Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion

Doctor Who Target Books (Numerical Order) #22

by Malcolm Hulke

Novelization of the Doctor Who TV episodes/story of the same name.

The Doctor and Sarah arrive back in the TARDIS to find London completely deserted - except for the dinosaurs. Has the return of these prehistoric creatures been deliberately planned and, if so, who can behind it all?

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Fiction, Dinosaurs, Audiobook, Time Travel, Science Fiction Fantasy

141 pages, Paperback

First published February 19, 1976

About the author

Malcolm Hulke was a British science fiction writer best known for his tenure as a writer on the popular series Doctor Who. He is credited with writing eight stories for Doctor Who, mostly featuring the Third Doctor as played by Jon Pertwee. With Terrance Dicks, he wrote the final serial of Patrick Troughton's run as the Doctor, the epic ten-part story "The War Games." Hulke may be best known for writing "The Silurians," the story that created the titular race that is still featured in Doctor Who. Hulke's stories were well-known for writing characters that were not black and white in terms of morality: there was never a clear good guy vs. bad guy bent to his story.

Hulke joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1945 and worked briefly as a typist in the party's headquarters. He left the party in 1951, objecting to the Soviet Union's hostility to Yugoslavia and its line on the Korean War, but soon rejoined, and appears to have remained a member of the party, on until the early 1960s. His politics remained firmly on the left, and this was reflected in his writings, which often explored anti-authoritarian, environmental, and humanist themes.

In addition to his television writing, Hulke wrote the novelizations of seven television Doctor Who stories, each of which had written for the screen. He died at the age of fifty-four, shortly before his novelization of "The War Games" would be published.

Reviews

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many Target novelisations help improve plenty of good ideas normally let down by a low BBC budget.
Invasion of the Dinosaurs it notorious for the poorly looking prehistoric creatures, but Hulkes novel also expands on the arrival of the creatures too.

The first episode title ommited 'of the Dinosaurs' to conceal the suprise, the opening chapter seeing Shughie a Scot who had travelled down to London for the cup final waking up hungover in a now deserted flat is surprised to see the capital so quickly deserted.

Having the dinosaurs revealed from the outset really pulls the reader into the story.
Such a cool concept of these creatures in a modern day location which will certainly appeal to younger fans.
Like many stories of this era theres also an environmental issue at the core of the story, the way that humans pollute and destroy the planet is actually a really strong valid argument by those behind the plan, it's a shame that their solution is misguided.

A cracking Doctor Who story that's both action packed and educational.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a novelization of the second Doctor Who adventure from the eleventh season of the show, which was broadcast in January and February of 1974 under the title of Invasion for the first episode with ...of the Dinosaurs added for the following five. Malcolm Hulke adapted his own teleplay for this book, and was able to offer a few enhancements and improvements in so far as backgrounds and motivations, and particularly in describing the dinosaurs, which were ill served by the very low BBC special effects budget. The story stars the third regeneration of The Doctor, with stalwart companion Sarah Jane Smith, also aided by UNIT friends Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Captain Mike Yates, and Sergeant Benton. It's a fun story that starts when the TARDIS lands in a deserted London with dinosaurs popping into place and causing random havoc. The Doctor determines that someone is messing about with time, Sarah is apparently kidnapped and finds herself on a starship heading for New Earth, and Captain Yates is sorely misled. This is the third novel in the series to be reprinted in the U.S. by Pinnacle to introduce the character to North American readers. His exposure had been spotty at best until then, and they printed a nice set of ten volumes with a splendid introduction by Harlan Ellison. Unfortunately, this time around they printed a notice opposite the title page saying the book featured the fourth Doctor Who, which was quite erroneous and confusing.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Doctor and Sarah Jane return from space to find London deserted. Exploring further, they are arrested for trespass and theft by the Army and discover that England is now under martial law since dinosaurs are appearing and disappearing across the capital. As their investigation continues, Sarah Jane is kidnapped by a group seeking to recreate a golden age for humanity, using the dinosaurs as camouflage.

