor Who delivered a considerably larger return on this investment than any other television show I've ever watched. The more I put into it, the more I got out.

I had to have more.

Unfortunately for me there weren't any other taped programs, at least not ones that were easily accessible. But mom remembered my dad had purchased a few of the paperbacks which novelized some of the television episodes, and she passed those on to me. Holy cow, was I in heaven--if there was one thing I loved more than watching television, it was stuffing my nose in a book and getting lost in my imagination.

Dad's Doctor Who library was small, consisting of only five titles: The Doomsday Weapon, The Genesis of the Daleks, The Stones of Blood, The Visitation, and The Day of the Daleks. Three of these (Genesis, Day, and Doomsday) had spine numbers, the other two did not, and so I made the decision of the first one to read based on the absolutely logical method of 'which one had the coolest title'. This was Doctor Who and the Doomsday Weapon, because did I mention I was twelve years old, and it was... Well, it was just OK.

I told my mom as much the next morning, and she said that some of dad's favorite episodes had to do with the Daleks, so why not try one of those stories before I gave up on them. Later that night, after school, I cracked open Doctor Who and The Day of the Daleks, and my world changed forever.

* * * * *

It starts on a cold, dark evening in the twenty-second century.

A leader of a resistance organization sneaks out of the labour camp where he's being held and meets up with other members of his group in an underground cellar. Through painstaking effort and dangerous acts of thievery against their masters, the resistance has constructed a device which will permit them to travel through time and undo the act two hundred years in the past which led to humanity's current enslavement. It's a dangerous job, tantamount to a suicide mission, but all three of his comrades eagerly volunteer for the assignment. Any of them would gladly give their lives if it meant freedom for their brothers and sisters. They would all give their lives if it meant an end to the brutality of the enormous, ape-like Ogrons, and the vile, armor-clad, emotionless weapons of destruction who could cow even these behemoths into submission.

Using the device sends the three members of the resistance into the past...and smack into a collision course with not only the Doctor, his assistant Jo Grant, and their employers at the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT), but also history itself. They must assassinate Sir Reginald Styles, a well-respected British diplomat who, in an act of unforeseeable treachery, is planning to murder a delegation of Chinese, Russian, and American ambassadors all gathered on British soil for peace talks. The deaths of these high-ranking politicians unleashes World War III. The wreckage of the planet and decimation of the human population which results makes the Dalek invasion and enslavement of humanity mere child's play.

Once again it's up to the Doctor to save Earth from a fate worse than death, but can even a Time Lord strike the balance necessary to both prevent a planet-wide calamity and save the life of a man who may not be as guilty as the history books of the 22nd century recorded? Especially once the Daleks get wind of the operation and start sending forces of their own to ensure the genocide happens as planned?

* * * * *

To say I love The Day of the Daleks is to misunderstand the very foundation of the verb. What Terrance Dicks does with this story is nothing short of brilliance, despite the cover artwork which is obviously trying to attract Star Wars fans with that fancy ship that looks like a cross between a Y-Wing fighter and a blockade runner (and which never actually appears in the story). I can't blame Pinnacle for their efforts, considering this was published a mere two years after A New Hope's theatrical release and George Lucas had raised the American public's sci-fi consciousness to the nth degree, but still.

What's hilarious to me, at least about this edition, is noted curmudgeon Harlan Ellison's introduction, in which he relates an incident at a World Science Fiction Convention where he declared Star Trek, Star Wars, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind to be utter tripe, contended further that Doctor Who was the best science fiction series of all time, then threatened his intention to fight everyone gathered there, one at a time or all at once, who felt he was in error. So of course the cover includes a Star Wars-looking space ship, despite one never appearing in the book. I like to think seeing this drove Ellison into apoplexy considering how prominent his name is at the top of the cover, but knowing Ellison he probably cried all the way to the bank.

Back to the story.

The atmosphere Dicks generates, whether it's the dark depiction of the 22nd century that could very well have inspired James Cameron's future envisioned in the Terminator films, or the cool countryside evening of 20th century England where the time travelers emerge to carry out their grim task, is phenomenal, and all the moreso because the book runs a mere fourteen chapters over 139 pages. Even if you've never seen an episode of Doctor Who, Dicks makes sure you know what one is supposed to feel like. Everything's just the perfect degree of 'off'. It's not a horror novel, but it depicts the horror of an enslaved humanity with the insights of a writer who witnessed the atrocities of World War II through his own eyes as a child. It's not hard to conjure up mental images of black and white photos displaying Jews rounded up in German concentration camps as Dicks shows the human race's fate at the hands of the Daleks. That's not surprising: why re-invent the wheel when the uncensored evidence of German brutality was still deeply etched into the living consciousness of 1972 (when this episode was first broadcast)?

