The Novel of the Film (novelisation)

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This article needs a big cleanup.

As has been confirmed at Talk:The Pirate Planet (novelisation), all information about the 2021 version should be split off to a separate The TV Movie (novelisation) page. With this many differences, a change in title, and a change in publisher — it's a different books, folks.

These problems might be so great that the article's factual accuracy has been compromised. Talk about it here or check the revision history or Manual of Style for more information.

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You may be looking for the novelisation as it exists within the DWU or the 2021 novelisation.

The Novel of the Film was a novelisation of the 1996 TV movie, Doctor Who. It was written by Gary Russell published by BBC Books in conjunction with the film's broadcast in the United States, Canada and Great Britain on 16 May 1996. Though for copyright purposes known as simply Doctor Who, the book has a cover which sends ambiguous signals about its title. On the front cover it is entitled Doctor Who, but on the spine, it is Doctor Who - The Novel of the Film.

An altered version of the novelisation was published again by Target Books on 11 March 2021 under the new title of The TV Movie.

The book was significant for a number of reasons. It was the premiere release of a Doctor Who novel by BBC Books, which would completely take over the Doctor Who publishing license from Virgin by late 1997. It was also the first novelisation not appearing under the Target or Virgin labels and the first novelisation to be completed before the filmed version was. Its tight publication schedule meant that Russell wrote it with, as he put it in his foreword, "precious little visual reference". For this reason, the novel contains, as Russell predicted, things which "differ from what we all see on screen". This is especially true of some of the descriptions of the minor characters.

The book is further significant for being one of the few Doctor Who adaptations to be in British shops well prior to the debut of its parent episode on BBC One.

Publisher's summary

1996 BBC Books edition

Late December, 1999: the brink of a new millennium. An anachronistic British Police Box materialises in San Francisco's Chinatown amid a hail of bullets which find an unintentional target — a strange man who walks out of the Police Box. Despite the best efforts of Dr Grace Holloway, the unknown traveller dies and his body vanishes. And soon another stranger appears, claiming to be the same man inside a different body; a mysterious wanderer in time and space known only as the Doctor.

But the Doctor is not the only time-traveller in San Francisco. His oldest adversary, the Master, is there as well, desperately trying to steal the Doctor's newly-regenerated body. Before long, the Doctor is faced with a choice: to save his own life, or the billions of people who have no future unless the Master is stopped. If only the Doctor could remember how...

2021 Target Books edition

'Who am I…? WHO AM I?'

It's December 1999, and strange things are happening as the new millennium nears. A British police box appears from nowhere in San Francisco’s Chinatown and the mysterious man inside it is shot down in the street. Despite the best efforts of Dr Grace Holloway, the man dies and another stranger appears, claiming to be the same person in a different body: a wanderer in time and space known only as the Doctor.

But the Doctor is not the only alien in San Francisco. His deadly adversary the Master is murdering his way through the city and has taken control of the TARDIS. The Master is desperate to take the Doctor’s newly regenerated body for himself, and if the Doctor does not capitulate, it will literally cost him the Earth…and every last life on it.

Deviations from the film

According to the introduction of the book, Russell wrote the adaptation based upon an early version of the script that wasn't the final one. As a result, the novel differs from the movie. It is hard to know, however, exactly which differences come from genuine ignorance of the final casting or costuming, on-set revisions of the script or which may have been Russell's embellishments that would have survived in the text even if Russell had seen the film first. In any event, this novelisation does differ from the final film more than the average Target novelisation did from its source material. Some examples:

