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Doctor Who Target Books (Numerical Order) #108
Doctor Who: The King's Demons
It is 4 March, 1215, and the TARDIS materialises in England during a jousting match held in the presence of King John.
But it soon becomes apparent to the Doctor that something is very seriously wrong. Why does John express no fear or surprise at the time-travellers' sudden appearance, and indeed welcome them as the King's Demons? And what is the true identity of Sir Gilles, the King's Champion?
Very soon the Doctor finds himself involved in a fiendish plan to alter the course of world history by one of his oldest and deadliest enemies.
But it soon becomes apparent to the Doctor that something is very seriously wrong. Why does John express no fear or surprise at the time-travellers' sudden appearance, and indeed welcome them as the King's Demons? And what is the true identity of Sir Gilles, the King's Champion?
Very soon the Doctor finds himself involved in a fiendish plan to alter the course of world history by one of his oldest and deadliest enemies.
153 pages, Paperback
First published June 10, 1986
About the author
Terence Dudley
13 books2 followersTerence Dudley joined the BBC in 1958 and worked with them throughout his life in various capacities.
He was a producer on the SF-flavoured The Big Pull, Doomwatch (working alongside Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis) and Survivors (the mid-seventies post-apocalyptic drama created by Terry Nation, although the two did not see eye-to-eye on how the series should evolve).
He directed episodes of Out of the Unknown, Doomwatch, Softly, Softly, Detective, Colditz, Survivors, To Serve Them All My Days, Secret Army, All Creatures Great and Small and Doctor Who (Meglos).
He wrote for Doomwatch, the Wednesday Play (A Piece of Resistance, 1966), Survivors and Doctor Who (Four to Doomsday, Black Orchid, The King's Demons), and the pilot of Who-spin-off K9 and Company.
He was a producer on the SF-flavoured The Big Pull, Doomwatch (working alongside Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis) and Survivors (the mid-seventies post-apocalyptic drama created by Terry Nation, although the two did not see eye-to-eye on how the series should evolve).
He directed episodes of Out of the Unknown, Doomwatch, Softly, Softly, Detective, Colditz, Survivors, To Serve Them All My Days, Secret Army, All Creatures Great and Small and Doctor Who (Meglos).
He wrote for Doomwatch, the Wednesday Play (A Piece of Resistance, 1966), Survivors and Doctor Who (Four to Doomsday, Black Orchid, The King's Demons), and the pilot of Who-spin-off K9 and Company.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
May 4, 2022
The King's Demons was the sixth and final adventure in the twentieth season of Doctor Who, and was first broadcast in March of 1983. Terence Dudley wrote the original script and adapted it himself for this book. The serial was one of the short two-parters, but his novelization is one of the longest in the Target series. The Doctor is in his fifth iteration and he is accompanied by Tegan and Turlough. The story is just okay, and the book version feels overly padded, with too many (and too lengthy) ruminations and speculations that don't ring true to what we know of the characters' natures. I thought The Doctor was downright nasty at times, and neither of the companions were ever my favorites. Kamelion, a robot under The Master's control, is introduced as a new companion, but The Master himself was almost the most likable character. I'd recommend this one only to completists.
June 20, 2025
This is so much better than the televised version we got.while there is a fair amount of padding to make this one of the longer books in the range,none of it feels unnecessary or superfluous. The guest characters feel like lead characters in their own story and the main characters are portrayed wonderfully, if a little old-fashionedly. This does nothing new but it does it wonderfully.
September 17, 2022
Although this is not my favourite 5th Doctor story by a long shot, I would still have rated it higher than 2.5-3/5, but Terence Dudley's constant nonchalant sexist commentary in this novelization, especially in respect to Tegan (the audacity), is just ugh, jarring af. A key portion of dialogue in the last TARDIS scene is missing as well, for some reason. Turlough did get a bit more attention in this novelization than in the serial, though, I guess that's something.
