The First Doctor Novelisations: The Crusaders (1966)

Doctor Who and the Crusaders by David Whitaker
illustrated by Henry Fox

Doctor Who and the Crusaders was the third Doctor Who novelisation, the last of the novels to appear during the 1960s, and thus also one of the three reprinted to launch the Target range in 1973. When I wrote my review of Doctor Who and the Zarbi (1965), I discussed how it seemingly worked to position itself as "the second Doctor Who book" in a world where the only other Doctor Who book was Doctor Who in an exciting adventure with the Daleks (1964).

Originally published: 1966
Acquired: May 2009
Read: July 2024

What's interesting about Doctor Who and the Crusaders is that it is also working to make itself "the second Doctor Who book" in a world where the only other Doctor Who book was Doctor Who in an exciting adventure with the Daleks (1964). Here, David Whitaker novelises his own scripts for The Crusade (though having read the book and not seen the serial for obvious reasons, I find myself thinking of the tv version as The Crusaders as well). On screen, The Crusade follows directly on from The Web Planet... but in print, The Crusaders follows directly on from Doctor Who and the Daleks.

Not in the sense that the characters have just left Skaro, but in the sense that the book is clearly designed to be read by someone who has previously read The Daleks. The book's prologue works to provide context for why Susan isn't there anymore, and mentions the Daleks—something which, I would argue, is pretty random if you think of this as one of many Doctor Who novelisations, but pretty essential if it's the second Doctor Who book but with a different main character to the first. (Incidentally, apparently in the Doctor Who book universe, David Cameron let a very different life to both the tv one and our own.) This prologue is, for what it's worth, probably my favorite bit of the book, containing some evocative, thoughtful writing that captures one of the best TARDIS crews (or, I guess I should say, "Tardis crews"), setting the stage for the adventure to follow with an interesting debate about history. For, while The Zarbi worked very hard to emulate The Daleks, The Crusaders is a very different style of Doctor Who story, and thus the book needs to ease you into it a bit. This is the first prose example of Doctor Who as an historical adventure series.

I love the way the Whitaker describes all the Doctor Who stories we haven't got to read. I am a bit surprised no writers of Missing Adventures, Past Doctor Adventures, or Big Finish stories have ever made us suffer through their take on "the talking stones of the tiny planet of Tyron, in the seventeenth galaxy," to be honest... but also quite grateful.

Anyway, how's the book? I ended up enjoying it a lot. I have seen episodes one and three of The Crusade, thanks to the Lost in Time box set, but that was a long time ago, and I find that stories I only see bits of don't really imprint themselves on my memory, so this was basically a new story as far as I am concerned. Like The Daleks, it's a bit grim, but instead of science fiction dangers, it's real dangers: physical assault, dying in a desert, and even sexual assault. But also Whitaker leavens it all with moments of humor, such as the Doctor's clothes-stealing antics, and the thief who Ian tussles with. It's great to see Ian and Barbara on the top of their form after their kind of nondescript run in The Zarbi, but like in The Zarbi, Vicki is again kind of just there.

I did find it a bit tough to get into the book after the prologue; there are a lot of historical figures thrown at you in King Richard's court. And, I also found the shifting emphases kind of off; the Doctor, Vicki, and most of the English characters basically disappear from the last third of the book or so, when it abruptly becomes Ian and Barbara's story. This is disappointing as the Doctor is a very much a highlight of the story! But overall, it was a quick, effective, enjoyable read. Whitaker wouldn't write any more Doctor Who novelisations, which is a bit disappointing.

I read a 1980 reprinting of the 1973 Target edition, which includes illustrations by Henry Fox. He has a good line in likenesses; I don't think the illustrations are essential, but they are nice to have.

I found my copy in a used bookstore in Storrs, Connecticut back in 2009. (Yes, it has taken me a while to get around to reading it.) It has a stamp in the front indicating when the bookstore acquired it—two in fact. It was sold to them in 1987, and apparently purchased, because it was resold to them in 2006. One of the book's previous owners wrote his name in front: Eric Sonstroem. It seems highly probable to me that this is the same Eric Sonstroem who is currently an English professor at the University of the Pacific. It's not a common name, and Sonstroem got his B.A. at Wesleyan University in Connecticut in 1988, exactly the right time and place to be selling his Doctor Who books to the Paperback Trader in Storrs in 1987. Sonstroem's research interests include science fiction; he's even presented at Worldcon a couple times.

Every three months, I read the unread Doctor Who book I've owned the longest. Next up in sequence: Doctor Who and the Tenth Planet