Now this is a real classic, one of Terrance's finest efforts. Almost every page has been polished and improved. When the Doctor first arrives, he wonders if he subconsciously piloted the TARDIS to this unexpected location. And he has a feeling something's missing - 'Of course! Sarah Jane Smith.' He ruminates on how he couldn't take her to Gallifrey, and how in any case 'it was more than time that she took up her own ordinary human life again.' But despite feeling assured that he'd acted for the best, he 'couldn't help feeling a little lonely...' And we immediately cut to Leela, who is thus foregrounded as potential companion (if the big picture of her on the cover wasn't enough of a clue).
She, incidentally, wonders whether there might be 'some other tribe that would take her in' - an interesting suggestion, but it seems most likely that the Sevateem and the Tesh were the only survivors of the expedition.
The Wall is much more impressive on the page - a tunnel opens up in it, into which the Sevateem rush. Before the attack, Andor reflects that 'Much more of this and Xoanon would have no Sevateem left to worship him,' because the attacks, and hunting accidents, famine and disease have reduced their numbers to critical levels. I particularly like stories where the Doctor turns up just as a situation is about to go pear-shaped anyway.
(One quibble about the Wall - if it's a Time Barrier, how come they can see the mountain with the Evil One's face on it? It's inside the barrier, surely?)
When the Doctor survives the Test of the Horda, he realises that his rare achievement has given him a temporary psychological advantage, which he must exploit while it lasts.
He also has a reverie which explains exactly where his original visit to the planet fits into continuity. (I won't spoil it for those who haven't read it, but it makes sense).
After the particle analyser scene, it's made clear that the Doctor already had the mirror in his hand when Jabel poleaxes him, thus answering the puzzle of how he got it out of his pocket when he was tied up. I'm told that this is visible on screen too, but I've never noticed it myself.
The ending is much the same, except for the omission of the 'Little Gentek?' line, and a TARDIS interior scene where Leela sees, and curiously operates, the dematerialisation lever.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Target: The Deadly Assassin
This is a strangely uninspiring Target - it only comes alive in the Matrix section, where the descriptions of the Doctor's opponent, the Hunter, 'perfectly equipped for jungle warfare', are excellent and do the difficult job of making a very visual passage work on the page.
Spandrell does not refer to Sheboggans when he talks about vandalising the light-globe.
The only other enhancement I noticed was that the Doctor's evasion of the guards is helped by his memories of childhood hide-and-seek games in the Capitol.
Spandrell does not refer to Sheboggans when he talks about vandalising the light-globe.
The only other enhancement I noticed was that the Doctor's evasion of the guards is helped by his memories of childhood hide-and-seek games in the Capitol.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Target: The Hand of Fear
This is one of my most well-read Targets, battered and with the pages falling out. Good cover picture too, with the symbolic shadow of the Hand (Sarah has the wrong costume on though).
Terrance doesn't say anything about the ethnicity of the doctor who cleans the Doctor's cuts at the hospital - but he's a 'keen young student', and I got the impression that the man seen on screen was more experienced than that.
Dr Carter doesn't do the 'Just like Andy Pandy' line. He drives a vintage Bentley (not an Austin Maxi) which would have made the shots of the journey to Nunton much more impressive on screen.
Professor Watson's appearance 'reflected the rugby field rather than the laboratory.' There's lovely!
Tom Abbott (the quarry foreman) gets an extra appearance - he watches the Doctor, Sarah and 'a tall woman in some kind of fancy get-up' arrive in a car and get into the TARDIS. On the Doctor's earlier visit, Abbott is impressed by his presentation of UNIT credentials - this is the last survival of the original intention for the story to be UNIT's final hurrah.
Sarah does not fetch herself a banana from the TARDIS interior. Her 'It's very nice' remark about Kastria is purely tactful, not sarcastic.
The dog that Sarah pats is 'a small shaggy dog.' Shaggy dog story eh? Sarah whistles 'to keep up her spirits', and sets off to catch the bus home.
