We’ve now had 10 full series and 13 years of the revived Doctor Who, which is long enough to consider it “classic” in some fashion. So classic, in fact, BBC Books is reviving the Target Books novelizations of some new series episodes. Just about every story in the classic series was novelized back in the day, often by the episodic writers themselves, but the majority by former script editor Terrance Dicks. For many young fans who didn’t have access to the original episodes, these were the only way they could experience former Doctors. In keeping with that, there are five new Target books on the way, a couple even by the showrunners.
According to Sci-Fi Bulletin, four new series and one never-before-novelized classic series stories are on the way on April 5 in the UK (no word outside). Russell T. Davies, who was the one responsible for bringing the show back in 2005, has novelized his very first episode, “Rose,” which reintroduced the series and the character of the Doctor to a whole new audience. Steven Moffat has also done one, novelizing his 50th anniversary story, “The Day of the Doctor,” and, according to him at Gallifrey One last weekend, he’s added quite a bit to it, which should make it feel even more epic.
In addition to the two showrunners, some of the best authors working today have gotten the chance to novelize some new series stories. Novelist Jenny T. Colgan has tackled “The Christmas Invasion,” which introduced the Tenth Doctor, and Paul Cornell, who’s written for Doctor Who in every medium, has taken on the challenge of adapting “Twice Upon a Time,” the Twelfth Doctor’s final story which also saw the return of the First Doctor. Rounding out the five, James Goss is adapting his own novelization of Douglas Adams’ classic “City of Death” to Target form (meaning much shorter).
Check out the covers of the first three novelizations covers (the other two are still to be finalized) below!
Images: BBC Books
Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor and the resident Whovian for Nerdist. Follow him on Twitter!
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