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Doctor Who Target Books (Numerical Order) #112
Doctor Who: The Seeds of Death
Returning to Earth in the 21st century, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe immediately find themselves caught in the midst of a crisis. T-Mat - a form of instantaneous transportation essential to the smooth running of life on Earth - is going disastrously wrong.
The Doctor discovers that the T-Mat Base on the Moon has been taken over by a group of Ice Warriors, led by the villainous Slaar. Their home a desolate and dying planet, the Martian invaders see Earth as a world ripe for conquest.
But before they can colonise Earth they must dramatically after its atmosphere. And so they unleash the Seeds of Death…
The Doctor discovers that the T-Mat Base on the Moon has been taken over by a group of Ice Warriors, led by the villainous Slaar. Their home a desolate and dying planet, the Martian invaders see Earth as a world ripe for conquest.
But before they can colonise Earth they must dramatically after its atmosphere. And so they unleash the Seeds of Death…
149 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
1 person is currently reading
216 people want to read
About the author
Terrance Dicks
326 books219 followersTerrance 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
March 7, 2019
A nice novelisation of one of my favourite Troughton stories, Dicks keeps really faithful to the original story which meant I could constantly visualise the televised episodes really easily.
The story is told at a brisk pace as the locations jump from a museum on Earth then up to the Moon, before the final act concludes back on Earth.
It’s great to have the Ice Warriors back again, they’re used just enough throughout the series that they don’t become to repetitive.
Their scheme is bonkers but fun and I liked how The Doctor and his companions stopped their plan.
The story is told at a brisk pace as the locations jump from a museum on Earth then up to the Moon, before the final act concludes back on Earth.
It’s great to have the Ice Warriors back again, they’re used just enough throughout the series that they don’t become to repetitive.
Their scheme is bonkers but fun and I liked how The Doctor and his companions stopped their plan.
October 22, 2021
This is a novelization of the fifth serial of the sixth season of Doctor Who, which was first broadcast over six episodes in January through March of 1969. Terrance Dicks wrote the adaptation of the teleplay which he wrote in uncredited collaboration with Brian Hayles. The story features The Doctor in his second iteration, and he is joined by long-time companion Jamie McCrimmon, an 18th-century Scotsman, and Zoe Heriot, a 21st-century librarian, mathematical genius, and astrophysicist. This is one of the longest of Dicks' books, and has a more polished feel than most of the others. The story is set on a Lunar station and in a London museum in the future 21st century. The story concerns the ice warriors, militant Martians who are sending poisonous pods to Earth to make it habitable for their invasion and inhospitable for humans. Instantaneous matter transference has replaced all other forms of transportation on the planet, and interest in space exploration has died. Earth is subject to controlled weather. The Doctor finds a way to destroy the seed pods (water? Too simple... he must've just watched The Day of the Triffids on TARDIS TV...) and, in a particularly bloodthirsty twist, lures the Martian fleet into the Sun. Zoe is written as being particularly strong, being intelligent and calm when the male characters panic. This is one of the better adventures of the second Doctor, even though the scientific points weren't especially convincing, even for the time a half-year before the Eagle landed.
June 29, 2021
Another great adaptation from Terrance Dicks. Not many additions to the televised story, but there are a few brilliant ones - Gregson gets very little, if any, back story in the series so Dicks added " Those forced to work with him said he could turn a difficulty into a disaster in record time." It's those kind of additions that make Dicks such an good read - tells lots about a character in just one sentence.
November 13, 2023
An incredible Terrance Dicks book with great descriptions on actions in the story
June 1, 2020
The novelisation of a Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) story, originally scripted by Brian Hayles, featuring Jamie and Zoe.
The TARDIS arrives in the 21st Century where the Doctor discovers that the T-Mat system vital to human society has been disabled. Travelling to the T-Mat relay station on the Moon, the Time Lord and his companions discover that the fearsome Ice Warriors are behind the problem.
