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Target Books published many Doctor Who novelisations in paperback (and, later, hardcover) as well as few related nonfiction works and two original novels from the 1970s through to the early 1990s. Many older fans, in particular, grew up to have as many fond memories of the novelisations as they did the parent series itself. Though Target did publish other children's books, Target remains most closely associated with their Doctor Who range.
The Target Years
1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994+
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Target Books was a publishing imprint set up in 1972 to a range of paperback fiction for readers of approximately 14 years of age. It was for its long lived and highly successful range of Doctor Who novelisation with which it became best known. Though most widely known as paperbacks, the novelisations saw first printings in hardback by sister publishers Allan Wingate (and later by W. H. Allen).
The Target imprint changed hands many times over its history but up until the end, when it adopted a more modern monochrome version, retained its distinctive brightly-coloured logo. By the end of the series, they novelised almost every Doctor Who television story and adapted every one of the First, Second and Third and Seventh Doctor's on-screen adventures.
The importance of the Doctor Who novelisations to maintaining interest and knowledge in the franchise cannot be overestimated. Considering that, prior to the 1980s, it was usually not possible to obtain recordings of previously aired stories, coupled with the fact reruns were rare and sporadic, and many episodes from the 1960s were deleted and believed lost, the novelisations were (and in some cases remain) one of the only venues for reliving past stories, or catching up on stories never seen before by fans.
In 1973, Target reprinted Doctor Who titles, Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks and Doctor Who and the Crusaders, adapted by David Whitaker and Doctor Who and the Zarbi, adapted by Bill Strutton, had previously seen publication as hardbacks by Frederick Muller. For the Target edition, the Daleks novel had its title shortened to Doctor Who and the Daleks. All had new covers by Chris Achilleos, who would illustrate the first wave of Target Doctor Who books.
An original publication, Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion by Terrance Dicks would follow in 1974. Over the years, "Uncle Terry", as fans would nickname him, would write more Target Books and have a closer association with them in the minds of fans, than any other writer. He would also write a short series of simplified Junior Doctor Who novelisations for younger readers.
Linking some early Target novelisations to their television counterparts was a challenge at times, as for the first few years Target occasionally published novelisations under titles that differed from the TV originals. This practice actually pre-dated Target, with Doctor Who and the Zarbi having been based upon The Web Planet. Under Target, for example, Spearhead from Space became Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion. When the decision was made to keep the original title, the prefix Doctor Who and... was usually added. There were a few exceptions, such as the release of Doctor Who: The Three Doctors. Also there were occasional exceptions for first-edition hardcover publications, such as the novelisation of Revenge of the Cybermen which was first published as Doctor Who: The Revenge of the Cybermen in hardcover, and Doctor Who and the Revenge of the Cybermen in paperback.
The Muller reprints were not the last books by another publisher to be reissued by Target, as the company also published a new edition of The Making of Doctor Who, a book previously issued by Piccolo Books.
Beginning in the second half of the 1970s, W.H. Allen and/or related publishers began issuing hardcover editions of the novels. In some cases these predated the paperback editions by months, often they were published simultaneously, and in the case of a few of the 1974-75 books hardcover editions weren't published for nearly a decade.
During the 1980's, experimentally, they published two original novels featuring further adventures of the Doctor's companions, Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma by Tony Attwood and Harry Sullivan's War by Ian Marter, who had played Harry Sullivan on television. Target also took up three scripts from the "lost" version of Season 23, which, due to the delay and re-thinking of Season 23 by the then-current production team of Doctor Who, never made their way onto screen. Target also began to look beyond the televised series for source material by novelising the radio play Slipback and the spin-off special K-9 and Company: A Girl's Best Friend.
Beginning in 1981, Target began making a concerted effort to enlist the original script-writers in writing the novelisations based upon their stories, and were successful in commissioning novelisations even from writers who last worked on the series in the 1960s. Where the original author was unavailable, unwilling, or deceased, the range turned to one of its staff writers, such as Marter or Terrance Dicks. The practice of having the original scriptwriters write the books when possible would continue for the remainder of the line.
In 1982, Target phased out the practice of adding Doctor Who and... to its novelisation titles. In 1988, the practice of publishing hardcover editions was abandoned following publication of The Smugglers.
