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Book Details

Doctor Who and the Sontaran Experiment

78.6% complete
Copyright © 1978 by Ian Marter
1978
Novelization; Science Fiction; Television Tie-In
1984
1 time
See 8
1 - Stranded
2 - Unknown Enemies
3 - Capture
4 - The Experiment
5 - Mistaken Identities
6 - The Challenge
7 - Duel to the Death
8 - A Surprise and a Trriumph
Book Cover
Has a genre Has an extract Has a year read Has a rating In my library In a series 
1105
 Doctor Who - Novelizations (UK)*
#56 of 157
Doctor Who - Novelizations (UK)*     See series as if on a bookshelf
The original Target novelizations for the television show Doctor Who.

1) Doctor Who and the Abominable Snowmen
2) Doctor Who and the Android Invasion
3) Doctor Who and the Androids of Tara
4) Doctor Who and the Ark in Space
5) Doctor Who and the Armageddon Factor
6) Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion
7) Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius
8) Doctor Who and the Carnival of Monsters
9) Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters
10) Doctor Who and the Claws of Axos
11) Doctor Who and the Creature from the Pit
12) Doctor Who and the Crusaders
13) Doctor Who and the Curse of Peladon
14) Doctor Who and the Cybermen
15) Doctor Who and the Daemons
16) Doctor Who and the Daleks
17) Doctor Who and the Dalek Invasion of Earth
18) Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks
19) Doctor Who and the Deadly Assassin
20) Doctor Who - Death to the Daleks
21) Doctor Who and the Destiny of the Daleks
22) Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion
23) Doctor Who and the Doomsday Weapon
24) Doctor Who and the Enemy of the World
25) Doctor Who and the Face of Evil
26) Doctor Who - Full Circle
27) Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks
28) Doctor Who and the Giant Robot
29) Doctor Who and the Green Death
30) Doctor Who and the Hand of Fear
31) Doctor Who and the Horns of Nimon
32) Doctor Who and the Horror of Fang Rock
33) Doctor Who and the Ice Warriors
34) Doctor Who and the Image of the Fendahl
35) Doctor Who and the Invasion of Time
36) Doctor Who and the Invisible Enemy
37) Doctor Who and the Keeper of Traken
38) Doctor Who and the Keys of Marinus
39) Doctor Who and the Leisure Hive
40) Doctor Who and the Loch Ness Monster
41) Doctor Who - Logopolis
42) Doctor Who and the Masque of Mandragora
43) Doctor Who and the Monster of Peladon
44) Doctor Who and the Mutants
45) Doctor Who and the Nightmare of Eden
46) Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks
47) Doctor Who and the Planet of Evil
48) Doctor Who and the Planet of the Spiders
49) Doctor Who and the Power of Kroll
50) Doctor Who and the Pyramids of Mars
51) Doctor Who and the Revenge of the Cybermen
52) Doctor Who and the Ribos Operation
53) Doctor Who and the Robots of Death
54) Doctor Who and the Sea-Devils
55) Doctor Who and the Seeds of Doom
56) Doctor Who and the Sontaran Experiment
57) Doctor Who and the Space War
58) Doctor Who and the State of Decay
59) Doctor Who and the Stones of Blood
60) Doctor Who and the Sunmakers
61) Doctor Who and the Talons of Weng-Chiang
62) Doctor Who and the Tenth Planet
63) Doctor Who and the Terror of the Autons
64) Doctor Who - The Three Doctors
65) Doctor Who and the Time Warrior
66) Doctor Who and the Tomb of the Cybermen
67) Doctor Who and the Underworld
68) Doctor Who and an Unearthly Child
69) Doctor Who and the Visitation
70) Doctor Who and the War Games
71) Doctor Who and Warriors' Gate
72) Doctor Who and the Web of Fear
73) Doctor Who and the Zarbi
74) Doctor Who - Time-Flight
75) Doctor Who - Meglos
76) Doctor Who - Castrovalva
77) Doctor Who - Four to Doomsday
78) Doctor Who - Earthshock
