Episode 29 - The Seeds of Doom (Philip Hinchcliffe; Shannon Dohar)

06/05/22 • 92 min

Doctor Who Literature is delighted and overjoyed to bring you Jason's interview with Philip Hinchcliffe, the man who produced "The Seeds of Doom" for television and who then wrote the novelization. This half-hour was one of the high points of Jason's decades as a fan and we couldn't be happier to share it with you.
Our guest conversation this week is with Shannon Dohar (@SDohar), a Doctor Who fan in New York City, whose voice you can also hear on the musical podcasts Deeper Cuts and So Much to Sing About. What was it like reading the novelizations and New Adventures in the US before the New Series hit it big here? What are our thoughts on the Chris Chibnall era? How much does Philip Hinchcliffe and his era's stories mean to us today? Spoiler alert: Quite a bit. And how does Shannon fare on a game of "Twenty Questions"?
Lastly, Jason reviews the "Seeds of Doom" novelizations and talks about the different needs of a six-week TV serial versus a 120-page adaptation.
Special thanks to David Barsky for the production of this episode.

Previous Episode

Episode 28 - Carnival of Monsters (with Pete Lambert)

It's January 1977 and the start of another year of Target books. It's the third straight Terrance Dicks book, and the third Third Doctor book out of the past four. For a slim book, just 119 pages of text, Terrance manages to make a lot of changes from the TV serial.
My guest this week is a returning guest, Pete Lambert (@Prof_Quiteamess). We discuss the linguistics of Polari, the evolution of Jo Grant, and whether or not Drashigs are meant to scurry, or to slither.
In the second half of the program, Jason does a deep dive into the book's text compared to the TV episodes, and finds the changes good. What's the Third Doctor's favorite alcoholic beverage? What extra detail does Terrance add when describing the Doctor's nose? And, if it's 1926, what does that mean for the UNIT dating controversy?
And don't miss Jason's recent moderation of a Trap One episode on the Galaxy 4 DVD animation.
Don't forget to tune in next week for a non-Terrance Dicks, 4th Doctor novelization, in what may prove to be the biggest episode of Doctor Who literature to date!

Next Episode

Episode 30 - The Dalek Invasion of Earth (with John Peel)

The March 1977 Target release was the novelization of "The Dalek Invasion of Earth", by Terrance Dicks. This contains perhaps the greatest opening sentence of the entire Target run and shows what Terrance Dicks can do with one of Doctor Who's most iconic hours.
Jason breaks down the text in the first half of the program and uncovers some surprising changes that Terrance made to the original story.

Jason is then joined by John Peel, who's written several Dalek novels himself, and we have a wide-ranging conversation through the entirety of Doctor Who history, from "The Daleks" in late 1963, to "Eve of the Daleks" on New Year's Day 2022... and beyond. That starts at about 30:00.
This is the last novelization of a Willian Hartnell episode to be published in the 1970s. It'll be a long wait for the next one, so get your fill now!