BOOK DETAILS

Pages	144
ISBN	0-426-20166-3
Publication Date	11 July 1985

SYNOPSIS

Eminent scientist Emil Keller has developed a revolutionary new process for the treatment of hardened criminals. His invention, the Keller Machine, is being heralded as a major scientific breakthrough.

But Professor Keller is in truth The Master and the Keller Machine is much more than a mere machine.

Soon The Doctor is involved in a bitter struggle with his deadliest enemy, an alien mind parasite, and a diabolical scheme to plunge the world into a Third World War…

NOTES

CHAPTER TITLES

The Sentence
The Terror
The Inferno
The Listener
The Pistol
The Dragon
The Hostage
The Mutiny
The Test
The Mind Parasite
Hijack
The Escape
The Attack
The Reunedition
The Mind of Evil
The Farewell

DEVIATIONS FROM THE TELEVISED STORY

The Doctor aware of the mind parasite as an urban legend across the universe.

The characters’ fears are explored in greater detail.

Some of the character names used appeared in scripts but were not used on screen: The Governor’s full name is given as Victor Camford (the televised version merely calls him “Victor “) and the two warders in the condemned cell are called Johnson and Samuels.

Back story is introduced for some of the characters: Barnham killed a security guard who caught him robbing a safe and a fellow prisoner before attacking a warder, while Harry Mailer is the leader of a London gang who was jailed when one of a string of suspected murders was committed in public.

Green is not identified as one of the fatalities in the prison takeover: He is last mentioned helping to quell the earlier escape attempt, making his fate unclear.

The Brigadier is mentioned as dreaming of his time as a subaltern with Doris, something not established until Planet of the Spiders.

Mailer accidentally kills a fellow prisoner when Jo jumps him during his escape attempt. The physical comedy of the Doctor glaring at Mailer when he is about to club him is removed.

The Master introduces himself to Mailer; in the televised version, Maileronly knows him as Keller. Jo addresses The Master directly as “Master” on seeing him again, something she never does on-screen.

There are a few extra lines of dialogue and thoughts to cover minor plot holes: Summers worries about Barnham being left behind in the infirmary during the attempted break-out and the Brigadier reflects that he cannot involve the army in liberating Stangmoor Prison for political reasons (presumably the secrecy surrounding the Thunderbolt).