The Essential Terrance Dicks Volume 1

by Terrance Dicks

"I see the task of the novelisation as reproducing the effect of watching the TV show in the reader's head. Sometimes you can even improve on it."

For over 50 years, Terrance Dicks contributed to Doctor Who - from joining production of The Invasion in 1968 to his final short story in 2019. And as the undisputed king of Doctor Who novelisations, Terrance wrote 64 Target books from his first commission in 1973 to his last, published in 1990.

This bumper compendium features a range of Terrance's novelisations - from the very first book he ever wrote (The Auton Invasion) to one of his final and hardest to find Doctor Whos (The Wheel in Space). These TV story adaptations are the first he wrote for the First, Second and Third Doctors... but they would not be his last!

As voted for by fans, Volume One contains, complete and

DOCTOR WHO AND THE DALEK INVASION OF EARTH
DOCTOR WHO AND THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMEN
DOCTOR WHO AND THE WHEEL IN SPACE
DOCTOR WHO AND THE AUTON INVASION
DOCTOR WHO AND THE DAY OF THE DALEKS

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Fiction

1024 pages, Paperback

Published February 22, 2022

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

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many of you older Doctor Who fans, like myself, will recognise the name of the author above. For many years Terrance was a writer and then the script-writer for what is now called “classic Doctor Who”. He began as a script editor with Patrick Troughton’s Cyberman story The Invasion in 1968 and then co-wrote Patrick Troughton’s last story, The War Games, but really came to prominence during the next two doctors’ reigns – Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker from 1970 – 1975. He introduced through his scripts many aspects of the series that would become lore, including details of the TARDIS, the Master (gloriously played initially by Roger Delgado), the background to the Time Lords, and Gallifrey. When he stepped down as script-writer, from 1973 he then went on to write many of the earlier stories as paperback books published by Target, thus allowing young readers to revisit episodes already seen on television, although rarely repeated.


He was clearly well-suited to the task. The books were very popular and 67 of the Target books were written by him.


Although he passed away in 2019, BBC Books have seen it fit to publish on the second anniversary of his death two volumes in hardback of some of Dicks’s favourite Target novels. There are five in each book, of which this is the first.


In this first volume we have the stories Doctor Who and the Dalek Invasion of Earth, Doctor Who and the Abominable Snowman, Doctor Who and the Wheel in Space, Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion and Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks. These cover stories from the William Hartnell era to Jon Pertwee’s stint as the Doctor, from 1964-1972.


Doctor Who and the Dalek Invasion of Earth: The second story with the Daleks, from the William Hartnell era. It was also made into a colour film for children in 1965, with Peter Cushing as the Doctor. This is the story where the Doctor’s granddaughter leaves at the end.

Doctor Who and the Abominable Snowman: A story from the Patrick Troughton era. Now with companions Jamie and Victoria, the Doctor encounters the Yeti for the first time.

Doctor Who and the Wheel in Space: A story not based on Earth for a change. This is where Patrick Troughton, Jamie and Victoria meet the Cybermen again, and are introduced to a new companion, Zoe Heriot.

Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion: Although this one has a different title, it is the novelisation of the first Jon Pertwee story, Spearhead from Space. The Doctor, now played by Jon Pertwee, is now stranded on Earth by the Time Lords, encounters UNIT again and discovers alien plastic determined to take over the world (of course!)

Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks: Jon Pertwee’s first encounter with the Daleks. The Doctor and his assistant Jo Grant attend a world peace conference to find that the Daleks and their servants the Ogrons are there and are determined to stop the talks.

It would be fair to point out that like the original television series they are “of a time” in that we have female companions with little else to do but scream (they do get better as we go along), characters with the thinnest of outlines and plot contrivances that may make you wince, but that is no different to the television series.

Generally they are all short (usually about 100 pages each), which doesn’t leave much room for in-depth analysis. To make up for this they are fast paced and thoroughly entertaining. Terrance’s writing is straight-forward and direct, though there are moments of absolute brilliance. If you can cope with lines like “Through the ruins of a city stalked the ruin of a man.”, there’s a lot to enjoy here.

I know that most of the remaining stories are available on streaming platforms and various types of disc, but reading the stories as a literary experience, without reference to the television series, is great. They bring back all of the careering excitement and the paradoxical improbabilities of the original plots. I’m pleased to read that they are not just screenplays, which they so easily could have just been, but Terrance has added to them an atmosphere and a presence that makes them quite readable. Of course, the special effects are much better in my head!

