The Tenth Planet Invades the Moonbase
Obverse Books charity novel
Dr Who arrives on the moon in the 21st century to find that a strange disease is wiping out the crew of a weather control base. Soon, a new planet arrive sin the solar system, causing havoc across the world – and most deadly of all, the metallic, emotionless inhabitants of that world have turned their eyes to Earth…
The Cybermen’s invasion of Earth has begun.
Notes:
The behind the scenes material I wrote for the books started growing and turned into a sort of history of the era... an era we didn't know existed - Peter Cushing's full run as Dr Who. I sat down and worked out a framework from 1965's Dr Who and the Daleks up to... well, that would be telling, but I planned out his full run in the role. There were some diversions and additions along the way but the start and end were set, along with some important side-steps.
When I chose to do a Cyberman story, I was able to look at the first four or five TV Cyberman stories and pick from there. The Tenth Planet and The Moonbase always struck me as largely the same plot so I decided that if movies were bigger and bolder I could do a mash-up of them both. The plots actually slid together incredibly easily. Without the episodic structure it's possible to focus on the important plot points, pick up the pace and give the whole thing a sense of grandeur and scale. I was also able to add a nod to Tomb of the Cybermen and The Invasion.
This was the first story where I was able to mix Jim and Vanessa the new companions from Dr Who and the Ice Men from Mars with Louise, Susan and Tom. There was enough plot to give them all something substantial to do, and it built the sense of family that I thought was important to setting this version of Doctor Who aside from its TV parent.
I was particularly pleased with the version of the 'Cyberman in the food-store' scene that turns up in this book. I wanted it to be tense and scary. I think it worked. I hope so anyway.
The Cybermen’s invasion of Earth has begun.
Notes:
The behind the scenes material I wrote for the books started growing and turned into a sort of history of the era... an era we didn't know existed - Peter Cushing's full run as Dr Who. I sat down and worked out a framework from 1965's Dr Who and the Daleks up to... well, that would be telling, but I planned out his full run in the role. There were some diversions and additions along the way but the start and end were set, along with some important side-steps.
When I chose to do a Cyberman story, I was able to look at the first four or five TV Cyberman stories and pick from there. The Tenth Planet and The Moonbase always struck me as largely the same plot so I decided that if movies were bigger and bolder I could do a mash-up of them both. The plots actually slid together incredibly easily. Without the episodic structure it's possible to focus on the important plot points, pick up the pace and give the whole thing a sense of grandeur and scale. I was also able to add a nod to Tomb of the Cybermen and The Invasion.
This was the first story where I was able to mix Jim and Vanessa the new companions from Dr Who and the Ice Men from Mars with Louise, Susan and Tom. There was enough plot to give them all something substantial to do, and it built the sense of family that I thought was important to setting this version of Doctor Who aside from its TV parent.
I was particularly pleased with the version of the 'Cyberman in the food-store' scene that turns up in this book. I wanted it to be tense and scary. I think it worked. I hope so anyway.