Old Doctor Who is New Who, and vice versa

RE: new Dr Who TARGET Books

 

For those who don't know, many of the original Doctor Who stories' tapes were purged by the BBC, resulting in many lost episodes of the Hartnell-Troughton eras (1st & 2nd Doctor - and one episode of the 3rd--but that's another story.)

 

One of my first collector bugs was acquiring all the TARGET novelizations of those adventures. While I was at it--being a Dalek (and Cybermen fan)--I also grabbed all Cybermen and Dalek stories in the TARGET novelizations line, regardless of Doctor incarnation.

 

But a few were never novelized during the original TARGET run. Two came out via Virgin books later: POWER OF THE DALEKS and EVIL OF THE DALEKS.

 

RESURRECTION OF THE DALEKS and REVELATION OF THE DALEKS never came out.

But they will this year.

 

I've been waiting a long time to see these come into existence.

Also, they will be putting out some cherry-picked novelizations from the new series, which started in 2005.

 

Between these books, and animated reconstructions of lost episodes, and the audio dramas Big Finish are doing with past Doctors (including, now, Christopher Eccleston signed on as the Ninth) it's still an awesome time to be a Whovian. (even if I'm not happy with the current broadcasting series.)

It's a mad house! Go ape!

"Weaponized nostalgia." - Chuck Wendig

The world has gone ape. Yes, in more ways than one. I'll stick with the non-political one.

My childhood crossed the 1970s-80s. I was a child in the 70s, teenager in the early 80s.

In hindsight, my first fandom was PLANET OF THE APES. I was an ApeHead.

What also surprised me, in hindsight, is how much of the fandom marketing machine I missed. It's also a bit of a shock to remember how much merchandise was available. It really was the first franchise merchandise blitz out of Hollywood. Sure other movies and shows had toys and a few coloring books, but POTA really went ape.

I watched the movies, the short-lived television show, and the short-lived cartoon. I had the action figures. I had activity books. I had the Topps trading cards of the t.v. series.

But I never knew about the novelizations. I spotted one in the library during junior-high years later. I never knew a thing about the comics, either, surprisingly enough.

Now, Titan Books are allowing me to relive my childhood and then some.

First, they've released an anthology of new stories set in all three universes - movies, t.v., cartoon.

 But wait! There's more!

Two omnibuses collecting the original movie novelizations are coming, too.

 
Wait. Not done. They are also publishing an omnibus of the original television episode novelizations.

Nope. Still not done. Not yet available but listed in Tales from the Forbidden Zone (and personally confirmed for me) a fourth omnibus with the original novelizations of the cartoon series.

Stop the presses.

Nope, can't.

Also rumored - perhaps a collection of the comics.

Tangent to Titan Books - The Topps Trading Cards book.

I knew the t.v. cards, I had those. I didn't know there had been cards from the original movie, too.

Last night, I picked up the new #1 of the PLANET OF THE APES / GREEN LANTERN cross-over comic.

Yeah. Combining the Apes with Green Lantern with the old Mego action figures packaging for the artwork.

Talk about weaponized nostalgia!

If nothing else, it will be a great year to be an ApeHead!