Based on the TV story The Daleks by Terry Nation
The mysterious Doctor and his granddaughter Susan are joined by unwilling adventurers Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright in an epic struggle for survival on an alien planet.
In a vast metal city they discover the survivors of a terrible nuclear war - the Daleks. Held captive in the deepest levels of the city, can the Doctor and his new companions stop the Daleks' plan to totally exterminate their mortal enemies, the peace-loving Thals? More importantly, even if they can escape from the Daleks, will Ian and Barbara ever see their home planet Earth again?
Doctor Who literature has as diverse and interesting an history as the television programme itself. Many novels (such as Time And Relative, Goth Opera, The Nightmare Fair, Timewrym: Genesys or The Auton Invasion) have claim to many prestigious first. Others (like Love And War and The Ancestor Cell) have had a resonating effect upon the Who universe, even if you've never read them. And others (such as Engines Of War or Human Nature) have come in for critical praise. However, no Doctor Who book will ever hold the bold claim of being the very first, the original you might say, other than Doctor And The Daleks. The very first Doctor Who piece of literature is hugely important, because, without it, I doubt that all of those titles above would have been written. I doubt Doctor Who would have a book series as long running and interesting as it does, and I doubt that the books would have been around to keep the flame alive during the Wilderness Years. Simply put, every Doctor Who book owes it's very genesis to this hugely important piece of prose, and it's legacy will remain as eternal as An Unearthly Child is for the TV series, or The Pescatons was for Who audio, or The Klepton Parasites was for Doctor Who comics. And, out of all of those, I'd have to say that this is definitely the best of them, since it still, over 50 years later, stands as a perfectly crystal clear piece of not just Doctor Who, or even sci-fi, but writing in general. In so, so many ways, this is a landmark text.
Having been charged to adapt Terry Nation's first Dalek story for a novel format, David Whitaker had a huge job to do. After all, The Daleks still remains one of Doctor Who's most prestigious serials, and one of it's highest rated in terms of viewers, and adapting seven episodes of screenplay was going to bee a hard task for just 162 pages of prose, coupled with illustrations, must have been a hard task. Additionally, for many people, Doctor Who began with The Daleks, and since the publisher back in 1964, Fredrick Muller Ltd., had no intention to novelise An Unearthly Child, Whitaker also had to provide an introduction for the characters of Ian and Barbara to the Doctor's world. However, Whitaker's story remains polished throughout, the reader imperceptibly aware of these limitations. He keeps the prose bouncy and light, and by telling the story through Ian, we get a massive twist on much later Doctor Who prose. Of course, a first person narrative can limit the story, since the reader is forced to follow the path of a single character throughout the story, but here, it's only really obvious to someone who's really studied the original story where bits have been condensed or extracted in order so that we can follow Ian's path. Most of the story follows pretty seamlessly from set piece to set piece, and other than a couple of moments (namely the revelation of what the Daleks plan to do with the Thals is revealed) that feel a little clunky, it comes across supremely well. Translating third person TV scripts into first person prose can be seen as really difficult and it's no wonder that this was never really attempted afterwards in the later novelisation's. However, here it really seems to work, because we get to see the story from Ian's perspective, and understand what's going on inside his mind. It's quite rare that a Doctor Who novel is written in first person, and it's rather different to anything that most Doctor Who literature attempts today. The way Ian describes the action is a mix of description and feelings, and it just feels like he's telling a story to you. It quite different to most Doctor Who novels, because a lot of them are told in third person, so you can cut between different plotlines and different characters in different situations. However, this actually feels like Ian is relating the tale. Whitaker's prose therefore feels sharp and crisp. As mentioned above, the narration sets the scene, but also relays personal emotions. So, while the story has that personal touch, the reader gets a clear picture of what's occurring at each moment. Of course, certain elements have been simplified or condensed, but this is only to tell a more concise story. The basic plot, of course, remains the same as the TV story, and it's still to this day one of the most important Doctor Who stories ever. It's a textbook B-movie plot, but it's one that fits into this story really well. The appearance of the Daleks is utterly convincing, and the text maintains the integrity that Terry Nation shows the monsters in the TV script. The Daleks are treated as the stuff of nightmares, and they really are, thanks to the way that Whitaker relays their descriptions through Ian. In particular, the way the Glass Dalek is presented as the stuff of nightmares is utterly terrifying, and completely contrary to the way the Daleks have been presented over the past couple of years in the TV show. I think that, while in the TV story, the portrayal of the original Daleks is a little off in comparison to how they were later portrayed, but Whitaker does his best to bring them in line with the changes that occurred in later TV stories like The Dalek Invasion Of Earth. It's probably one of the strongest portrayals of the Daleks in print there has been, which is not saying all that much mind you, since there's not been all that many Dalek stories in print.
The characters in this story have also been changed, just like the main story. Sure, they've practically been lifted from the original, especially the Thals, but there have been changes made to them, particularly Ian. In the TV series, Ian was nothing more than a hero. Sure, he could be obstreperous and a little bit bad tempered, but, in this version, David Whitaker makes him a little more morally grey. Of course, because of the first person narration, you want to create a character who's motives are a little more uncertain, as it helps the narrative flow a little better. Here, this version of Ian feels almost a little more 'human' (and this isn't meant as any slight against the version of Ian that we were sold on TV), and the reader completely feels like he is just like they might be, were they put in this unbelievable situation. The rest of the TARDIS crew are similarly different to the TV version, however perhaps not to the same extent. The Doctor is a little more sympathetic, Susan is a little more alien and Barbara is a little more spiky. However, they aren't as different from the TV versions as Ian is. Of course, all of these characters have a different origin story, so they come out slightly differently from their counterparts. I think they end up a little spikier over all, which, while perhaps not making them as likeable as their TV counterparts, does make them very interesting to be explored in print. I really liked how David Whitaker seemed to really capture the Doctor, and I really felt like this was perhaps the first real sense of the first Doctor as the character we would see in the future. There are echoes of this in other stories around the same time of publication, but it feels like this is as close we could get to the modern version of the Doctor as we would expect. The rest of the characters are very much translated from the TV version, but considering that most of the Thals were very well written by Terry Nation anyway, I don't think that that's too much of a problem, however, although some of the action is juggled away from some members of the Thals.
Overall, Doctor Who And The Daleks is a key piece of literature, even today. Sure, it is a little dated, but the adaption is still so important in Who terms. The story is a wonderfully retro adaption of one of Doctor Who's most important stories, and it contains a lot of charm and a lot of heart. And, for that, I still think it's a key part of the Who story.
Rating - 10/10
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