Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters
Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters was the novelisation of Doctor Who and the Silurians. Interestingly enough, even though the serial it adapted was accidentally given a Target-style title, the novelisation didn’t take the chance to carry the same title and instead gave it a completely different one.
All is not well at the Wenley Moor underground atomic research station: there are unaccountable loses of power-output, nervous breakdowns amongst the staff, and then – a death! UNIT is called in and the Brigadier is soon joined by DOCTOR WHO and Liz Shaw in a tense and exciting adventure with subterranean reptile men – SILURIANS – and a 40ft. high Tyrannosaurus Rex, the biggest, most savage mammal which ever trod the earth!
“DOCTOR WHO, the children’s own programme which adults adore…” Gerard Garrett, The Daily Sketch
listen to a sample
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- A prologue tells of the Silurians going into hiding to avoid catastrophe.
- Each of the reptile men is given an individual name and personality.
- Major Baker is renamed ‘Major Barker’.
- In the book it is Dr. Merh who discovers the death of Quinn.
- At the end, the Brigadieronly seals the Silurians in the caves, as opposed to blowing them up.
- As one of the early titles in the Target range, the writer was encouraged to flesh out his script for the novelisation.
- Chapter 8 titled”Into an Alien World” is written from Morka’s point of view.
- The back-cover blurb on the original edition features a scientific error, as the Tyrannosaurus Rex is referred to as a mammal, when in fact dinosaurs were reptiles.
- The fact that Silurians can cry, stated here, flatly contradicts Blood Heat.