Hulke's novelisation is in keeping with the serial on which it is based, taking the time to focus on characters and their inner motivations to clarify the storyline even further.

[Aylin Houle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Doctor Who and Sarah return from space to find London a bit different. Dinosaurs have invaded. Now, the question is why and how? This was the first Doctor Who book I've ever read and it was one I could not put down. What an absolute phenomenal time deciphering what was happening throughout the story. Fully immersed with this and ready for another!

[Clara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean it’s Sarah Jane Smith and the fourth Doctor, you really can’t go wrong

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://nhw.livejournal.com/1038662.html#cutid2

I am not sure if this is the best of the Season 11 novels, as Doctor Who and the Planet of the Spiders clearly takes that trophy, but it is certainly the most interesting. It starts with a lovely vignette of a Scot in London for the football who becomes a victim of the dinosaurs; there are other little bits of depth added as well, Professor Whitaker becoming very camp, and a couple of odd extra details - the Doctor is described as having "a mop of curly hair" (shurely shome mishtake?) and he talks about the Mary Celeste again as he did in Doctor Who and the Sea Devils. Also, of course, the book loses the appalling visual effects of the original programme - these dinosaurs are flesh and blood, not rubber!

Yet at the same time it is a bit too over-earnest, not quite as mature as Hulke's better novels (Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters and Doctor Who and the Green Death), so it doesn't quite get its fourth star from me.

It is interesting that both this and the previous story are about the bad guys shunting people (and in this case dinosaurs) between the present and the past.

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/invasion-of-the-dinosaurs-by-jon-arnold-and-malcolm-hulke/

One other detail added by Hulke for the novelisation is that Butler, the character played by Martin Jarvis, has a large facial scar, and is also made more complex, doubting the wisdom of the grand plan at an earlier stage.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

These Target books were among the first books I ever read, along with the Narnia books and any kind of encyclopaedia of dinosaurs. 'Palaeontology' is one of my first big show-off words that I ever picked up. So Doctor Who featuring dinosaurs is win-win.
Malcolm Hulke is usually good value. If he was working from his draft scripts it's clear how much his dialogue needed work, as even though the scene break downs and plots remain pretty much as is, the dialogue eventually broadcast is completely different. Many of the Doctor's rambles about dinosaurs and the nature of time were wisely absent from broadcast. Hulke's novelisation begins with a sequence that ends with a criminal type emerging from a drunken binge to discover that London is deserted. It's a shame that some of the accounts of the first monster sightings got distilled down to a couple of lines; the story about the children encountering a creature that ends in tragedy is chilling. Good to see that Hulke wasn't temped to swap the more practical motorbike for the Whomobile as they did in the broadcast version. I loved the Whomobile as a kid but as an adult it just looks like the indulgence it was. Episode five's padding is reduced to a couple of lines thankfully. Other additions are Butler with his scar and somewhat contradictory back story. Best are the UNIT reports during the last wave of dinosaurs; pterodactyls attacking the ravens of the Tower of London is priceless. Great stuff.

[SarahKat · Rating 2 out of 5]

From the 6-year-old's perspective, a book entitled "Dinosaur Invasion" should have more dinosaurs, which I think is a valid point. Otherwise this book was fine. Not great. Not intriguing. Just fine.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

With dinosaurs in central London, time travel, fake space ships, and Doctor Who, this book is ridiculous, but also lots of fun.

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I'm reading the American editions of these books, as that's what I found in the second hand shop. They have an amusing introduction by Harlan Ellison saying how Dr who is brilliant and Star Wars and Star Trek is crap. They were obviously a late 80s attempt to introduce Who to an American audience. But in this case they kinda failed. They said this was a "Fourth doctor" adventure, but by the third time the Doctor had referred to Sarah as "my dear" it was pretty obvious that it was not! The story was another human versus human tale. London was deserted and over-run with time travelling dinosaurs. Sarah was particularly brilliant in this episode, not only did she figure out who was behind the time travel but of course no one listened to her, but she also managed to escape twice, and convince the majority of the colonists that their ideas were wrong. It was interesting as it was UNIT vs environmental idealists. The only problem with the idealists were that they were wanting to wipe out generations of humans to achieve their "Ideal Earth". The message being you needed to fix things today rather than try and dream of a mystical past. I did enjoy this book. There's nothing quite as comforting as old Doctor Who adventures when your sick.