These stories in their new livery will delight older fans looking to revisit past glories, but might also entice younger readers, for whom Doctor Who only started in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston, to give them a try. They’re never going to be examples of the best science fiction ever, but as Terrance’s prose shows, as reminders of how good the television series could be in its early days, they are first class.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book if you want an alternative way of enjoying classic Doctor Who episodes. Really enjoyed all of the stories in this volume, looking forward to reading volume 2.

Each of the novelisations has added more context to the stories which has helped greaten the level of threat, which the TV show couldn't fully achieve due to special effects and budgets of the time.

I would definitely read it again as it is so well written with good pacing and a very dangerous threat in each story. My hat goes off to you Terrace Dicks.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrance Dicks was considered as the Godfather when it came to the writing of Doctor Who. A famous screenwriter, editor and producer, Terrance was a prolific name in television and is known to have had a heavy hand in constructing the televised stories for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Doctors eras on Doctor Who. When Terrance wasn’t hard at working devising new stories or re-writing scripting for the television, he also had a hand in help novelize a wide array of Doctor Who serials for book publisher Target. His role as “unofficial” editor for the book range saw him pen over 67 titles for the collection during his occupancy of the role. To this very day Terrance Dicks is celebrated in the Doctor Who community as one of the biggest contributors to the shows success and is remembered fondly after his passing in 2019 at the age of 84.

To celebrate his works, Doctor Who and Target worked together with fans to allow them to vote for their favourite of Terrance Dicks novelizations across the years. After voting was complete, Target then worked to compile the highest rated stories into two separate compilations for fans to read through. The first of these volumes, titled The Essential Terrance Dicks Volume 1, was released on February 22nd 2022 and consists of five of Dicks best considered stories from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Doctor’s eras. The stories are as follows:

• The Dalek Invasion of Earth
• The Abominable Snowmen
• The Wheel in Space
• The Auton Invasion (Otherwise known as Spearhead from Space)
• Day of the Daleks

Again, my familiarity with the classic era of Doctor Who is something that is limited as I have only just begun experiencing the classic era through the release of the Collection sets. The legacy of these stories is well touted though and while I’ve never experienced them all first hand, I’ve heard about them all in some way, shape or form.

The Dalek Invasion of Earth is well-envisioned story for the most part. The idea of the Daleks invading Earth with humanity subjugated and on the run is a really interesting concept. The story in itself feels a bit too spread out for my liking however. I appreciated the effort given to showcase the peril each member of the 1st Doctors TARDIS crew faced as they went up against the Dalek regime, but the plot beats feel a bit too conveniently structured at times. Also, the idea of the Daleks having complete control of Earth is slightly underdelivered when the only main locations this story showcases is London and a mine pit just outside it. I think the strongest element of the story is its characters, Dicks writes the main TARDIS crew and the stories supporting cast really well and gives them all a lot of moments to showcase their own individual strengths. I do feel however that Dicks undercuts the emotional weight of the departure of Susan at the end of this story, a feat the televised version pulls off far better.

The Abominable Snowmen is a 2nd Doctor story which has the Time Lord taking on The Great Intelligence and its band of robotic Yetis in Tibet in 1935. I really enjoyed my time with this story all things considered. Sure, it does go a bit back and forth between the stories two central settings, but the core appeal comes from the threats the Doctor and company faces and their effort to overcome them. I do love a good period piece narrative and I feel this story excellently capitalizes on the setup with the Tibetan monks and the urban legend that surrounds the Yeti of the Himalayas. Dicks writing style helps to pace out sequences nicely in this story and his ability to structure dialogue and action sequences in tandem really helps give this story a memorable appeal.
The Wheel in Space is another 2nd Doctor story, this time featuring The Doctor and Jamie’s second encounter with the Cybermen. Stranded on an abandoned space shuttle, the Doctor and Jaime soon find themselves captured and the unwilling guests of one of humanity’s deep space research station, known as The Wheel. From there, things only get worse as the Cybermen erupt from the space shuttle too, with the intent of capturing The Wheel in the first phase of their plan to conquer humanity. It’s a well constructed narrative which again utilizes a strong cast of characters to help give the base under siege story the momentum it needs. Dicks is really good at pacing out these stories and fleshing them out to be more gradual than their televised counterparts.

