The Novel of the Film (novelisation)

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Doctor Who - The Novel of the Film by Gary Russell is a novelisation of the 1996 TV movie, Doctor Who which was published in conjunction with the film's broadcast in the United States, Canada and Great Britain. (A script book was also published simultaneously).

This release is significant for a number of reasons. It was the premiere release of a Doctor Who novel by BBC Books and marked their pending takeover of the license for publishing Doctor Who related fiction. Virgin Publishing, the successor to Target Books (which had published Doctor Who novelisations since 1973 and original fiction from 1986) subsequently lost its license to publish Doctor Who novels, although its New Adventures line featuring the Seventh Doctor and Missing Adventures line featuring past Doctors would continue to be published for the next year (the NA line would ultimately also publish a single Eighth Doctor novel). In mid-1997, BBC Books launched its Eighth Doctor Adventures and Past Doctor Adventures.

Russell's novelisation of the TV movie, the first-ever novelisation published by a company not related to Virgin or Target, is considered a standalone work and not part of the Eighth Doctor Adventures line.

The book carries two titles. On the front cover, the book is titled simply Doctor Who -- reflecting the title of the TV movie. The spine, however, carries the longer title.

Publisher’s Summary

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...

The novelisation of the long-awaited new Doctor Who film, featuring eight pages of colour photographs from the film.

A co-production between BBC Worldwide and Universal Television starring Paul McGann as the Doctor, Eric Roberts as the Master and Daphne Ashbrook as Grace.

A BBC video (BBC 5882) is also available.

Deviations from the film

  • According to the introduction of the book, Russell wrote the adaptation based upon the screenplay, without having seen the finished product. As a result the novel contains a number of differences from the movie.
  • Grace and Chang Lee's back stories are explored in a larger detail than in the TV movie.
  • Around the first chapter and a half goes into more detail about aspects of the TARDIS and how/why the Doctor got the Master's remains.
  • At the final battle between The Master and The Doctor, The Master leaves Bruce's body and leaves it dead on the floor and The Master becomes a bleached sillohette of a man.
  • The book does not end with things messing up again in the TARDIS, instead the Doctor ponders over where to go next, hoping for somewhere exciting or at least a place with a good pot of tea.

Author, Writing and Publishing Notes

  • Photography for the front cover and rear cover is by Joe Lederer.
  • The cover features a the 'Doctor Who' logo in a silver reflective effect (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 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 went on to work with the Big Finish audio dramas series, and as script editor for Doctor Who when it returned to telvision in 2005. This makes him one of the people connected in a major way to the 1996 movie to carry on with the later revival.

Associated Images

To be added

Publishing History (UK)

International Editions

  • Much like the DVD release of the TV movie, there have been no international releases of this novelisation. In 1996 BBC Books did not have a distribution agreement for North America (unlike Virgin) so it was not made available overseas in its original edition, either.

Audio and script books

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