[Oscar · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing in this book, as seems the way with most of the Target series, is a bit wanting. Everything seems to be overexplained, which is probably a side effect of trying to make sure the serial this is based on is put across visually in the same way. I have not seen said serial, but I can only imagine some aspects of this tale benefit from being imagined instead of having dated special effects, as charming as they may be, specifically with dinosaurs stomping around and knocking things over. The dinosaurs are not the main adversaries, however, and the antagonists of this book are quite well done. They provide an interesting challenge to the Doctor and are well-rounded. There are plenty of opportunities for Jon Pertwee's Doctor to employ his special Venusian karate too, which is always a pleasure.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

ONe of the Who books that improves on the TV episode, as it isn't hampered by a cheap special effects budget.

The Doctor and JO Grant return to modern day London to find the people are gone and dinosaurs are roaming the streets.

[Xine K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable. It suffers from the sharing the TV version's shabby plotting and reactionary "everyone who tries to change things is wrong" politics, but it also benefits from not having terrible dino puppets. Not Hulke's finest writing, but still plenty of fun.

[Melenia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent

[Jacob Licklider · Rating 5 out of 5]

Malcolm Hulke proved with his adaptation of Doctor Who and the Silurians into Doctor Who and the Cave-Monsters that he could take his often long stories and put them into a very short page count with excellence, while still finding places to expand and compress what needs to be compressed. Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion is the adaptation of the last story Hulke would contribute to Doctor Who, having a slight falling out with the show after the marketing for this very story ended his relationship with the show. Yet, he continued to write the novelizations, novelizing all of his television stories bar one (The Faceless Ones was novelized in 1987 after Hulke had passed away, so duties went to Terrance Dicks). This novelization is another example of Hulke’s perfection in making the story work beyond the simple special effects of the televised dinosaurs and changes just enough to make things work. The book opens with what is essentially a prologue where a random guy finds himself killed in the dinosaur invasion after going to London and missing the evacuation. Hulke with one scene gives more weight to the idea that this is a genuine crisis as on television all the viewer saw is the aftermath and deserted streets, this is something which is understandable for a visual medium. Seeing someone whom Hulke gives the reader enough depth and likability that the death becomes all the more terrifying.





Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion is also a book which is quite a bit darker than the televised story with quite a bit of blood and more visceral deaths than the standard Doctor Who fare. This is an excellent choice as it genuinely sells the terror of a dinosaur invasion while still having that sympathy for the creatures, they are being taken out of their own time after all. The Operation Golden Age plot which is the main human threat of Invasion of the Dinosaurs also seems all the more real, with Whitaker and Butler both being more antagonistic to one another, giving this plot a more human relationship. The people they’ve brainwashed also come across as more brainwashed, with a more cultlike behavior of being sold this story of going to a new Earth and blinding themselves to the common sense of the rest of the world. Their fate at the end also is referenced through a Bible verse, an interesting refolding of some possible myth, though still implying the serial’s issue of giving these people exactly what they want and not implying their immediate death by dinosaur. Yates is also given some point of view so Hulke can actually get more of why he would go away from UNIT and towards something like Operation Golden Age.





Overall, Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion is unhampered by the fact that the television story is infamous for lackluster special effects. It’s a read which tightens things up and adds enough of a human element to make it a book in its own right while still staying true to the serial. It’s an excellent read and another of Hulke’s triumphs. 10/10.

[Chris Wing · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second Target book I have read with my son (or rather, have listened to the audio, with my son) and whilst the first was iconic as it was the first ever Doctor Who novelisation to be published, this one is iconic because it was the first Doctor Who novelisation that I ever read, back when I was my son's age.
So, when it was reprinted, he was keen to experience it too.