It's no surprise that the person who made Adric a rabid misogynistic out of the blue would be consistently sexist in all his scripts to a greater or lesser extent, but just, ugh. In Dudley's interpretation, the Doctor is particularly nasty in this novelization and keeps being irritated at Tegan's 'feminine superficiality'. And every time I kept reading sexist line after sexist line, from 'feminine superficiality' (quoth the Doctor :S), to the 'irresistible violence of feminine wiles' (wtf), to how 'the female mind is cunning but undisciplined' (quoth the Master), I just wanted to throw the metaphorical book at the wall (not my tablet, tho xD). And now I really want Twelve or Thirteen to scold Five for his gratuitous sexism and his treatment of Tegan, and Missy would SO have a go at Ainley!Master for showcasing that cheap level of misogyny xD
It's no surprise that the person who made Adric a rabid misogynistic out of the blue would be consistently sexist in all his scripts to a greater or lesser extent, but just, ugh. In Dudley's interpretation, the Doctor is particularly nasty in this novelization and keeps being irritated at Tegan's 'feminine superficiality'. And every time I kept reading sexist line after sexist line, from 'feminine superficiality' (quoth the Doctor :S), to the 'irresistible violence of feminine wiles' (wtf), to how 'the female mind is cunning but undisciplined' (quoth the Master), I just wanted to throw the metaphorical book at the wall (not my tablet, tho xD). And now I really want Twelve or Thirteen to scold Five for his gratuitous sexism and his treatment of Tegan, and Missy would SO have a go at Ainley!Master for showcasing that cheap level of misogyny xD
February 23, 2022
I tried! But i really couldn't get into this, theres not enough doctor and companions, more about the side charecters and add on the boring medieval tropes, i just lost interest quickly sadly
June 13, 2021
Quite a hard one for me to rate objectively as such here - between a 2 and a 3, but a lot closer to a 2 for me, and potentially the worst book for me that I've put onto Goodreads, or at least in the mix with Cthulhu attacks book 2, and the strain book 3 (and I tend to not finish the truly dire books, so won't even rate those :) ).
The issue isn't necessarily the writing or arc though, it is the out of character personalities that do it for me.
Compared to most 2 episode stories that have been novelised, this one feels more padded, and padded with lots of internal dialogue that really doesn't marry with my views of the characters. The Doctor comes across quite misogynistic in this one, and the relationship portrayed here between him and the Tegan, if was the way it always was, would make you wonder why Tegan returned in Arc of Infinity, and why the Doctor accepted her back on board.
This also leads to the scenes with them in being coloured by their personal views of each other, just making it really feel like it isn't Doctor Who. The Master seems to be similarly affected, as with the one off characters, making it hard to enjoy for me.
Turlough isn't quite as bad, but still not ideal in inner dialogue, but at least his scenes seem more true to him, and he ends up taking the damsel in distress role for the story, but does it quite well and in character, as even after the events of Enlightenment, he is still something of a coward at times.
So overall, on a personal basis, closer to a 2 star, but that is due to the characterisation being off what I think it should be, not because it is necessarily a bad story.
The issue isn't necessarily the writing or arc though, it is the out of character personalities that do it for me.
Compared to most 2 episode stories that have been novelised, this one feels more padded, and padded with lots of internal dialogue that really doesn't marry with my views of the characters. The Doctor comes across quite misogynistic in this one, and the relationship portrayed here between him and the Tegan, if was the way it always was, would make you wonder why Tegan returned in Arc of Infinity, and why the Doctor accepted her back on board.
This also leads to the scenes with them in being coloured by their personal views of each other, just making it really feel like it isn't Doctor Who. The Master seems to be similarly affected, as with the one off characters, making it hard to enjoy for me.
Turlough isn't quite as bad, but still not ideal in inner dialogue, but at least his scenes seem more true to him, and he ends up taking the damsel in distress role for the story, but does it quite well and in character, as even after the events of Enlightenment, he is still something of a coward at times.
