The Pescatons (novelisation)

 was a novelisation based on the 1976 audio story Doctor Who and the Pescatons. It has the distinction of being the final release by Target Books in the shorter paperback format that had been used since the book series was launched in 1973.

It was not, however, the last Target novelisation as additional releases would occur in the larger format of the Virgin Missing Adventures line. Three more books were published under the Target Books series line, however, this was the last to feature the Target Books logo, and a book number, on its cover (later volumes would include this only on the inside title pages).

Although Target (and later Virgin) would publish novelisations based upon Doctor Who radio plays, this remains the only official novelisation of a Doctor Who audio play, as none of the later productions by Big Finish Productions have, to date, been adapted in this way.

This was the first novelisation to feature the Fourth Doctor since the publication of Meglos in 1983 – a gap of 8 years between publications.

Publisher's summary
An invasion of meteorites and an environmental crisis!

A scientific expedition has disappeared from the bed of the Thames Estuary, where a giant meteorite had landed years previously.

Having landed the TARDIS in the same vicinity, the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane are attacked at night by a vast, roaring creature.

Someting reminds the Doctor of his encounter with the marine denizens of the planet Pesca, but before long his worst fears are confirmed: strange meteorites are landing all over the world, and the Pescaton invasion has begun.

The Pescatons, starring Tom Baker as the Doctor and Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, was released as an LP record in 1976, and re-released in 1985. Victor Pemberton, who wrote the original script for the LP, has been variously scriptwriter, script editor and novelizer of several Doctor Who television stories.

Chapter titles

 * 1) The Darkest Night
 * 2) Into the Depths
 * 3) Panic!
 * 4) A Premonition
 * 5) While the City Sleeps
 * 6) The Terror Begins
 * 7) Pesca
 * 8) Creatures of the Night
 * 9) 'Find Zor!'
 * 10) The Deadly Encounter

Characters

 * Fourth Doctor
 * Sarah Jane Smith
 * Pescatons