This is a perfectly adequate and functional adventure for the Second Doctor, no more nor less than that. There's nothing here that really stands out as remarkably good but by the same token, there's also nothing that is particularly bad. It's fine, just fine.
I was a little disappointed that this wasn't a particularly iconic story for the Ice Warriors, the return of famous villains usually being an exciting addition to any Who story, but I suppose it has to be remembered that this was actually only their second appearance and therefore they hadn't really become iconic when this story was originally created in 1969.
One thing that is worthy of particular praise, but not necessarily as an exclusive element of this book, is the fact that Zoe is a very intelligent and capable companion.
I recently read a couple of Who books with the Second Doctor and Jamie travelling with Victoria, who is just the worst. Zoe, on the other hand, is proactive, capable and often an intellectual peer of the Doctor; something that few female companion manage even in the modern era of the franchise.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.com/ *
The TARDIS arrives in the 21st Century where the Doctor discovers that the T-Mat system vital to human society has been disabled. Travelling to the T-Mat relay station on the Moon, the Time Lord and his companions discover that the fearsome Ice Warriors are behind the problem.
This is a perfectly adequate and functional adventure for the Second Doctor, no more nor less than that. There's nothing here that really stands out as remarkably good but by the same token, there's also nothing that is particularly bad. It's fine, just fine.
I was a little disappointed that this wasn't a particularly iconic story for the Ice Warriors, the return of famous villains usually being an exciting addition to any Who story, but I suppose it has to be remembered that this was actually only their second appearance and therefore they hadn't really become iconic when this story was originally created in 1969.
One thing that is worthy of particular praise, but not necessarily as an exclusive element of this book, is the fact that Zoe is a very intelligent and capable companion.
I recently read a couple of Who books with the Second Doctor and Jamie travelling with Victoria, who is just the worst. Zoe, on the other hand, is proactive, capable and often an intellectual peer of the Doctor; something that few female companion manage even in the modern era of the franchise.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.com/ *
December 31, 2024
Based on a script by Brian Hayles with uncredited episodes by Terrance who was script editor at the time. This is number 112 in the Target catalogue. The cover art is by Tony Masero.
This is the second Ice Warrior story and I actually like it better than their original story. Terrance wrote a lot of the novelisations and I feel some of them were rushed and little more than the scripts with changed formatting. This is not one of them. This is very nicely adapted with internalised thoughts from the characters. I wasn’t sure how some of the budget effects would translate to text. Mainly the soap bubbles. But the description as a fungal foam works. It doesn’t feel like a slapstick creampie to the face.
It also maintains one scene that I love about old SF. From pg 60:
Phipps searched frantically through a box of odds and ends, searching for a replacement valve.
Moonbases and rockets with valves. I love them. Terrance could have modernised the tech descriptions but I’m glad he didn’t
This is a great adaptation of the original story, though I might be biased as it’s always been one of my favourite Troughton stories.
This is the second Ice Warrior story and I actually like it better than their original story. Terrance wrote a lot of the novelisations and I feel some of them were rushed and little more than the scripts with changed formatting. This is not one of them. This is very nicely adapted with internalised thoughts from the characters. I wasn’t sure how some of the budget effects would translate to text. Mainly the soap bubbles. But the description as a fungal foam works. It doesn’t feel like a slapstick creampie to the face.
It also maintains one scene that I love about old SF. From pg 60:
Phipps searched frantically through a box of odds and ends, searching for a replacement valve.
Moonbases and rockets with valves. I love them. Terrance could have modernised the tech descriptions but I’m glad he didn’t
This is a great adaptation of the original story, though I might be biased as it’s always been one of my favourite Troughton stories.
March 3, 2021
I really enjoyed this one - a strong story based on a strong TV story. Another base under siege story, though I think the last of the Second Doctor ones, and does it really well.
Is an interesting look at the future, with Transmat technology in play and what impacts it could have on behaviour, and the return of the Ice Warriors is well done, even if it does start to mess with getting a clear feel for the timeline of the Ice Warriors.