The Auton Invasion serves as the very first of the 3rd Doctor’s stories in the show. Weary from being forced to regenerate by the Time Lord, the Doctor lands on Earth in the 70’s and is enlisted by his old friend Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart to assist UNIT in investigating a series of meteorites which have been stolen. These thefts lead the crew to discover a plastic factory which is using the meteorites to manifest an alien organism with the ability to control plastic material in the hopes of destabilizing the world and leaving it open for conquest. The main allure of this story comes from its interactions. Dicks writes all of the characters in this story as compelling and interesting to bounce off one another. The overwhelming threat this time is brilliantly realized through the use of the Autons as their presence throughout the story feels constant. Dicks captures the energy of the 3rd Doctor serials very nicely in the story, it probably helps that he was the script editor for the televised product too.

Saving the best for last, I feel Day of the Daleks is the very best of the 5 stories featured in this collection. Taking place across two separate time periods, the Doctor and Jo Grant get embroiled in a time-wimey assassination attempt to stop a tragic future ruled over by the Daleks! This unfortunately causes the Doctor and Jo to get sent forward to this tragic future where they see first hand the destruction that lays ahead if events in the present day are allowed to unfold. The ability to tell two different narratives across two different periods, yet synchronize them up is a tall order for anyone, but Terrance Dicks isn’t just anyone. His novelization of the story easily structures the time travel plotline and again imbues them with the sharp dialogue and the excellent pacing he is so renown for.

If these five stories showcase anything, it’s why Terrance Dicks was one of the best things to happen to Doctor Who. Not only did this man edit and re-write some of the best stories across several eras of the show, he worked overtime in novelizing a good chunk of them. There was an opening tribute to Dicks in this book by Frank Cottrell-Boyce, another well regarded British writer. In the tribute Cottrell-Boyce notes how back in the day, the Target books were the only real means of re-experiencing a story once it had been televised, as re-runs and videos were not really a thing. That to me pivots the importance of capturing these stories in their novelized forms and how appreciative I am that Dicks went to such a phenomenal effort to give each of these stories his very best.

[Neil Fulwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back in the day, before home video or streaming platforms, being a ‘Doctor Who’ was a precarious business. With stories unfolding over four, six, eight or even - I’m looking at you, ‘The War Games’ - ten weekly episodes, it was all too easy to miss an instalment or, horror of horrors, the finale. And if that happened, you had one recourse: W.H. Smiths if you had enough pocket money or the library if you didn’t and pick up the Target paperback novelisation. The James Brown of Target - the hardest working man in ‘Doctor Who’ novelisations - was Terrance Dicks, who authored almost seventy of them. Penguin, teaming up with Target and the BBC, have honoured him with two handsome looking omnibus editions, each containing five complete stories. This one contains ‘The Dalek Invasion of Earth’ (First Doctor), ‘The Abominable Snowmen’, ‘The Wheel in Space’ (Second Doctor), ‘The Auton Invasion’ (an inexplicable retitling of the four-parter ‘Spearhead from Space’) and ‘The Day of the Daleks’ (Third Doctor). All are told with verve, pace, strong characterisation and admirable narrative economy. Sad, then, that Penguin couldn’t be arsed to shell out for a good proof reader: the book is riddled with typos. Hasn’t stopped me buying Vol 2, though.

[Mick Bordet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great to revisit these classic tales, told by one of the best Who writers. In some ways, without the restricted BBC budgets and occasional padding of the TV show, these might be the best way to experience these stories, as Dicks has a knack for capturing the characters familiar from the show without trying to put his own spin on them.

Two flaws with what would otherwise be a perfect memorial to the author"s legacy: there seems to have been no editing done on this book. The Auton Invasion, in particular, is riddled with errors, many of which look like OCR errors, rather than typos. Despite several pages of adverts for new Target books, there is none of the original cover artwork from the stories contained in the book. Since the covers were often as memorable as the writing, this feels like a missed opportunity.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stores are great and varied, including ones featuring the First, Second , and Third Doctor. This is a great collection but it deserved better editing. There are numerous typos. However, If you’re a fan of Doctor Who it’s a good way to enjoy classic stories.

[savage_book_review · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first of a two part set celebrating the best of the Target novelisations of Doctor Who episodes, written by the legend that is Terrance Dicks. In the days before streaming on demand, DVD recording and even VHS, if you missed an episode of the beat show in the universe then you were a bit stuck. Except, you could go out and buy a book of the story for next to nothing. And if it was written by Dicks, you were pretty much guaranteed to be able to 'see' the story as clearly as if you were watching it on screen. Or that's what I've always been led to believe...

I will say immediately that I'm of the 2005 era of Who - I'm just and just too young to remember the classic series. So while I do like it and will watch it, it's fair to say I don't enjoy it as much as the modern era *cough* David Tennant 😍 *cough*.

