Thanks Martin!



............but damn!!!! I'm going to have to watch that story again now. I can't get it out of my head, and it has to be one of the finest stories in the show's history!!!!!

...and I want to find the copy of the novel.

It's massivly trashed, inidcating how much it's been loved!

Indeed, I wrote a piece for Data Extract's 40th anniversary of the show (2003) which included how much I loved that book. An accompanyig graphic would have illustrated it nicely.

I've never been able to get into the Doctor Who novelisations. They never seem to capture the eccentricity and character of The Doctor, and they just don't have the BBC special effects



"The Deadly Assassin" is truly a classic story - a stand alone (literally - this story really is unique and distinctive in the Doctor Who annals) piece of genius delivered by Robert Holmes that paid homage to the Platonic theory of mind and pre empted "The Matrix" almost 25 years before the latter was produced.

I need r and r this weekend, and "The Deadly Assassin" is just what The Doctor ordered............

I'd agree about the Terrance Dicks ones; not to say he's a hack but he is "prolific".

I'd recommed novels from the end of the range, when Nigel Robinson was editor and tried to get the scriptwriters themselves to do the adaption. In particular Donald Cotton's novelistatons of The Myth Makers and The Gunfighters. The former is narrated by Homer. In the novel of The Gunfighters we find out that Johnny Ringo is a classisist, and is reading The Gallic Wars.

Robert Holmes even novelised The Two Doctors at this stage, albeit because his illness stopped him working to deadline for television.

I watched "The Deadly Assassin" again last Saturday for r and r..........loved it!!!!!!



Only fault I can ever make about that story is that it is difficult to make out what The Master is saying. Do you notice that?



Not really interested in the Dr Who novels, they never really did anything for me. I read Marc Platt's "Ghost Light while doing relief teaching at Salisbury East High last year, and it was just as annoying as the students. I recall reading Gary Russelll's "Business Unusual", and put it down quite hastily from boredom.

Dr Who for me is the shows (and the magazines, toys, 'textbooks', posters,..............)

OK, well if you want to bring in the original novels I'd recommend Alein Bodies and Dead Romance by Lawrence Miles (this last is from the Virgin range following their loss of the Doctor Who contract), David McIntee's The Face of the Enemy and David Bishops's Who Killed Kennedy. This last uses a device which could be irritating if you don't like it, but I thought it was great!

I just can't read Dr who novels, even when I was a kid, the only one's I ever read fully were "The Highlanders" and "The Dominators" - and they did not capture the eccentricity of the Doctor at all...........you'll have to convince me that reading the books is a good thing to do!

The Novels aren't too bad Until Year 10 I could count them as my reading assessment in English

That's not such a bad thing considering the Year 8 - 10 English syllabus!!! It's all Morris Gleitman and writers who cover issues like alcohol, drugs, divorce - human interest drivel that is boring and annoying.



You don't get to study the 'good' novels until Years 11 and 12.

OK, this explains why primary school teachers consider advanced reading to be Gleitzman.