So overall, on a personal basis, closer to a 2 star, but that is due to the characterisation being off what I think it should be, not because it is necessarily a bad story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 20, 2023
I envision this review to be the opposite effect of reading The King’s Demons, that is brief and not taking over five hours to read a novelization of a 45 minute story. This is something that can work, expanding the characters, setting, and even plot, however Terence Dudley doesn’t really do that. The King’s Demons opens with some extra historical context and only goes downhill from there. The added scene with Kamelion as King John and the idea of the robot having a conscience is nice, though once the material adapting the episode itself really begins that gets dropped in favor of Dudley overwriting every scene. This is a novelization that revels in lengthening every description of the clothing our characters are wearing and the setting, but not how the characters are feeling or their actions are motivated. The weak plot of the Master using the Kamelion android to impersonate King John into not signing Magna Carta doesn’t really get an expanded explanation, though the disguise of Sir Gilles Estram is at least played as a joke here. Every scene drags for far longer than it needs to and it makes a below average story all the worse. This is a case of a novelization being redundant when it will take less time and energy to rewatch the television story and less than 250 words for me to really write this review. 2/10.
July 14, 2026
The first thing I noticed about this book is it’s length. It’s 30 pages longer than most of 4 part stories, yet it’s only 2 parts. When I’m rewatching it, it’s a blink and you’ll miss it story. The story does have a fair amount of complexity with Ranulf and family vacillating between who they believe is telling the truth multiple times. So the story could handle some expansion with extra details. Unfortunately I think Terence went a little to far in some places and it started to feel repetitious. I did like all the extra historical tidbits which were included.
Tegan doesn’t really do anything in this story except follow the Doctor around and complain. Turlough is much more to do driving the plot forward, though a lot of it seems to be him threatened with death. King Kamelion comes across as much more of a cad in the book than he does in the TV version, which is good for the central plot of turning the Barons against the King. That plotline always seemed a bit weak on screen.
I’d almost rate this book as better than the TV version, except it is a little too long, while the original is a little too short.
Tegan doesn’t really do anything in this story except follow the Doctor around and complain. Turlough is much more to do driving the plot forward, though a lot of it seems to be him threatened with death. King Kamelion comes across as much more of a cad in the book than he does in the TV version, which is good for the central plot of turning the Barons against the King. That plotline always seemed a bit weak on screen.
I’d almost rate this book as better than the TV version, except it is a little too long, while the original is a little too short.
August 5, 2017
A slight oddity this - for a pseudohistorical it's more Black Adder than History, I feel ('1066 And All That' gets a mention, as does Baron Dudley of Grimswade - presumably a reference to Peter Grimwade albeit the Grimswade family came from Lancashire rather than Gloucester); I have rread somewhere that the Iron Maiden torture device that features heavily was in fact a later invention rather than a real mediaeval device. The book is a somewhat meatier retelling of the script for a two part story - and apart from the history there are several asides and explanations of various words, some historical and one Antipodean; in addition the word 'contumely' and 'contumelious' are used - and I've only ever come across the former in Shakespeare!
June 19, 2018
Originally a two-parter on TV, "The King's Demons" gets a bit of fleshing out in Terence Dudley's novelization of his script. The novelization sticks pretty closely to the script in the details and most of the dialogue. Dudley has added some dialogue and altered a few lines. Mostly, he has added novelistic touches such as interior monologue and a few narrative intrusions for explanation. The story itself involves The Master's attempt to alter history by having King John deposed before he signs the document that will become Magna Carta. It is difficult to say what The Master hopes to gain from this plan other than some chaos with Earth history. It's a mid-level adventure.
November 16, 2022
just finished this slimy book and it's... bad. Its not written by Terrance Dicks and most of the time that's a positive (Eric Saward's novelizations are pretty good to me because of his unique writing style and Ian Marter's novelizations are pretty good) but I think I would prefer Dicks writing this one. The Doctor is weirdly misogynistic in this one - like he thinks to himself "damn Tegan is so stupid it's so sad that she's a woman". Also the story is just downright boring. The only interesting thing about the story is that Tegan gets called a succubus a few times. Just like the disease that King John died from this book is a load of shit.
