The Case of the Missing Masterpiece by Terrance Dicks (Blackie & Son, 1978) This first book of the Baker Street Irregulars series shows Terrance Dicks to be right at home in a London setting. Unlike his Doctor Who novelisations, the Holmes-inspired mystery is rich in background detail and characterisation, its investigation offering plenty of suspense!
Tag Archive for Terrance Dicks
Dr. Ninth
Dr. Ninth by Adam Hargreaves (BBC, 2017) As if inspired by a particularly insipid Terrance Dicks novelisation, Hargreaves doesn’t so much attempt a mash-up here as a clumsy retelling of Rose’s first story. The text is belaboured and even the pictures offer little. Jack Harkness is a middling highpoint.
Star Quest: Spacejack!
Star Quest: Spacejack! by Terrance Dicks (W. H. Allen, 1978) Drawing on the SF zeitgeist of the late 1970s, Dicks managed to channel Doctor Who, Star Wars, and even Planet of the Apes in this slim Middle Grade adventure. An easy, fast-paced read with decent characterisation and several positive (if overt) morals.
Doctor Who: Tomb of Valdemar
Doctor Who: Tomb of Valdemar by Simon Messingham (BBC, 2000) Messingham writes in the present tense, and with a framing device fit to discombobulate readers weaned on Terrance Dicks and the like. The result is a fully fledged SF novel that artfully showcases—rather than props itself up on—the Fourth Doctor.
Doctor Who: Night of the Humans
Doctor Who: Night of the Humans by David Llewellyn (BBC, 2010) Whatever the story’s merits (the Doctor and Amy encounter shipwrecked aliens and bestial humans on a rubbish gyre in space), the writing makes this impossible to persist with. Not even by order of Terrance Dicks should young adult books be so unsophisticated.
Doctor Who and the Carnival of Monsters
Doctor Who and the Carnival of Monsters by Terrance Dicks; read by Katy Manning (Bolinda, 2014) [first published by Target, 1977] Precious few Target novelisations reach heights anywhere near those of the original broadcasts; certainly none by Terrance ‘run-of-the-mill’ Dicks. Carnival of Monsters is elevated somewhat in audiobook form by voice artist Katy Manning, whose range encompasses even a husky…