The Seeds of Death (novelisation)

 was a novelisation based on the 1969 television story The Seeds of Death.

Publisher's summary
Returning to Earth in the 21st century, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe immediately find themselves caught in the midst of a crisis. T-Mat - a form of instantaneous transportation essential to the smooth running of life on Earth - is going disastrously wrong.

The Doctor discovers that the T-Mat Base on the Moon has been taken over by a group of Ice Warriors, led by the villainous Slaar. Their home a desolate and dying planet, the Martian invaders see Earth as a world ripe for conquest.

But before they can colonise Earth they must dramatically after its atmosphere. And so they unleash the Seeds of Death...

Chapter titles

 * 1) Trouble with T-Mat
 * 2) Enter the Doctor
 * 3) Radnor's Offer
 * 4) Countdown
 * 5) Blast-Off
 * 6) Crashdown
 * 7) The Genius
 * 8) The Pods
 * 9) The Blight
 * 10) The Invader
 * 11) The Rescue
 * 12) The Renegade
 * 13) The Sacrifice
 * 14) Trapped!
 * 15) Signal of Doom

Deviations from televised story

 * The Earth security guards in the novel have laser guns, opposed to the machine-guns as used in the original televised story.
 * Unlike the televised story, the novel includes how Jamie and Phipps save the Doctor from being T-Matted into space. They do so by removing the panels from behind the T-Mat cubicle and replacing them whilst Fewsham distracts the Warrior on guard with adjustments. (Most of this is evident in the televised story, however, and as there Fewsham is unaware of what they are doing.)
 * The omniscient narrator identifies the Doctor as a Time Lord, but he would not be identified as such until two serials later in The War Games.
 * Osgood's first name is given as Harry, something not mentioned in the televised version.
 * Eldred addresses Radnor as "Radnor" throughout rather than using his first name "Julian" as in the televised version. (Radnor's first name is not mentioned in the novel.)
 * There are a few minor dialogue differences, much of it coming from earlier drafts of the script, such as the omission of Radnor suggesting Fewsham or Phipps could repair T-Mat and extra dialogue of Gregson asking who the Doctor is.
 * One of the Ice Warriors searching for Phipps refers to Slaar by name. In the televised version, his name is only mentioned in dialogue once, by Zoe in the last episode.

Writing and publishing notes

 * Inside back cover features colour Fantastic Doctor Who Poster Offers!
 * The cover of the original Target Books edition featured the artwork of Tony Masero.

British publication history

 * Hardback
 * W.H.Allen & Co. Ltd. UK


 * Paperback
 * Target

Audiobook
This Target Book was released as an audiobook on 2 February 2023 complete and unabridged by BBC Audio and read by David Troughton.