Reviews

"The book of the serial – in spite of bearing a rather remote resemblance to the television production – is well worth reading. Re-titled Doctor Who and the Cave-Monsters, it was penned by the great Malcolm Hulke himself and was one of the earliest Target novelisations. It remains, alongside its television counterpart, one of the best."
- Richard Marson, ‘The Official Doctor Who Magazine’ (number 91), August 1984

Miscellaneous

Author

MALCOLM HULKE

Malcolm Hulke has written for the 'Doctor Who' television series since 1965. As well as seven 'Doctor Who' books, he has written several adult novels based on the television series 'Crossroads', and has recently completed Cassell's Parliamentary Dictionary, a new analytical guide.
The author lectures frequently at schools and professional gatherings on the subject of writing. He enjoys travelling abroad as a relaxation from writing, when time allows it.

Malcolm Hulke's first script contribution to Doctor Who was The Faceless Ones for Patrick Troughton's Doctor. This was followed by the epic The War Games (co-writen with Terrance Dicks), leading into a prolific run of adventures for Jon Pertwee's Doctor. He adapted all of his own scripts (with the exception of The Faceless Ones) and even adapted a script by Robert Sloman (The Green Death).

Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters
Doctor Who and the Doomsday Weapon
Doctor Who and the Sea-Devils
Doctor Who and the Green Death
Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion
Doctor Who and the Space War
Doctor Who and the War Games

Before he began his run of Who adaptations, he wrote, assisted by Terrance Dicks, The Making of Doctor Who for Pan books. It contained imaginative first person re-tellings of the Doctor's adventures from various "official" perspectives. The book was later rewritten and updated by Dicks for Target.
He was a prolific script writer, contributing tales to Danger Man, The Avengers (co-written with Terrance Dicks), Ghost Squad, Gideon's Way, Crossroads (the original series), The Protectors (1964), and Sergeant Cork as well as Doctor Who. He co-created (with Eric Paice) the science-fiction serials Target Luna, Pathfinders in Space, Pathfinders to Mars and Pathfinders to Venus. Also with Paice, he wrote the 1960 British black and white film, The Man in the Back Seat, directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Derren (Tegana) Nesbitt and Keith Faulkner.

As well as adapting his Who serials, Hulke was also busy in the mid-70s adapting stories from the long-running British soap opera Crossroads. The books were A New Beginning (1974), A Warm Breeze (1975), Something Old, Something New (1976) and A Time for Living (1976), all Everest. The books were also published in hardback by White Lion, who, around the same time, had reprinted the original Frederick Muller Doctor Who novelisations with new Fourth Doctor covers.

Non-fiction included compiling Cassell's Parliamentary Dictionary and then in 1974, Hulke wrote Writing for Televison in the 70s, an indispensable handbook for those seeking to write successfully for the medium. This was reprinted in 1976 and reissued in 1980 as Writing for Television. Of particular interest to Doctor Who fans is the section on the making of Carnival of Monsters, and the contributions from Barry Letts, Robert Holmes, Terrance Dicks, Dennis Spooner and Peter Ling (there's also a retelling of the "real"-exploding-church-in-The-Daemons story).

He also devised and edited The Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine and Self-Help, published by Rider and Company in 1978.

In 1976 he spent six months in the USA researching a novel about an airship.

In 1977, Alpine Books released a series of six children's adventure books called Roger Moore and the Crime Fighters (yes, that Roger Moore - in 1977 he was at the height of his Bond acclaim). Alpine was an imprint of Everest Books Ltd line (who also published Hulke's Crossroads novelisations). The authors were Hulke, Robin Smyth, Fielden Hughes, Dulcie Gray, Deben Holt and Anthony Wall. The books were illustrated by Ray Mutimer. Hulke's contribution was The Siege, which was the first in the series. It tells how youngsters Bill, Bonnie and Darren foil an embassy siege and get invited by Roger Moore to form a crimefighters club. Of much interest (and fun) are the book's references to Doctor Who. Firstly, Darren's scruffy dog is called Dalek because his bark sounds like a Dalek saying "Exterminate", only worse. At the book's climax, the villain Grimwood goes to Studio 3 of the BBC Television Centre, where they just happen to be recording a certain SF show. Grimwood has gone to steal a policeman's uniform but he bumps into Roger Moore (!) who's suspicions are aroused when he reasons that Doctor Who probably doesn't require any policemen. The paperback edition had ISBN 0905018 354 and cost 50p.

In 1980 (after Hulke's death), UK publishers Purnell released Purnell's Book of Adventures in Space (SBN 461 044070, 1980), a large format hardback anthology of SF short stories. The contributors on the writing side were Hulke, Fred Baker, David Meredith, John Grant, William Hall, Sydney Bounds, George Beal and Jim Storrie. The book was richly illustrated by several artists including Target cover artist Andrew Skilleter. Hulke wrote six of the short stories and Skilleter illustrated six also, but a story called Mutiny was the only joint collaboration. The book was also released in America as Galactic Adventures, published by Rand McNally. It had SBN 528 82374 4 and was released in 1980. The cover was painted by by Brian Edwards.

Malcolm Hulke died on the 6th of July 1979.

Illustrations

As well as a set of illustrations by Chris Achilleos, the book includes this map of the Wenley Moor research centre and caves.

Countries

Netherlands

Er gaat van alles mis in het ondergrondse onderzoek-centrum op Wenley Moor. De stroom valt op onverklaarbare wijze uit, leden van de wetenschappelijke staf lijden aan zenuwinstrortingen en tenslotte valt en een dode!
De hulp van UNIT wordt ingeroepen en al gauw zijn DOCTOR WHO en Liz Shaw verwikkeld in een spannend en opwindend avontuur met onderaardse reptielmensen en een 15 meter hoge TYRANNOSAURUS REX, het genaarlijkste dier dat ooit op de Aarde geleefd heeft!

The book was translated into Dutch by J.J. van der Hulst-Brander as Doctor Who en de Holenmonsters, published by Unieboek B. V. Bussum under their RIV label. It was released in 1974, ISBN 90-269-8106-6. The face of the Fourth Doctor adorned the back cover.

Cover artist: Chris Achilleos
1974 Unieboek B.V. Bussum edition

Finland

Japan

On the 31st of May 1980, the book was published in Japanese by Hayakawa Bunko Publishing as the third in their Dokutaa Huu Shiriizu - number SF390. It was translated by Yukio Sekiguchi. A transliteration of the title is Senritsu! Chitei Monsutaa, which literally means Shuddering! (The) Underground Monster(s), i.e. The Terrifying Underground Monster(s).
The books are smaller than standard paperbacks, being approximately 10.5 cm wide by 15 cm tall. The covers are loose dustjackets. This book cost 320 yen and, by English conventions, reads from back to front. The full range was made up of translations of The Daleks, The Auton Invasion, The Cave-Monsters, The Doomsday Weapon and The Day of the Daleks.

Cover artist: Michiaki Sato
1980 Hayakawa Japenese edition

Portugal

The novel has also been translated into Portuguese (Douter Who E Os Monstros Das Cavernas), published by Editorial Presença and translated by Eduardo Nogueira and Conceiçã Jardim. It was released in 1983. The cover was by Rui Ligeiro and wrapped around the whole book. It contained the Achilleos illustrations and was number 2 in the translations for Portugal. Number three in the series was The Daemons.

Cover Artist: Rui Ligeiro
1983 Editorial Presença edition