Doctor Who and An Unearthly Child

"A thing that looks like a police box standing in a junk yard... and it can travel in Time and Space?"

Writer: Terrance Dicks

Format: Novel

Released: October 1981

Series: Target 68

Featuring: First Doctor,Susan, Ian, Barbara 

Synopsis

A strange girl who knows far more than she should about the past – and the future...

Two worried teachers whose curiosity leads them to a deserted junk yard, an extraordinary police box and a mysterious traveller known only as the Doctor...

A fantastic journey through Space and Time ending in a terrifying adventure at the dawn of history...

Verdict

Doctor Who and An Unearthly Child was an excellent novelisation of the first ever Doctor Who serial! It really is a monumental book and it's no surprise that it's quite a rarity to find these days, so I was delighted to pick up a copy for a few pounds on a Facebook group. I've always been intrigued to see how this would be presented given its importance and the fact that the Target books were released in anything other than broadcast order. This is as straightforward as you can get really for a novelisation and I find it quite ironic that Doctor Who and the Daleks probably has more of an introductory feel to the show. This just recounts that first part of the serial in the first three chapters like it captured any other televised part in prose. I don't think there's anything wrong with that approach in the slightest, I was just surprised that there wasn't something a little more. I really enjoyed revisiting this tale and Susan's role in starting the whole thing off by drawing the attention of Ian and Barbara is terrific. The first three chapters here serve as basically an introduction to Ian and Barbara rather than to Doctor Who and I think that's fun given that it was released in 1981 where the vast majority of readers would know all about the basic elements of the show. There's no need to explain it all to them again. It's so intriguing how different the first few stories feel with the Doctor not anything close to resembling what he would become, and that's evident in his essential abduction of Ian and Barbara. He doesn't want to stop and save any of the cavemen and is actually horrified when Susan goes to help Za after he's attacked by the tiger. I thought more might have been made of the TARDIS failing to disguise itself with the chameleon circuit, but there were a lot of components and switches not acting as they ought to so it went under the radar. Ian and the Doctor's relationship here is excellent and the arrogance and ignorance displayed by the pair towards one another is great. It's lovely knowing what will become of them. I was intrigued by how Barbara was presented in then school and she was made out to be quite a stern and strict character, something I'm not entirely convinced we saw on screen. The mystery behind Susan and her scientific intelligence accompanying some severe knowledge gaps was magnificent, and it does feel quite strange for things to then transfer to the dawn of mankind and their thirst for fire. The battle for leadership over the tribe between Za and Kal was brilliant and I thought Old Mother's role in keeping fire away was excellent. There was so much going on and it's a fine first example of what the TARDIS can do. After concluding my reading, it's no surprise to find that Terrance Dicks only had a fortnight to write the book as the pace is frantic and quite drastically different to what was on screen. And that actually worked in its favour I think because such a prehistoric setting can only offer so much. It's uniqueness is superb though. I've watched the serial so many times so the events of the book were so familiar, but it was just wonderful to dip back into the opening adventure that kicked Doctor Who off. The lead into The Daleks at the end was also a really nice touch. Overall, a joyful read!

Rating: 9/10