The Gunfighters (novelisation)

The Gunfighters
Based on:	The Gunfighters
Doctor:	First Doctor
Companion(s):	Steven, Dodo
Main enemy:	Johnny Ringo, Clanton family
Main setting:	Tombstone, USA, 1881
Key crew
Publisher:	Target Books, W.H. Allen
Writer:	Donald Cotton
Release details
Release number:	101
Release date:	9 January 1986
Format:	Hardcover and paperback editions; 25 Chapters, 152 Pages
ISBN:	ISBN 0-426-20195-7
Target novelisations
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The Gunfighters was a novelisation of the 1966 television serial The Gunfighters.

Publisher's summary

Back in the gun-totin', hard-hittin', fast-shootin' days of the Old Wild West, when outlaws ruled the land and the good guys stayed off the streets, a troupe of travelling players - Miss Dodo Dupont, Steven Regret and the mysterious Doctor Caligari - moseyed into the town of Tombstone one October afternoon.

Their method of transportation was a mite peculiar though. After all, a police box materialising out of thin air sure ain't the usual way to enter a sedate town like Tombstone.

And when the Doctor and his pardners meet up with Wyatt Earp and the notorious Clanton brothers, they soon find out that the scene is all set for high noon at the O.K. Corral.

Chapter Titles

• Prologue

1. Landfall in Tombstone
2. The Last Chance
3. The Brief Career of Dead-shot Steve
4. A Funeral is Arranged
5. Notice to Quit
6. Identity Parade
7. Open Mouth Surgery
8. An Offer Refused
9. A Pardonable Error
10. A Little Night Music
11. And Some Durn Tootin'
12. Arrest Is As Good As A Change
13. The Red Hand of Tradition
14. The Law and Doc Holliday
15. A Very Nasty Little Incident
16. Wyatt Plays It By The Book
17. Pa Clanton Keeps a Welcome
18. Ringo in the Morning
19. Post Mortem
20. Thought For Feud
21. Dodo Draws a Bead
22. The Entry of the Gladiators
23. Come Sun-Up ...

• Epilogue

Deviations from televised story

• Part of the novel is told in first person, from the perspective of Ned Buntline hearing an account of the story from Doc Holliday some years afterwards on his deathbed. The book includes a prologue and epilogue not connected to the televised story.
• Cotton's novelisation makes use of coarse language and innuendo not present in the original serial (and rare for a Target novelisation). For example, when the Doctor arrives at Doc Holliday's office, he accidentally walks in on Holliday in bed with his receptionist, in reality Kate (p. 44). In the televised version, she is merely sitting in his lap.
• The novel deviates wildly from the televised story. Among the many differences: the Doctor does not recognise Johnny Ringo and he is initially recruited to take part in the gunfight. Therein the Doctor is depicted learning how to shoot a shotgun. At the outset of the gunfight he accidentally shoots two onlookers to death!
• Ringo is killed when he goes to Holliday's room and attempts to shoot him in the back only for Holliday to see him in a mirror Dodo is holding up. Ike Clanton survives the gunfight, being taken prisoner by Steven and Kate as he is about to shoot the Doctor. Pa Clanton is present for the gunfight but takes no part in it.
• The character Kate Fisher is renamed Kate Elder in the novel.
• Much back story and character traits is added. Reuben Clanton, specified as the eldest brother, was killed by Holliday for cheating at cards and Holliday proposed to Kate after she set fire to the tavern to stop Reuben's friends killing him. Ringo spends much of his earnings as a hired gun on classic works and delights in conversing with the Doctor in Latin phrases, while Phineas repeatedly tries to come up with colourful similes. Pa Clanton is campaigning to be mayor, with most of the onlookers at the gunfight being his supporters.

Writing and publishing notes

• Dedication: For TAMSIN, with coloured moon clouds
• The back cover includes colour details of Fantastic Doctor Who Poster Offer!
• The book switches between third and first person narration; supposedly told from Doc Holliday's point of view, the gunfighter is nonetheless referred to in third person, except on page 73 when it suddenly switches to first person (although the first person in question is Ned Buntline).
• The original Target Books edition features the artwork of Andrew Skilleter.

Additional cover images

To be added

British publication history

First publication:

• Hardback

W.H.Allen & Co. Ltd. UK

• Paperback

Target

 Audiobook

This Target Book was released complete and unabridged by BBC Audio and read by Shane Rimmer, who played Seth Harper in the television story.

• 

The audio set of four CDs was released in February 2013 priced £13.99 (UK)

External links

• On Target - A comprehensive guide to Doctor Who - The Gunfighters