79) Doctor Who - Terminus
80) Doctor Who - Arc of Infinity
81) Doctor Who - The Five Doctors
82) Doctor Who - Mawdryn Undead
83) Doctor Who - Snakedance
84) Doctor Who - Kinda
85) Doctor Who - Enlightenment
86) Doctor Who - The Dominators
87) Doctor Who - Warriors of the Deep
88) Doctor Who - The Aztecs
89) Doctor Who - Inferno
90) Doctor Who - The Highlanders
91) Doctor Who - Frontios
92) Doctor Who - The Caves of Androzani
93) Doctor Who - Planet of Fire
94) Doctor Who - Marco Polo
95) Doctor Who - The Awakening
96) Doctor Who - The Mind of Evil
97) Doctor Who - The Myth Makers
98) Doctor Who - The Invasion
99) Doctor Who - The Krotons
100) Doctor Who - The Two Doctors
101) Doctor Who - The Gunfighters
102) Doctor Who - The Time Monster
103) Doctor Who - The Twin Dilemma
104) Doctor Who - Galaxy Four
105) Doctor Who - Timelash
106) Doctor Who - Vengeance on Varos
107) Doctor Who - The Mark of the Rani
108) Doctor Who - The King's Demons
109) Doctor Who - The Savages
110) Doctor Who - Fury from the Deep
111) Doctor Who - The Celestial Toymaker
112) Doctor Who - The Seeds of Death
113) Doctor Who - Black Orchid
114) Doctor Who - The Ark
115) Doctor Who - The Mind Robber
116) Doctor Who - The Faceless Ones
117) Doctor Who - The Space Museum
118) Doctor Who - The Sensorites
119) Doctor Who - The Reign of Terror
120) Doctor Who - The Romans
121) Doctor Who - The Ambassadors of Death
122) Doctor Who - The Massacre
123) Doctor Who - The Macra Terror
124) Doctor Who - The Rescue
125) Doctor Who - Terror of the Vervoids
126) Doctor Who - The Time Meddler
127) Doctor Who - The Mysterious Planet
128) Doctor Who - Time and the Rani
129) Doctor Who - The Underwater Menace
130) Doctor Who - The Wheel in Space
131) Doctor Who - The Ultimate Foe
132) Doctor Who - The Edge of Destruction
133) Doctor Who - The Smugglers
134) Doctor Who - Paradise Towers
135) Doctor Who - Delta and the Bannermen
136) Doctor Who - The War Machines
137) Doctor Who - Dragonfire
138) Doctor Who - Attack of the Cybermen
139) Doctor Who - Mindwarp
140) Doctor Who - The Chase
141) Doctor Who - Mission to the Unknown
142) Doctor Who - The Mutation of Time
143) Doctor Who - Silver Nemesis
144) Doctor Who - The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
145) Doctor Who - Planet of Giants
146) Doctor Who - The Happiness Patrol
147) Doctor Who - The Space Pirates
148) Doctor Who - Remembrance of the Daleks
149) Doctor Who - Ghost Light
150) Doctor Who - Survival
151) Doctor Who - The Curse of Fenric
152) Doctor Who - Battlefield
153) Doctor Who - The Pescatons
154) Doctor Who - The Power of the Daleks
155) Doctor Who - The Evil of the Daleks
156) Doctor Who - The Paradise of Death
157) Doctor Who
No dedication.
A huge red sun hung in the sulfurous yellow sky, its very light filtering through thin clouds of whitish mist which swirled over the deserted, wasted landscape
May contain spoilers
But the circle remained empty in the glittering darkness...
No comments on file
Extract (may contain spoilers)
Sweat poured into Harry's eyes as he forced his way along the twisting, narrow tunnel, the roar of the avalanche still sounding in his ears.  The shaft had soon turned upward at a steep angle, and it was almost vertical.  His thick duffle-coat afforded some protection against the treacherously sharp edges and nodules covering the inside of the shaft, but at the same time it seriously hampered Harry's progress, and once or twice he feared he would be completely jammed.  Occasionally, he reached a slightly wider section where the rock surface seemed smoother - if it had been polished - and he found himself suddenly beginning to slide down again.  His elbows and knees were soon raw with the effort of working his way back upwards.

