Publication Information
Author: Terrance Dicks
Cover artist: John Geary / Alister Pearson (1994) / Daniel R. Horne (Nelson Doubleday, Inc)
Publishing date: 24th May 1979 Episode Information
TV serial: The Robots of Death
Writer: Chris Boucher
Transmission Dates: 29th January - 19th February 1977 (4 episodes) Fact and Findings
Classic chapter title: Robot Rebellion
Although Boucher never adapted any of his three scripts (Image of the Fendahl, The Face of Evil and The Robots of Death) into novels, he did go on to write original fourth Doctor / Leela novels for the BBC in the late 1990's, including Last Man Running and Corpse Marker (a sequel to this adventure).
First edition cover price - 70p
One of the shortest novelisations, just 102 pages of actual story.
Curiously, on page 43, Commander Uvanov is looking at the assembled crew. There was the elegant Toos, the dark-skinned Zilda..., the heavy figure of Borg, the lean, muscular Cass, and the neat, precise Dask. Only to announce, at the top of page 44, 'Cass is dead!', which must have come as a shock to the poor fellow (although, to be fair his body was discovered several pages earlier - maybe Uvanov just liked to have the bodies of dead people around the place).
Robots was also released as a hardback on the 24th of May 1979. It was published by W. H. Allen (A Howard & Wyndham Company). The dustjacket featured the same Geary artwork with an orange spine and textless back cover. It had ISBN 0 491 02436 3 and cost £3.50.
Later editions were numbered 53 in the Doctor Who library.
The first Target edition was printed by W. H. Allen / Wyndham. Reprinted 1981, 1982, 1984 (£1.35) and 1994 (£3.99). This final version, released on the 17th of February 1994, was retitled Doctor Who - The Robots of Death and was published by Virgin Publishing under the Target label. The ISBN throughout was 0 426 20061 6. Cover Data
Alister Pearson's cover artwork for the 1994 reprint was released as a postcard, free with 'Doctor Who Magazine' (number 210), March 1994. Foreign Editions
The Robots of Death was united with the two previous stories, The Deadly Assassin and The Face of Evil and was released in the USA as The Further Adventures of Doctor Who. The book was only available through book clubs and in hardback alone, the publishers were Nelson Doubleday, Inc. and the artist's signature on the cover is dated 1985. Reviews
"I admit that from the moment of hearing that the book was scheduled, and with Mr Dicks at the helm, I was apprehensive. On television, to my mind, the story was a true classic... I paused to wonder on more than one occasion how Terrance Dicks, not noted for bringing out the best in even the worst of scripts (for example, the dire Android Invasion) could handle this brilliant piece of work. However, a few pages into the novel, and the reader can breathe a sigh of relief. The descriptive content is in abundance, and the characters are all well-painted and brought to life in the same refreshing three-dimensional manner in which they were in the television serial."
- Paul Mount, 'The Doctor Who Review' (number 1), August/September 1979
"Robots of Death is a masterpiece - a welcome anomaly among Terrance Dicks' other books... Descriptions 'merge in' with the story, which helps convey the atmosphere of suspense and the tenseness of the story. He even improves on the TV in places, making you feel for the robots, caught between the new 'programme violation' and the 'freedom' offered by Taren Capel."
- John C. Harding, 'Ark In Space' (number 1), October 1979
"I expected a book that was rubbish compared to its TV counterpart. The expectation was wrong. When I first read the book I was amazed.
Mr Dicks had managed to get across the atmosphere of the Sandminer perfectly. The weariness of the crew, and everybody's tetchiness with Uvanov, came across just as well as in the TV series...
However, here I come to a small criticism. There was a wheezing groaning sound and the TARDIS disappeared is a constantly recurring sentence in the books by Terrance Dicks. Surely something more imaginative could be done to describe the dematerialisation scene. Let's face it, the TARDIS does not wheeze or groan, it sounds like elephants and its doesn't disappear, it fades away gradually."
- Tim Munro, 'Fendahl' (number 5), June 1979UK Editions
The Target editions were published as follows:
1979, 24th May (first edition, W. H. Allen, Geary cover, orange curve logo, white spine, colour Target, Wyndham W on back, ISBN 0 426 20061 6, 70p)*
1981, 15th January (W. H. Allen, ISBN 0 426 20061 6, 90p)
1982 (W. H. Allen, ISBN 0 426 20061 6)
1984 (W. H. Allen, Geary cover, orange curve logo, white numbered spine, colour Target, ISBN 0 426 20061 6, £1.35)*
1984 (W. H. Allen, ISBN 0 426 20061 6, £1.95)
1988 (W. H. Allen, ISBN 0 426 20061 6, £1.95)
1994, 17th February (retitled Doctor Who - The Robots of Death, Virgin, Pearson cover, McCoy banner, dark blue numbered spine, outline Target, ISBN 0 426 20061 6, £3.99)*
* copy in site owner's personal collectionMiscellaneous
Authors
Terrance Dicks
Other Countries
USA
The Doctor, a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, is a being with a very unTime-Lordish tendency to get involved with other species, especially humans. Join him on three exciting adventures, based on the highly popular BBC-TV series.
Doctor Who and the Deadly Assassin. Summoned home to Gallifrey, the Doctor is caught in a battle of minds that begins with assassination and could end with the destruction of Gallifrey!
Doctor Who and the Face of Evil. The Time Lord lands on a world run by a mad and mysterious god - a god with the Doctor's face!
Doctor Who and the Robots of Death. On a desert world, the Doctor and his new companion, Leela, must find a cunning killer or fall victim to the robot destroyers.
In 1986, this run of stories were brought together and released in the USA as The Further Adventures of Doctor Who. The book was only available in hardback through book clubs.
Cover artist: Dan Horne
1986 Nelson Doubleday hardback edition