Peter Capaldi, Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss, and Others at Doctor Who: The Target Books Artwork Exhibition

Doctor Who: The Target Books Artwork exhibition is currently on display at The Cartoon Museum in London. Some famous names were recently there to see it.

Chris Achilleos and Peter Capaldi at The Target Books Artwork Exhibition – credit: Jon Pountney

Back in March, we reported on what was then an upcoming exhibition at The Cartoon Museum in London, Doctor Who: The Target Books Artwork. Well, it is currently in full swing, with people who work or have worked both in the thick, and on the periphery, of Doctor Who in attendance on April 28th.

You can witness a bit of the event in an episode of Youtube’s Doctor Who: The Fan Show, presented by Christel Dee:

The following are some quotes from the attendees regarding their personal reflections of the history of the novelizations:

"“The days before video cassettes and dvds, or repeats on TV — long before the internet — this was Doctor Who.” – Peter Ware, Deputy Editor, Doctor Who Magazine“There weren’t any repeats when I was a kid, so all I could do was borrow [the books] from the library. They were so dog-eared — and they took like five minutes to read — and so I have no idea whether I ever saw ‘Brain of Morbius’ or whether I just read it.” – Jenny Colgan, Writer“It was almost like everyone’s favorite magazine or comic. They would go to the bookstore to see the latest novel.” – Andrew Skilleter, Cover Artist for Target Books“I could scan the bookcase from a considerable distance and identify a new combination of colors. And I’d be so excited and say, ‘Oh my god, it’s a new one!’ Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion novel, cover art by Chris Achilleos – credit: tardis.wikia.comAnd I could honestly recognize that from across a bookshop. There are times when the visuals of [the books] are way better than the visuals of the TV show. I mean, that’s actually kind of awesome. I don’t know why he’s actually trying to fend off a pterodactyl with a frilled cuff, but it’s awesome. In fact, if you watch that story — which is a beautifully written story — the dinosaurs are not good. I’m gonna come out and say it, they are not good dinosaurs. But they’re good on the cover!” – Steven Moffat, Lead Writer and Executive Producer Doctor Who and the Doomsday Weapon novel, cover art by Chris Achilleos – credit: timelash.com“I loved seeing the covers because I thought in those days there really wasn’t very much merchandise around, so any kind of imaginative expression of Doctor Who was very welcome. And you can see that a lot of them seem to have a larger budget than the program. Roger Delgado as the Master down here is in front of a planet and a dark red sky, of the kind which the show at that time couldn’t afford.” – Peter Capaldi, The Twelfth Doctor“The BBC in their wisdom, they decided to republish [the books] because they must have heard how popular they were. And here I am at last. I’ve been commissioned for the three new ones and I hope more will follow.” –  Chris Achilleos, Cover Artist for Target Books“They weren’t just novelizations. They actually took the place of the TV series which we saw once, the BBC then flung it in a skip, and we never saw it again — and [the books were] the only version we ever had to keep.” – Steven Moffat, Lead Writer and Executive Producer“A lot of people told me that they learned to read reading [the books], or they made them want to be a writer, you know, and to get into science fiction or whatever. So, they have their place.” – Terrance Dicks, Writer“I mean, I get people all the time saying, ‘Oh, your cover on such and such was the first book I bought for myself to read, you know. So, I think for that generation it was really, really important. And there was nothing like Doctor Who on TV.” – Jeff Cummins, Cover Artist for Target Books“One of the things that I always loved about Doctor Who was the way it could stimulate people’s imagination. And these artists could take the ideas that the show furnished them with and take them further.” – Peter Capaldi, The Twelfth Doctor"

Next: Page Two: Mark Gatiss' thoughts on Target Books

Doctor Who Target books cover art – credit: cartoonmuseum.org

Samira Ahmed of Front Row on BBC Radio 4 did an interview with Mark Gatiss, a writer and actor on Doctor Who:

"Ahmed: What do [these books] mean to you and why do they mean so much to people who read them?Gatiss: Well, it’s extraordinary to see them like this. After all these years, I was so used to them in just small book format. To see the actual original artwork, and see the detail, it gives me a kind of Proustian rush. It just takes me right back to being a child. And what these books meant was a huge [unintelligible] because they were little capsules of Doctor Who adventures that we had no prospect of ever seeing ’cause they were from the distant past i.e. eight years before, or something like that. But then the encapsulation of them in these wonderfully technicolor and sometimes lurid colors — this one here is the second one I ever got, which was Doctor Who and the Daleks.Ahmed: This is with William Hartnell, the First Doctor.Gatiss: Yeah, and a cover by Chris Achilleos. And I was so frightened of this picture that — despite the thrill of reading the story — I found it easier to sort of, you know, just look inside than to look at this picture because Hartnell is so imperious and frightening on this. And looking at it now, closely, I can see what I was scared of ’cause he was a very different looking Doctor to the one we were used to at the time, which as Jon Pertwee. But this wonderful combination of things, and the colors on the Daleks, and the slightly “off” TARDIS, and the flames coming from the Daleks that we never really saw — it’s fantastic. And you sort of look at it now as a piece of work — and obviously this huge blank at the top where the logo would go. You know, it’s a very different thing designing a book cover to doing a sort of piece of artwork.Ahmed: There’s a couple ’round the corner from the Patrick Troughton era which I think mean a lot to you. Briefly describe this one here.More from Doctor WhoNcuti Gatwa’s Doctor Who Christmas special is a “complete reinvention”Ncuti Gatwa is “so nervous” to take on Doctor Who roleThe Doctor and Donna are better than ever in “Wild Blue Yonder”Take the Black: House of the Dragon season 2 trailer hints, the Fallout show, and moreJodie Whittaker didn’t pick up on any of the hate for her version of the DoctorGatiss: This is The Web of Fear, one of my favorite stories, which has recently been rediscovered after all these years. And I remember this book so particularly. It has a gorgeous purple spine. Anybody of a certain age will know — I’m talking to friends here, people who know what it means. Somehow they have a tactile quality, these books, which you can never really reproduce in any other way. There was something about the actual artifact itself. And this beautiful cover, again by Chris Achilleos, of a very sort of pensive looking Patrick Troughton and this wonderful yeti with its death rays coming out of its eyes, ensnaring the sergeant here. And then this fantastic spider web design. I think they’re just triumphs of clear and simple and clever design. They encapsulate everything you want from a book called The Web of Fear."

Gatiss turns to a page in Doctor Who and the Web of Fear and reads an excerpt.

"Ahmed: ‘The Web of Fear’ was a set of episodes that disappeared, as well, so the book is a record of TV scripts that were lost.Gatiss: Well, they still are. I think it’s under a hundred now, but they were wiped by the BBC. And, so, for many years they were the only record, despite the fact that several of them have come back, these books still are. And Terrance Dicks, who wrote a lot of them, was probably the last person to see these episodes before they were wiped because he was shown them in order to familiarize himself before he wrote the novelizations. So, they are still — they’re precious artifacts in every sense, really.Ahmed: And, in terms of who wrote them, how many of them were written by the original TV script writers? And how far is the writing of them significant? I think you said you can tell writers like you who grew up on the books because of the way you speak now.Gatiss: Yes, anyone who uses the word “capacious” is a Target book fan. You can spot people who understand, who are the “we,” who will talk about people having an old-young face, which is always the description of Jon Pertwee’s Doctor."

To hear the rest of the interview, go to BBC Radio 4’s website.

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What are your thoughts on the Doctor Who Target novelizations? Let us know in the comments.