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Doctor Who: Daleks Masterplan I (Part 1)

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This a great adaptation of a story that covered thirteen episodes. The main story was twelve episodes. The series now has thirteen episode seasons. The second part isDoctor Who the Daleks' Masterplan, Part II: The Mutation of Time (Target Doctor Who Library, No 142). This is a great adaptation because it gives the feel of how the actual show was on tv, which is important because only two episodes exist. It also gives a good feel for how the William Hartnell Doctor was. Which isn't surprising since he's John Peel's favorite Doctor

Arguably, the longest story in Doctor Who's history is 'The Daleks' Master Plan', which lasted 12 episodes to the main story and a one episode prologue. (I say arguably, since 'The Trial of a Time Lord' went for 14 episodes, but had a number of sub-stories.)

This novel is the adaptation of the prologue and first six episodes. It is written as a "stand alone" book, and could be read separately from the second part ('The Mutation of Time') if you really wanted and couldn't find the second part. (It is certainly a better tactic than trying to cram so much information into a single volume - witness the adaptation of 'The War Games' for a different way of adapting a long story.)

In essence, the Daleks and a number of other alien races form an alliance to invade human space (or the Solar System, as the story oddly refers to it). They have constructed a secret weapon which requires a Tarranium core to power it. The Doctor, with companions Steven and Katarina arrive on the planet Kembal and stumble into the investigation of Space Security Service agent Bret Vyon.

Little do any of them know, but there is a traitor in the hierarchy of the human government.

Possibly the main fault of this story is that it is a little meandering - not as bad as, say, 'The Keys of Marinus' and 'The Chase', but containing some things that could have been left out in the original. John Peel, however, correctly retains them in this adaptation.

What Mr. Peel does do is insert a wide variety of references to the universe of Doctor Who that, in 1965 when this story was shown, hadn't yet been thought of. By doing so, he adds to the text. It is also interesting to see how he layers the prologue into rest of the story.

As such, this novelisation not only stands in for the original story (most of which no longer exists on tape), but is probably a more enjoyable read for Doctor Who fans than a straightforward adaptation would have been.

Not a bad book. Not a good book. A wasted opportunity So much more could have been done with this. Insight into Dalek culture. Insight into the mind of arch traitor Mavic Chen. Insight into the races of the outer galaxies. Even some knowledge of earth history of that period. Katarina, the first of the Doctor's companions to ever perish, does so and, in a particulary nasty way, and, except for Steven, no one really cares. Not even the author. By the story's end, the reader barely even remembers that she existed. Still. At least, the Doctor Who fan has the full story. Continued in The Mutation of Time.