So,there's been about a 33 year gap between my first and second reading! It's one of my least watched serials too, so it's been fun to read this again, this time, with a little one of my own on board.

Read expertly by Martin Jarvis, I found myself enjoying this all over again. Indeed, regarding the opening scene, I was pleased to see that I recalled quite a lot of the imagery (particularly when so many Doctor Who books, I probably have completely forgotten by now!).
I also vividly remembered Sarah Jane waking up on the ship, but had forgotten how she escaped. I remember reading this the first time and wondering how the scene had changed so drastically! ANd whilst I don't recall how she got back (even after watching the serial), I did retain the fact that she wasn't really in space, so I was keen to read through it all over again.

As far as I recall, apart from the opening scene being expanded on, the rest of the book follows the episodes pretty closely, it reads really fluidly and there is no part where it drags. The perfect length really, I thought.

Jonah enjoyed it too, and whilst we are taking a break from Doctor Who books for now (at least, for the next one), he's already thought of which one he'd like to read next. He received a good pile of Target's recently and is looking forward to going through them (lucky sod - I wish I'd had that many when I was his age!) - I'll leave you suspense as to which one he's decided on.

[Jason Bleckly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure if I like this one or not. Like his Space War this has a complex plotline and complex characters and it just doesn’t feel fully realised. The dinosaurs are better in the book as they don’t sound like sock puppets. 😊 I’d love to see the broadcast version get a CGI makeover to bring the dinosaurs upto the same level as in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship.

All the main elements of the story are here. And some are given more detail than in the broadcast version, such as how the colonists were recruited. But there is so much more that I’d like to have read. There are 3 main colonists, Ruth, Adam, and Mark. We’re told what they did previously, but I’d like a lot more backstory on how they were recruited and why they were so disenfranchised with the world. Particularly for Ruth given her backflip at the end where she knowingly wants the world destroyed. That sort of self-centred egomania dosen’t gel with the attitudes of the other colonists and makes me wonder how she slipped through the screening process. The whole secret colony project could have been a Doctor Who adventure all by itself without the dinosaur and time rollback.

And then there’s the story of the main villains, and how that cabal got together to conceive the plan I mean I don’t understand General Finch’s motivations at all. He seems entirely the wrong sort of person to get involved in this sort of scheme. Yates was at least given a little extra motivation not in the TV version, that of falling in with the colony recruitment while on leave from the Green Death brainwashing, but again I’d like a bit more about his thought processes and reflection of the impact of the previous brainwashing.

This isn’t bad, but has the feel of a story outline that needs filling in. I’d love to see this expanded to twice it’s size.

[Matthew Kresal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Malcolm Hulke's Target novelizations have a reputation for being among that ranges best. With books such as The Cave Monsters and The Dinosaur Invasion, it isn't hard to see why. In adapting his last Doctor Who script for prose, Hulke brings out what was best in his novelizations.

There are small additions throughout from an extended opening sequence with a new character to added bits of characterization and detail. Indeed, figures such as Professor Whitaker and Butler get some added depth to them. Elsewhere, especially in the later parts of the story, Hulke ably streamlines portions of the plot, such as the Third Doctor's lengthy escape from British Army soldiers, presented "off-screen" in effect here.

Does it solve all of the story's problems? No, as Hulke still can't make the fake spaceship portion of the narrative make any more sense here than it did on screen. And there's the odd epilogue with the Doctor and Sarah Jane visiting a bookshop rather than the TV ending which, frankly, was more effective.

On the whole, though, Dinosaur Invasion is a cracking read (or listen if you go with the audiobook read by Martin Jarvis). If you're a Who fan with a particular liking for the TV story, or an older one looking to indulge a bit of nostalgia, you could do a lot worse than give this a read. Plus, if nothing else, the dinosaurs will be much better looking in your mind...

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a review of the 1979 mass market paperback Pinnacle American edition. My brother had several of these back in the day.

I used to be a major Doctor Who fan for nearly ten years. I was avid. The show meant more to me than church. I wrote a series of novels about the Lady Doctor, or Dr Who's older sister. (Don't ask.) When I ran away to England, one of the very few items I took with me was a replica TARDIS key.