This being a Third Doctor adventure, there are action scenes galore: UNIT solders get into ferocious running gun battles with Ogrons and Daleks, the Doctor and Jo steal an all-terrain vehicle to escape from a Dalek encampment causing a Mad Max-style chase across the rubble-filled landscape of 22nd century Earth, and there's plenty of subterfuge and sneakiness as the future assassins try to slip between the cordons of UNIT sentries and locate Sir Reginald. Dicks plays these for all they're worth, unleashing a virtuoso array of things one couldn't hope to show on 1970's television--at one point, the Doctor drives his ATV up one side of a building and down the other in an effort to shake off his pursuers, something I'm sure was never in Louis Marks' original script. There's an additional gag of the Doctor and Jo temporarily meeting themselves thanks to a temporal distortion that serves as some comic relief--part of this scene made it into the first episode of the television show, but whether for budgetary or pacing reasons the second half of the scene where Jo and the Doctor run into their duplicates from the other side of the TARDIS doors was left out. It's nice to see it, and a few other extra bobs and bits, show up in the novelization.

The Five Doctors might have been my gateway to Who fandom, but The Day of the Daleks ensured I stuck around and explored more of this intriguing world. In the end, it's hard to top Ellison's pull quote from the front cover: "Incomparable...extraordinary...my hero, Doctor Who!" The Day of the Daleks is all that and more, a story of a length and pace that demands it be finished in one sitting with your imagination given permission to put the pedal to the metal.

If there's one downside to this Pinnacle edition, it's that it's technically incomplete. The Target novelization includes a handful of illustrations throughout the text--simple black and white, pen and ink pieces that help establish setting. Losing them isn't awful, especially if you're familiar with what Jo, the Doctor, and the Daleks all look like, but there's a small, rough map at the top of the first chapter showing the grounds of Austerly House where Sir Reginald stays, with its surrounding wall, gates, access road, copse of trees, and the disused railway tunnel. This helps establish the 20th century action scenes better in the mind, but I read the later Pinnacle edition which lacks this with no problems whatsoever. Of course, the Target edition lacks the hilarious Ellison introduction which opens all ten of the books published under the Pinnacle brand here in the US, so you might as well get both. Either way, I think you'll be satisfied with the outcome. This book made me the fan I am today--perhaps it can do the same for you.

Five sonic screwdrivers out of five.

[Terence · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was watching Pertwee's Doctor battling the Daleks today (14 June 2018) and remembered that I had read this when still a young lad.

[Ivana Richards · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another fairly accurate adaptation by Terrance Dicks. There's very little embellishment after the first chapter, but , as usual with the Target range, at only 126 pages he didn't get much chance to add bits. Worth reading, mind you.

[F.R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had this on VHS as a kid, but last saw it over 9 years ago. It was interesting and enjoyable to revisit it in this form.

Two things:

In terms of narration. Benton’s Bristol accent is turned up annoyingly to 11!

While in terms of plot, given his job and what he must have to deal with daily, why is The Brigadier still so astoundingly incredulous?

[Belisarius Carstairs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply put: Uncle Terry’s made a marvellous adaption for a marvellous story.

There are so many twists and turns in this story, it’s mind-boggling. The sheer scope of this story, it’s amazing.

Political intrigue, time travel shenanigan, and guerrilla warfare, this story is a thrill ride start to finish and I love it for that. Never a dull moment in Day of the Daleks. Not to mention, it’s one of the few times in the seventies that we find a strong female leader.

Uncle Terry’s adaption is wonderful. Plenty of tension and description to balance out what the script lacked. Not to mention a whole lot of extra stuff a shoestring budget couldn’t afford.

Day of the Daleks is always an adrenaline rush whether prose or television.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

What starts out looking like a case of political espionage, then turns into a pretty cool story involving time travel and the Daleks.

The time travel bit is very clever, it actually feels like UNIT gets to do something and there are a couple of good scenes with the Doctor and the rest of the cast interacting.

One of the really early episode adaptions. I'm almost afraid to watch the episode, fearing it won't live up to the book.

[Brayden Raymond · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd have to bank on a 4.5 stars. I zoomed through this, as far as target novelizations go this is most definitely one of the best. I am still leaning towards 5 stars based on the exciting story and fast paced tempo of the book, but the quick finish hurt it a little in the end and I wanted just a little more.

