Doctor Who and the Doomsday Weapon (novelisation)

The evil MASTER has stolen the Time Lords' file on the horrifying DOOMSDAY WEAPON with which, when he finds it, he can blast whole planets out of existence and make himself ruler of the Galaxy!

The Time Lords direct DOCTOR WHO and Jo Grant in TARDIS to a bleak planet in the year 2471 where they find colonists from Earth under threat from mysterious, savage, monster lizards with frightful claws! And hidden upon this planet is the DOOMSDAY WEAPON for which the MASTER is intently searching ...

Deviations from televised story

Both Jo Grant and the Master are given new introductions, with Grant in particular described as joining the Doctor for the first time, despite several earlier stories featuring her. As one of the first releases in the Target Books series, there was no expectation that all stories would eventually be adapted. Once the earlier stories had been novelised, no attempt was made at revising The Doomsday Weapon, creating a continuity hiccough for those reading the novelisations in chronological order.
The concrete Earth that the colonists had left is expanded upon - there are people with blue hair, moving pavements, metric units, lifts that took the people in the underground for sunshine treats or walk treats and folk tales of Drahvins, Monoids, Daleks and Silurians.
It is described how the colonists met back on earth.
IMC's robot is humanoid and named Charlie.
The Keeper of the Time Lord files retells the story of TV: The War Games.
The Doctor organises a funeral for the Leesons.
It is stated that the year is 2971, not 2471, in contradiction with the back cover blurb.

Writing and publishing notes

The 1979 edition by Pinnacle Books in the US included an introduction by Harlan Ellison.
The first edition Target cover was the first to feature the Master.
This novelisation was later released as part of The Master Collection.

Chapter titles

A Missing Secret
Into Time and Space
The Planet
The Monster
Starvation
The Survivor
The Robot
The Men from IMC
The Spy
The Claw
Face-to-face
The Bomb
The Attack
The Adjudicator
Primitive City
The Ambush
Captain Dent Thinks Twice
The Master's TARDIS
The Return of Captain Dent
The Doomsday Weapon
Mission Completed

Additional cover images

1979 edition; Cover by Jeff Cummins

British publication history

First publication:

Hardback

W.H. Allen & Co. Ltd. UK

Paperback

Target

Re-issues:

70p

1979 Target Books with a new cover by Jeff Cummins priced 75p (UK)

Editions published outside Britain

Published in the USA in 1979 by Pinnacle Books.
Published in Japan in 1980 by Hayakawa Bunko.

1979 US Pinnacle Books edition
1980 Japanese novelisation

Audiobook

This Target book was released complete and unabridged by BBC Audio and read by Geoffrey Beevers who played the Master (though not in Colony in Space).

The audio set of 4 CDs with an ISBN 1-4056-7795-3 was released in September 2007 priced £13.99 (UK)

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

External links

to be added