However, five minutes into the first Colin Baker episode, I got up, turned off the TV, and that was that.

Anyway, years before that terrible Saturday afternoon, I read my brother's Doctor Who books, but didn't like them. They paled in comparison to watching the show. Granted I was about nine when I read them, now I'm 54. But I remember all of the books being lifeless and bloodless, as if the authors were bored.

The only book in the series brought out in 1979 worth mentioning was this one. Why? Because, at the time, the first episode was missing. In America, PBS would show the story, explaining that the BBC had destroyed the first episode. (Again, don't ask.) The only way I could figure out what happened was to read this book. It was the only book in the collection my brother had that featured Jon Pertwee's Doctor.

I think a black and white version of the missing episode has turned up, but just in case, there's this book to fill you in.

[Michel Siskoid Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

With its slightly tweaked title, Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion is Malcolm Hulke all over. He spends more time on the first two parts than the last two, doing world building early and amusingly putting us in the head of the various dinosaurs to show what THEY might think of London. And then has to rush to the end, giving the reader whiplash as he jumps over events and forgetting to give Mike Yates a proper send-off - it's all up in the air. While I think the novelisation benefits greatly from not having to see the BBC-TV level dinosaurs (though I would argue they're so campy, it makes them fun), and Hulke does a good job of filling in a lot of the guest cast's back stories and motivations, I wish he had learned to kill his darlings. The opening sequence where a dinosaur kills a Scotsman isn't just surplus to requirements, it's kind of confusing for a London location. And I vastly prefer the televised serial's epilogue with the Doctor trying to lure Sarah into TARDIS travel than the pointless Biblical reference made in the book. It's all stuff that could have been cut to reinstate more important moments. Bonus: The idea of the elite ditching the Earth they poisoned in a spaceship is more relevant today than it must have been in 1974.

[Andy Hickman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion (novelisation)
Fun, although rather slow, tale of the second Doctor. ***

The Doctor walked slowly forward into the cul-de-sac. The giant dinosaur turned its head to focus on the midget now approaching... the Doctor aimed his gun to fire... suddenly from behind came a great roar of anger. He spun round – blocking the exit from the narrow street towered a Tyrannosaurus rex, its savage jaws dripping with blood...
“A massive claw hit him in the face. In his last moment of life, Shughie McPherson resolved to give up drinking whisky.” (page 10)
Cringe-worthy moments, such as when the Doctor sarcastically tells Sarah to go away because she is nuisance. (page 57)
“a chit of paper” = A small sheet or scrap of paper with a hand-written note as a reminder or personal message.
“He sat down in the Brigadier’s comfortable chair, put his booted feet on the desk, and opened the comic that he always carried in his tunic pocket.” (page 112)
“Ezekiel chapter 1” (page 141)
…

[Gareth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good story here, and helped by the fact that I really like dinosaurs and their ilk, and the book benefits by being able to describe them, without being let down by the poor special affects that the TV story had.
Now that able to read the vast majority of the Target books in order, and knowing now what little gaps there are remaining, this is first time that I've realised that this is only Sarah's second story, which wasn't helped by the book being somewhat grey about previous travels for Sarah.
Also is a UNIT story, which I always enjoy, especially now that they are becoming few and far between, and good character development in here for Yates as well, following on from the events in the Green Death.
An interesting idea here, with the antagonists here not necessarily being out and out evil, can certainly understand their motivations, but issues is with the means that they are using.
A good, fun read overall though, with many trials and tribulations for the Doctor, Sarah, the Brigadier, Benton and Yates.

[Mikes Dw Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

While as a child I was always a little disappointed by the stories lack of dinosaur action. But as i grew up I absolutely loved the stories political point it decided to challenge. A storyline that's still so very relevant today. Many people believe the in the good old days and want it back. To the point that they will do anything to do so. This story mainly focuses on a group of dedicated fanatics who actually achieve this by making time travel bring the dinosaurs back from the past. Something the tv story has always done very well and something the book really does well is that these villians aren't really villans at all but just misguided and I like how the book explores this and makes it alitle more understandable.

