Doctor Who Literature

Our third of four episodes in our Trial of a Time Lord season features the conclusion of the Trial arc... but not the conclusion of the novelizations of the Trial arc.

The traditional American protest song "John Brown's Body", sampled in this episode, is from the ⁠Pete Seeger recording⁠.

And, with that out of the way, let's talk Doctor Who Literature with Mark and Conrad from ⁠The Trap One Podcast⁠.

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Find Doctor Who Literature at ⁠https://linktr.ee/DrWhoNovels⁠.

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"Doctor Who – The Ultimate Foe" features cover art by Alister Pearson.

Doctor Who Literature is a member of the ⁠Direction Point Doctor Who podcast network⁠.

Please e-mail the pod at ⁠[email protected]⁠.

You can catch all past episodes at

Stacey Smith? joins me from another exotic locale to discuss a rare bird -- the highly-sought-after novelization of "The Wheel in Space". Is the book worth the exorbitant cover price on the secondary market? Is the TV serial a fitting capstone to David Whitaker's legacy?

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Find Doctor Who Literature at https://linktr.ee/DrWhoNovels.

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"Doctor Who – The Wheel in Space" features cover art by Ian Burgess.

Doctor Who Literature is a member of the Direction Point Doctor Who podcast network.

Please e-mail the pod at [email protected].

You can catch all past episodes at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/doctorwholit.

We remain off the boards for one more week, to discuss not a Target Doctor Who novelization, but rather a new publication from ⁠Panini Comics⁠. It's The Return of the Daleks (purchase link: ⁠here⁠), a compilation of the Doctor-less backup strips from the earliest days of Doctor Who Weekly/Doctor Who Monthly/DWM. The compilation features commentary from Paul Scoones -- who joins us this week to discuss not only this new book, but also ⁠the TSV novelizations⁠, high-quality fan-made novelizations of five 1970s/'80s Doctor Who TV serials which, for rights reasons, were never novelized by Target during the line's original run.

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Find Doctor Who Literature at ⁠https://linktr.ee/DrWhoNovels⁠.

Watch this episode and all previous episodes on YouTube at

Doctor Who Literature is a member of the ⁠Direction Point Doctor Who podcast network⁠.

Please e-mail the pod at ⁠[email protected]⁠.

You can catch all past episodes at

This week Doctor Who Literature takes a week off from the Target novelizations to explore the rest of Jason's childhood bookshelves. I started reading the Target Doctor Who titles when I was 11, but I started reading just before turning 5. That's a lot of reading long before I found Terrance Dicks.

So let's take an hour and walk through what Jason loved before Doctor Who. We'll discuss the Dutch-language children's fiction of Dick Bruna; the magic of Little Golden Books; the Big Three comics lines of the 1970s: Marvel, DC, and Gold Key/Whitman; baseball annuals aimed at children; and, of course, the Hardy Boys, the Choose Your Own Adventures, and the pictorial novelizations of Peanuts TV specials.

We hope you'll join for this week as we walk not just through Jason's childhood bookshelves, but also, really, his brain.

EDIT: I found that version of "The King" on YouTube. It's amazing.

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Find Doctor Who Literature at ⁠https://linktr.ee/DrWhoNovels⁠.

Watch this episode and all previous episodes on YouTube at

Doctor Who Literature is a member of the ⁠Direction Point Doctor Who podcast network⁠.

Please e-mail the pod at ⁠[email protected]⁠.

You can catch all past episodes at

This week we extend a warm Doctor Who Literature to author Nigel Robinson, who penned this week's Doctor Who novelization, an adaptation of the infamous -- but also wonderful -- 1967 Patrick Troughton adventure, The Underwater Menace. Nigel also walks us through the rest of his prolific career as a writer and editor, as we cover almost 60 years of fandom in just under 60 minutes.

Thanks so much to Nigel Robinson for his time in the recording of this episode.

This week's opening number was recorded by Jim Sangster.

You can also hear Jason, Si, and Frazer on Trap One discussing the animated release of Underwater Menace earlier in 2024.

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Find Doctor Who Literature at https://linktr.ee/DrWhoNovels.

Watch this episode and all previous episodes on YouTube at

"Doctor Who – The Underwater Menace" features cover art by Alister Pearson.

Doctor Who Literature is a member of the Direction Point Doctor Who podcast network.

Please e-mail the pod at [email protected].

You can catch all past episodes at

The novelization of Vengeance on Varos was published two years behind schedule, meaning that book number 106, which was skipped in the Target Doctor Who novelization release order in 1986, is belatedly plugged in -- immediately after the previous two novelizations were both assigned number 127. Got that?

This week's Doctor Who Literature guest is David Barsky. David and Jason have lots of TV and international travel to discuss. And, occasionally, Vengeance on Varos, a controversial story and a novelization tending towards the... verbose.