Thus bringing the Sarah Targets to an end: she was always a much better character on the page, resourceful and intelligent and without that gulpy delivery. I once drunkenly read the Targets of Time Warrior and Hand of Fear twice each in one night in an attempt to 'recreate the SJS era' - probably the best use of being drunk I've ever found.
Terrance doesn't say anything about the ethnicity of the doctor who cleans the Doctor's cuts at the hospital - but he's a 'keen young student', and I got the impression that the man seen on screen was more experienced than that.
Dr Carter doesn't do the 'Just like Andy Pandy' line. He drives a vintage Bentley (not an Austin Maxi) which would have made the shots of the journey to Nunton much more impressive on screen.
Professor Watson's appearance 'reflected the rugby field rather than the laboratory.' There's lovely!
Tom Abbott (the quarry foreman) gets an extra appearance - he watches the Doctor, Sarah and 'a tall woman in some kind of fancy get-up' arrive in a car and get into the TARDIS. On the Doctor's earlier visit, Abbott is impressed by his presentation of UNIT credentials - this is the last survival of the original intention for the story to be UNIT's final hurrah.
Sarah does not fetch herself a banana from the TARDIS interior. Her 'It's very nice' remark about Kastria is purely tactful, not sarcastic.
The dog that Sarah pats is 'a small shaggy dog.' Shaggy dog story eh? Sarah whistles 'to keep up her spirits', and sets off to catch the bus home.
Thus bringing the Sarah Targets to an end: she was always a much better character on the page, resourceful and intelligent and without that gulpy delivery. I once drunkenly read the Targets of Time Warrior and Hand of Fear twice each in one night in an attempt to 'recreate the SJS era' - probably the best use of being drunk I've ever found.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Target: The Masque of Mandragora
Another Philip Hinchcliffe adaptation. No time is wasted in the opening, we're told straight away that this is Italy in 1492. The cart full of straw being set on fire is the first act of violence, rather than the last, which I think works better than the confused brutality seen on screen.
Sarah wanders off to pick peaches, not oranges.
The scene with the interrogation of the Doctor by the Count is different: the Doctor says that the Count's future will be short and unpleasant if he doesn't listen, not that he doesn't have one. It's Hieronymous who has the line about a mocking tongue, and it isn't immediately followed by the order for execution: Giuliano's entry causes a distraction, during which the Doctor surreptitiously examines a phial of poison which Federico has on hand.
I have in the past claimed that the High Priest isn't in the novel, just Hieronymous, but I was completely wrong I'm afraid.
When Hieronymous hypnotises Sarah into believing that the Doctor is a sorceror there's a wonderful bit of POV: 'A preposterous thought had formed in her head; something she had known all along, something which was blindingly obvious. What a fool she had been not to see it before. His strange manner, his alien powers, his magical possessions.'
Giulano, not the Doctor, explains what solvitur ambulando means. And he would know.
The means the Doctor uses to defeat the Helix are made clearer: he's laying a circuit of wire so that the energy will short-circuit when it reaches the Brethren. Also, his breastplate is earthed - there's some good suspense when he notices that the earth wire is on the point of melting.
At the masque, Giuliano doesn't recognise Sarah when she's all glammed up, until she asks him where the Doctor is. When the story finishes, she's sad to leave him behind: she wants to share the task of getting San Martino back to normal with him. But she settles for just giving him a 'heartfelt look', and the young Duke is left only with the consolation of watching the TARDIS vanish and thinking 'There is a reason for everything. Even this. One day science will explain it all.'
Sarah wanders off to pick peaches, not oranges.
The scene with the interrogation of the Doctor by the Count is different: the Doctor says that the Count's future will be short and unpleasant if he doesn't listen, not that he doesn't have one. It's Hieronymous who has the line about a mocking tongue, and it isn't immediately followed by the order for execution: Giuliano's entry causes a distraction, during which the Doctor surreptitiously examines a phial of poison which Federico has on hand.
I have in the past claimed that the High Priest isn't in the novel, just Hieronymous, but I was completely wrong I'm afraid.
When Hieronymous hypnotises Sarah into believing that the Doctor is a sorceror there's a wonderful bit of POV: 'A preposterous thought had formed in her head; something she had known all along, something which was blindingly obvious. What a fool she had been not to see it before. His strange manner, his alien powers, his magical possessions.'