The dinosaurs do also get more action and seem much more of a threat here in this story. I thought this was an excellent read that handled the subject well from all points. I does wrap up rather quickly though.

[Ben Goodridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm using this cover because this is the one I had as a kid, and because the other cover is...well, weird. The content's the same, though.

The saving grace of this novelization is the fact that we don't get the horrendous special effects failures that plagued the serial. Terrific story on paper - literally - but the visuals made Land of the Lost look like Jurassic Park.

Fortunately, the puppet show is just a distraction; the real story is about a conspiracy in some of the highest levels of government and the military to commit the worst crime in human history. The Doctor wants to use the dinosaurs to lead him back to the perpetrators.

I suppose if I wanted to dig for criticism, the story could have been a bit more informative about dinosaurs - Stegosauruses and Tyrannosaurus Rexes are from vastly different eras - but they were working from a limited palette.

[Shawn Bramanti · Rating 3 out of 5]

This might be the first Dr. Who book I have ever read. As such it was fun and interesting but did not really fill me with the wonder of Dr. Who the character. Maybe I am just a bit jaded as to fictional characters. Admittedly many of them do not have the gravitas that Dr. Who does for his longevity. I will probably read more in the future and this was a fun start to my involvement with the Doctor. Because they are written from the British point of view there are things in them that are funny/odd to me as an American. In the same way as there are jarring historical inconsistencies in other pulp fiction because of their age. I usually find those things to be a bit endearing to come across and so I will try to look on them the same way here.

[Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

Doctor Who and th Dinosaur Invasion (1976) by Malcolm Hulke is the novelisation of the TV serial ‘Doctor who and the Dinosaurs’ which was th second serial of the eleventh season of Doctor Who and the 71st serial overall.

Central London is evacuated after repeated appearances of dinosaurs. The Doctor and Sarah Jane appear there and need to find UNIT. The Doctor works out that a time scoop is being used to send the dinosaurs into the area. The Doctor and his friends then work to try and figure out why this is happening.

Flipping the plot from the Green Death this time it’s an environmental group that is misbehaving.

The book isn’t bad, the poor special effects of the TV serial are replaced by imagination which works better. Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion is quite a fun read.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have only seen bits and pieces of this story on television, so this was mostly a new story for me. I enjoyed the premise of dinosaurs appearing randomly in London. It was a well-written story, as we get the mystery of what's going on and learn more about some recurring characters. We get to see Sarah Jane use her knowledge in investigative journalism to figure out why dinosaurs are being plucked out of time. Also, we get a lot of UNIT, which is great as the Brigadier is one of my favorites. Loyal Benton and poor Yates also make appearances and actually have depth. All in all, a great story.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5

Tossup between this and The Green Death as my favourite Hulke novelisation. A wonderful tribute to the values of keeping an open mind and the dangers of eugenicist thought creeping into leftist movements, with some generally pretty sharp expansions, changes, and trims (that long chase sequence is now a lot shorter) - if Mike Yates' defection is still a bit underdeveloped (though it's clarified slightly here), well, I really think that's the fault of the arc not having any connecting tissue between The Green Death and here, rather than the book itself.

[Vitor Frazão · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dinossauros e The Doctor. O que posso pedir mais? :D Claro que não é a narrativa whoviana mais complexa e algumas das noções sobre dinossauros são antiquadas, porém, entrega o prometido em todas estas novelizações: bom ritmo narrativo, a quantidade ideal de twists, quilos de charme whoviano e o incentivo certo para questionar o mundo em que vivemos. Hulke não esquece um dos pilares do género: levantar questões morais, sem ser moralista.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay novelisation, with excellent characterisation and writing. I did feel that Sarah was written as the hapless companion who screamed and was captured especially in the latter half of the book, which was a shame after a promising start.

The uncovering of a traitor in the ranks of UNIT was shocking and I found the story to be very interesting.

It just didn't gel with me as well as some of the other Doctor Who books I have read recently.