Doctor Who and the Cave-Monsters (novelisation): Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 16:07, 14 February 2020
Doctor Who and the Cave-Monsters was the novelisation of Doctor Who and the Silurians. Interestingly enough, even though the serial it adapted was accidentally given a Target-style title, the novelisation didn't take the chance to carry the same title and instead gave it a completely different one.
Publisher's summary
1974 edition
All is not well at the Wenley Moor underground atomic research station: there are unaccountable losses of power-output; nervous breakdowns amongst the staff; and then – a death! UNIT is called in and the Brigadier is soon joined by DOCTOR WHO and Liz Shaw in a tense and exciting adventure with subterranean reptile men – SILURIANS – and a 40ft. high Tyrannosaurus rex, the biggest, most savage mammal which ever trod the earth!
"DOCTOR WHO, the children's own programme which adults adore ..." Gerard Garrett, The Daily Sketch
1992 edition
"If you really want to know what I think, the man simply died of fright..."
All is not well at the Wenley Moor underground atomic research station. Power is being unaccountably lost; the staff are on the verge of a strange nervous collapse and one man, his face horribly marked by some hideous claw, has been killed. The Silurians, ancient creatures who once ruled the Earth, are beginning to stir from their centuries-long slumber...
This is an adaptation by Malcolm Hulke of his own original screenplay, which featured Jon Pertwee in the role of the Doctor and which was originally published under the title The Cave Monsters.
2011 BBC Edition
"Okdel L'da looked across the valley to see the tip of the sun as it sank below the horizon. It was the last time he would see the sun for a hundred million years."
UNIT is called in to investigate security at a secret research centre buried under Wenley Moor. Unknown to the Doctor and his colleagues, the work at the Centre has woken a group of Silurians - intelligent reptiles that used to be the dominant life form on Earth during prehistoric times.
Now they have woken, the Silurians are appalled to find 'their' planet populated by upstart apes. The Doctor hopes to negotiate a peace deal, but there are those on both sides who cannot bear the thought of humans and Silurians living together. As UNIT soldiers enter the cave systems, and the Silurians unleash a deadly plague that could wipe out the human race, the battle for planet Earth begins.
This novel is based on The Silurians, a Doctor Who story which was originally broadcast from 29 January-14 March 1970.
Featuring the Third Doctor as played by Jon Pertwee, his companion Liz Shaw and the UNIT organisation commanded by Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.
Chapter titles
- Prologue: The Little Planet
- The Doctor Gets a Message
- The Traitor
- Power Loss
- The Fighting Monster
- Into the Caves
- Quinn Visits His Friends
- Into an Alien World
- The Search
- Man Trap
- The Doctor Makes a Visit
- Goodbye, Dr Quinn
- The Prisoner
- Man from the Ministry
- Attack and Counter-Attack
- The Itch
- Epidemic
- A Hot World
- The Lie
Deviations from televised story
- A prologue tells of the Silurians going into hiding to avoid catastrophe.
- Each of the reptile men is given an individual name and personality.
- All the scenes with Spencer and Davis in the caves are cut out; they are replaced by Quinn and the Brigadier explaining the events.
- The Brigadier meets the Doctor and Liz at the lift when they arrive at the centre. In the televised episode, a soldier informs the Brigadier, who is in the conference room.
- A UNIT corporal named Grover tells Liz that the Doctor is working on Bessie.
- The Doctor's humming of Jabberwocky is removed.
- A new scene features some security guards at the main gate checking the Doctor and Liz's passes. Liz gives a password, which is "Silurians".
- Liz goes straight from the conference room at the research facility to the medical bay. In the televised version, she briefly goes to the cyclotron room with the Doctor.
- The scenes when the Doctor first visits the Cyclotron room are cut out.
- Meredith is described as a good-looking young man, while in the televised serial he is older.
- More background is given to Miss Dawson; she is said to have lived in London her whole life, looking after her old mother, while all her other siblings went to America and Australia. Her mother then died, and she took the job at Wenley Moor. She is also given the first name of Phyllis.
- The entire third chapter is devoted to Miss Dawson, including her past life and her experiences with Dr Quinn.
- It is said that Dr Quinn's wife died in a car accident some years before the events of this story. His first name is also changed from John to Matthew.
- Quinn is the son of Sir Charles Quinn, a famous scientist.
- At one point, the Doctor is referred to as "Doctor Who".
- Major Baker is renamed "Major Barker".
- The scenes featuring Roberts are different from the televised story: on-screen, Roberts tries to strangle Miss Dawson when she tries to shut off the reactor, but in the novelisation, Liz notices him drawing extinct animals on his clipboard. When the Doctor confronts him, Roberts tries to strangle Liz, but is hit by Barker with his revolver, killing him. He is also given the first name of George.
- When Quinn goes to see the Silurians to warn them about UNIT, he speaks with Okdel in person, rather than over a speaker system as in the televised serial.
- The Silurian that is wounded and forced to the surface is named as Morka. He is also the younger Silurian who kills the leader, a distinction which is not made clear in the television story (where the two are played by different actors).
- Morka kills Squire by breaking his neck, rather than Squire dying of fright as in televised serial.
- Captain Hawkins is demoted to Sergeant.
