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The Space Pirates was a novelisation based on the 1969 television serial The Space Pirates. This was the last Target novelisation to be published under the ownership of W.H. Allen; henceforth, Virgin Publishing published the range.
Publisher's summary
The charges detonate in a series of silent explosions, and space beacon Alpha One disintegrates into lumps of metal. The space pirates have discovered a new source of precious argonite...
General Hermack of the Space Corps diverts his V-ship to investigate - and arrives in the Pliny system in time to witness the destruction of another beacon. Determined to trap the pirates, he leaves a squad of guards on beacon Alpha Four - and shortly afterwards, in the beacon's computer bay, the incongruous shape of a blue police box materialises.
Suspected by the Space Corps of being pirates, and then pursued as spies by the pirates themselves, the Doctor, Zoe and Jamie risk asphyxiation in the vacuum of space, execution and explosion in their attempts to unmask the mastermind behind the thefts of argonite.
Chapter titles
- Spacejack
- The Intruders
- Trapped
- The Renegade
- The Survivors
- Pursuit
- Missile Attack
- The Fugitives
- The Prisoners
- Escape
- Betrayed
- Rocket Blast
- A Coffin in Space
- Countdown to Doom
Deviations from televised story
- The closing chapter features Milo Clancy gives an obscene answering machine message to Hermack.
Writing and publishing notes
- Cover artist Tony Clark first knew that he was expected to do the cover at a convention in the USA. His first submission was rejected as it featured the likeness of the Second Doctor. Jamie McCrimmon's was not considered a well enough known face to be used on the cover. The pose used by the pirate is inspired by the 1984 film Runaway.
- This was Terrance Dicks' last Doctor Who novelisation for the Target range of Doctor Who novelisations. He would later adapt the independent film Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans as the Virgin New Adventures novel, Shakedown. His next TV adaptation would not be published until 2007 when he adapted Invasion of the Bane, the first episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures.
- Back pages include; full page advert for Doctor Who Magazine and
Target Books advert for Doctor Who 1963-1989 THE COMPLETE ADVENTURES-IN PRINT!
- The first edition cover was the last Target Books edition to not feature an image of the Doctor.
British publication history
One single paperback edition, priced £2.50 (UK), estimated print run: 24,000 copies.
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