'Jo peered through the panel and saw - nothing. Yet someone had entered the cabin. She could hear hoarse breathing and stealthy padding footsteps. A beaker rose in the air of its own accord, then dropped to the floor...' After pursuing the Daleks through space, Doctor Who lands on the planet of Spiridon, in the midst of a tropical jungle...and finds more than Daleks. Vicious plants spitting deadly poison, invisible Spiridons attacking from all sides and, in hiding, a vast army waits...for the moment to mobilise and conquer. Mark Gatiss, who has written and appeared in several Doctor Who episodes, reads Terrance Dicks' complete and unabridged novelisation, first published by Target Books in 1976. 3 CDs. 3 hrs 3 mins.
Being that this book was based on the third Doctor (the first one I remember) and was about the Daleks, I wanted this book to be better than it turned out to be. I probably saw this story, based on a six part serial from the early 70's, when I was about 7 or 8, but I don't remember. I do remember the Daleks scaring me back then, but I can't recount any of the stories I watched during that time. Other than that, it was a decent story, with a few twists and turns, but wasn't really written as well as some of the Doctor Who stories of recent years. It is probably a product of its time more than anything else. I have a few more of the books from the early 70's on my shelf and I'll probably get around to them at some point, as they are usually a fairly quick and easy read. If you are a fan of the Doctor then this may be worth reading, even just for the sake of nostalgia. If not, then there may not be enough to hold your attention.
