Planet of Fire (novelisation)

 was a novelisation based on the 1984 television serial Planet of Fire.

Publisher's summary
The Doctor is enjoying the sun on a holiday island – but things are soon hotter than he bargained for.

The young American Perpugilliam Brown brings to the TARDIS a mysterious object that her archaeologist step-father has found in a sunken wreck. Kamelion, the Doctor's robot friend of a thousand disguises, reacts to the object totally unexpectedly, with bewildering consequences for the TARDIS crew.

For Kamelion sends the Doctor and his friends to Sarn, a terrifyingly beautiful planet of fire. This strange world provides the key to Turlough's secret past – and once again the Doctor is pitted against the wily Master.

Chapter titles

 * 1) Mayday
 * 2) Message Received
 * 3) Destination Unknown
 * 4) Crisis on Sarn
 * 5) A Very Uncivil Servant
 * 6) Outsiders
 * 7) The Misos Triangle
 * 8) An Enemy in Disguise
 * 9) In the Heart of the Volcano
 * 10) The Blow Flame
 * 11) The Time of Fire

Deviations from televised story

 * In the televised version, the Doctor and Peri leave Sarn in the TARDIS and the ship takes off violently, with the Doctor welcoming Peri aboard. In the novel, the story simply ends with Turlough taking one last look, before boarding the Transporter.
 * Turlough wants to leave the Sarns to die.
 * Turlough finds the graves of his parents.
 * Timanov survives the story thinking Logar has returned.
 * There is an opening chapter contrasting the sinking of the Greek ship with the crash of the Trion ship.
 * The novel places all the material on Sarn after the TARDIS has left Earth.
 * Curt is renamed Carl.
 * There is extra threatening dialogue between Turlough and Kamelion before the former first leaves the TARDIS.
 * The Sarns are unaware that the Elders' staffs are laser weapons until Kamelion shows them how to work them.
 * Sorasta is described as young, rather than middle-aged as on screen, and there is extra material of her arranging to have food gathered and hidden in defiance of the Elders' instructions.
 * Amyand attempts to kill the miniaturised Master.
 * Instead of being native to the planet as on screen, the Sarns are said to be Trion dissidents abandoned on the planet with their memories erased.
 * In what appears to be a mistake, Malkon is said to be present in one of the scenes in the Unbelievers' hideout.
 * Zuko is effectively omitted with his role given to various unnamed Unbelievers.
 * Timanov takes all the Elders with him when he first meets Kamelion, rather than just the lookout.

Writing and publishing notes

 * This novelisation restructured the televised version.
 * Although number #93 in the Doctor Who library, the book was actually the 92nd to be released; it was swapped in the publication order with the novelisation of The Caves of Androzani late in the day without the numbers being reassigned.

British publication history
First publication:
 * Hardback
 * W.H. Allen & Co. Ltd. UK


 * Paperback
 * Target