An Unearthly Child Novelization
It adds nothing to the story overall, but it layers it in a way that would be a distraction in the actual TV episode.
And with that, we begin a look at "An Unearthly Child" as novelized by Terrance Dicks. The book was first published in 1981, some 18 years after the story was broadcast. Dick is "Mister Target" in many respects, as he wrote the majority of the company's novelizations.
The opening three chapters, part one of the serial, are pretty standard fare in terms of tracking, mostly following the show's script. There are little character moments, like Ian and Barbara's relationship, in which Ian sees more in Barbara than most people, who see her only as the stern schoolmistress. There is also an odd change where Ian refers to the Doctor as Doctor Foreman. In the TV episode, he replies, "What's he talking about? Doctor who?" Of course, establishing the show's title and how it comes about. In the novelization, the Doctor dismisses the name and asks to be referred to as The Doctor.
In episode three, Dicks uses a momentary off-screen scene and fleshes it out a little more. Hur and Za are pursuing the four as they try to find their way back to the TARDIS. Hur is attacked by what we assume is a saber-toothed tiger. In the book, the tiger was originally stalking the four, and we switch POV to the tiger's as it holds off on attacking, confused by the scent of the four's "strange skins". It then turns its attention to the more familiar cave dwellers.
By the time we come to the fourth part, we start to see signs of the Doctor that we know. It's a matter of survival, so his acerbic tone is lost; he's not arguing with Ian anymore, and he's actually trying to work with the other three in order to escape. It's a brief thing, as we'll see in the next story.
Speaking of the next story, considering this story was published well after "The Daleks" novelization by David Whitaker was released. I don't know if it was necessary to go into more detail the way Dicks does at the end. He includes the scene we see in the finale of the TARDIS landing on the surface of Skaro and the radiation meter being missed as it detects high levels in the atmosphere. In fact, Dicks attributes it to faulty equipment and to Susan knocking it, causing it to suddenly work, which is fine. But then Dicks spends another half-page explaining the situation with the Kaleds and the Thals, how this is Skaro, and that the Doctor is about to meet his oldest enemy, the Daleks. This was completely unnecessary and detracts from what was a very effective cliffhanger; the radiation meter blinks, and the credits roll.
Overall, this is a very faithful adaptation of the story that, oddly, makes the usually mundane three parts that follow the more explosive opening episode seem more exciting, while making that first episode seem a little routine. Interesting stuff and well worth a read.
