Doctor Who Discovers (series): Difference between revisions

|type        = Book series

}}{{you may|Doctor Who Discovers|n1=the in-universe book series of the same title}}

The '''''Doctor Who Discovers''''' series was a series of educational children's novels starring the [[Fourth Doctor]], written by [[Fred Newman]] and illustrated by [[Jeff Cummins]].

In [[1976 (releases)|1976]], [[Target Books]] published ''[[The Doctor Who Dinosaur Book]]''. It was Target's first foray into educational ''Doctor Who'' books with a narrative framing device, and established the format followed by the subsequent ''Doctor Who Discovers'' series: each book featured the [[Fourth Doctor]] relating historical and scientific information to the reader as he explored the subject in [[the Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]]. Following the success of the ''Dinosaur Book'', Target decided to expand the idea into a full range, giving rise to the ''Discovers'' series. ([[REF]]: [[DWM 576]])

The series had its original run between [[1977 (releases)|1977]] and [[1978 (releases)|1978]], taking the form of large-format stapled paperbacks. Each of the books included a pull-out poster stapled to the centre, depicting the cover artwork by [[Jeff Cummins]]. Priced at 75p, the books each had a print run of 40,000 copies, apart from the [[Doctor Who Discovers Strange and Mysterious Creatures (novel)|final instalment]] which had a reduced print run of 10,140 copies.

The series was intended to run to 24 titles, but only five titles were released in the series, with ''[[Doctor Who Discovers The Miners (novel)|Doctor Who Discovers The Miners]]'', ''[[Doctor Who Discovers Inventors (novel)|Doctor Who Discovers Inventors]]'' and ''[[Doctor Who Discovers Pirates (novel)|Doctor Who Meets The Pirates]]'' due next for publication before the range was cancelled due to poor sales. Three drafts of ''Doctor Who Meets The Pirates'' had already been written. In [[2019 (releases)|2019]], Fred Newman's wife, having become the custodian of his papers, allowed ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'' access to the drafts, as well as "Target's original paste-up layouts for what would have been Fred's book". Jeff Cummins was contacted and agreed to create an original cover, finally allowing ''Doctor Who Magazine'' to publish the novel under the name of ''Doctor Who Discovers Pirates'' on [[31 March (releases)|31 March]] [[2022 (releases)|2022]] as a bonus to [[DWM 576]].

|Fourth Doctor, [[Aristotle]], [[Alexander the Great]], [[Bucephalus]], [[Julius Caesar]], [[Hannibal]], [[Richard I of England]], [[Saladin]], [[Napoléon Bonaparte]], [[Arthur Wellesley|Duke of Wellington]]

|''[[Doctor Who Discovers Strange and Mysterious Creatures (novel)|Doctor Who Discovers Strange and Mysterious Creaturs]]''

|Fourth Doctor, Julius Caesar, [[Henry Morgan]]

== Notes ==

* In the audio story ''[[The Kingmaker (audio story)|The Kingmaker]]'', ''[[Doctor Who Discovers]]'' was a series of books actually written by the [[Fourth Doctor]] during his time working with [[UNIT]]. As in the real world, only five books were published, despite more being planned. The cover art for the audio release depicts ''Doctor Who Discovers'' using the same cover-art format (and [[Doctor Who logo|''Doctor Who'' logo]]) as the real-life books, only it shows a fictional volume entitled ''Historical Mysteries.'' In some of the novels in the real-world series, the Doctor actually mentioned that he intended to write some books based on what he learned in his historical travels.

== Cover gallery ==

DWDEarlyMan.jpg|''[[Doctor Who Discovers Early Man (novel)|Doctor Who Discovers Early Man]]''

DWDPrehistoricAnimals.jpg|''[[Doctor Who Discovers Prehistoric Animals (novel)|Doctor Who Discovers Prehistoric Animals]]''

DWDSpaceTravel.jpg|''[[Doctor Who Discovers Space Travel (novel)|Doctor Who Discovers Space Travel]]''

DWDConquerors.jpg|''[[Doctor Who Discovers The Conquerors (novel)|Doctor Who Discovers The Conquerors]]''

DWDStrangeCreatures.jpg|''[[Doctor Who Discovers Strange and Mysterious Creatures (novel)|Doctor Who Discovers Strange and Mysterious Creatures]]''

DWDPirates.jpg|''[[Doctor Who Discovers Pirates (novel)|Doctor Who Discovers Pirates]]''

[[Category:Doctor Who Discovers| *]]

[[Category:Prose fiction overviews]]

[[Category:Tie-in book series]]