Doctor Who and the Dæmons

Whether or not you like Target novelization of "The Daemons" is going to depend a lot on whether or not you like the televised story itself. Held up by many as the quintessential story of the third Doctor's era, it has just about all of the earmarks of the era--UNIT, the Master, a threat to Earth. Fans will argue that it's got all the elements that make for a good third Doctor story while detractor will argue that its exactly all those elements coming together, plus a bit of padding to bring the whole affair out to five episodes, that hold the story back.

One interesting thing about the novelization is that, for years, it was the only official way fans could experience the story (outside of bootleg, n-th generation copies of the story on VHS). I have a feeling a lot of fans read the novel and created a lavish tapestry in their minds of exactly what this story could and would look like on-screen, only to be shockingly disappointed when they saw the real thing. (The fact that the n-th generation VHS bootlegs could be blurry probably only helped things to not conflict too much with the images created in eye of your imagination).

Of all the various eras of "Doctor Who," it's interesting that the third and fourth Doctor's era are those that benefit the least from the Target novels. Yes, all the stories are out there in Target novel form, but there were few instances in which a story was substantial expanded on or deepened by the novel. Outside of a couple of Malcolm Hulke stories, the Pertwee novelizations rarely strayed out of events portrayed on-screen or tried to beef up or add more to the storylines.

And "The Daemons" is in the mold of the depict what we saw on TV without adding much to it. Writer Barry Letts (who helped co-write the story on television) adds a little bit of local color to the villagers in the opening pages, but once the story takes off, it's really no more or less than your average tell the story in novel form of other novelizations of this era. If you're hoping that Letts would add a lot to the story or expand some things or maybe even compress certain scenes for the sake of a novel, you're going to be disappointed. If you're looking for a nice telling of a good story that is, in my opinion, a classic of not only its era but all of "Doctor Who," odds are you'll like the book. But after listening to "The Daemons" again, I found myself wanting to return to the televised version again. Which thankfully in our era of "Doctor Who" we can easily do with the restored VHS edition. ( )

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This was one of those books which, on rereading, very much lived up to my fond childhood memories. It is funny, witty, adds bags of backstory to both minor and major characters (the account of the Doctor and the Master growing up together on Gallifrey ought to be canon for all interested fanfic writers), substitutes far better special effects on the page for the end-of-budget ones we got on-screen, and is generally a good read. My favourite Third Doctor book so far. ( )