The Doctor is in good form here, Jamie and Zoe get a little bit less to do it feels, but still get some good scenes in here.
What I find really good is the mixture of bravery and cowardice we see from the one off characters in the serial, making it feel very real with the range of reactions we get, whereas in other stories it can be a bit more one dimensional. We get a good mixture of characters here, though is a bit of a pessimistic view of the not so distant future when it talks about women still struggling to have equal opportunities to men.
All round a great story, well captured as usual by Terrance Dicks.
Is an interesting look at the future, with Transmat technology in play and what impacts it could have on behaviour, and the return of the Ice Warriors is well done, even if it does start to mess with getting a clear feel for the timeline of the Ice Warriors.
The Doctor is in good form here, Jamie and Zoe get a little bit less to do it feels, but still get some good scenes in here.
What I find really good is the mixture of bravery and cowardice we see from the one off characters in the serial, making it feel very real with the range of reactions we get, whereas in other stories it can be a bit more one dimensional. We get a good mixture of characters here, though is a bit of a pessimistic view of the not so distant future when it talks about women still struggling to have equal opportunities to men.
All round a great story, well captured as usual by Terrance Dicks.
July 22, 2023
Doctor Who is an adventure series and Terrance Dicks is legendary for writing some of the best stories of the series. Seeds of Death is a fast paced adventure which feels like a Flash Gordon movie serial. There's marauding aliens( The Ice Warriors), there's future tech( T-Mat, rockets and satellites).
Similar to the movie Independence Day the plot revolves around the alien Ice Warriors using human technology as the cornerstone of their invasion of Earth.
The Ice Warriors seize control of the moonbase relay for T-Mat; Earth's teleportation network. The aliens use T-Mat to send the titular seeds of death to Earth, unleashing a blight that could wipe out humanity. It's up to the Doctor and his companions Jamie & Zoe to use a combination of rockets, T-Mat and satellites to stop the Ice Warriors from wiping out humanity and invading the Earth.
Similar to the movie Independence Day the plot revolves around the alien Ice Warriors using human technology as the cornerstone of their invasion of Earth.
The Ice Warriors seize control of the moonbase relay for T-Mat; Earth's teleportation network. The aliens use T-Mat to send the titular seeds of death to Earth, unleashing a blight that could wipe out humanity. It's up to the Doctor and his companions Jamie & Zoe to use a combination of rockets, T-Mat and satellites to stop the Ice Warriors from wiping out humanity and invading the Earth.
May 21, 2025
In terms of the Second Doctor era, I think The Seeds of Death is mildly underrated. It's a fun backdoor invasion plot, returns us to the Moonbase at some point in the future, introduces T-Mat to the canon, and has some actually memorable "base under siege" characters who don't just play a single note - Fewsham and Phipps have turns and an arc, while Miss Kelly is a cool grown-up version of Zoe (they should have done something with that) - so Terrance Dicks' adaptation plays very well. In fact, he allows himself some uncommon stylistic flourishes here and there (the prologue, for example, and some omniscient narrator commentary) that enhance the story. I kind of wish he'd explained how this fits into the Ice Warriors' timeline (it never was), but that's a minor point, made by a Doctor Who nerd who likes this kind of stuff.
April 13, 2023
Doctor Who : The Seeds of Death (1986) by Terrance Dicks is the novelisation of the fifth serial of the sixth season of Doctor Who.
The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe land on earth in a space ship museum. The earth has become dependent on a matter transmission network. The T-Mat network. This is directed and relies on a station on the moon. On the moon the Ice Warrior appear and want to disrupt the network and also, as per normal, conquer the world.
The Ice Warriors are quite good as usual. They also not too powerful with a few of their number getting fried.
The Seeds of Death isn’t a bad Doctor Who serial.
