Target Books/1983

Target Books publications by year

Target Books' Doctor Who output in 1983 was almost exclusively Fifth Doctor-related. Of the eight new novelisations printed, only one belonged to another Doctor. As with the previous year, the first three Doctors were ignored by Target's writers, except to the extent that they appeared in The Five Doctors. That novelisation was peculiarly important to the Target line, in that it was the first novelisation to be available in the UK prior to the transmission of the serial it adapted.

The year was the first one in which the novelisations were released with a so-called "library number". Terminus went out as #79, with each subsequent release adding on to that number.

Stories

No.	Title	Author	Doctor	Featuring	Based on	Released
074	Time-Flight	Peter Grimwade	5th	Adric, Nyssa, Tegan, the Tremas Master	Time-Flight	15 April 1983
075	Meglos	Terrance Dicks	4th	Romana II, K9 Mark II	Meglos	5 May 1983
076	Castrovalva	Christopher H. Bidmead	5th	Adric, Nyssa, Tegan, The Master	Castrovalva	16 June 1983
077	Four to Doomsday	Terrance Dicks		Adric, Nyssa, Tegan	Four to Doomsday	21 July 1983
078	Earthshock	Ian Marter		Adric, Nyssa, Tegan, Cybermen	Earthshock	18 August 1983
079	Terminus	John Lydecker		Nyssa, Tegan, Turlough, Black Guardian	Terminus	15 September 1983
080	Arc of Infinity	Terrance Dicks		Nyssa, Tegan, Borusa, Omega	Arc of Infinity	20 October 1983
081	The Five Doctors			Tegan, Turlough, First Doctor, Second Doctor, Third Doctor, Fourth Doctor, Susan, the Brigadier, Sarah, Borusa, Daleks, Cybermen, The Master, Rassilon	The Five Doctors	24 November 1983

Novelisation covers

• 

  Time-Flight

• 

  Meglos

• 

  Castrovalva

• 

  Four to Doomsday

• 

  Earthshock

• 

  Terminus

• 

  Arc of Infinity

• 

  The Five Doctors

Reprints and other title covers

• 

  Doctor Who and the Abominable Snowmen

• 

  Doctor Who and the Web of Fear

Publishing notes

Target Library Numbering

Doctor Who and the Visitation was the first title to be given a (working) reference number as part of the Doctor Who library (Number 74). The idea behind the numbering was to try to capitalise on collectors and regular readers of the range to complete their "set" or read all the books.

However, for a range that didn't flow in a chronological order, it was met with various reactions, and was generally criticised by fans, who after collecting some seventy odd titles, were faced with a "new look" for their collection (a factor that the BBC DVD mechandising team seem to be acutely aware of).

The implementation of the numbering system was not always to plan. Examples of inconsistencies include:

Number 77 Four to Doomsday numbered on the inside only

Number 78 Earthshock numbered on the inside only

Number 79 Terminus numbered inside and on the cover

Number 80 Arc of Infinity not numbered

Number 81 The Five Doctors numbered

Number 106 Vengeance on Varos arriving between Numbers 128 and 129 (some two years later)

Number 153 was given to The Pescatons which was based on a record release and so technically not a televised novelisation.

Books 1 to 74 in the range were retrospectively numbered, in alphabetical order. These numbers appeared on the covers with the reprint schedule from 1983, the exceptions being Time-Flight, Meglos and Castrovalva.