Doctor Who and the Destiny of the Daleks (novelisation)

The Daleks are excavating in order to find and revive Davros, the mad, crippled, scientific genius who first created them. They hope that he will give them the scientific superiority to break the deadlock with their Movellan enemies.

Faced once more with the deadly and seemingly indestructible Daleks, the Doctor's wits and strength are stretched to their very limits...

1992 Target Books edition

THE DOCTOR AND ROMANA HAD LANDED ON SCARO, THE HOME WORLD OF THE DREADED DALEKS...

Landing on an apparently deserted world, they come upon a horrifying discovery.

The Daleks are excavating in order to find and revive Davros, the mad, crippled, scientific genius who first created them. They hope that he will give them the scientific superiority to break the deadlock with their Movellan enemies.

Faced once more with the deadly and seemingly indestructible Daleks, the Doctor's wits and strength are stretched to their very limits.

This is a novelization by Terrance Dicks, whose name is almost synonymous with Doctor Who, of an original script by Terry Nation - the real creator of the Daleks.

Chapter titles

The Dead City
Underground Evil
The Daleks
The Movellans
Slaves of the Daleks
Escape
The Secret of the Daleks
The Prisoner
The Hostages
The Bait
Stalemate
Suicide Squad
Blow-up
Departure

Deviations from televised story

The novel maintains the original script idea to have all the action on Skaro take place at night, shrouded by darkness.
During the Doctor's escape from the Dalek command centre, the Daleks use hoverbouts to chase him.
Tyssan tries to bully the Doctor and Romana into going with the prisoners to put Davros on trial.
The book the Doctor reads is The Origin of the Tenth Galaxy rather than the universe and is said to have been written by a pompous Time Lord historian.
The environment of Skaro is said to be the remains of the old Kaled city with a concrete floor, explaining why the dead prisoners are buried under rocks.
Sharrel is not with Lan and Agella when they first encounter the Doctor.
The dead Kantrian is named as Dal Garrant, with the Doctor mentioning Kantrians don't possess radiation treatment.
The need for anti-radiation pills is followed further than on screen, with the Doctor offering Romana some when they are reunited.
The genders of Veldan and Jall are reversed with Veldan being female and Jall male. There is no mention of them joining up with Tyssan later on, so their fate after Romana's escape is unclear.
Sharrel orders Lan to guard the Nova Device and thus perish in its detonation rather than him volunteering.
Sharrel specifies the Movellans' original intention was to find what the Daleks were after and gain it themselves.
The Doctor does not learn he is on Skaro until later than on screen, when Tyssan mentions the fact on entering the Dalek base.
The two prisoners exterminated by the Daleks to force the Doctor's hand are both male (on screen, one is female) and the next prisoner in line is said to be a young girl.
The Movellan Guard deactivated by the Doctor and Tyssan is male rather than female.
Romana does not kick off Sharrel's arm but kicks the power pack out of his belt.
It is specified that there are only six Daleks left other than the leader to form the suicide squad.
The Doctor detonates the bombs himself rather than causing Davros to do it.
The Doctor is attacked by the Kaled mutant he finds while hiding from the Daleks.

Writing and publishing notes

This novelisation was intended for release simultaneously with the TV transmission (hence the novel being written from the script version of the story). It appeared two months after.
This was the first novelisation to feature the character of Romana. The novels adapting the Key to Time arc, in which she debuted, were not published until after.
The back cover blurb was rewritten because it originally identified the Movellans as robots.
This was the first novel with a cover illustration by Andrew Skilleter. There was no visual reference available to the illustrator, who had to conduct his own research using the BBC Picture Publicity Library, before appealing to fans and Doctor Who Magazine.

Additional cover images

Hardcover edition.
1990 edition.
Cover by Alister Pearson

British publication history

First publication:

Hardback

W.H. Allen & Co. Ltd. UK

Paperback

Target

Editions published outside Britain

Published again in Germany by Goldmann Verlag in 1989 as a paperback edition, translator unknown and published as Dr. Who und der Schopfer der Daleks, it was one of six German novelisations published in the late 1980’s. Unusually the artwork was swapped with Doctor Who and the Daleks.

German edition

External links

On Target a comprehensive guide to the Target novelisations by Tim Neal