Giulano, not the Doctor, explains what solvitur ambulando means. And he would know.
The means the Doctor uses to defeat the Helix are made clearer: he's laying a circuit of wire so that the energy will short-circuit when it reaches the Brethren. Also, his breastplate is earthed - there's some good suspense when he notices that the earth wire is on the point of melting.
At the masque, Giuliano doesn't recognise Sarah when she's all glammed up, until she asks him where the Doctor is. When the story finishes, she's sad to leave him behind: she wants to share the task of getting San Martino back to normal with him. But she settles for just giving him a 'heartfelt look', and the young Duke is left only with the consolation of watching the TARDIS vanish and thinking 'There is a reason for everything. Even this. One day science will explain it all.'
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Target: The Seeds of Doom
An unusual Philip Hinchcliffe effort - ultimately a rather disappointing one, with some of the best bits omitted.
The Doctor and Sarah are made to seem strange, mysterious and very competent, a bit like an Avengers pairing perhaps. I wonder if this was a response to the odd way the story has them hanging round on Earth at the start of the action, as if it was an old Pertwee script that fell down the back of Robert Holmes' submissions box?
The first visit by Dunbar to Harrison Chase that we see is his first one ever - he has only just decided to sell out, whereas on screen I got the idea that he'd been leaking information for some time.
There's no argy-bargy about Moberley not being qualified to amputate an arm - he's 'had some medical experience' so he agrees to the idea straight away.
When Stevenson (Bob Fleming) sees Scorby's gun, he doesn't waste any time telling him to drop it, he just tries to shoot him immediately. Botanists are tougher than we've been led to believe!
The Floriana Requiem and the 'green cathedral' remark are absent.
The Molotov cocktail idea is entirely the Doctor's. Scorby does not make the quotation about being of the same opinion as Mr Chase. Later, he doesn't do the speech about being a mercenary either.
Hargreaves doesn't appear to say anything in the scenes with Keeler, which is a shame because on screen his unruffled manner contributes a sense of surreal normality to the proceedings. We don't see his second visit to the cottage. There's no Chase/Mr Chase stuff with Scorby either.
The lead fighter pilot talks about turning the Krynoid into 'chop suey'.
It's Sarah who invites Sir Colin to come to Cassiopeia. After declining, he looks out of his window and sees the TARDIS dematerialising from the WEB car park. So the Doctor and Sarah got to the Bureau by TARDIS? That at least makes more sense than the nonsensical ending seen on screen.
The Doctor and Sarah are made to seem strange, mysterious and very competent, a bit like an Avengers pairing perhaps. I wonder if this was a response to the odd way the story has them hanging round on Earth at the start of the action, as if it was an old Pertwee script that fell down the back of Robert Holmes' submissions box?
The first visit by Dunbar to Harrison Chase that we see is his first one ever - he has only just decided to sell out, whereas on screen I got the idea that he'd been leaking information for some time.
There's no argy-bargy about Moberley not being qualified to amputate an arm - he's 'had some medical experience' so he agrees to the idea straight away.
When Stevenson (Bob Fleming) sees Scorby's gun, he doesn't waste any time telling him to drop it, he just tries to shoot him immediately. Botanists are tougher than we've been led to believe!
The Floriana Requiem and the 'green cathedral' remark are absent.
The Molotov cocktail idea is entirely the Doctor's. Scorby does not make the quotation about being of the same opinion as Mr Chase. Later, he doesn't do the speech about being a mercenary either.
Hargreaves doesn't appear to say anything in the scenes with Keeler, which is a shame because on screen his unruffled manner contributes a sense of surreal normality to the proceedings. We don't see his second visit to the cottage. There's no Chase/Mr Chase stuff with Scorby either.
The lead fighter pilot talks about turning the Krynoid into 'chop suey'.
It's Sarah who invites Sir Colin to come to Cassiopeia. After declining, he looks out of his window and sees the TARDIS dematerialising from the WEB car park. So the Doctor and Sarah got to the Bureau by TARDIS? That at least makes more sense than the nonsensical ending seen on screen.