The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe land on earth in a space ship museum. The earth has become dependent on a matter transmission network. The T-Mat network. This is directed and relies on a station on the moon. On the moon the Ice Warrior appear and want to disrupt the network and also, as per normal, conquer the world.
The Ice Warriors are quite good as usual. They also not too powerful with a few of their number getting fried.
The Seeds of Death isn’t a bad Doctor Who serial.
May 17, 2019
Good if silly adventure with Doc Two, Jamie and Zoe. It is very of its time sci-fi, but fun. We get Doctor and his companions acting like themselves and often interacting which is more than I can say for the last couple Doctor Who books I've read. Don't look to hard at the plot, just enjoy the Ice Warriors, rockets from the days just before the moon landing, a moon base, completely controlled weather and a worldwide supply system that moves supplies and people and even Time Lords about in an instant. One way or another you will smile.
April 3, 2019
The first TV episodes ever re-written top to bottom by script editor Terrance Dicks...so his enthusiasm for the story naturally bleeds through. Old fashioned, exciting adventure that makes the reading experience fly by...and the icing on the cake is the superb cover painting.
April 2, 2022
This serial is already kinda middling for me, and I think the novelisation is basically the same. It's fine, certainly feels like more effort has gone into it than some Dicks novelisations (perhaps because he had such a big role in shaping it on TV?) but it doesn't stand out much either.
September 7, 2023
Story moves along swiftly and is close to the original series. One of the better novelisations of the original TV series 2nd Doctor.
January 9, 2024
A fabulous retelling of a classic story. Dicks keeps the pace up and gives us a lot more detail about the characters and the peril they find themselves in. A delight.
November 8, 2015
One of the more engaged of the Dicks novelisations - perhaps because he (re)wrote some of th original scripts as script editor. Whatever the reason the story unfolds smoothly, the regular cast (Second Doctor is wonderful, of course) are well portrayed and the guest cast and villains are also somewhat more three dimensional than sometimes happens. One overly quick rocket trip to the Moon (with only three days oxygen supply) passes almost without notice - and I don't recall thinking it was too fast when I last saw the story: perhaps the episodic format smoothed out that wrinkle. An enjoyable read!
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April 8, 2009http://nhw.livejournal.com/1031032.html#cutid4[return][return]For once I felt Dicks was trying a bit harder here, with a certain amount of characterisation and back-story for the (admittedly somewhat implausible) future Earth society and the hierarchy in charge of the T-Mat. The Doctor gets really trigger-happy with his wholesale slaughter of Ice Warriors at the end. One visual that I am happy to lose is the Ice Warrior leader Slaar, who reminds me too much of Rick Moranis as Dark Helmet in Space Balls.
June 2, 2008
Any story where the Ice Warriors are the bad guys must be a good one. Shame they didn't get used more.
They need to be the next alien the new TV show brings back.
As always, there's lots of good interplay between the second Doctor and Jamie, and a real feeling of cluastrophobia and suspense on the space station.
Plus, I like the look we get at a future society where teleportation is the main mode of transportation.
They need to be the next alien the new TV show brings back.
As always, there's lots of good interplay between the second Doctor and Jamie, and a real feeling of cluastrophobia and suspense on the space station.
Plus, I like the look we get at a future society where teleportation is the main mode of transportation.
April 12, 2008
Martians send eeeevil seed pods down to the surface of Earth. The seed pods, which would choke out all life on Earth, have only one weakness. Unfortunately for the Martians, that weakness is water.
And the Doctor and Zoe (and Jamie, I guess) triumph once more!
And the Doctor and Zoe (and Jamie, I guess) triumph once more!
November 14, 2011
Oh, for the simpler days of Who, when, villains had remarkably simple vulnerabilities. These older stories were more action-driven, but still managed to throw in a psychological insight or two.
No disrespect intended, but I am looking forward to running out of Troughton stories...
No disrespect intended, but I am looking forward to running out of Troughton stories...
June 12, 2012
Not bad
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews