The Face of Evil

"How could he be so cheerful when he'd just been condemned to an agonising death?"

Writer: Terrance Dicks

Format: Novel

Released: January 1978

Series: Target 25

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Leela

Synopsis 

"When Xoanon gets desperate enough, he's going to destroy everything..."

Thinking the controls are set for Earth, the Doctor is surprised when the TARDIS lands in a huge primeval forest where chaos reigns - chaos for which the Doctor is partly responsible. This is home to the Sevateem and Tesh tribes, who are constantly engaged in savage wars to appease their god Xoanon. Through meeting Leela, the young female warrior brandished by her tribe, the Doctor discovers that the constant raging battles between them are instigated by none other than Xoanon, in reality an all-powerful giant computer. With Leela as his companion, the Doctor must not only battle with Xoanon, but reconcile the differences between the two tribes - who are both intent on subjecting them to their savage law. 

Verdict 

The Face of Evil was a tremendous novelisation of one of the first Classic era adventure I'd ever watched! I remember first watching this story on television on UKTV Gold I think it was, something wonderful like that! I enjoyed it then as I was first getting into the Classics and after rewatching during my 260 day run of watching the lot, I really did like it. I bought the novel for a mere £2 which is beyond a steal as that's less than the RRP! It's a prized piece of my collection and it was excellent portrayed in novelised format by the genius at work himself - Terrance Dicks. I love his work in the Targets, and the original novels actually with greats like Players and Endgame. He just knows how to set out and pace a novel but it also feels like the television story at the same time which I think is important. I loved how he included an explanation for the face on the mountain being the Fourth Doctor and not a previous incarnation. At the time it perhaps raised a question as there was never a time where the Fourth Doctor travelled alone until the story immediately before this. I thought Leela was the star of the novel, and rightly so. She's such a great companion. Her primitive nature matched with the wit and humour of this incarnation of the Doctor makes them quite a pairing. Reading the story in which they meet, it's lovely to see that they immediately have the chemistry that would make them a much loved TARDIS pairing. I have the novel of The Talons of Weng-Chiang to read with this pairing and that certainly is one I'm looking forward to. The story of Leela over the course of the novel is wonderful as she goes from being banished for blasphemy to forcing her way into the TARDIS. The Tribe of Sevateem was very good but I loved the revelation that came with them and the Tesh. Over generations, Sevateem had gained its name by deviating from Survey Team, the name which was on one of the holy relics of Xoanon. Tesh had also deviated from techs, the technician wing of the original colonists that came to this planet. It was quite ironic how the Sevateem and Tesh were both the same race, just separated by being descendants of different parts of the crew! This novel reminded me a little of Night of the Humans, not quite on that scale but it was certainly close. They'd created a whole religion based on a wrecked colonist spaceship. Thankfully there was no Wild West worshipping going on this time. Leela's reaction when she first met the Doctor was magnificent. Despite her blaspheme, she couldn't deny that standing right in front of her was the Evil One. Not the Master who she'd later meet in The Evil One, but the Doctor! I loved the characterisation of the Doctot and you could really just read it in the voice of Tom Baker with ease. That's when the characterisation in novels and comic strips is good in my opinion. He seemed to take on being this great evil one with extraordinary calmness! The guest characters were all very good and I really liked Neeva. His particular place on religion and the word of Xoanon was intriguing. I really liked Calib too as Leela seemed to believe that he was the strongest member of the Tribe. She had respect for him and I admired that. U loved the Doctor's reaction to seeing his face carved into the mountain and he really did see that things had taken a turn for the worse now! I really loved the references to Planet of the Spiders and Robot in explaining how the Fourth Doctor had come to this place before when he was still suffering from the trauma of his accelerated regeneration. That was a magnificent deviation from the TV story. The threat of the invisible monsters was excellent and I liked the barriers holding them out. The references to The Hand of Fear and The Deadly Assassin were stunning and it was nice to see that the Doctor missed Sarah being by his side complaining about their latest location. He obviously missed having a companion but that was all change now! After the thrilling climax, Leela bundled her way on board! A great ending to a wonderful novel. 

Rating: 9/10