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
Target: Brain of Morbius
The casualty we see in the opening is called Kriz - there's a digression about the orderly insect race he comes from. The Doctor does not refer to him as a Mutt, merely a member of a mutant insect species.
Solon wears robes ('which somehow suggested the academic') rather than the neat madman/dictator/Bond villain suit seen on screen. When he covers up the bust of Morbius, he merely says 'Oh, no, I’m sure you're mistaken,' which entirely lacks the Madoc menace of 'No, you were mistaken'.
The Sisterhood wear black robes. The reason the Doctor's pyre catches fire so easily is that it's soaked in rineweed oil. They have tridents, not those cool flammiform blades seen on screen.
Condo brings Sarah a snack when he takes her to the 'parlour'. There are various allusions to her experience of blindness, TD making an effort to turn it into more than just a plot device.
Ohica remembers an occasion when a disgraced Sister tried to force her way back into the Elixir ceremony: denied the drug, she crumbled into nothing before her very eyes. (Ohica is quite sympathetically portrayed in the novelisation).
Solon still makes the 'crowning irony' joke, but he doesn't do the 'pun was irresistible' bit. He doesn't tell Condo 'All right, she doesn't like it' but 'That's enough drooling for now'.
Morbius' claw came from a Crustacoid (the race to which Vorg's battery sergeant in the 14th Heavy Lasers in Carnival of Monsters belonged).
Instead of the 'pliers' remark when he insists on the disassembly of Morbius, the Doctor grabs a hacksaw and says '..otherwise I'll do it myself. Though I warn you, my surgical technique's a bit rough and ready.'
The Doctor and Sarah don't search for the HCN, the Doctor has already found it when he begins to exposit. The mind-bending setup has attention drawn to it slightly before it becomes important, which is good as it lessens the impression that it's been pulled out of nowhere to provide a resolution.
There are no pyrotechnics when the TARDIS dematerialises. Sarah can't wait to get away from Karn, and who can blame her?
Solon wears robes ('which somehow suggested the academic') rather than the neat madman/dictator/Bond villain suit seen on screen. When he covers up the bust of Morbius, he merely says 'Oh, no, I’m sure you're mistaken,' which entirely lacks the Madoc menace of 'No, you were mistaken'.
The Sisterhood wear black robes. The reason the Doctor's pyre catches fire so easily is that it's soaked in rineweed oil. They have tridents, not those cool flammiform blades seen on screen.
Condo brings Sarah a snack when he takes her to the 'parlour'. There are various allusions to her experience of blindness, TD making an effort to turn it into more than just a plot device.
Ohica remembers an occasion when a disgraced Sister tried to force her way back into the Elixir ceremony: denied the drug, she crumbled into nothing before her very eyes. (Ohica is quite sympathetically portrayed in the novelisation).
Solon still makes the 'crowning irony' joke, but he doesn't do the 'pun was irresistible' bit. He doesn't tell Condo 'All right, she doesn't like it' but 'That's enough drooling for now'.
Morbius' claw came from a Crustacoid (the race to which Vorg's battery sergeant in the 14th Heavy Lasers in Carnival of Monsters belonged).
Instead of the 'pliers' remark when he insists on the disassembly of Morbius, the Doctor grabs a hacksaw and says '..otherwise I'll do it myself. Though I warn you, my surgical technique's a bit rough and ready.'
The Doctor and Sarah don't search for the HCN, the Doctor has already found it when he begins to exposit. The mind-bending setup has attention drawn to it slightly before it becomes important, which is good as it lessens the impression that it's been pulled out of nowhere to provide a resolution.
There are no pyrotechnics when the TARDIS dematerialises. Sarah can't wait to get away from Karn, and who can blame her?
Sunday, August 01, 2010
Target: Pyramids of Mars
There are many rather good extra bits in this book, it really is one of TD's best efforts. I'm surprised that I didn't remember most of them - I think this one was very much in demand at the library, and by the time I had my own copy I knew the screen version well, so I didn't read it much. More fool me.
