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Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks

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One of two Dr. Who stories that initially never got novelized due to rights involving Terry Nation, the creator of the Daleks, Power Of The Daleks was finally novelized by John Peel in 1993. The difference between this and the slim by the numbers novelizations of other stories is that this is a full twenty-six chapters, putting more depth into the characters of the Doctor, Ben, and Polly. As Power Of The Daleks is one of the Who stories no longer extant in the BBC archives, a novelization is actually invaluable.

The story begins with a reprise of the last moments of The Tenth Planet, where the First Doctor defeated the Cybermen in Antarctica. He collapses in his time machine, the TARDIS, and once there, regenerates, physically changing himself into a short man with twinkling eyes and a shock of black hair who later gets into the habit of tootling on a recorder.

Of his two travelling companions, Ben, the Cockney seaman, is skeptical he is the Doctor, but blonde Polly is convinced. Ben's suspicions continue when they land on the planet Vulcan (no relation to Spock's planet) with its bubbling mercury pools. The Doctor witnesses the murder of an Earth investigator and poses as that person, though he never sees the assassin, who knocks him out but leaves behind a clue. His arrival causes tension. The governor, Hensell, assumes the Doctor's there to report on his lack of progress against rebellious workers. The scientist Lesterson, believes the Doctor is there because of a capsule that landed 200 years before. Lesterson has been working on trying to get it open. The Doctor succeeds and finds to his horror, two dormant Daleks, the xenophobic, salt-shaker shaped aliens he's fought many times before.

The Doctor tries to convince Lesterson and Hensell to have the Daleks destroyed, but is unable to prevent the Daleks from being reawakened, where they instantly offer themselves as servants of the Earth colonists. Lesterson believes he can control them by shutting off their power, and more, by disengaging the arm that fires their laser weapons. Plus, the Daleks win the governor over by offering to help build an anti-meteorite shield for colony. But as the Doctor says, "it will end the colony's problems because it will end the colony!" After all, "one Dalek poses more threat... than a string of armed atomic missiles."

His only ally seems to be Quinn, the deputy-governor whom Polly takes a shine to, much to Ben's jealousy, but he seems anxious to speak to the Doctor. Of the other people he meets, there's Janley, a pretty but hard-working no-nonsense woman who's Lesterson's assistant and who uses her wiles to persuade people. Bragen, the Head of Security, seems to be sticking to his duties, but there are internal politics brewing between him, Hensell, and Quinn.

The novel places the Cybermen defeat as the 1990's, yet it is already firmly established in the TV series that it took place in 1986, so a strange continuity error there. Another thing that's been added in the novel is that the colony's one sponsored by International Mining Corporation, the exploitative company first faced by the Third Doctor in Colony In Space. And unless the video version of this story is found, the novel's all we got to go on, which in itself is a good thing. John Peel has written other Who novelizations involving the Daleks (The Chase, Mission To The unknown, The Dalek Master Plan) so he was well-placed to write this novelization and the other missing Dalek novelization Evil Of The Daleks.

John Peel has taken a televised story and fashioned a great Doctor Who novel. The pacing and characterizations are excellent. His Troughton Doctor IS Troughton's Doctor. His Daleks are more than just screeching robots. He captures the fear and dread that the Daleks envoke perfectly. It's the best they have been handled in years. Peel opens up the story as well including references to UNIT and Sarah Jane Smith that are much appreciated. If only THE TENTH PLANET that this book is a sequel to could have been half as well done. Fine writing. Fine book.

The Power Of The Daleks, as a TV story, is one that holds many places in the pantheon of Doctor Who stories. It was the first story to feature Patrick Troughton as the Doctor and the penultimate Dalek story of the 1960's to name a couple. It is also one of the many 1960's Doctor Who stories missing from the BBC's archives due to a BBC policy of the time. In 1993 it would become the penultimate Doctor Who novelization published for the Target book range. John Peel's novelization takes a lost classic TV story and turns it into a classic Who book.

The novelization is helped by the fact that this was one of a handful of novelizations that was given the page count of an actual novel. At nearly double the length of the average Target novelization that preceded it, The Power Of The Daleks allows the six part serial to be fully fleshed out and even expanded in places. For example, Peel gives us a look at the workings of the colony where the story is set and shows us the tensions that threaten to boil over into a revolution as the story goes on. To do this Peel gives us not only access to the inner thoughts of the colony's leaders (such as Governor Hensell and security chief Bragen) but also the average person in the colony via the physician Thane, a character created exclusively for this novelization whose appearances help personalize the events that were (apparently) very much off screen in the TV version A perfect example of the use of characters inner thoughts is in Chapter 21 as we read Lesterson's thoughts as the realization that he's not only been wrong about the very nature of the Daleks but, worse, he has been manipulated by them as well happens slowly but surely. As a result the characters in the novelization feel like literary characters in their own right.

