The Nightmare Man (novelisation)

The Nightmare Man
Based on:	The Nightmare Man
Main character(s):	Sarah Jane Smith
Featuring:	Rani, Luke, Clyde
Main enemy:	Nightmare Man
Main setting:	Earth, 2009, 2010
Key crew
Publisher:	Penguin Character Books
Writer:	Joseph Lidster
Release details
Release number:	10
Release date:	25 November 2010
Format:	E-book
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-4059-0806-1
The Sarah Jane Adventures novelisations
← Previous	The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith
Next →	Death of the Doctor

You may be looking for the television story of the same name.

The Nightmare Man, based upon the televised story of the same name, is the first novelisation of a story from Series 4 of The Sarah Jane Adventures. Along with Death of the Doctor, it was initially announced as a print release, but ultimately was issued in e-book format only.

Publisher's summary

Luke is scared about going to university...but something much more terrifying is threatening his very existence! A creepy Nightmare Man haunts his dreams and begins to take over his waking life, too — but he can't tell anyone. Will Sarah Jane and his friends figure out what's happening and make sure Luke doesn't disappear forever?

Characters

• Sarah Jane Smith
• Luke Smith
• Rani Chandra
• Clyde Langer
• Mr Smith
• K9 Mark IV
• Nightmare Man
• Maria Jackson
• Alan Jackson
• Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart
• Doris Lethbridge-Stewart
• Carla Langer
• Celeste Rivers
• Toby Silverman
• Lucy Skinner
• Nicholas Skinner
• Martha Smith-Jones
• Mickey Smith
• Mrs Griffin
• Josh

References

• Sarah Jane Smith and Martha Smith-Jones occasionally met up for a coffee.
• Julie Price, Meena, Jade, Clyde and Rani come to Luke's first party at the Park Vale Comprehensive School.
• Luke threw a second party. Alistair Gordon and Doris Lethbridge-Stewart, Clyde and Carla Langer, Rani, Gita and Haresh Chandra, Professor Celeste Rivers, Toby Silverman, Lucy and Nicholas Skinner, Martha Smith-Jones and Mickey Smith came to his party.
• Maria Jackson and her father Alan Jackson sent a holographic postcard over from America.
• A female sentient concrete is disguised as the Chiswick flyover.
• Maria and Alan Jackson send a holographic postcard from Washington DC.

Notes

• This is the first Sarah Jane Adventures novelisation to be released in e-book format only. It was initially announced as a print release, but later cancelled on 18 September 2010 in favour of e-book alongside the novelisation of Death of the Doctor. It was released for download in the United States and the United Kingdom on the Kindle on the 25 November 2010. It was also released for for the Kobo reader in Adobe DRM EPUB format in November 2010.
• This is the first Sarah Jane Adventures novelisation to feature the Doctor Who logo used from 2010-present.

Deviations from the televised story

• Luke is stated to have just finished the diet that he was on in the novelisation of The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith and packs three pairs of trousers that have stretchy waistbands to accommodate for the freshman fifteen, which he is anxious of gaining.
• The story retains a line of dialogue originally written for the TV version but cut from broadcast that hints that Luke may be gay; the implication of this line was confirmed by Russell T Davies in a 2013 interview in which he revealed CBBC had asked for a gay character to be included in the series, and Davies decided to establish Luke as such. However, due to Elisabeth Sladen's unexpected death, the storyline (and the series) wasn't expanded.
• As noted above, the novelisation includes appearances by the Brigadier, Martha Jones and Mickey Smith, who do not appear in the televised version of the story.

Continuity

• Luke Smith had nightmares about his worst experiences. He dreamed about the Daleks, their invasion of Earth, and his crying mother (TV: The Stolen Earth/Journey's End), Maria Jackson's departure to America (TV: The Last Sontaran) and that Clyde Langer was forced to forget him when Clyde's father was using the Berserker pendant. (TV: The Mark of the Berserker)

Footnotes