Here and there he encountered other, similar shafts branching off at all angles.  Harry ignored these and struggled on towards what he hoped would prove to be the surface.  The same warm, sulphurous breeze issued from all the tunnels making the air thick and suffocating, so that Harry's throat burned and his head throbbed.  Whenever he paused for breath, curious distant sounds - like the pounding of machinery - reached his ears.

Eventually, something glinted far above him.  Harry  felt like cheering: it was daylight; it had to be daylight.  He frantically redoubled his efforts, oblivious of the cuts and grazes on his hands and the stinging in his eyes and lungs.

But within seconds he realised that he was as far way from escape as ever.  The shaft was steadily narrowing around him as he climbed.  As it tapered more and more, he finally found himself completely stuck just within reach of safety.  There seemed to be no way he could squeeze through the last couple of metres.  Harry beat the sides of the tunnel in frustration, peering up at the tantalizingly close patch of sky from which the fresh air wafted down onto his burning face.

'If only I hadn't done all that rowing at medical school,' he muttered, giving a last, futile shrug of his muscular shoulders in the narrow aperture.  For a few minutes he gratefully drank in the cool air from above.  Then gingerly he began working his way downwards again.  He would have to try one of the other branching shafts after all...

 

Added: 01-Jan-2001
Last Updated: 03-Jan-2025

Publications

 07-Dec-1978
Target
Has a cover imageBook Edition Cover
Date Issued:
07-Dec-1978
Internal ID:
1100
Publisher:
ISBN:
0-426-20049-7
ISBN-13:
978-0-426-20049-9
Country:
United Kingdom
Language:
English
Credits:
Roy Knipe  - Cover Artist
Landing on Earth, now a barren, desolate planet, Sarah, Harry and the Doctor are unaware of the large, watching robot. The robot is the work of Styre, a Sontaran warrior, who uses all humans landing here for his experimental programmes.

What happened to the other space explorers who have come here? Why is the Sontaran scout so interested in Earth and in brutally torturing humans, including Sarah Jane? Will the Doctor be able to prevent an invasion and certain disaster, and save both Earth and his companions?
Cover:
Book Cover
Notes and Comments:
 01-Jul-1982
Target
Mass Market Paperback
In my libraryI read this editionOrder from amazon.comHas a cover imageBook Edition Cover
Date Issued:
Cir 01-Jul-1982
Format:
Mass Market Paperback
Cover Price:
£1.25
Pages*:
127
Read:
Once
Internal ID:
2072
Publisher:
ISBN:
0-426-20049-7
ISBN-13:
978-0-426-20049-9
Printing:
3
Country:
United Kingdom
Language:
English
Credits:
Roy Knipe  - Cover Artist
Landing on Earth, now a barren, desolate planet, Sarah, Harry and the Doctor are unaware of the large, watching robot. The robot is the work of Styre, a Sontaran warrior, who uses all humans landing here for his experimental programmes.

What happened to the other space explorers who have come here? Why is the Sontaran scout so interested in Earth and in brutally torturing humans, including Sarah Jane? Will the Doctor be able to prevent an invasion and certain disaster, and save both Earth and his companions?
Cover:
Book CoverBook Back CoverBook Spine
Notes and Comments:
Reprinted 1982 (twice)
Third printing assumed

Novelisation copyright © 1978 by Ian Marter
Original script copyright © 1975 by Bob Baker and Dave Martin
'Doctor Who' series copyright © 1975, 1978 by the British Broadcasting Corporation
Image File
07-Dec-1978
Target


Image File
01-Jul-1982
Target
Mass Market Paperback

On Target

Publication Information
Author: Ian Marter
Cover artist: Roy Knipe
Publishing date: 7th December 1978
Episode Information
TV serial: The Sontaran Experiment
Writer: Bob Baker & Dave Martin
Transmission dates: 22nd February - 1st March 1975 (2 episodes)
Fact and Findings
Ian Marter had played companion Harry Sullivan in the TV series, appearing in this particular serial and The Ark in Space amongst others. This book is a direct sequel to that adventure. At the end of Ark, Marter had the time travellers departing in the TARDIS and so he was able to maintain his own continuity by having them land on Earth using the same mode of transport (nothing unusual about that, you may be thinking, but in the TV versions the Ark's transmat was used).