March 24, 2023
Really 2.5 but I always round up. Usually, I love the combination of Turlough, Tegan, and the Doctor but they weren't great here. In fact, I didn't like Tegan or the Doctor's characterization in this story, they were harsh and kind of dumb when the author needed to advance the plot. Also, for being one of the shorter serials the plot just felt like it was dragging. I kind of want to watch the episodes of this one now and see if it is the author's interpretation or if the actual episodes were also not great.
September 25, 2023
Doctor Who : The King’s Demons (1986) by Terence Dudley is the novelisation of the sixth serial of season twenty of Doctor Who that was screened in 1983.
The Doctor, Turlough and Tegan arrive in 1215 at a castle where it appears that King John is holding court. There is intrigue and knightly duels are taking place. The King’s champion, Sir Gilles Estram is about to have a joust when the TARDIS appears. The King and Estram are surprisingly unsurprised by the appearance of the TARDIS.
It’s not a bad serial. It’s an amusing enough read.
The Doctor, Turlough and Tegan arrive in 1215 at a castle where it appears that King John is holding court. There is intrigue and knightly duels are taking place. The King’s champion, Sir Gilles Estram is about to have a joust when the TARDIS appears. The King and Estram are surprisingly unsurprised by the appearance of the TARDIS.
It’s not a bad serial. It’s an amusing enough read.
July 28, 2026
1.5/5
Terence Dudley is the only novelisation writer whose problem is he adds too much detail - often completely extraneous, not doing anything to advance character or plot or theme at all. Combine that with a frankly quite weird and unlikeable take on the Fifth Doctor + Tegan dynamic (complete with some very overt sexism) and while this isn't wholly without merits it just becomes a major slog by the end.
Terence Dudley is the only novelisation writer whose problem is he adds too much detail - often completely extraneous, not doing anything to advance character or plot or theme at all. Combine that with a frankly quite weird and unlikeable take on the Fifth Doctor + Tegan dynamic (complete with some very overt sexism) and while this isn't wholly without merits it just becomes a major slog by the end.
January 24, 2021
I struggled with this one, a tale of the Fifth Doctor in 1215 and a King who might not be all that he seems. It would probably benefit from watching the TV story first to get you through this slog of a short book.
Read
April 8, 2009http://nhw.livejournal.com/1060883.html#cutid7[return][return]Again my expectations were confounded, but not in a good way. Like Dudley's previous two-parter, Black Orchid, this brings the Doctor and companions to an English country house where they get falsely accused by the local aristocrats. But here the extra detail injected to bulk the story up to novel length really doesn't help. The early chapters have the Doctor being unkind and patronising to poor Tegan, with no hint of underlying affection between them. The one area which could have usefully been expanded, the hasty introduction of Kamelion at the end, has been left little changed. Not much good, really.
May 17, 2008
Another good read, as a very short and slightly clunky TV episode is expanded into a good book.
The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough get mixed up in medevil politics when they are mistaken for demons and then discover that history is not going the way it should.
A good story, an old foe, a bunch of characters that were pretty flat on TV that get a bit more personality and some great Tegan/Doctor moments.
Plus, I liked Kamelion and thought he got a raw deal as a companion.
The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough get mixed up in medevil politics when they are mistaken for demons and then discover that history is not going the way it should.
A good story, an old foe, a bunch of characters that were pretty flat on TV that get a bit more personality and some great Tegan/Doctor moments.
Plus, I liked Kamelion and thought he got a raw deal as a companion.
June 28, 2013
I have a soft-spot for this otherwise-maligned 5th Doctor story...a two part blink-and-you'll-miss-it adventure for which few people have any time or love. Luckily, the author has a measure of revenge via this staggeringly enjoyable novel. This is a supreme example of how to expand, improve, and enhance a TV story in print...and it remains of the best Target "Doctor Who" novelizations in the range. A special note on its handling of medieval history: absolutely sumptuous.
December 10, 2010
More Masterly conniving - this time trying to destroy the Manga Carter
April 25, 2018
It's been a while since I was able to enjoy a Doctor Who book. I've always loved this story
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews