S18 On Target

[SiHart]

Season 18 was novelised shortly after transmission by various authors- David Fisher, Andrew Smith, John "Steven Gallagher" Lydecker and of course, the iconic Terrance Dicks.

What are your thoughts, memories and recollections of the S18 Target Books?









Si xx

[Andrew Curnow]

Just the sight of those covers makes me nostalgic -

I remember scouring Carlisle for The Leisure Hive early in 1982, and getting particularly grumpy when it wasn't anywhere to be seen.

My Auntie Mar bought me Meglos for a birthday present the year it came out.

Full Circle and Logopolis (the latter a very pleasant surprise since I didn't know it was out yet) were both bought on a Summer holiday in Scotland in 1982

State of Decay I bought from WH Smith one Saturday afternoon, again in 1982, when me & bruv went into Carlisle City Centre on our own (on the bus).

And Warrior's Gate I picked up in Helston Woolworths (yes, I believe it may have been 1982...) and was puzzled by the name of the author, as DWM had said the original writer of the TV show would be writing the book!

Traken... I can't remember where I got it, but I do remember hating the very white cover and the very angular Nyssa!!

State of Decay & Warrior's Gate are two of the most atmospheric covers in the range, I think.

[SiHart]

I can pinpoint some of the places that i got some of these books from-

The Leisure Hive was a Christmas present from my Mum and Dad. Rather touchingly, Dad queued up in his lunch hour to get it signed by Peter Davison for me in Reading WH Smiths.

Meglos, Warriors' Gate and Keeper of Traken were Christmas presents from my Aunty Linda and Uncle Dave. Aunty Linda was brilliant at getting me Target books- I got five or 6 each year from the big list I'd send her.

State of Decay came from Bracknell market. The bookstall there had a get half your money back offer on their books (after they'd stamped them all) and I remember getting this one on a cold, damp day.

And Full Circle I won in a Target Books competition in 1983.

Si xx

[Simon R]

I loved the novel of "State of Decay".

So much so I ripped it off for an audio play I had to write in the last year of primary school! I can still quote the end....with the vampires skin withering like sun baked earth.

Or words to that effect.

[SiHart]

I re-read The Leisure Hive book over the weekend and found it be rather charming. It's very like David Fisher's other novelisation, albeit without the footnotes this time round. There's lots of rather amusing stuff which presumably fell foul of the new production team (The Foamasi Bureau of Investigation for example!) but also a great deal of clarifying and necessary exposition which actuially helps understanding what the hell is going on among the pretty visuals.

I'd like them to do a talking book version. I think it'd be a winner!

I'm skipping Meglos and moving onto Full Circle now.

Si xx

[SiHart]

Full Circle was a lovely little book- full of extra details that really add to the story. The full length version of the poem that Keara and Varsh quote from is very good.

Andrew Smith had a lovely simple prose style. Shame he never did any more.

Si xx

[Matthew T]

I loved the book for The Leisure Hive - one of the first I got when I started collecting, from a wonderful but short lived discount book shop in York that had an absolutely huge selection of Targets, all £1 each or 6 for £5 (or something like that), in 1988.

Meglos I could never find, and it was the second-to-last book I got, when it was reprinted in 1993 - I never found the original release anywhere.

Full Circle was bought along with The Leisure Hive. I remember liking it but skipping any sections that featured the deciders on their own as I found them very hard going!

State Of Decay was another bargain bookshop jobby, and one I reread endlessly.

Warrior's Gate was an odd one - I was given it by a friend at primary school in 1989, so had it in my collection fairly early on, but I never saw another copy of it anywhere - was it rare?

The Keeper Of Traken I think I ordered from Burtons Books!

Logopolis was one of the very first books I got, probably around 1987, from a jumble sale, though I never read it because it looked very dull from the cover - no monsters!

[SiHart]

Warriors' Gate is the second best book of the season (after Logopolis)- it makes things a whole lot clearer, is very well written and does a great job of bringing to life a very visual story. Excellent book- one I'd dismissed as a kid because it didn't have chapters!

Si xx