Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion (novelisation)

 was a novelisation based on the 1974 television serial Invasion of the Dinosaurs.

1976 Target edition
The Doctor walked slowly forward into the cul-de-sac. The giant dinosaur turned its head to focus on the midget now approaching … the Doctor aimed his gun to fire … suddenly from behind came a great roar of anger. He spun round – blocking the exit from the narrow street towered a Tyrannosaurus rex, its savage jaws dripping with blood ...

The Doctor and Sarah arrive back in the TARDIS to find London completely deserted – except for the dinosaurs. Has the return of these prehistoric creatures been deliberately planned and, if so, who can be behind it all?

1979 Pinnacle Books edition
RETURN OF THE PREHISTORIC CREATURES

Three hundred and fifty million years ago, dinosaurs crawled the Earth, devouring everything in sight. But then they disappeared. Certainly, no one ever expected them to return ...

When Doctor Who lands in London and finds the entire city deserted - except for dinosaurs - he figures something really weird is going on. It is. A clever group of misguided idealists is at the centre of a bizarre plot to reverse Time to a golden era - an era before technology, before pollution, before the hydrogen bomb. The group is going to give the human race a second chance.

But, to implement Operation Golden Age, the past must be eliminated. The present will not exist - and only the chosen will survive.

Doctor Who must turn the clock forward to stop Operation Golden Age, but will he be able to do it before Earth's Time runs out?

Chapter Titles

 * Prologue
 * 1) London Alert!
 * 2) 'Shoot to Kill!'
 * 3) The Time Eddy
 * 4) The Timescoop
 * 5) Monster in Chains
 * 6) The Spaceship
 * 7) The Reminder Room
 * 8) Escape!
 * 9) Operation Golden Age
 * 10) The Final Countdown

Deviations from televised story

 * The Whomobile does not appear at all; the Doctor instead uses a borrowed army motorbike, which was to have been his mode of transport in the original scripts for the televised version.
 * The novelisation features a prologue about the dinosaurs and ends with the Doctor consulting the Book of Ezekiel to determine the final fate of the Golden Age time travellers.
 * Butler is given the distinctive feature of a scar which he received as a result of falling through a plate glass roof whilst working as a fireman, rather than the untouched face he has the television story.

Writing and publishing notes
To be added

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


 * Paperback
 * Target

Re-issues:
 * 60p (UK)

1993 Target Books with a new cover by Alister Pearson priced £3.50 (UK)

Editions published outside Britain

 * Pinnacle Books, United States, 1983 (includes essay "Introducing Doctor Who" by Harlan Ellison)

Audiobook
This Target Book was released complete and unabridged by BBC Audio and read by Martin Jarvis who played Butler.

The audio set of 4 CD's with an ISBN 1-405-XX was released in November 2007 priced £17.99 (UK)

The cover blurb was retained in the accompanying booklet with sleevenotes by David J. Howe. Music and sound effects by Simon Power