The first of a two part set celebrating the best of the Target novelisations of Doctor Who episodes, written by the legend that is Terrance Dicks. In the days before streaming on demand, DVD recording and even VHS, if you missed an episode of the beat show in the universe then you were a bit stuck. Except, you could go out and buy a book of the story for next to nothing. And if it was written by Dicks, you were pretty much guaranteed to be able to 'see' the story as clearly as if you were watching it on screen. Or that's what I've always been led to believe...

I will say immediately that I'm of the 2005 era of Who - I'm just and just too young to remember the classic series. So while I do like it and will watch it, it's fair to say I don't enjoy it as much as the modern era *cough* David Tennant 😍 *cough*. 

This book contains five stories covering the first three Doctors. And I haven't seen any of the episodes in full, so I am judging this for the most part purely on the written version. I will say that my above assertion is definitely correct for the most part; Dicks' writing paints a glorious picture of the action and really draws you in to the world. That being said, it does only work if you know what the characters look like - he doesn't spend much time on description of people as he assumes you've probably seen at least one episode before you've picked up the book! So while I can certainly see the Doctors, companions and other regular characters, the story-specific characters are harder to get to know. What does make me giggle a bit is the fact that, even in written form, you can still get the feeling you're in the ubiquitous quarry at least once a story! 

Although I wouldn't say the stories have aged brilliantly, at the same time their being in a novel format gives them a freshness that watching the TV series lacks... especially for the episodes that are in black and white!

That being said, while the written word has the advantage of being able to portray each setting at its absolute best, you still get the classic Who 'wobbly set' vibe. The edition I have (1st paperback edition, published 2022) is littered with typos and spelling errors - I think the last story is the only one where I didn't pick up on noticeable errors. My argument is that this isn't an original printing; the books were all published separately in the 70s/80s, so basically it's copy-typing. Even if these mistakes exist in those, surely they should have been corrected in these omnibus editions?! I'm sorry, but the editor did a terrible job here.

My other huge bugbear is that these are meant to faithfully reflect the episodes. So I'm really frustrated that the one scene I do know well and have watched, where the Doctor leaves Susan behind, is completely different in the book! I have a connection with that scene; my lovely Dad read the Doctor's speech as part of my wedding ceremony, so it feels like Dicks has just disregarded one of the most beautiful speeches for no reason. His version doesn't carry anywhere near the same power or depth of feeling. And it makes me wonder, if he changed such a pivotal moment, what else has he changed? I guess I'll need to go through my husband's DVD collection and find out...

Overall, none of the episodes contained in this book hold a lot of interest for me, but it was interesting to read them. I do have volume 2 and will pick that up eventually, but for now I'll stick with Ten and Rose...