Slipback (novelisation)

Slipback
Based on:	Slipback
Doctor:	Sixth Doctor
Companion(s):	Peri
Main enemy:	Vipod Mor computer
Main setting:	Vipod Mor
Key crew
Publisher:	Target Books, W.H. Allen
Writer:	Eric Saward
Cover by:	Paul Mark Tams
Release details
Release date:	August 1986
Format:	Paperback Book; 11 Chapters, 144 Pages
ISBN:	ISBN 0-426-20263-5
Publication order
← Previous	The King's Demons
Next →	The Savages
BBC Radio order
Next →	The Paradise of Death
Audio order
← Previous	The Pescatons
Next →	The Paradise of Death

Slipback was a novelisation based on the 1985 radio drama Slipback. It was the first novelisation of a Doctor Who story that had not been produced for television.

Publisher's summary

The TARDIS materialises on board the Vipod Mor, a galactic survey ship captained by the repulsive Orlous Moston Slarn.

Things are not going too well on board the spacecraft: a mysterious killer stalks the ship's infrastructure; a junior officer, whose body is four years older than his brain, commands its bridge; the craft's computer seems to be developing its own distinctive personality; and Slarn threatens to vent his vindictive anger on his crew.

Soon the Doctor and Peri stumble upon a shocking secret, a secret upon which depends the fate of the entire Universe...

The novelisation of the Radio 4 Doctor Who story.

Deviations from broadcast story

• The first 50 pages of the novel do not feature the Doctor or Peri and do not adapt the radio play; instead they provide backstory on the characters and circumstances encountered by the Doctor later.
• In the radio play, when the Doctor tells Peri he's about to recite his favourite sonnet, "Ode to a Flashist Mud Scavenger", Peri replies that this inspiring title "brings tears to my ears"! This is changed to "eyes" in the novelisation even though "ears" was correct given that Peri was hearing, not reading, the poem.
• The steward, named as Vesper, kills Slarn before he can release his virus, then incinerates both of them to destroy the infection.
• The computer's external personality orders the crew to evacuate the ship before sending it back in time.

Writing and publishing notes

to be added

Additional cover images

• 

  1986 Hardback edition

British publication history

to be added

First Publication:

• Hardback

W.H.Allen & Co. Ltd. UK

• Paperback

Target

Re-issues:

None

External links

• The Cloister Library: Slipback
• On Target a comprehensive guide to the Target novelisations by Tim Neal