Doctor Who and the Seeds of Doom was a novelisation based on the 1976 television serial The Seeds of Doom.
This was the tenth and final novelisation to be reprinted in America by Pinnacle Books.
Publisher's summary[]
1976 Target Books edition[]
In the snowy wastes of blizzard-swept Antarctica, a strange pod-like object is unearthed, buried deep in the ice. Curiosity turns to alarm as the pod begins to grow – then horror when suddenly it cracks open and a snaking green tendril shoots out, mercilessly seeking the nearest live victim...
In London, the botanical experts are bewildered. DOCTOR WHO is called in to fight this unknown horror. But will he be in time to save the Earth from the rapidly spreading tentacles of the KRYNOID, giant man-eating monster from an alien world?
Chapter titles[]
- Mystery under the Ice
- Death Stalks the Camp
- Hunt in the Snow
- Sabotage
- Betrayal
- A Visit to Harrison Chase
- Condemned to Die
- The Krynoid Strikes
- Siege
- The Plants Attack
- Trapped!
- The Final Assault
Deviations from televised story[]
- The novelisation is shorter than the televised story, and a number of scenes are excised — such as the final scene in Antarctica, which is replaced by Sir Colin Thackeray witnessing from his office window the Doctor and Sarah departing for Cassiopeia in the TARDIS, which is in WEB's car park.
- Chase wears gloves to limit his physical contact with his fellow humans; he only likes touching plants bare-handed.
- The Krynoid mother plant could disperse a thousand of the seed pods.
- Winlett's infection is depicted rather differently. Instead of the infection spreading across Winlett's entire body within seconds and then getting progressively worse, Winlett is simply found unconscious with the tendril from the pod attached to his arm, and by the time the Doctor arrives the infection has only spread as far as his elbow. Keeler's infection, on the other hand, more resembles the televised story.
- Winlett's transformation progresses further than it did in the televised story, and by the time he kills Stevenson he no longer appears humanoid.
- Chase is possessed after the Krynoid picks him up.
- Moberley is renamed Moberly, while Chester is unnamed.
- The plot thread of Amelia Ducat going to Chase's house to spy for WEB is excised, with Thackeray and Dunbar watching the house alone.
- The Doctor telling Moberly to amputate Winlett's arm is played a lot less harshly.
- The Doctor continues to attempt to persuade Chase of the dangers of the Krynoid while being prepared for the shredder, instead of repeatedly commenting that he doesn't know what to say.
- The scene where the infected Keeler tries to persuade Sarah to free him plays out slightly differently, with it being strongly implied that his mind is already starting to be taken over by the Krynoid, as opposed to the televised version's implication that he's acting out of desperation.
- Hargreaves' finding Keeler fully transformed and breaking loose isn't depicted, and instead is simply described by Hargreaves to Chase and Dunbar after the fact.
- A line in the Krynoid's ultimatum to the Doctor indicates that it wants the Doctor handed over so that he can live long enough to be infected himself when it germinates, allowing the Krynoids to gain his knowledge. The Krynoid also gives the Doctor just two minutes to hand himself over, rather than waiting until sunrise.
- It is Sarah, rather than the Doctor, who invites Thackeray to join them on a trip in the TARDIS.
Writing and publishing notes[]
- Philip Hinchcliffe produced the serial on which this novelisation was based.
- Hinchcliffe disliked the character of Amelia Ducat, feeling that the subplot featuring her was largely padding. When given the opportunity to novelise the scripts, he largely removed the character. Some fans objected vocally to this decision.[1]
Additional cover images[]
British publication history[]
First Publication:
- Hardback
- W.H. Allen & Co. Ltd. UK
- Paperback
- Target
Editions published outside Britain[]
- Published in the USA by Pinnacle Books in 1979 as a paperback edition, it was one of ten American novelisations; an introduction by Harlan Ellison features in all the editions.
Cover by David Mann
Audiobook[]
This Target Book was released as an audiobook on 5 September 2019 complete and unabridged by BBC Audio and read by Michael Kilgarriff.
The cover blurb and thumbnail illustrations were retained in the accompanying booklet with sleevenotes by David J. Howe. Music and sound effects by Simon Power.
Footnotes[]
- ↑ The Seeds of Doom DVD production notes
