Doctor Who Literature

Jason Miller

Doctor Who is not just one of the world's longest-running science fiction TV shows, but it's also generated a prolific amount of tie-in books, often with strong literary merit. Join Jason from the Trap One Podcast on a solo journey through the Target novelizations, in publication order.

  • 18 minutes 47 seconds
    DWLit Presents: Joy to the World (SPOILERS!! -- with Jason and Callie)

    Doctor Who Literature is on break until the New Year, but Jason and Callie come back for one night to discuss this year's Doctor Who Christmas Special: Joy to the World, by Steven Moffat. Warning, this is a FULL SPOILER chat so don't listen until you've watched the episode first. Callie as always does not hold back on any opinion, and Jason as always has slight trouble staying on topic.

    If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, subscribe, and rate us!

    Find Doctor Who Literature at https://linktr.ee/DrWhoNovels.

    Watch this episode and all previous episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@drwhonovels.

    Doctor Who Literature is a member of the Direction Point Doctor Who podcast network.

    Please e-mail the pod at [email protected].

    You can catch all past episodes at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/doctorwholit.

    26 December 2024, 6:10 am
  • 1 hour 38 minutes
    Episode 134 - Paradise Towers (Jim Sangster & Jason Davis)

    Happy American Thanksgiving to my listeners in the States.

    For a Sylvester McCoy novelization on Doctor Who Literature, ya gotta have two guests, not just one. Jim Sangster and Jason Davis, both huge behind-the-scenes influences on the show, come together for the first time as we tackle Paradise Towers, the second serial from Doctor Who's controversial, divisive -- and delightful -- 24th season.

    The vocals for this week's opening number are by Antony Owen. Music arranged by Jim Sangster.

    Please visit Jason Davis at Humanity Is My Business and consider supporting his Patreon.

    An interview with J.G. Ballard.

    If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, subscribe, and rate us

    Find Doctor Who Literature at https://linktr.ee/DrWhoNovels.

    Watch this episode and all previous episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@drwhonovels.

    "Doctor Who – Paradise Towers" features cover art by Alister Pearson.

    Doctor Who Literature is a member of the Direction Point Doctor Who podcast network.

    Please e-mail the pod at [email protected].

    You can catch all past episodes at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/doctorwholit.

    1 December 2024, 7:11 am
  • 1 hour 27 minutes
    Episode 133 - The Smugglers (with Jim Allenby) -- 61st anniversary!

    Having a first-time guest last week worked so well, that we've done it again this week: Jim Allenby from the What's in the Box? podcast, makes his Doctor Who Literature debut.

    Our story for the week is The Smugglers, but Jim A. and I also recorded our conversation on November 23, 2024: Doctor Who's 61st anniversary, and, coincidentally, the 40th anniversary of Jason discovering the show to begin with. Jim A. and I discuss An Unearthly Child, our respective fandom origin stories, and the special edition announced on the anniversary and being released in December 2024: The War Games, in color, and with new footage!

    If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, subscribe, and rate us!

    Find Doctor Who Literature at https://linktr.ee/DrWhoNovels.

    Watch this episode and all previous episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@drwhonovels.

    "Doctor Who – The Smugglers" features cover art by Alister Pearson.

    Doctor Who Literature is a member of the Direction Point Doctor Who podcast network.

    Please e-mail the pod at [email protected].

    You can catch all past episodes at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/doctorwholit.

    24 November 2024, 7:09 am
  • 1 hour 31 minutes
    Episode 132 - The Edge of Destruction (with Geoff Wessel)

    Remember, Doctor Who Literature's primary social media presence is now on BlueSky.

    Welcoming to the show this week Geoff Wessel, comic book writer (I may have misstated this in the intro) and radio DJ. Geoff's been an online friend for nearly 30 years but we'd never spoken face to face before this recording. It's a wild one!

    Those curious about "The Uncle Floyd Show" can find his limited online presence here.

    If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, subscribe, and rate us!

    Find Doctor Who Literature at https://linktr.ee/DrWhoNovels.

    Watch this episode and all previous episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@drwhonovels.

    Doctor Who – The Edge of Destruction" features cover art by Alister Pearson.

    Doctor Who Literature is a member of the Direction Point Doctor Who podcast network.

    Please e-mail the pod at [email protected].

    You can catch all past episodes at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/doctorwholit.