Sound clips in this episode include:

--The 1969 Encyclopedia Britannica short film adaptation of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery";

--A Season 3 "Simpsons" riff also on "The Lottery";

--"Family Guy", like David Barsky, did not care for The Godfather;

--The venerable U.S. game show "The Price is Right", which has been on the air since, like, 1911, has memorable sound bites here and here.

Not heard in the episode, but highly recommended, is both the trailer for and the movie LOCK-UP (1989), starring Sylvester Stallone (not McCoy), the late Donald Sutherland, and the late John Amos (whose death was announced the day this episode was recorded).

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Find Doctor Who Literature at https://linktr.ee/DrWhoNovels.

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"Doctor Who – Vengeance on Varos" features cover art by David McAllister.

Doctor Who Literature is a member of the Direction Point Doctor Who podcast network.

Please e-mail the pod at [email protected].

You can catch all past episodes at

Welcome to the beginning of the end of Doctor Who Literature. It's May 1988, and the paperback release of the first of the 12 Sylvester McCoy-era Doctor Who novelizations by Target Books. The Target run had a finite lifespan, and from here on out, with the last Classic Series Doctor finally joining the Target stable, the end is in sight.

We will have two guests for each of the Sylvester McCoy books. First up this week is Jim Sangster, who is now officially co-host of the show and the producer of our YouTube channel and video content. Jim has a new song for us this week.

We also have an archival interview with Joe Ford from July 2021 extolling the virtues of Time and the Rani, from Jason's first attempt at a podcast, unreleased after all this time until now.

Please purchase Andrew Cartmel's Script Doctor from Ten Acre Films.

"16 Going on 17" comes from The Sound of Music. Doctor Who Literature expressly refutes Rolfe's political affiliation. As does Family Guy.

The history of the Topps 1980 baseball card set is here.

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, subscribe, and rate us!

Find Doctor Who Literature at https://linktr.ee/DrWhoNovels.

Watch this episode and all previous episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@drwhonovels.

Doctor Who Literature is a member of the Direction Point Doctor Who podcast network.

Please e-mail the pod at [email protected].

You can catch all past episodes at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/doctorwholit.

This week Jim bids a sad farewell to the legendary David Graham, contributor of voices (and two live-action roles) to Doctor Who, and who did voice work for almost every other British series that mattered, up to and including "Peppa Pig".

Stacey Smith? rejoins Jason for a look at the first Trial of a Time Lord story, The Mysterious Planet. It's Robert Holmes' final completed Doctor Who serial, and -- in story order -- Terrance Dicks' final Doctor Who novelization.

Stacey also digs deep into the rec.arts.drwho archives and finds a Jason comedy post from 1996... which Jim narrates and performs.

This week's episode's got it all.

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Find Doctor Who Literature at https://linktr.ee/DrWhoNovels.

Watch this episode and all previous episodes on YouTube at

"Doctor Who – The Trial of a Time Lord: The Mysterious

Doctor Who Literature is a member of the Direction Point Doctor Who podcast network.

Please e-mail the pod at [email protected].

You can catch all past episodes at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/doctorwholit.

The Time Meddler is a seminal moment in Doctor Who history. No Doctor Who podcast can be complete without acknowledging it, and no podcast about Doctor Who Literature can be complete without discussing its novelization.

Frazer Gregory, one of my most frequent and popular guests, rejoins me for the first time since Episode 100. We have a lot to say about this story, including a discussion of its geography -- where in Northumbria does it take place, and on what precise day does it take place? Frazer has a theory, and it involves, perhaps, the very week that we're talking to you.

There are also games to be played, not just the one that I have for Frazer, but the one that he has for me ...

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Find Doctor Who Literature at ⁠https://linktr.ee/DrWhoNovels⁠.

Watch this episode and all previous episodes on YouTube at

"Doctor Who –The Time Meddler features cover art by Jeff Cummins.

Doctor Who Literature is a member of the ⁠Direction Point Doctor Who podcast network⁠.

Please e-mail the pod at ⁠[email protected]⁠.

You can catch all past episodes at

Welcome to Part One of our intermittent ongoing look at The Trial of a Time Lord, a single 14-part Doctor Who serial that comprised the whole of Season 23, televised between September and December 1986, but broken up into four separate novelizations. Confusingly released out of order and non-consecutively.

Jim Sangster, Doctor Who Literature's multi-talented co-producer, logo designer, and in-house band, adapted and performed this week's introductory number, appeared as a talking head on the Trial of a Time Lord DVDs (recorded 16 years prior to the production of this episode), and is this week's guest. We'll about about Liverpool and its many connections to Doctor Who, and speculate just when does Trial take place relevant to the Sixth Doctor's own timeline?

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, subscribe, and rate us!]

Watch this episode and all previous episodes on YouTube at

"Doctor Who – The Trial of a Time Lord: Terror of the Vervoids" features near-pornographic cover art by Tony Masero.

Doctor Who Literature is a member of the ⁠Direction Point Doctor Who podcast network⁠.

Please e-mail the pod at ⁠[email protected].⁠

You can catch all past episodes at