Doctor Who and the Dæmons

"This is the supernatural at work."

Writer: William Gallagher

Format: Novel

Released: October 1974

Series: Target 15

Featuring: Third Doctor, Jo

Synopsis 

Doctor Who is strangely concerned about Professor Horner's plan to cut open an ancient barrow near the peaceful English village of Devil's End; equally worried is Miss Hawthorne, the local white witch, who foretells a terrible disaster if he goes ahead; determined that the Professor should is Mr. Magister, the new vicar (in truth the Master) whose secret ceremonies are designed to conjure up from out of the barrow a horribly powerful being from a far-off planet... The Brigadier and Jo Grant assist Doctor Who in this exciting confrontation with the forces of black magic! 

Verdict 

Doctor Who and the Dæmons was a fantastic novelisation of the Season 8 classic! I really enjoyed this read on the aeroplane to Croatia and subsequent layover, and it’s a fine adaptation of the televised version. It’s obviously a well regarded story and it’s clear to see why from this novelisation, which I might even suggest is better than the version we got on television! I think the dated effects may have something to do with that and I ought to try and give the BluRay versions a chance as I’m sure everything will be enhanced there. In the book though it was helpful to not have the special effects of Bok and Azal with the illustrations provided being a tremendous resource! They came intermittently but it was really helpful to provide some images to go alongside the words and I imagine that would have been even better back when this novelisation was released nearly half a decade ago. It’s pretty crazy to think that the book I was holding was forty-nine years and that was something that my brother even noticed how old it was when we were waiting for our next flight. It really gave me an appreciation of what I was privileged to read. I thought the characterisation of the Third Doctor and Jo was really strong throughout, but the moment where he was quite firm with his companion was powerful stuff. Jo took it in her stride though and showed her qualities as she didn’t let it get to her and realised that it just meant the situation at hand was pretty troublesome. I thought the arrival and disguise of the Master was magnificent with him taking the moniker of Magister, and he was not welcomed in the village of Devil’s End by Olive Hawthorne. That was a strained relationship and she was a superb character. I think she stole the show even more in the book. Her thoughts on the debate between science and magic was tremendous and she would not accept that the Doctor was right in believing that there was always a scientific explanation. The evidence did seem to point towards magic though! The Brigadier was pretty humorous in this story with him actually being a little useless when it came to the heat barrier. The Doctor trying to get his scientific methods and knowledge to Osgood was hilarious stuff as his intellect was no match to that of the Time Lord. The Master trying to grant himself the power of Azal was brilliant and I really enjoyed the interaction between the renegade and the Dæmon. The legend of the Dæmons was impressive and the Doctor having a nagging mental itch about Devil’s End was good. I thought the interaction between the Doctor and Master was actually pretty limited here, but the latter pondering over their schooldays and early relationship was a really nice touch. Any exploration of the early days on Gallifrey is a bonus in my book, especially from 1974! I thought the coming and going of Azal was a little odd but the power he emanated really did ooze off the page which was impressive. I thought Yates and Benton had a fun outing here too with trying to tackle the barrier and driving Jo around. UNIT really was split up throughout this story and that was beneficial to the storytelling in my opinion. Spreading characters across a village setting was really good stuff. I thought the ending was a little sudden but really strong with Jo sacrificing herself in front of the Doctor, and that just didn’t compute with Azal’s logical mind. After centuries of laying dormant waiting, he either had to destroy all or give his power to someone else, in this case being the Master. The fact that Jo’s action was so against logic meant that Azal’s power was turned against him, something Hawthorne was trying to do in the first place! The Master being caught thanks to the Doctor’s control over Bessie was very amusing. A magic trick all on its own! Overall, a really great read. 

Rating: 9/10