    17 November 2024, 7:05 am
  • 1 hour 28 minutes
    Episode 131 - The Ultimate Foe (with Conrad and Mark from Trap One)

    Our third of four episodes in our Trial of a Time Lord season features the conclusion of the Trial arc... but not the conclusion of the novelizations of the Trial arc.

    The traditional American protest song "John Brown's Body", sampled in this episode, is from the ⁠Pete Seeger recording⁠.

    And, with that out of the way, let's talk Doctor Who Literature with Mark and Conrad from ⁠The Trap One Podcast⁠.

    If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, subscribe, and rate us!

    Find Doctor Who Literature at ⁠https://linktr.ee/DrWhoNovels⁠.

    Watch this episode and all previous episodes on YouTube at ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@drwhonovels⁠.

    "Doctor Who – The Ultimate Foe" features cover art by Alister Pearson.

    Doctor Who Literature is a member of the ⁠Direction Point Doctor Who podcast network⁠.

    Please e-mail the pod at [email protected].

    You can catch all past episodes at ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/doctorwholit⁠.

    10 November 2024, 7:29 am
  • 1 hour 23 minutes
    Episode 130 - The Wheel in Space (with Stacey Smith?)

    Stacey Smith? joins me from another exotic locale to discuss a rare bird -- the highly-sought-after novelization of "The Wheel in Space". Is the book worth the exorbitant cover price on the secondary market? Is the TV serial a fitting capstone to David Whitaker's legacy?

    If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, subscribe, and rate us!

    Find Doctor Who Literature at https://linktr.ee/DrWhoNovels.

    Watch this episode and all previous episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@drwhonovels.

    "Doctor Who – The Wheel in Space" features cover art by Ian Burgess.

    Doctor Who Literature is a member of the Direction Point Doctor Who podcast network.

    Please e-mail the pod at [email protected].

    You can catch all past episodes at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/doctorwholit.

    3 November 2024, 6:22 am
  • 1 hour 10 minutes
    DWLit Presents: Return of the Daleks (with Paul Scoones)

    We remain off the boards for one more week, to discuss not a Target Doctor Who novelization, but rather a new publication from Panini Comics. It's The Return of the Daleks (purchase link: ⁠here⁠), a compilation of the Doctor-less backup strips from the earliest days of Doctor Who Weekly/Doctor Who Monthly/DWM. The compilation features commentary from Paul Scoones -- who joins us this week to discuss not only this new book, but also ⁠the TSV novelizations⁠, high-quality fan-made novelizations of five 1970s/'80s Doctor Who TV serials which, for rights reasons, were never novelized by Target during the line's original run.

    If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, subscribe, and rate us!

    Find Doctor Who Literature at ⁠https://linktr.ee/DrWhoNovels⁠.

    Watch this episode and all previous episodes on YouTube at ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@drwhonovels⁠.

    Doctor Who Literature is a member of the ⁠Direction Point Doctor Who podcast network⁠.

    Please e-mail the pod at [email protected].

    You can catch all past episodes at ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/doctorwholit⁠.

    27 October 2024, 6:03 am
  • 55 minutes 1 second
    DWLit Presents: Jason's Improbable Library

    This week Doctor Who Literature takes a week off from the Target novelizations to explore the rest of Jason's childhood bookshelves. I started reading the Target Doctor Who titles when I was 11, but I started reading just before turning 5. That's a lot of reading long before I found Terrance Dicks.

    So let's take an hour and walk through what Jason loved before Doctor Who. We'll discuss the Dutch-language children's fiction of Dick Bruna; the magic of Little Golden Books; the Big Three comics lines of the 1970s: Marvel, DC, and Gold Key/Whitman; baseball annuals aimed at children; and, of course, the Hardy Boys, the Choose Your Own Adventures, and the pictorial novelizations of Peanuts TV specials.

    We hope you'll join for this week as we walk not just through Jason's childhood bookshelves, but also, really, his brain.

    EDIT: I found that version of "The King" on YouTube. It's amazing.

    If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, subscribe, and rate us!

    Find Doctor Who Literature at ⁠https://linktr.ee/DrWhoNovels⁠.

    Watch this episode and all previous episodes on YouTube at ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@drwhonovels⁠.

    Doctor Who Literature is a member of the ⁠Direction Point Doctor Who podcast network⁠.

    Please e-mail the pod at [email protected].

