'The War Machines' is a story that, when broadcast, signalled a change in direction for Doctor Who. It is adapted here by its original author, Ian Stuart Black.

The Doctor and Dodo arrive in London, where the Doctor senses evil in the Post Office Tower. Trading on the name of former companion (and now computer expert) Ian Chesterton to gain access to gain access to what turns out to be the base for the super computer, WOTAN. It is intended to link all computers in the world are linked via WOTAN (which means the Internet would have been invented in 1966!). However, it turns out that WOTAN has plans of its own...

The first televised Doctor Who story to be set in its entirety on contemporary Earth, the story is essentially the template for many future stories - particularly the beginning of the Third (Jon Pertwee) Doctor's era.

It also sees substantial changes to the TARDIS crew. Dodo is back on Earth in her own time, and is obliged to leave during the course of the story. More importantly, new companions Ben and Polly are introduced. They don't follow the templates set by original companions Ian and Susan, and represent a new kind of companion who would be generally replicated over the next five years.

Those are the good points. The story itself is not very original, and the adaptation is quite straightforward. Worth a read (or a watch, the video is available) for Doctor Who fans, but probably enjoyable to more casual readers as well.

The War Machines
A newly developed computer called Wotan hypnotises a number of people and starts building an army of machines with which to take over the world. The Doctor tries to alert the authorities to the dander but the message falls on deaf ears.

1966 seems to have been a year in which the producers of Doctor Who felt obliged to feature human (or human-looking) characters in their stories. Ian Stuart Black's adaptation of his own script features a story with no monsters - at least, none that look monstrous.

The Doctor announces that the TARDIS is about to land in the far future, an age of great advancement, peace and prosperity. However, this is Doctor Who so we all now how likely that is!

The TARDIS materialises on a planet whose inhabitants seem to want for nothing. If there is any problem, it is the savages who inhabit the wilderness around the city. But the people have a secret which will lead to conflict between them and the TARDIS crew.

This story is the last for Steven Taylor. The end result of the conflict means that someone is needed to lead the society, and Steven is the one. Is it just me, or does the Doctor not seem terribly worried about Steven's departure? Possibly he is happy to leave behind the first of many stowaways?

'The Savages' has one real problem - it is a pretty boring story. It treads very a very worn path (in general science fiction, but not so worn in Doctor Who) and features no surprising twists or turns. This book is really for Doctor Who completists than casual readers.

Another destroyed Doctor Who story that lives only in print. Another unexceptional Target novelization. But still, an interesting tale none the less. Sixties science fiction was capable of dealing with some tart subjects that modern SCI FIC TV would never dream of. The Doctor lands on a highly advanced planet where civilization seems to have reached it's peak. But the "peak" is only maintained at a ghastly price. A biting commentary on the idea of a utopia ruled by an "enlightened" elite. The story poses the question of who truly are the "savages"; the "common" man or the self proclaimed elites that would prey upon him. This would never be done today. If it attempted, in Star Trek for example, the story would come down firmly upon the right of the elite to rule over the "great unwashed" and that would give the game away. But Doctor Who, like most sixties SCI FIC, always came down on the side of justice and the freedom of the individual. This must have been intriguing viewing. This is also Steven's farewell story and it is sad to see him go. It really is not built up to and seems to come out of nowhere but, upon reflection, makes a great deal of sense. The Doctor leaves Steven--an average fellow-in charge of rebuilding a society destroyed by the cruel arrogance of the "savages". How appropo and a great tribute to a fine companion.

Few of these Doctor Who novelisations can be called litery masterpieces , in fact some of them are just downright bad , but for me THE MACRA TERROR is almost certainly the worst of the whole range. What`s wrong with it ? Allegedly the televised story the novel is adapted from is " a classic " , but reading this bland novelisation left me underwhelmed . It lacks anything resembling atmosphere or charachterisation. In fact it`s just like reading a script with a few brief visual descriptions thrown in. I know the Target series of Doctor Who novelisations are aimed at children but that`s no excuse for not thrilling the reader. Tedious in the extreme

This is Ian Stuart Black's novelisation of his own script. And not a bad story, as it turns out.

The TARDIS arrives in the "far future" on a colony world, which seems based on the concept of English holiday camps. The fact that they meet one of the colonists, who claims that the colony is being invaded by monsters, before he is imprisoned for medical treatment casts some doubt on the claims that everything is just peachy keen.

The activities of the invaders are more invidious than many in the series, and the enforced cheerfulness of the colony mean that the travellers have a hard time convincing people that the monsters do exist. Especially after Ben falls under the influence of the invaders...

While this adaptation is quite solid, what is lacking is the atmosphere of the colony. The BBC have long since destroyed the original TV serial, but its sound track has been released on both cassette and CD. For my money, the audio version is better than this adaptation.