The novel is also full of wonderful visual moments as well. This is ironic since the TV version no longer exists in the BBC archives but the novel, in its own way makes up for this. There's the sunrises and sunsets seen through the window in the Governor's office which are beautifully described for example. But perhaps the single best section of the novel comes in Chapter 21 when Lesterson enters the Dalek ship and discovers the Dalek assembly line where a whole Dalek army is being built. There is a sheer richness to the details down to the sights and sounds of it all. Peel takes a lost visual story and gives it visuals all over again.

Perhaps the most successful element of this novelization is the fact that it doesn't feel like one. The expanded page count makes sure that this novelization is really a novel in its own right. That means that we have not only a lot more internal thoughts and motivations and visual descriptions but also in the novelization an equivalent of what the TV story was: a political thriller with science fiction elements. Peel lets the story unfold like a thriller as the TARDIS crew, led by a newly regenerated Doctor, arrive on the Earth colony world of Vulcan where they soon become embroiled not just in Lesterson's attempts to revive the Daleks but the political situation as well. The TV version, and the novelization as well, give a story with characters who are far from what they seem with some that are seeking political power to end the supposed tyranny of Hensell, some who seek it for personal gain and manipulate others to do so and, in the form of Lesterson a man wrapped up in the the thrill of scientific discovery that he becomes a victim of those seeking power around him. Throw into the mix the Daleks who are simply at their most manipulative and frightening as they slowly begin to gain the ability to take over the colony themselves. The result is a very fleshed out novelization that is practically a novel in its own right.

There is one thing I do take Peel to task on. In a few places in the novelization there are some rather unnecessary references to Doctor Who stories made years after the TV version of this story first aired. There's the Prologue for example which is full of references to things such as the UNIT organization, its Sargent Benton (now a Lieutenant apparently), Professor Alison Williams from 1988's Remembrance Of The Daleks and Sarah Jane Smith in the space of less then a page and a half. All that while tying into the end of the story that proceeded The Powers Of The Daleks to boot! These references are rather unnecessary though Peel does make some good ones too. For example he ties the Vulcan colony to the Interplanetary Mining Corporation from the later story Colony In Space or the fact that the Doctor's journal is written in ancient High Gallifreyan. For the most part though the references are a distraction from an otherwise good book.

To call this book a novelization is to do it an injustice. The expanded page count gives this book a chance to explore things deeper then many of the Target novelizations of the past had done with its characterizations, expansions of plot points, and successfully bring the political thriller plot to the printed page as well. While its not perfect of course, due in large part to some distracting references to other Who stories, John Peel novelization of this lost Who story is very much the same kind of story that made its TV counterpart a classic Who story.

This is the first story of the second Doctor(Patrick Troughton) and the true telling of the first regeneration. John Peel promised a friend that unlike DOCTOR WHO AND THE TENTH PLANET. he would get the regeneration right. Peel us gives an idea of how the British audience must have felt in describing how the Doctor's companions Ben and Polly reacted to this new (and improved?) Doctor. Peel also took the opportunity to use material from the original scripts that wasn't in the episodes. A must for any Doctor Who fan!

For a long time, a number of Doctor Who stories had not been adapted to book form. Possibly the most important of these was the first story of the second Doctor (as portrayed by Patrick Troughton). Whereas 'The Tenth Planet' introduced the concept of regeneration, 'The Power of the Daleks' had to make it work.

In this adaptation, John Peel is fortunate to have a decent page count in which to portray the story. Unlike the vast majority of Doctor Who novelisations, this one has the time to examine the motives of the characters rather than just describing their actions.

The Doctor and his companions, Ben and Polly, arrive on the Earth colony of Vulcan. While Polly accepts that the man claiming to be the Doctor is indeed him, but Ben is more sceptical. Following some arguments, the Doctor exits the TARDIS and straight into the assassination of an Earth official, for whom the Doctor will be taken to be.

Explorations by the colony have uncovered a buried spaceship, and with the Doctor's assistance it is opened and inside is a Dalek...

This story is also important in the history of depiction of the Daleks. In all previous stories, they have been in control. In this story, they are vastly outnumbered by the humans and lack resources to aid them. But these are Daleks, so they find a way to bring themselves to a position to fight the humans.

The Doctor's endeavours are greatly impeded by internal politics of the colony.

If only all the Target novelisations had been given this amount of space and thought in their adaptation!

POTD is missing but we have the novel. John Peel has done well for the fans for previding us with this wonderful novel about the classic Dalek story and Patrick Troughtons' first story. The daleks are aways the bad guys and lose in the end. The Doctor is clown in this story and ben and polly are the best in this story then in others. John Peel has put in scenes that were in the script but not in the televised story. Well done , Mr. Peel.

The TARDIS lands on the Earth colony of Vulcan in 2020 and descovers that a derelict spaceship has been discovered containing two immobil Daleks. The chief scienist reactivates one in the hope of using it as a servant, but the plan goes wrong and all too soon the planet is being overrun by Daleks...