The Savages

"They wouldn't have prisoners in a place like this."

Writer: Ian Stuart Black

Format: Novel

Released: September 1986

Series: Target 109

Featuring: First Doctor, Steven, Dodo

Synopsis

Landing on a distant planet, the Doctor confidently announces to his companions that the TARDIS has brought them to an age of great advancement, peace and prosperity. 

The Doctor's calculations seem to be confirmed when the travellers are greeted by Jano and the Elders who take them on a tour of their city – a haven of beauty, harmony and friendship, set in a wilderness inhabited by tribes of savages. 

But the security of the city is founded on one deadly and appalling secret. Soon the Doctor and his friends discover that it is not only outside the city walls that savages dwell...

Verdict

The Savages was an excellent novelisation of the televised serial of the same name! I must admit that I find it a shame when the later Target novels don't take the 'Doctor Who and the..." approach to the title, but that had no bearing on my enjoyment of this book! I thought this was a brilliant read from start to finish and was done very easily in two sittings which is always a delight. I remember really enjoying the reconstruction of this sadly entirely missing serial when I watched it some eight years ago, but this novelisation is by far the most 'complete' version currently available to the Doctor Who fan. It's so nice to have a book of a missing serial to ensure that even if we don't get to watch the performed version, we know exactly what happened and get a full account of events. It's a very solid story from start to finish and goes with a unique approach for this era by having the Doctor land the TARDIS on a planet where he was actually expected! I thought it was really fun for the Elders to have been tracking the Doctor's journeys across the light years and they anticipated his arrival here. He was known as The Traveller Beyond Time which was really good and I was intrigued that he was almost immediately offered the chance to become an Elder himself. He was seemingly accepting, but attached conditions because he wanted to know just how the Elders and their society had become so advanced. The truth was in the story's title and cast a dark shadow on progress. The concept of transferring life from the so called Savages into the Elders was horrifying, and they really did seem to treat them as a completely different and sub-par species despite the obvious similarities. That was something that horrified the Doctor. He saw all humankind as the same and even one life was not worth their progress. I thought Steven and Dodo had pretty strong outings as companions in this one, with the former standing out for obvious reasons as this is his departure. It's often forgotten just how long Steven spent as a companion with the First Doctor and this doesn't seem like an obvious conclusion for his travels, but installing him as leader to ensure stability and progress between the Savages and the Elders is a fitting place for him to finish. The Doctor couldn't think of anybody better suited to the challenge, and after an initial doubt he was more than up for the challenge. How that came about was really well done and I loved that Jano was essentially transformed in taking the life essence of the Doctor. He'd incorporated a sense of right and wrong which have a profound impact on the society. That was brilliant and so well done in explaining it by showing that he had the chance to shoot Steven as he was escaping, and also aided him and Dodo by pressing the button that set them free. Suspicions were ripe amongst the Elders and after a few slips as the Doctor's mind seemed to be almost within Jano, it was clear that the transformation had given Jano more than he bargained for. Senta was a good character as the doctor in charge of the transformations and he really was committed to his work. I also thought it was a nice shift to have the chapter titles as quotes from within each chapter which was nice as a little hint as to what was to come. Overall, a fantastic read!                    

Rating: 9/10