First edition cover price - 60p

Most dramatic chapter title: A Surprise and a Triumph

The first Target edition was printed by W. H. Allen / Wyndham (ISBN 0 426 20049 7). Although it was reprinted, it was new re-covered.

The hardback edition had been released by W. H. Allen in November, ISBN 0 491 02046 5, priced £3.25.

Later editions were numbered 56 in the Doctor Who library.

For those wishing to read a more direct representation of the TV serial, BBC Worldwide published Doctor Who - The Scripts - Tom Baker 1974/5 (ISBN 0 563 53815 5, £16.99) in October 2001, edited by Justin Richard and Andrew Pixley. The book contained all of the scripts for Season 12 with extensive production notes and an introduction by Terrance Dicks.
Cover Data
Roy Knipe's effective fourth Doctor / Styre portraits cover was the only one ever used for Doctor Who and the Sontaran Experiment.
Reviews
"The Sontaran Experiment is for many Ian Marter's finest book, a beautifully structured and developed version of the televised two-parter, filling in so many details about Sontarans that some of his ideas quickly became established facts for future televised Sontaran stories."
- Gary Russell, 'Doctor Who Magazine' (number 121), February 1987

"Harry is given a little more to do, and his role is made much more important towards the end in the very dramatic scenes inside the Sontaran ship, something which could not possibly have been accomplished on television. Such is the degree of Harry's involvement that the novel could well have been written in the first person."
- Peter Newell, '23/11/63', March 1979
UK Editions
YEARDATEPUBLISHERCOVER ARTISTLOGOSPINE COLOURSPINE NUMBERTARGET LOGOISBNPRICENOTESOWNED
19787th DecemberW. H. AllenKnipeblue curvewhite-colour0 426 20049 760pfirst edition, Wyndham W on backY
1981-W. H. Allen-----0 426 20049 7---
1982-W. H. AllenKnipeblue curvewhite-colour0 426 20049 7£1.25--
1982-W. H. AllenKnipeblue cirvewhite-colour0 426 20049 7£1.25"twice"Y
1984-W. H. Allen-----0 426 20049 7£1.35--
1987-W. H. AllenKnipelight blue curvewhite56outline0 426 20049 7£1.95re-jacketed using 1982 and 1984 contentsY Y
Miscellaneous
Author


Ian Marter
  • On Target was a website dedicated to the Target Novelizations of Doctor Who and had a lot of information on each book.
  • I cannot find it anywhere on the web now so I have used the Wayback Machine to get information for these books.
  • I originally had permission to use covers from On Target, for books that I do not own, on this site.
  • Anything that idicates that a book is owned within the "On Target" section is referring to the owner of that site and not to my library.
  • This is currently unfinished, but a work in progress...

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*
  • I try to maintain page numbers for audiobooks even though obviously there aren't any. I do this to keep track of pages read and I try to use the Kindle version page numbers for this.
  • Synopses marked with an asterisk (*) were generated by an AI. There aren't a lot since this is an iffy way to do it - AI seems to make stuff up.
  • When specific publication dates are unknown (ie prefixed with a "Cir"), I try to get the publication date that is closest to the specific printing that I can.
  • When listing chapters, I only list chapters relevant to the story. I will usually leave off Author Notes, Indices, Acknowledgements, etc unless they are relevant to the story or the book is non-fiction.
  • Page numbers on this site are for the end of the main story. I normally do not include appendices, extra material, and other miscellaneous stuff at the end of the book in the page count.






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