Mission to the Unknown

"He's the ultimate power in the Solar System. What's he doing here on Kembel, with the Daleks?"

Writer: John Peel
Format: Novel
Released: September 1989
Series: Target 141

Featuring: First Doctor, Steven, Katarina, Sara

Synopsis

Stranded in the jungles of Kembel, the most hostile planet in the Galaxy, Space Security agent Marc Cory has stumbled across the most deadly plot ever hatched – the Daleks are about to invade and destroy the Universe. Cory has to get a warning back to Earth before it's too late – but the Daleks find him first.

Months later the Doctor and his companions arrive on Kembel and find Cory's message. But it may already be too late for Earth – the Daleks' Masterplan has already begun...

Verdict

Mission to the Unknown was an excellent novelisation of the televised episode along with the first half of the epic The Daleks' Master Plan! I was really impressed with this one and I have been looking forward to reading it ever since picking it up on eBay around Christmas 2018. It's taken longer than I would have expected to get around to it, but it's such an epic and even for a Target novel it's lengthy at 174 pages – and we're only halfway through! I thought it worked well picking up where The Myth Makers left off with Katarina coming aboard the TARDIS and Steven not in the best shape. From there we transitioned into the events of Mission to the Unknown for a couple of chapters in which the story of Marc Cory was told fantastically. I think this episode/novel may be the only story that I now have three blog entries for with all of them being different variations. Quite the feat for a standalone missing episode that the Doctor isn't even in! I really enjoyed John Peel's writing and the suddenness of the numerous deaths that occur in this book was striking. Cory doesn't wait around when it comes to killing off his fellows infected by the Varga plants and the way that Katarina's death was handled was brilliant and full of emotional, but I was stunned that it didn't even close a chapter! That was quite extraordinary. Her time as companion is obviously short-lived but for the 100 or so pages that she's around here, I think she's tremendous. Her devotion to the Doctor is lovely to see and her efforts to make sense of everything she isn't able to comprehend is terrific. Bret's annoyance at that trait of hers seemed unfair, but of course he didn't know she was from Troy until late on. He was a very good character and I really liked how determined he was to get the message back to Earth regarding the Daleks and their plans to destroy the planet. His reaction when discovering that Mavic Chen was in league with them was fantastic and was everything required to show how deadly and shocking this alliance was. The remaining members and their roles as leaders of other galaxies didn't seem as important as the Daleks and Mavic Chen which is the rightful focus. I love the idea of a Guardian of the Solar System and human development going so far that planetary government and order was now required. That fitted in well with the AD 4000 setting and it was intriguing for Steven to be in a position of role reversal with Sara compared to his relationship with Vicki. His technological knowledge was far in advance of hers, but now Sara was showcasing much greater technological expertise which was a fun dynamic. The death of Bret was so quick but the development of Sara from that point on was terrific. She was a heartless killer when we meet her but 70-odd pages later and she's a new companion! The moment she reveals that Bret was her brother is an extraordinary development. I liked how Peel explored the hierarchy of the Daleks and mentioning the Black Dalek being second in command to the Dalek Prime was really interesting. The connections with The Chase was also wonderful Target continuity in finding out that their time machine in that adventure was powered by taranium. The Doctor's kidnapping of the taranium core that the Daleks required for their Time Destructor was very humorous and served as the basis for much of the novelisation. The tense relationship between the Daleks and Mavic Chen was excellent and I really loved how this book ended with the Doctor giving the Daleks a fake core. That almost served to 'complete' the story for any readers who might not have been able to get ahold of the second part of the story and the next Target novelisation which I thought was a great thing to do. It gives a sense of satisfaction and completeness whilst also outlining that there is more to come. It also was written in a way that opened up so much room for more adventures with Sara as companion. Overall, a sublime novelisation!

Rating: 10/10