This book contains five stories covering the first three Doctors. And I haven't seen any of the episodes in full, so I am judging this for the most part purely on the written version. I will say that my above assertion is definitely correct for the most part; Dicks' writing paints a glorious picture of the action and really draws you in to the world. That being said, it does only work if you know what the characters look like - he doesn't spend much time on description of people as he assumes you've probably seen at least one episode before you've picked up the book! So while I can certainly see the Doctors, companions and other regular characters, the story-specific characters are harder to get to know. What does make me giggle a bit is the fact that, even in written form, you can still get the feeling you're in the ubiquitous quarry at least once a story!

Although I wouldn't say the stories have aged brilliantly, at the same time their being in a novel format gives them a freshness that watching the TV series lacks... especially for the episodes that are in black and white!

That being said, while the written word has the advantage of being able to portray each setting at its absolute best, you still get the classic Who 'wobbly set' vibe. The edition I have (1st paperback edition, published 2022) is littered with typos and spelling errors - I think the last story is the only one where I didn't pick up on noticeable errors. My argument is that this isn't an original printing; the books were all published separately in the 70s/80s, so basically it's copy-typing. Even if these mistakes exist in those, surely they should have been corrected in these omnibus editions?! I'm sorry, but the editor did a terrible job here.

My other huge bugbear is that these are meant to faithfully reflect the episodes. So I'm really frustrated that the one scene I do know well and have watched, where the Doctor leaves Susan behind, is completely different in the book! I have a connection with that scene; my lovely Dad read the Doctor's speech as part of my wedding ceremony, so it feels like Dicks has just disregarded one of the most beautiful speeches for no reason. His version doesn't carry anywhere near the same power or depth of feeling. And it makes me wonder, if he changed such a pivotal moment, what else has he changed? I guess I'll need to go through my husband's DVD collection and find out...

Overall, none of the episodes contained in this book hold a lot of interest for me, but it was interesting to read them. I do have volume 2 and will pick that up eventually, but for now I'll stick with Ten and Rose...

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought this for my daughter, but I ended up reading it first. I used to have hundreds of the Target Doctor Who books when I was younger and the Terrance Dicks ones were always the best. You don't get dodgy costumes and shaky sets in the books, just good storytelling. This volume starts with Terrance Dicks's novelisation of the William Hartnell story Dalek Invasion of Earth, and follows with assorted stories up to Jon Pertwee's time trapped on Earth with Day of the Daleks (but it's not all Daleks).

[Toby Sutton-Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice set of Doctor Who Target novelisations that I've had since this and the other volume came out but never got round to reading. Good, concise re-tellings of classic stories which all work really well in this format. It's also interesting to compare these to the modern day novelisations which are usually written by the person behind the episode, some of these stories Terrance had no involvement with but you almost forget that when reading this anthology. It reminds you of what a special and much missed writer he is.

[Stefan Grieve · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wisely chosen selection of adaptations of Doctor Who episodes by Terrance Dicks, put together in this beautiful book with a little scant but also more subtle and lively writing style.

They are fun, mostly well-paced with action and adventure, they sometimes can't get over the original flaws of plotting and some other limitations of the era although additions to the original material are good and the special effects are better than the actual episodes ;)

[Fraser Whieldon · Rating 5 out of 5]

These novelisations add a whole new (fourth) dimension to the TV stories. For instance, the depiction of the attempted Auton takeover is much more vivid and thought through. But each story also gives us greater insights into characters' motivations and thought processes, aside from the big, bombastic additions. I'm looking forward to reading the second edition.

[Lola Marguerita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exciting Stories with several doctors

A great read if you’re a fan of the old series. Plays pretty close to the original scripts. Well done!

[Blake Jamieson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dalek Invasion of Earth ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Abominable Snowmen ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Wheel in Space ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Auton Invasion ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Day of the Daleks ⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Angela C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Better than I could have imagined! And to read it in London was such a treat. It felt very true to the show I love, and I enjoyed the variety in the short stories. Can’t wait to read them all!

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

This is a brilliant collection of Dicks' finest Target novelisations, or at least the first half of them. It's a really nice and neat collection and is a fantastic and satisfying way to re explore stories I've already seen countless times, or to consume missing episodes or, in the case of DIOE, to enjoy a story which is too long to maintain my attention span on screen.

The book looks and feels good and is a really lovely reading piece. Thank you, Terrance Dicks, for all the literary gifts you gave us during your time here.