- Only the Doctor, the Brigadier, Major Barker, Sergeant Hawkins and an unnamed soldier go into the caves to search for the Dinosaur. On-screen, there is more than one unnamed soldier.
- Morka hides in the cellar of the barn at the farm. On-screen, there is no cellar, and the Silurian hides in the hay.
- Major Barker is not guarded when he leaves the sickbay. On-screen, a UNIT sergeant is guarding Baker when he leaves.
- The death of Dr Quinn differs from the televised episode. On-screen, Quinn is killed by the Silurian and the Doctor discovers his body. In the novelisation, Quinn is talking with Miss Dawson when the Silurian (Morka) burns down the door of the store room he is locked in. When Quinn tries to talk to him, Morka kills him and knocks out Dawson and escapes. Dr Meredith later comes to the cottage searching for the recently-escaped Major Barker and finds Quinn's body. He then finds Dawson has succumbed to her race memories and is drawing pictures of Silurian's and animals on the walls from the ash of the burnt door.
- Masters' first name is changed from Edward to Frederick. He and Dr Lawrence attended prep school together.
- The Brigadier and his team realise the Doctor has gone into the caves ahead of them when they find Bessie by the entrance.
- The Doctor and Liz enter the Silurian shelter through a air ventilation tunnel, instead of using the calling device he took from Dr Quinn as in the televised story.
- Morka is able to control Robins' mind and forces him to leap off a chasm to his death.
- The Brigadier and his team are attacked by the Silurian's dinosaur while escaping.
- The Brigadier tells the Doctor that Barker has been taken to the hospital. On-screen, it is Liz who informs him.
- The Doctor and Brigadier drive a jeep to the hospital instead of Bessie as in the televised serial.
- The name of the hospital is changed from Wenley Hospital to St Mary's Cottage Hospital.
- The Doctor instructs Sergeant Hawkins to tell the police that there is an outbreak of the bubonic plague at the hospital so they'll cordon off the area.
- Masters' death is different from the televised serial: in the novelisation, his train is stopped to prevent him from spreading the virus. Masters exits the train, but not before infecting the train guard. He manages to get a hire-car and goes to London, but dies in the car. The hire-car driver and a policeman are also infected by Masters.
- Dr Meredith helps the Doctor and Liz find the cure for the virus.
- The characters of Sergeant Hart, Private Wright, Private Upton and Corporal Nutting are completely removed.
- Sergeant Hawkins is not killed by the Silurians.
- Dr Lawrence is killed by the Silurians while in the Cyclotron room, instead of being killed by the virus as in the televised serial.
- Liz witnesses the Silurians' kidnapping of the Doctor.
- At the end, the Brigadier only seals the Silurians in the caves, as opposed to blowing them up. The Doctor's reaction is more muted.
- Travis is now a female technician. She saves the day when the reactor overloads.
- As one of the early titles in the Target range, the writer was encouraged to flesh out his script for the novelisation.
Notes
- The back-cover blurb on the original edition features a scientific error, as the Tyrannosaurus rex is referred to as a mammal, when in fact dinosaurs were reptiles.
- This novelisation was later released as part of The UNIT Collection.
Additional cover images
1974 Hardcover edition.
Cover by Chris Achilleos
1979 edition with the diamond logo
1992 edition.
Cover by Alister Pearson
2011 BBC Books edition.
British publication history
First publication:
- Hardback
- W.H. Allen & Co. Ltd. UK
- Paperback
- Target
- 25p (UK)
- 80c Australia
Re-issues:
- 70p (UK) - £1.50
1992 Virgin Publishing with a new cover by Alister Pearson priced £2.99
Editions published outside Britain
- Published in the Netherlands by Unieboek/De Gooise in about 1975/76 as a paperback edition, newly translated by FF van den Hulst-Brander and published as Doctor Who en de Holenmonsters, it was one of eight Dutch novelisations; despite the broadcaster TROS showing Seasons 12 and 13 at this time the cover still depicts the First Doctor, however Chris Achilleos' image of the Fourth Doctor from The Doctor Who Monster Book does appear on the back cover.[1]
- Published in Finland by Weilin + Goos in 1976 as a hardback edition, translator unknown and published as Tohtori Kuka Ja Luolahirviöt, it was one of two Finnish novelisations.
- Published in Japan by Hayakawa Bunko in 1980 as a paperback edition, translated by Yukio Sekiguchi and published as Senritsu! Chitei Monsutaa, it was one of five Japanese novelisations.
- Published in Portugal by Editorial Presenca in 1983 as a paperback edition, translated by Conceicao Fardium and Eduardo Nogueria and published as Doutor Who E Os Monstros Das Cavernas, it was one of ten Portuguese novelisations.
Dutch edition
Finnish edition.
Cover by Adam Korpak
Japanese edition.
Cover by Michiaki Sato
Portuguese edition.
Cover by Rui Ligerio
Audiobook
This Target Book was released on 3 September 2007 complete and unabridged by BBC Audio and read by Caroline John.
The cover blurb and thumbnail illustrations were retained in the accompanying booklet with sleevenotes by David J. Howe. Music and sound effects by Simon Power.
It was later reissued as an MP3-CD alongside action figures of Amy Pond and a Silurian as part of Character Options' Panodrica wave.
Audiobook cover
External links
- Official Doctor Who and the Cave-Monsters page at Penguin Books