    You can catch all past episodes at ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/doctorwholit⁠.

    20 October 2024, 5:55 am
  • 1 hour 24 minutes
    Episode 129 - The Underwater Menace (with Nigel Robinson)

    This week we extend a warm Doctor Who Literature to author Nigel Robinson, who penned this week's Doctor Who novelization, an adaptation of the infamous -- but also wonderful -- 1967 Patrick Troughton adventure, The Underwater Menace. Nigel also walks us through the rest of his prolific career as a writer and editor, as we cover almost 60 years of fandom in just under 60 minutes.

    Thanks so much to Nigel Robinson for his time in the recording of this episode.

    This week's opening number was recorded by Jim Sangster.

    You can also hear Jason, Si, and Frazer on Trap One discussing the animated release of Underwater Menace earlier in 2024.

    If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, subscribe, and rate us!

    Find Doctor Who Literature at https://linktr.ee/DrWhoNovels.

    Watch this episode and all previous episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@drwhonovels.

    "Doctor Who – The Underwater Menace" features cover art by Alister Pearson.

    Doctor Who Literature is a member of the Direction Point Doctor Who podcast network.

    Please e-mail the pod at [email protected].

    You can catch all past episodes at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/doctorwholit.

    13 October 2024, 6:00 am
  • 1 hour 25 minutes
    Episode 128 - Vengeance on Varos (with David Barsky)

    The novelization of Vengeance on Varos was published two years behind schedule, meaning that book number 106, which was skipped in the Target Doctor Who novelization release order in 1986, is belatedly plugged in -- immediately after the previous two novelizations were both assigned number 127. Got that?

    This week's Doctor Who Literature guest is David Barsky. David and Jason have lots of TV and international travel to discuss. And, occasionally, Vengeance on Varos, a controversial story and a novelization tending towards the... verbose.

    Sound clips in this episode include:

    --The 1969 Encyclopedia Britannica short film adaptation of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery";

    --A Season 3 "Simpsons" riff also on "The Lottery";

    --"Family Guy", like David Barsky, did not care for The Godfather;

    --The venerable U.S. game show "The Price is Right", which has been on the air since, like, 1911, has memorable sound bites here and here.

    Not heard in the episode, but highly recommended, is both the trailer for and the movie LOCK-UP (1989), starring Sylvester Stallone (not McCoy), the late Donald Sutherland, and the late John Amos (whose death was announced the day this episode was recorded).

    If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, subscribe, and rate us!

    Find Doctor Who Literature at https://linktr.ee/DrWhoNovels.

    Watch this episode and all previous episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@drwhonovels.

    "Doctor Who – Vengeance on Varos" features cover art by David McAllister.

    Doctor Who Literature is a member of the Direction Point Doctor Who podcast network.

    Please e-mail the pod at [email protected].

    You can catch all past episodes at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/doctorwholit.

    6 October 2024, 5:59 am
  • 1 hour 31 minutes
    Episode 127 - Time and the Rani (Jim Sangster; Joe Ford)

    Welcome to the beginning of the end of Doctor Who Literature. It's May 1988, and the paperback release of the first of the 12 Sylvester McCoy-era Doctor Who novelizations by Target Books. The Target run had a finite lifespan, and from here on out, with the last Classic Series Doctor finally joining the Target stable, the end is in sight.

    We will have two guests for each of the Sylvester McCoy books. First up this week is Jim Sangster, who is now officially co-host of the show and the producer of our YouTube channel and video content. Jim has a new song for us this week.

    We also have an archival interview with Joe Ford from July 2021 extolling the virtues of Time and the Rani, from Jason's first attempt at a podcast, unreleased after all this time until now.

    Please purchase Andrew Cartmel's Script Doctor from Ten Acre Films.

    "16 Going on 17" comes from The Sound of Music. Doctor Who Literature expressly refutes Rolfe's political affiliation. As does Family Guy.

    The history of the Topps 1980 baseball card set is here.

    If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, subscribe, and rate us!

    Find Doctor Who Literature at https://linktr.ee/DrWhoNovels.

    Watch this episode and all previous episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@drwhonovels.

    Doctor Who Literature is a member of the Direction Point Doctor Who podcast network.

    Please e-mail the pod at [email protected].

    You can catch all past episodes at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/doctorwholit.


    29 September 2024, 6:08 am
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