Doctor Who and the Giant Robot by: Terrance Dicks

 

Doctor Who and the Giant Robot was written by Terrance Dicks, based on his story Robot.  It was the 13^th story to be novelized by Target Books.

 

The Target novelizations for Doctor Who really only became a continuous series in 1974 after the 1973 test reprints of Doctor Who and the Daleks, Doctor Who and the Zarbi, and Doctor Who and the Crusaders with two stories from Jon Pertwee’s first season as the Doctor, followed up by two stories from Season 8 and two from Season 9, the year ending with one novel from Patrick Troughton’s run as the Doctor.  In December 1974, Tom Baker debuted as the Fourth Doctor with a story penned by Terrance Dicks who had already contributed three to the new novelization range, the story ending mid-January 1975.  Terrance Dicks would have less than two months until the publishing of Doctor Who and the Giant Robot, his adaptation of his own scripts.  These two months follow what Dicks would accomplish later in adapting Doctor Who and the Time Warrior, mainly adapting the story into something which doesn’t actually change much of the television script.

 

The biggest change is the description of the robot itself is described differently (partially due to not being restricted by the rather odd costume making the arms flop), Sarah Jane finds herself fainting more often here, and the opening sequence is from the perspective of the robot.  By the perspective of the robot, Dicks describes it in a very clinical in its process as it kills the sentry and takes the plans for the disintegrator gun, something only done with a point of view shot.  There’s also some more graphic descriptions which help make this book feel more than just something quick for children (indeed it would be adapted into another novelization aimed at even younger children).  The Doctor’s regeneration is also recapped by the Brigadier, getting some perspective from him, though he is portrayed as the more bumbling version of the character like he was in the later television stories which is true enough to the original script.  It’s telling as this was released nine months before Doctor Who and the Planet of the Spiders.  There’s also an excellent additional scene at the end of Harry entering the TARDIS for the first time, getting something that never occurred on television (indeed Harry never had any scenes in the TARDIS console room).

Overall, Doctor Who and the Giant Robot may not do much to expand upon the original story, it follows the television script almost to the letter, including some of Tom Baker’s ad libs, but it does manage to make the story more gripping and through the addition of a couple of scenes feel like a real step up from what was essentially an average televised story.  7/10.