  • In the scene where the Doctor is shot, one of Lee's fellow gang members is explicitly female in the book.
  • The first chapter and a half goes into more detail about aspects of the TARDIS and how and why the Doctor got the Old Master's remains. In particular, the early part of the book suggests the Seventh Doctor has only just changed the TARDIS interior. Though possible, there's no on-screen evidence the interior has been recently changed. The Seventh Doctor seems quite settled in his surroundings. Stories in other media have contradicted this. In particular, many Big Finish Productions audios posit the Seventh Doctor well-ensconced in the telemovie's console room. Notably, mention is made of a church organ taken from Cheldon Bonniface, a village visited twice in New Adventures novels PROSE: Timewyrm: Revelation and PROSE: Happy Endings and a koi pond filled with gumblejack.
  • The box containing the Master's ashes is described as containing little more than two crystallised eyes and residue — hypnotic even in death.
  • Dr. Salinger is depicted as at least somewhat romantically attracted to Grace, offering to take Brian's place in her life.
  • Nurses Angela Wheeler and Curtis are described somewhat in opposition to how they were actually cast. In the movie, Curtis is obviously older and she has more lines in the final cut. In the book, Russell describes Wheeler as the "senior" nurse.
  • The final cut of the movie never quite explains how Chang Lee knows the ambulance driver's name is Bruce, nor why he would have been allowed to travel in the ambulance with the Doctor. The novel features a scene in which the police who arrive at the scene of the shooting interrogate Lee and determine that he might be of help to the paramedics. A policeman introduces Lee to the paramedic, who introduces himself as Bruce Gerhardt. Bruce's last name is never revealed on-screen.
  • When the Doctor says to Grace, "It was a child's dream that made you want to be a doctor," the movie leaves the audience to wonder what that dream might have been. The book shows us a flashback to Grace's youth in Sacramento. There, we witness her mother dying young and Grace dreaming of finding a way to prevent other kids having to endure the pain of their parent's premature death.
  • The novel features Lee and the Master not only seeing the Seventh Doctor in the Eye of Harmony, but all seven previous Doctors. (This was also to have been the case for the televised version, but Universal Pictures were unable to obtain the necessary clearance rights to use the images.)
  • Russell suggests the Eighth Doctor's costume had more variability in different scenes. In the part where Grace and the Doctor walk around the park, she's given him not just Brian's shoes, but his scarf and woolly hat, as well. Likewise, Grace's outfit in the scene is completely different from the final film.
  • The kiss between the Doctor and Grace in the park plays out differently. The Doctor becomes embarrassed by the gesture and apologises for getting carried away. Grace is diffident, but when she asks him to kiss her again he waves her away, telling her there's "no time".
  • Some of the more disconnected montages from the film are carried by Mrs Trattorio, a disapproving elderly neighbour of Grace, who briefly chats with the Doctor marooned on her doorstep. She's watching the television when Professor Wagg is told that the atomic clock won't start.
  • In the back of the ambulance, it's made clear that the Doctor has seen through Grace's ruse to get him to the hospital.
  • The Master explains to Chang Lee that the bearded man sculpted on the TARDIS busts is Rassilon
  • The Seventh Doctor's straw hat plays a bigger role in the novel, becoming a motif for the past.
    • The Eighth Doctor finds it alonside the other garments of his previous incarnation in the lockers where he gets his "Wild Bill Hickok" garb. When he touches it, it sparks a memory that begins to help him remember who he was. He decides therefore to keep it. (Exactly how it ended up there is unclear.)
    • Later, when Grace and he are trying to get past the motorcycle cop, he takes the hat from his coat. Inside the hat is a white bag of jelly babies, which he offers to the policeman.
    • When the Doctor bemoans the lack of his sonic screwdriver as he tries to get at the heart of the beryllium clock, he has a "moment" where he ponders what might have happened to his screwdriver and his belongings. He pulls his predecessor's hat out of his pocket and wonders how this part of his former life survived, while other things went missing.
    • When the Doctor and Grace return to the TARDIS, the Doctor takes his old self's straw hat, believing that somehow the TARDIS key might be inside it.
    • Finally, at the end of the adventure, the Doctor hears Auld Lang Syne rising up from the city of San Francisco. Grace says she hates the song, but the Doctor claims to have "always had a soft spot for all things Scottish", whereupon he produces the hat again, smiling to himself. After he gives Grace a final kiss, he hands her the hat, apparently parting with his former self as well.
  • The Doctor explicitly states that the Eye of Harmony in his TARDIS is linked to the one on Gallifrey. To open the eye, he elaborates would be like, "driving your car down a freeway at seventy, climbing onto the hood and putting your hand into the heart of the engine."
  • Bruce's body is slowly but visibly breaking apart, more than just losing nails at the hospital reception. During the final battle between the Master and the Doctor, the Master leaves Bruce's body and becomes a bleached silhouette of a man.
  • The book does not end with TARDIS mechanical failure. Instead the Doctor ponders over where to go next, hoping for somewhere exciting — or at least a place with a good pot of tea.
  • The Doctor watches a news program about San Jose. The extended news report includes slightly different dialogue that reveals the names of the news anchors as Mi-Jung Kanaka and Joanna, both sharing their first name with their respective actresses, Mi-Jung Lee and Joanna Piros.

2021 Target edition

The second edition had, among many inconsequential wording changes (such as morgue instead of body room or Lego bricks instead of Lego blocks for instance), some significant changes compared to the BBC edition generally being more in line with the movie dialogue, costumes and current context of the franchise.

