The Caves of Androzani

"Sometimes in war the innocent die too."

Writer: Terrance Dicks
Format: Novel
Released: March 1985
Series: Target 92

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Peri

Synopsis 

From the moment they land on the planet Androzani Minor, everything goes wrong for the Doctor and his new young companion, Peri.

They become involved in the struggle between brutal gun-runners, ruthless Federation troops, and the hideously mutilated Sharaz Jek, who lurks in the depths of the caves with his android army.

Key to the struggle is spectrox, the most valuable substance in the universe. Suitably processed, spectrox is an elixir of life, but in its raw state it is a deadly poison – a fact which will cost the Doctor another of his Time Lord lives...

Verdict

The Caves of Androzani was an outstanding novelisation of what is one of the greatest stories ever. I have been wanting to do a Target novelisation for quite a while now and after the recent passing of Terrance Dicks, I was determined to do one his books and I was not let down. I mean, I cheated a little bit because I obviously knew that this was going to be great but the little expansions from the televised story are what makes Dicks so legendary as a writer. The story was so engaging and I had a huge smile on my face when I read the line stating 'that mysterious traveller in space and time known as the Doctor'. It's such a simple but apt description and I loved it. The way Androzani (both of the planets and the city itself) were written was fantastic and I really like the claustrophobic feel of this adventure. That is so evident on television and I think Dicks did a great job in transferring that into the prose. Sharaz Jek is a fantastic character and my thoughts were exactly the same after reading this story. His fascination with Peri is just downright creepy and I also like how conniving he is in getting a reduced rate on his arms and only departing with 2 kilos of spectrox instead of the agreed 5. Peri and the Doctor coming into contact with the raw spectrox so early on is excellent and I love that from there on in, they're dying and there's very little they can do about. The ending of this story was very pacy and perhaps could have been a tad longer exploring the Doctor's climb back up after retrieving the bat's milk, but I really am clutching at straws for what was a pretty perfect read. It was so easy to get through and was a nice break from a thus far dismal job search. I remember when I first bought the DVD of this story way back when I was collecting them and seeing the stories for the first time and often went off the cover. For this one though, I'd found out that the Fifth Doctor regenerated so I bought it for that. Little did I know that at that time, and being quite a way into the DVDs but not complete, that I would proclaim this adventure as my favourite of all time. I definitely had bias in picking this book to read because of that, but then The War Games came along and knocked it off its perch. And a few others pegged it down a bit, but there really aren't many better. What were the cliffhangers on TV were handled really well here and I think it was even less obvious in the novelisation that the Doctor and Peri that were shot were in fact androids. I liked that. The monster guarding the caves to the bat's milk also didn't seem so prominent and I think that worked in its favour a bit. The political aspects of the story are superb and I really liked all of the bickering between Morgus, Chellak and Salateen. The latter's android was handled really well and I liked it a lot when it came to be known that Sharaz Jek had always known the moves. He was one step ahead. Peri was written very well as the companion in what are very early days for her, but I think she works really well with the Fifth Doctor and I thought the initial moments where they are captured and correct each other on adding 'sir' to their sentences was wonderful. The ending is fast and quite sudden with the Doctor retrieving the bat's milk to tackle the spectrox disease, but he only has enough for Peri after clumsily ridding the phial of half of its contents when trying to open the TARDIS doors. The teamwork between the Doctor and Jek in uniting to save Peri was also good. The regeneration scene was something I didn't expect to be so quick, but the fact that it happens so suddenly makes for a hugely impactful reaction. The arrival of the Sixth Doctor is terrific and I like that we hear thoughts of the Doctor in choosing survival in order to not let the Master win. Overall, a sublime read!

Rating: 10/10