Doctor Who and the Daleks (Doctor Who, Book 16)

_This is where it all starts, on a foggy night out on Barnes Common. I really identified with the opening of this story- a teacher with a science degree driving back from a failed interview for a research scientist position finds himself swept into adventure beyond his wildest dreams. Turns out that not getting that job was the best thing that ever happened to Ian Chesterton. _It is fitting that this very first Doctor Who novelization is the one that links his fate with that of the Daleks and their home world of Skaros. It is the Doctor's instinctual opposition to these inconceivably evil obominations that immediately defines him for what he is. This is THE DOCTOR, the cosmic foe of all that is monstrous and evil. This is the Time Lord who saw the suffering and injustice in the universe and refused to remain a detached, objective observer like the rest of his kind. _And so the good doctor, his grand daughter Susan, her tutor Barbara Wright, and Ian Chesterton start on their adventures. _It seems to me that the Doctor need not have dispaired that there was no force in the universe looking out for the weak, the helpless, the innocent. Afterall, SOMETHING seems to guide that unsteerable old Mk.40 TARDIS to exactly where and when it is needed most....

The second televised Doctor Who story introduced one of the most important elements in the show's history: the Daleks, the most constant opponents of the Doctor through his many lives. So popular were they that this novel was published in 1964. Written by the show's original script editor, it is not a straight adaptation of the show it is based on.Mr Whitaker starts the novel with a variant version of the first episode of the series, although Ian is not a teacher and Susan has a different surname (English instead of Foreman). This version is rather more atmospheric than the equivalent in the novelisation of An Unearthly Child. In fact, writing the book in the first person (narrated by Ian) is an excellent device in this book.Moving on into the story proper, it is again not a simple adaptation of the televised story. While fairly faithful, some of the deviations (like the glass Dalek) add interest in a way that the show could not actually portray at the time. The Thal characters are fairly well outlined (given that they are quite flat in the original serial), and the descriptions of the planetary environs is also good.Way back when, Doctor Who books included line drawing illustrations. I've never been impressed with these, but those in this book are among the best, and obviously based on stills from the original.An excellent, if inaccurate, adaptation of an important story. A pity they aren't all this good.