  • A short prologue titled The Changing Faces of Doctor Who about the demise of the Eighth Doctor and legacy of the War Doctor
  • The Seventh Doctor reminisces about Ace, once offering her to stay at Gallifrey Academy although she declined, being a space mercenary or at a French royal court and he eventually recently spied on her A Charitable Earth activities
  • The Seventh Doctor is not contacted by the Master, instead he is tasked by a female Time Lord President who used to be in his TARDIS who transmit him the message received by Gallifrey; the message being an exact transcript of the cut Gordon Tipple voice over. The jewel casket storing the Master ashes is stated to be a mourning casket materialised in the TARDIS by the Time Lords.
  • The Master is judged by a Dalek Supreme and not an Emperor
  • The Seventh Doctor's journey to collect the remains in the empty courtroom on what is now described to be Skaro is fully written, escaping from a Dalek sentry
  • The Master is not stated to have recently used up an "extra" life but the Doctor lists to Grace some ways he used to prolong this final incarnation: Traken, Xeriphas, the Cheetah People and the Tzun Confederacy
  • Grace keeps her opera ballgown during the Seventh Doctor surgery
  • The shroud worn by the Eighth Doctor after regenerating is white instead of grey and worn as a toga. His jacket is forest green instead of chocolate brown, his vest is silvery instead of fawn paisley. He has brown hair instead of black and Grace notices his left eye to be a darker shade of blue than the right. Lee also notices his eyes to be two shades
  • Grace is just engaged instead of married. Shelly Curtis is similarly only has a construction worker as a fiancé instead of husband
  • The Master's DNA morphant is see through instead of green
  • The Master is not stated to prefer male bodies when stealing Bruce instead of Miranda
  • The Master wears dark denim, black shirt and boots instead of check shirt and light boots when exiting his host's lodging. When meeting Chang Lee, his black shirt under the paramedic attire is not stated to be a tunic with Nehru collar. His dress is red and gold with black velvet sleeves instead of full black velvet, and it is piped dark red at the sleeves and shoulders instead of fully piped with the same burnt orange as the high collar. It's also now held by a gold neck chain.
  • Pete and Ted's family names are stated. The Institute receptionist is called Kelly instead of Sophie
  • From Grace's window only part of the Golden Bridge and Angel Island are seen. She has floor to ceilign windows instead of French ones.
  • Grace's mother dies of ALS instead of cancer
  • Chang Lee's vision of the Doctor's incarnations, from the first to the current eighth one, is expended upon. It noticeably describes the Second Doctor has having grey green eyes while he usually is described as blue-eyed
  • The Master makes no mention about the Doctor being half human. The Doctor still mentions it to Joseph Wagg but Grace believes it was probably a joke. The Master states that Lee could open the Eye of Harmony because its defence mechanism works on Time Lords while humans were not even considered
  • Grace wears blue Levi's instead of black
  • The Doctor escapes the Master's ambulance on Golden Bridge and instead of merely near it
  • Grace does not mention a previous relationship with the son of a Tuscany vineyard owner
  • Grace asks the Doctor if he is married, he answers that he has grand daughter he should go back to and wonders if he has great grand children
  • When possessed, Grace has snake like eyes
  • The Master is seen with the Doctor's face when attempting to steal his body
  • After the Doctor dematerialises, Grace wonders if she was right not to stay with him and if she could get back her job

Author, writing and publishing notes

  • Photography for the front cover and rear cover is by Joe Lederer.
  • The cover features the Doctor Who logo printed in silver reflective foil, which is also used on the spine of the novel.
  • The front cover carries the line "He's Back...And It's About Time", a line never used in the TV movie but which became a tagline for many of the products and advertisements associated with the TV movie.
  • The cover design of the first edition is virtually identical to that used for the first VHS release.
  • The novelisation is dedicated to: Terrance Dicks (with the added line "Who made me want to write a Doctor Who novelisation"), Philip Segal and Matthew Jacobs.
  • Author Gary Russell later worked with the Big Finish Productions audio dramas series and as script editor for Doctor Who when it returned to television in 2005. This makes him one of the few people connected in a major way to the 1996 movie to carry on with the later revival. He would also write IDW Publishing's Doctor Who comic book series in 2007-08 as well as novelisations based upon episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures. In the 1970s, Russell was a child actor and one of the young stars of the TV series The Famous Five; a photo shoot promoting the series in the TV Times showed one of the young stars — possibly Russell — posing with a stack of Target Books Doctor Who novelisations.

References

Individuals

Additional cover images

Publishing history (UK)

International editions

  • There were not print releases of this novelisation outside Britain. In 1996, BBC Books did not have a distribution agreement for North America (unlike Virgin) so it was not made available overseas except by specialist importers, despite the film's strong ties to both the US and Canada. The novel was released prior to the show's UK airing.
  • The international reach of BBC Audiobooks in 2005 made the Tales from the TARDIS re-release of the audiobook the first time the novel had been readily available to international audiences, albeit in an abridged adaptation.

Audiobook

  • The BBC Books edition was released an abridged audiobook on audio cassette in 1997, read by Paul McGann. This release is notable for being McGann's first appearance on a Doctor Who audio, predating his work with Big Finish Productions by several years.
  • Gary Russell did the abridging for the audio version, taking out 25,000 words of his 50,000 word novel in one weekend. Some dialogue was reworded to gain more consistency with the filmed version.
  • In 2005 the audiobook was re-released as MP3 files on CD-ROM, as part of Tales from the TARDIS: Volume Two audio anthology.
  • The Target Books edition was released as an audiobook on 11 March 2021 complete and unabridged by BBC Audio and read by Dan Starkey.
  • 1997 Audiobook cover

    1997 Audiobook cover

  • 2021 Audiobook cover

    2021 Audiobook cover

External links

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