The Chase (novelisation)

Novelisation

 * This novelisation is based on the original television serial generally referred to as DW:  The Chase  which included individual episode titles and was shown from 22nd May 1965 and written by Terry Nation.
 * The cover and information shown on the right is for the original Target novel and featured the artwork of Alister Pearson. (See below for information on other UK and international editions which published with a different cover).

1989 edition
Through a Space-Time Visualiser the Doctor and his companions are horrified to see an execution squad of Daleks about to leave Skaro on a mission to find the TARDIS and exterminate the time travellers. Eluding the Daleks on the barren planet Aridius the Doctor and his friends escape in the TARDIS. But this is only the beginning of an epic journey. As they travel through space and time, they try to shake off their pursuers by making a series of random landings-but the Daleks don’t give up easily. This is a chase to the death…

1991 edition
"Those who control the TARDIS have interfered with too many of our plans. They are to be destroyed. If necessary, the assassination group will pursue them through all eternity. Exterminate them!"

The Doctor, Barbara and Ian had faced - and narrowly defeated - the Daleks twice before. They had known that there was always the possibility that the Daleks would win. But the reaches of time and space had always seemed so safe - there was always the chance that if they were being overwhelmed, they could flee.

But now, the Daleks can track them through all of time and space. They try to shake off their attackers by making a series of random landings, but this is a chase to the death ...

Doctor Who - The Chase, written by Terry Nation, the creator of the Daleks, was first broadcast in 1965, with William Hartnell playing the role of the Doctor. This adaptation is by John Peel, who is also the author of The Gallifrey Chronicles, the definitive history of the Doctor's home planet and its people.

Doctor Who - The Chase is available as a BBC Video.

Illustrations
None

Deviations from televised story
To be added

Writing and publishing notes

 * Alister Pearson’s original cover design was much simplified, with several elements of the story removed.
 * According to the novelisation, the Dalek time craft (or DARDIS according to the scripts) was powered by an ultra-rare taranium core (a reference made in the sequel story The Daleks' Master Plan).
 * In the novelisation, Morton Dill is nicknamed Dill-the-Pill (“being hard to take”) and later becomes a permenant resident of the "Newman Rehabilitation Clinic" (presumably named after Doctor Who creator Sydney Newman).
 * Albert C. Richardson in the novelisation unlashes the lifeboat, but it rolls over and sinks.
 * In the novelisation, Frankenstein's Monster, Dracula and the Grey Lady are all clearly identified as robots (unlike in the television story).
 * John Peel's author’s note at the beginning of this book states that it is “not strictly speaking an adaptation of the televised version of The Chase.” Instead the author choose to base the story on Terry Nation's original script (unearthed by Terry’s wife Kate) and included some of the rewritten material (presumably by then-story editor Dennis Spooner) used in the televised version. The Mary Celeste sequence was also changed using known facts about the incidents as sourced from Mystery Ship by George S. Bryan, and published by Lippincott in 1942.
 * The novel is dedicated to Terry Nation’s wife Kate and the author’s wife Nan.
 * For years, Target had been trying to acquire the rights to adapt The Chase, along with the epic The Daleks' Master Plan and the two Second Doctor Dalek stories, The Power of the Daleks and The Evil of the Daleks. For a time it seemed as if these stories (of which only The Chase still existed in complete form in the BBC Archives) would remain unnovelised along with the three Fourth Doctor stories by Douglas Adams and the two Eric Saward Daleks stories from the Fifth and Sixth Doctor eras. A surprise resolution regarding the rights to the early Dalek tales opened the door for Target to novelise them, and John Peel was assigned the task of adapting these stories. The Chase was chosen to be the first of these books published, as it was the first to be broadcast.

British publication history
First Publication: Paperback (July 1989) Re-issues: (July 1991)
 * Target / W.H. Allen & Co. Ltd. One original printing and 2 reprints in 1989, estimated print run: 24,000,  priced £2.50 (UK).
 * Target / Virgin Publishing, estimated print run: 5,000, priced £2.50 (UK).

Editions published outside Britain
To be added

External Sources

 * The Target Book by David J Howe (Telos Publishing 2007)
 * a comprehensive guide to the Target novelisations by Tim Neal