That said, I loved the chaos of UNIT fighting it out with Daleks and Ogrons. Can't beat that.

[Artur Coelho · Rating 3 out of 5]

O problema de ler aventuras antigas de Doctor Who é a desconexão cognitiva entre a imagem dos livros e a minha ideia pessoal do personagem, um misto da energia de David Tennant, da excentricidade de Matt Smith e da aridez de Capaldi (pertenço ao clube dos que não vão à bola com o nono Doctor). Mas a aventura é dos tempos clássicos, de um Doctor que encantou gerações antes de eu ser nascido (a primeira edição data de 1974) encarnado pelo actor Jon Pertwee.

Não esperemos um clássico de FC neste livro, antes um episódio mais desenvolvido. A ameaça dos Daleks vem de um futuro tornado possível por um momento-pivot que no presente mergulhou a Terra numa guerra nuclear. Há uma confusão sobre o que causou esse momento, o que dá um bom mote ao estilo de história de viagens no tempo em que os efeitos precedem causas inesperadas. Temos saltos a um futuro distópico com a Terra dominada pelos Daleks, unidades da UNIT em combate contra criaturas monstruosas, e combatentes pela liberdade que, se não pela intervenção do Doutor, seriam os reais causadores do futuro que querem a todo o custo evitar.

[Trent Reedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up in a tiny Iowa farm town of 1,000 people. We had a grocery store with a little wire rack of paperback novels. These were mostly romance and western books, but one day, spinning the rack just in case something interesting popped up, I saw DOCTOR WHO AND THE DAY OF THE DALEKS by Terrance Dicks. This was probably about 1990, during the dark times when Doctor Who had just been cancelled in England and was next to unknown in America. At the time, I had never seen the DAY OF THE DALEKS tv story, and I was unaware at the time that the book I'd found was a novelization of the same. All I knew is that I was lucky to have found anything about Doctor Who, and I absolutely loved this story. I must have read DAY OF THE DALEKS three or four times in those days. Terrance Dicks was script editor for the TV version of this story and he's a fine novelist in his own right. This book is simply wonderful. It will remain a very special part of my library.

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have this is NOT one of my favourite episdoes. I remember it being kinda pointless and lame. I think I feel asleep towards the end. But I was surprised by how much I actually did enjoy the book. I think the book did a MUCH better job at creating the post-apocalyptic world with the daleks in control. It was much more grim and oppresive. The story seemed to flow much better, the plot made more sense. The terrorists seemed more convincing and sympathetic. And the explosions were better. Clearly a case of imagination having a better budget than the BBC.

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm normally not a huge fan of novelizations. I got this as a present a few years ago and I've recently been watching a lot of old Doctor Who, so I figured I'd check it out. It was really fun. I probably would've loved this book a lot when I was 12, but I liked it now, too. The writing style definitely feels aimed at a younger crowd (maybe about a 10-16 age group), but if you can look past that the story is fun and the Doctor is, as always, quirky and hilarious.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrance Dicks' second novelisation and his first written encounter with the Daleks. Another cracking read.
Subtle changes and minor additions add to the drama, smoothing the transition from script to page. As with The Auton Invasion, Dicks takes the opportunity to flesh out characters and provide back story, ensuring that the book has greater depth than seen on screen.

[Flo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this while watching the corresponding episodes and I have only 4 words for you. The book was better.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

For all it's among the least favourites of Katy Manning (and I gather Jon Pertwee too), I've always loved the story of Day of the Daleks. Essentially, it's The Terminator, significantly before The Terminator was born - but with Daleks! And, in the on-screen original, also with Aubrey Woods fructifying the ever-loving heavens out of his villain-slave, the Controller of future Earth under the sucker of the Daleks.

Dicks' novelization is one of his more pleasingly curious efforts, giving us a distinct sense of the world from which the temporal terrorists are fleeing, and also of the paranoiac command structure in which Woods' Controller exists, bought off with the trinkets of luxury but very much still a slave, always trapped between pleasing his masters, insulting the Ogrons who the Daleks use as real enforcement-muscle, and looking behind him for anyone coming up to take his place, his luxuries, and his life.

The audiobook is read by Richard Franklin, Captain Mike Yates in the story and a fixture in the show at the time.