A prologue has been added, describing the events on Phaester Osiris that led to Sutekh's imprisonment, before we join Marcus Scarman at the semi-legendary Black Pyramid. Finding it has taken him years, and he's spent 'many English sovereigns' in the bazaars to get information.
The Doctor calls Sarah 'Victoria', not the annoying and wrong 'Vicky' used on screen. Sarah reflects that he's still annoyed by being called back to deal with the Zygons - and she thinks at some length about her association with the Doctor, and the way that all her adventures, and all the years that the Brigadier's known him, are just a small part of his travels, and that he's had 'many lives and many companions'. Lovely stuff.
Namin also has a lengthy reverie, about his work as a priest of the secret cult that the Osirans set up to maintain the Black Pyramid. Reading between the lines, it's clear that they couched the secret writings in religious terms so that the ancient Egyptians could grasp them. By the way, the labourers seen in the opening scene don't escape - Namin and his associates killed them all, making this a story in which everybody dies (except Horus).
Collins (the manservant) doesn't plead that it's hard to find jobs at his age. His motivation is purely loyalty to the Scarman family.
Sarah doesn't mention to Laurence that she comes from 1980 (nor does she say it in the TARDIS later). The 'preposterous' exchange flows better, too - it runs 'Yes it is, isn’t it,' agreed Sarah sympathetically. 'I’m sorry.' I think it's funnier that way.
Ernie Clements is first seen at dawn the day after the Doctor, Sarah and Laurence hide in the 'priest-hole' - they spend all night there. Ernie used to take the Scarmans 'poaching' on their own land when they were boys, and he sells rabbits to Dr Warlock too. When the mummies are chasing him through the woods, 'for the first time in his life he felt some sympathy for the animals he hunted and trapped.' (Cf the comment about fox-hunting in Android Invasion).
Sarah once researched an article on Egyptology for an educational magazine, which is why she knows about the 740 gods etc.
The narration goes to some lengths to make it clear that Ernie's hut wasn't, and never had been, his home. There really is a ferret in the cage - it escapes. Sarah doesn't throw the box of sweaty gelignite, but she does poke the contents with her finger, horrifying the Doctor.
When Marcus Scarman grabs his brother, there's the same 'smoke' effect as is seen in the episode one cliffhanger.
The Doctor already has the detonation plan worked out when they stash the gelignite - it isn't an improvisation.
After the Doctor's 'Human?' line he adds, 'You forget, Sarah, I'm not.' I think it works better without the explanation. 'Five men, six' have been murdered, not 'Four, five'.
We see Sarah's capture by the mummies. When the Doctor appears in the time tunnel on his return journey, he's sitting cross-legged, not standing up.
In the pyramid, Sarah wonders why Scarman didn't order her killed as well as the Doctor. Sutekh says that they're in an antechamber under the pyramid, not that there is an antechamber as he seems to on screen. He also calls the switch a switch, not a solenoid (on screen he delivers it as if he's insulting Scarman - 'extreme right, solenoid' - perhaps Gabriel Woolf didn't understand the line?)
There are some minor swaps between lines and thoughts in the Cretan paradox scene, but nothing special. The switches are on the wall, not the glass bell.
The opposing mummies hit each other with great swinging blows (rather than ineffectually bumping into each other) - eventually achieving mutual destruction. When Sutekh breaks free, Marcus Scarman does not get to proclaim his own freedom before dying - I thought it was a shame to omit this.
When the Doctor has Sutekh trapped, he says 'You forgot that Time is the weapon of the Time Lords. I have used Time to defeat you.' Sutekh lives another 7000 years, whereas on screen it sounds like he lived 7000 years in toto.
There's no joke (?) about 1666, but there is a TARDIS bookend where Sarah's weariness and horror at all the deaths is well conveyed. She says that surely the events at the Priory will get out - the Doctor tells her that Time takes care of these things, 'when we get back home, you can look it up and see!'
Even better, there's an Epilogue, a really nice account of how 'later, much later' Sarah does just that, and is consoled. I won't spoil it for you by quoting it - it's a real Target high point. Well done TD.