During the 1990's with the company having been acquired by Virgin Publishing , the only titles still held by Target were the Doctor Who stories. Many of the titles were reissued with new covers, but to many readers they were still affectionately regarded as Target Books. Indeed Virgin itself referred to the later titles as part of "the Target Library"!
In the later years of the run, Target was successful in negotiating with Terry Nation's estate the rights to adapt four of his Daleks storylines, most notably The Chase and The Daleks' Master Plan; the latter had to be published in two volumes.
Target eventually outlasted the original run of Doctor Who itself, with ended with Season 26 in 1989. The Target line continued in the "short paperback" form until the release of Doctor Who - The Pescatons in 1991 -- an adaptation of an audio play, as virtually all televised stories had been adapted. Between 1990 and 1994 Target also republished many of its older novelisation releases with new cover art; a subsidiary, Star Books, also published omnibus paperback editions combining two books at a time.
After 1991, several additional releases were published in longer-format paperbacks by the owner of Target, Virgin Publishing, beginning with the adaptations of The Evil of the Daleks and The Power of the Daleks, the last two remaining Terry Nation scripts. The 1994 release The Paradise of Death, based upon a radio play, was the 156th and last release in the Target series.
By the time it had ended, almost every Doctor Who story ever aired on television (save for five; see below), along with several audio dramas, had appeared under the Target imprint. Within a few years of the final release, the Target Books line had fallen out of print, with many of the books, particularly the more scarce hardback editions, becoming collectors items. Virgin continued to publish a few more novelisation, but under its New Adventures and Missing Adventures lines, and none based upon televised episodes of the original series.
When Doctor Who returned to television in 2005 it was announced that no novelisations would be published, in part due to the expectation that the episodes would be easily available on DVD in due course. Nonetheless, Penguin Character Books would revive the novelisation format by releasing adaptations of episodes from the spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures; appropriately, the first of these books was written by Terrance Dicks. One novelisation, adapting The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, would feature the Doctor, appearing in a TV novelisation for the first time since the novelisation of the 1996 TV movie.
Target Books was unable to come to agreement with Douglas Adams or Eric Saward on the adaptation of several serials. As a result the Adams-written (or co-written) The Pirate Planet, City of Death and the unbroadcast Shada, and Saward's two Dalek stories, Resurrection of the Daleks and Revelation of the Daleks, were never adapted for Target (the Saward stories were at one point announced as future releases, but were cancelled). Years later a New Zealand-based Doctor Who fan club published fan-written novellas adapted these storylines.
In addition, Terrance Dicks intended to novelise his stage play, Doctor Who: The Ultimate Adventure for Target, but the project was cancelled.
In the early 1980s, several audio book adaptations of Target novels were released, read by Tom Baker. In 2007 BBC Audio began a new series of complete and unabridged releases of the Target novelisations giving new life to these old (and out of print) favourites. (see Target Books (BBC Audio releases)). In most cases the books are read by actors who had appeared in the original stories.
In July 2008, backstock of 27 Target novelisations (and a few Target-published spin-off works) were distributed at random with copies of Doctor Who Magazine #397. These were not reprints but original copies, some dating back more than 25 years.
From 1989 through 1990, as The Missing Episodes, Target published a short series which adapted scripts which have aired during Season 23, before the hiatus put on Doctor Who by Michael Grade. A few scripts which the production team intended to have aired during this version of the season remained un-novelised.
Although intended to showcase original fiction (see below), the Companions sub-series also included a novelisation.
In the early 1980s, Target published two adaptations by Dicks of earlier novelisations, written for younger readers.
Target's Doctor Who fiction consisted exclusively of novelisations, with two exceptions.
Target Books also published numerous reference and behind-the-scenes books based upon Doctor Who, as well as activity and general knowledge books featuring the Doctor.
A non-fiction series of illustrated educational books narrated by the Fourth Doctor.
(See also Doctor Who Quiz Books)
The following books adapted official and unofficial Doctor Who and Doctor Who-related productions, but were not published under the Target Books banner:
Novella-length adaptations of episodes of the spin-off series.
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