That's really rather unfortunate.
As a narrator, Franklin is fine and plummy and delivers the stresses of the story perfectly well. When it comes to the vocal impersonations and dialogue though, Franklin makes some odd choices that actively diminish the pleasure of the piece. Aubrey Woods' rich, fruity English accent is out of the window, and Franklin makes the Controller a cod-Nazi with a 'Ve haf vays of makeeng you talk!' German accent. The Brigadier is bluff to the level of a retired colonel in an Agatha Christie story. Sergeant Benton swaps modern Bristolian for the koind of exaaaaaagera'ed yokel-speak most often found grabbing torches and pitchforks is relatively low-budget Sixties horror movies, or fronting the Wurzels. Even the Third Doctor appears ever so slightly sloshed, and as if he's carrying a stone in the front of his mouth.

That said, Nick Briggs' Dalek vocalisations are excellent here, as he delivers a traditional three tone hierarchy, with the additional growl that's become his 'special Dalek' trademark on audio picking out the most trusted, least neurotic pepperpot in town.

All in all, this might well be a novelization where your eyes are your better friends, because the audiobook starts to distract the minute people start talking to each other, and it doesn't really stop until the end. The story itself is ingenious, dark, flecked with fun and contains the oddest siege you'll read in a while. But the audiobook version fails to capitalize on its promise, and especially if you've seen it, feels like a version from another dimension.

[Finlay O'Riordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a rare instance of a Target novelisation being superior to the televised adventure. Terrance Dicks breathed a new air of life into this story and fixed some of the irking problems left by the episodes, such as closing the loop on the future apparitions of The Doctor and Jo and providing a more solid conclusion rather than leaving it on the abrupt ending of Part 4.

There's also more expansion of the Dalek hierarchy, with a Black Dalek added as an intermediary rank between the Gold Supreme and the grey drones, making the Dalek mission feel more strategic rather than just the same three which are mainly seen in the original story.

I also love the adaptation of The Controller's character. He has a more human element to him throughout, which makes his ultimate decision more reasonable and compelling. Likewise, the chief guard who usurps him is also given reason for being there at the time, though his appearances throughout the story are reduced greatly. The Ogrons, too, are given more threat as villains in their own right rather than just being extensions of The Daleks.

Even little changes, such as Jo's simple meal of bread and stale meat rather than something more premium helps to sell just how bad the class boundaries are in the Dalek future since those basic things are regarded as a luxury.

I was slightly disappointed by how much the final battle was down-scaled, but I get this kind of spectacle could really only work on-screen. It just moves very fast in the final few pages and we don't see much of the named UNIT characters.

Dicks' talent overall vastly improves this story and adds some great feats to it, even if some of the televised material is adapted in a very constricted way.

[Gareth · Rating 4 out of 5]

While not that noticeable when reading the books around one a day and with the seasons getting shorter / having less stories with the Third Doctor, this was the first appearance of the Daleks in some time, and I found this a fun story to mark their return.
An interesting tale around possible futures and paradoxes, which does leave a few questions unanswered that the Doctor tries to answer to Jo at the end, but like Jo, still not 100% certain what has happened, I think more certain of what result of the book was, but less certain on how the Daleks managed to trigger the initial change.
While UNIT still features in the story, they are in a little less compared to previous ones, but still good interactions as usual, even if strange to not have the Master this time.
The Daleks themselves in reasonable form here, and I like the addition of the Ogrons to introduce a layer of complexity and different style of threat, but not sure if the Daleks are quite as menacing as they were in stories prior to this point, though still more menacing than in some of their post Genesis stories from memory.
All round though, a good read.

[T.E. Hodden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Put simply, this is the perfect Doctor Who novelisation.
It takes everything that appeared on screen (and a few things that didn't) and relays them in brisk, efficient, and readable language that captures the attention of the reader and drags them in. It rattles past at such break neck speed, adding momentum and atmosphere to some of the scenes that lagged on screen, that you almost don't notice that just enough depth and background detail has been added to flesh out the dystopian future of a Dalek occupied world, to make the human villains if not sympathetic, then understandable. They remain evil, but one can imagine the choices they made to survive, or try and secure themselves an escape from some of the horrors.

All in all, an intriguing read, and one that shows why Dicks was always held in high regard by many who could only experience these stories through his words, where the budget was limitless and the effects always perfect.

