Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters [Paperback]

This was one of the earliest Target books I ever read back in the early 1970s. At the time I'd never seen the serial it was based on. I loved it. The cover promised great things for my young mind. Doctor Who - of course, strange green monsters, a volcano spewing lava (not in the story but volcanoes and dinosaurs equals Doug McClure fun to most kids of that era), and a Tyrannosaurus Rex - the gold standard in the children's league of dinosaur.
The story is largely exactly the same as the serial though the dialogue is completely different. I get the feeling that Malcolm Hulke wasn't really expanding on the tv script but rather going back to one of his earlier drafts before it was pummelled into shape by the script editor of the time Terrance Dicks. Whatever the case it seems to be a complete rewrite. There is no attempt at all to conceal the Silurians or generate suspense by making them half glimpsed creatures, Hulke introduces them on the first page with a prologue describing how they first entered their hibernation to survive the drawing off of Earth's atmosphere by a small rogue planet. We get backgrounds to many of the main support characters, Dr Quinn, Major Barker, Miss Dawson, Dr Lawrence etc. It's noticeable that most of them are even pottier than their tv counterparts in particular Major Barker/Baker - his military obsessions and his desire to restore the British Empire as he fights to stop the Silurians from regaining their own lost mastery rather hammers the irony onto the pages. In contrast Dr Lawrence is level-headed and reasonable and displays none of the histrionics that made his eventual wig-out and downfall so entertaining on screen. Here he's a sad career minded victim of circumstance. In retrospect the dialogue is sometimes a bit woolly and none too naturalistic but I never noticed it at the time. Despite that it's still a stonkingly good read and I'm sure it would thrill the kids of today just as much as it did for me all those decades ago.
This new edition features an introduction by Terrance Dicks, a spotlight of author Malcolm Hulke, Chris Achilleos illustrations and a between the lines article about the tv to novelisation process of this story.

This is another enjoyable release in the range of audiobook versions of the Target range of DOCTOR WHO novelisations first released in the 1970s. DOCTOR WHO AND THE CAVE MONSTERS is a rather loose adaptation of DOCTOR WHO AND THE SILURIANS - some of the characters suffer quite different fates to their television counterparts for example - but in some ways manages to improve upon it.
Malcolm Hulke managed to expand and in some cases improve upon the original material and turn it into a very entertaining and engaging little tale. He has rearranged the story into a much leaner and exciting structure and yet added much to the back-story of the characters and given the whole thing a strong emotional thread.
I should add that most of the early Target novelisations (especially those first published with the black block text "DOCTOR WHO" logo) were amongst the strongest in the entire range and really have managed to stand the test of time as entertaining, diverting and well told stories in their own right.
I hadn't expected much of the narration as I never took to the character of Liz Shaw on television and always thought of her as being rather too "posh", but Caroline John is a revelation, and narrates in a cheerful and crisp manner - her voice is surprisingly easy on the ear - and the various characterisations and accents that she employs throughout are great fun.
The packaging includes a booklet containing small reprints of the original illustrations that were inside the book, and reprints of the various cover art illustrations that graced the cover of the book over the years are also printed inside the CD case.
All-in-all the whole release is very thoughtfully put together and I found myself feeling a warm glow of contentment as I was easily carried back to my youthful enjoyment of these books. This is intelligent storytelling that doesn't talk down to its audience and as such is highly recommended.
By the way, if you do want to experience the original versions of this story, the television version is now available on both DVD (in the "Beneath the Surface" box set) and audio soundtrack format (BBC Audio "Doctor Who and the Silurians").

In the DVD/download/YouTube age, it is so easy to re-discover the gems of your childhood. It's not so very long ago that all you had of your childhood memories were, well, memories.

Nostalgia is a bit of an industry in itself, and people delight in talking about the things they used to watch, or the books they used to read, when they were kids. Very often people will use the "Do you remember....?" as an ice breaker when meeting new people. Something all the talking head nostalgia shows have tapped into.

I loved this book when I was a kid back in the 1980s, and although I've kept most of my Doctor Who Target novelizations, and happily purchased all the Doctor Who VHS and DVD releases, I've been curiously reluctant to revisit the books. It's like one of the last pristine memories that I have. Do you know what I mean? I'd feel like I was overwriting those genuine memories, and then I'd have nothing of the `originals' left, because they were such a massive part of my childhood.

Also, I feared the books may not be as good as I remembered. They are what made me want to be a writer, and were such a source of enjoyment and comfort that I didn't want to spoil them.

These Classic reissues somehow got around that problem. They were the same stories, but with Extras - a bit like the DVD releases. They have their new jackets (although with original illustrations!); introductions from a mixture of modern Who luminaries and classic Who writers; and a Between The Lines feature that examines the book and compares it to the televised show. It felt like buying a new product.

The story here is brilliant. Really clever. It's not alien invaders, it's a race of reptiles who were here on Earth before us! To them, we are the invaders.

The characterization of the Doctor is good and the story feels very modern with it's quandary over energy, sharing the earth's resources, and changes to the environment.

Seven TV episodes are reduced to 45,000 words and it works really well. The story is told with pace and brilliant character moments. The books may have been intended for children, but like the best children's books, they weren't patronizing and they contained a lot of adult concerns.

Somewhere, recently, I read a review or a foreword, or something - about one of my favourite extracts from Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters. (Unless I dreamed that I did. I thought it was some kind of interview with Russell T Davies, but I might be getting mixed up.) Anyway, the bit of the book that I'm referring to is when the character of Miss Dawson is reflecting on her life. She considers herself now to be a spinster, although she's only in her 30s.

"In her heart Miss Dawson feared the moment when people would stop asking `Why don't you get married?' and replace it
with the dread, `Why *didn't* you get married?'"

It's brilliant, and I remember being struck by that piece as a child. Such a brilliant lesson in writing. Illustrating something in a character's life without ploddingly just stating "she was disappointed that she never got married." I love that kind of thing, and the Doctor Who books were full of such clever little moments.

I'd recommend Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters to ... anyone. Kids, adults, fans of the new series, anyone. Give it a try, You won't be disappointed. The stories in the classic series were every bit of good as today, and the books act as a leveller between the gap in what was possible to film in the 70s and the modern show.