A prologue has been added, describing the events on Phaester Osiris that led to Sutekh's imprisonment, before we join Marcus Scarman at the semi-legendary Black Pyramid. Finding it has taken him years, and he's spent 'many English sovereigns' in the bazaars to get information.
The Doctor calls Sarah 'Victoria', not the annoying and wrong 'Vicky' used on screen. Sarah reflects that he's still annoyed by being called back to deal with the Zygons - and she thinks at some length about her association with the Doctor, and the way that all her adventures, and all the years that the Brigadier's known him, are just a small part of his travels, and that he's had 'many lives and many companions'. Lovely stuff.
Namin also has a lengthy reverie, about his work as a priest of the secret cult that the Osirans set up to maintain the Black Pyramid. Reading between the lines, it's clear that they couched the secret writings in religious terms so that the ancient Egyptians could grasp them. By the way, the labourers seen in the opening scene don't escape - Namin and his associates killed them all, making this a story in which everybody dies (except Horus).
Collins (the manservant) doesn't plead that it's hard to find jobs at his age. His motivation is purely loyalty to the Scarman family.
Sarah doesn't mention to Laurence that she comes from 1980 (nor does she say it in the TARDIS later). The 'preposterous' exchange flows better, too - it runs 'Yes it is, isn’t it,' agreed Sarah sympathetically. 'I’m sorry.' I think it's funnier that way.
Ernie Clements is first seen at dawn the day after the Doctor, Sarah and Laurence hide in the 'priest-hole' - they spend all night there. Ernie used to take the Scarmans 'poaching' on their own land when they were boys, and he sells rabbits to Dr Warlock too. When the mummies are chasing him through the woods, 'for the first time in his life he felt some sympathy for the animals he hunted and trapped.' (Cf the comment about fox-hunting in Android Invasion).
Sarah once researched an article on Egyptology for an educational magazine, which is why she knows about the 740 gods etc.
The narration goes to some lengths to make it clear that Ernie's hut wasn't, and never had been, his home. There really is a ferret in the cage - it escapes. Sarah doesn't throw the box of sweaty gelignite, but she does poke the contents with her finger, horrifying the Doctor.
When Marcus Scarman grabs his brother, there's the same 'smoke' effect as is seen in the episode one cliffhanger.
The Doctor already has the detonation plan worked out when they stash the gelignite - it isn't an improvisation.
After the Doctor's 'Human?' line he adds, 'You forget, Sarah, I'm not.' I think it works better without the explanation. 'Five men, six' have been murdered, not 'Four, five'.
We see Sarah's capture by the mummies. When the Doctor appears in the time tunnel on his return journey, he's sitting cross-legged, not standing up.
In the pyramid, Sarah wonders why Scarman didn't order her killed as well as the Doctor. Sutekh says that they're in an antechamber under the pyramid, not that there is an antechamber as he seems to on screen. He also calls the switch a switch, not a solenoid (on screen he delivers it as if he's insulting Scarman - 'extreme right, solenoid' - perhaps Gabriel Woolf didn't understand the line?)
There are some minor swaps between lines and thoughts in the Cretan paradox scene, but nothing special. The switches are on the wall, not the glass bell.
The opposing mummies hit each other with great swinging blows (rather than ineffectually bumping into each other) - eventually achieving mutual destruction. When Sutekh breaks free, Marcus Scarman does not get to proclaim his own freedom before dying - I thought it was a shame to omit this.
When the Doctor has Sutekh trapped, he says 'You forgot that Time is the weapon of the Time Lords. I have used Time to defeat you.' Sutekh lives another 7000 years, whereas on screen it sounds like he lived 7000 years in toto.
There's no joke (?) about 1666, but there is a TARDIS bookend where Sarah's weariness and horror at all the deaths is well conveyed. She says that surely the events at the Priory will get out - the Doctor tells her that Time takes care of these things, 'when we get back home, you can look it up and see!'
Even better, there's an Epilogue, a really nice account of how 'later, much later' Sarah does just that, and is consoled. I won't spoil it for you by quoting it - it's a real Target high point. Well done TD.