[Michel Siskoid Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Terrance Dicks made many changes to Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks (adapting the first serial of Season 9), mostly leaning into the action. The before-Terminator Terminator story was never a favorite of mine, but Dicks does his best to at least restore some explanations cut from the show and make UNIT more active and professional. For example, the weird bit where the Doctor and Jo meet themselves in Part 1 is actually resolved (the director had famously refused to shoot the scene for Part 4). We get more of the Dalek timeline in prologue, too. That said, neither the show, nor its adapter some years later, really had a handle on what NuWho fans know as "timey-wimey" storytelling, and some of the Doctor's explanations are rather clunky. I think the modern reader (if not the contemporary one) can actually infer something tighter from the events, but Dicks is too beholden to the televised dialog, perhaps. The illustrations are fair to good.

[Jason Arbuckle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 355 - Terrance Dicks - Day of the Daleks

Another brilliant retelling of a 1972 TV adventure which sees the Third Doctor time travel to battle the Daleks but with a twist. Terrance Dicks is the master storyteller of novelising the televisual stories and adding to them to make them properly epic.

Facing a potentially dystopian future where the Daleks control the earth, the Doctor and Jo are brought in by the Brigadier to help save a peace conference that if not successful… could lead to World War 3… but the conference chair is seeing ghosts. The Doctor and Jo are kidnapped by the resistance movement from the future who are trying to reset the past by executing the Chair… the man they think caused the war and allowed the Daleks to take over. It is complicated… it is brilliant… it would make an amazing blockbuster movie.

The twist towards the end is so timey wimey… so Doctor Who… so perfectly sci fi… amazingly written by the master of novelising. Loved it.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is a bit more complicated than most of the Doctor Who stories from that period, because it involves time travel, but not via the Tardis. The story takes place during the period when the Time Lords have forced the Doctor to stay on Earth in a single time period [it's a punishment, but was really brought about by budget shortages at the BBC].
The resulting tale is one that makes the brain hurt and reminds the reader that the TARDIS is really one of the simplest time-travel gadgets ever written into science fiction.
The book is enhanced by illustrations by Chris Achilleos, an artist who is too often overlooked because some of his work was "mundane," like making Daleks travelling through time portals look quite ordinary. Think about that for a moment, and you will realize what level of skill that required.
In any case, this was one of the better novelizations of a Pertwee story.

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who hasn't had the chance to watch all the Classic Doctor Who episodes, these Target books are a real gem to me because they allow me to experience those stories albeit in a different way. And this is certainly one of the more important serials that I've always wanted to dig into.

A Doctor without his TARDIS doesn't have many time travel options, but this story brought time travel to him and along with that the dreaded Daleks and the gorilla-like Ogrons. And I have to admit, I had not anticipated how this story was going to end and I appreciated being genuinely surprised. These Classic stories have a different shape to them versus the current series. And I'm still trying to get a better feel for them, which is a challenge I heartily embrace.

This is definitely one of the more notable Classic Who stories out there. And this book is a great effort to capture its spirit.

[Jason Bleckly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novelistion is based on a script by Louis Marks. It is number 18 in the Target catalogue.

This is one of the few novelisation which I think is better than the broadcast version. The Daleks were a last minute addition to the story and they feel tacked on in the broadcast version. With the benefit of hindsight and more time to plan Terrance has been able to better integrate the Daleks into the story. There’s more interaction with the future humans and the humans are thinking more about the Daleks as the rulers. The pacing also seems better in the novel than in the TV version. When I’m watching it, it always feels like a 5 or 6 part story even though it’s 4 parts.

This has never been one of my favourite stories, it just lacks something. But I can’t really put my finger on what’s missing. I just find it – meh. The book is an improvement.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably closer to a 4.5 but as always, I round up. This was a really good Doctor Who story. I don't think I have ever seen the episode this story is based on, but I wouldn't mind seeing it. I liked the basic premise of time travelers from the future trying to change history to keep the Daleks from taking over. I loved the very timey wimey nature of the story and how quick-paced it was. The author did a good job ramping up the tension and making the stakes feel like they meant something. My one critique would probably be that Jo seems a bit too naive for someone who works for a military organization and has had adventures with the Doctor. Other than that, I think this is a very well-written story and I hope to read more like it soon.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Time travelling freedom fighters travel back in time to kill someone in orrder to save humanity..... hold on a minute isnt that sorta the plot of.... nah this is early 1970s quite a bit of time before Terminator, although how original
that conceit is im not sure, theres probably a similar Bradbury story out there, somewhere.

It improves on the tv story by giving it a prologue which sets the story off it a more satisfying way & rather than the abrupt ending on tv there is a much better one talking of differing possible futures.

The story does its best to improve on the screenplay play but i was left thinking this could have been so much better.