Reviews

"Upon reading Doctor Who and the Zarbi one might almost be left with the impression that Bill Strutton very probably did not watch Doctor Who very much, and seemed to care very little how the book compared with the TV version. It is, in my opinion, the most difficult of the three original books to come to grips with, and fails to contain the vitality of the Doctor Who concept... An added complication for the travellers is the fact that Vortis is one of the most distant terrains the TARDIS has landed upon and what the book does convey is the bleakness and desolation of that wonderfully atmospheric planet. However, Bill Strutton never seems to fully understand his four main characters, his descriptions of the TARDIS interior are, to say the least, vague, and there are elements of the original serial which seem to have been altered indiscriminately. Gone is the Animus, described in the book without its name as a bladder-shaped organ, itself an entirely new Doctor Who monster. Names have their spelling changed, although retaining that superb alien quality about them, and the Doctor is constantly and often annoyingly referred to as Doctor Who!...
Bill Strutton certainly has definite ideas as to how the book should be written, and complements this by using a very literate, satisfying and thoroughly enjoyable style. The transition from screen to the page has not, I feel, been completely successful, but Doctor Who and the Zarbi stands out as a very substantial written work."
- Gary Hopkins, 'The Doctor Who Review' (number 3), December 1979

"Arguably the worst Doctor Who novel published. The list of problems is endless - the story itself is one of the low-points of the series...but the problems with the book do not end there...The writing is childish, relying on italics for emphasis instead of the reader's own judgement. The Doctor is called Doctor Who consistently, and the TARDIS is forever used in lower case and without the definite article.
The Zarbi was one of the first books to be published soon after the broadcast of the episodes it adapts, and one of the first written by the original author, which was probably a mistake this time. A more skilled writer, used to the novel form, might have turned this story, if not into a first-rate adventure, at least into something passable. One more note, the illustrations for The Zarbi are possibly the worst in all the illustrated novels."
- Patrick Daniel O'Neill,
'Doctor Who' (Vol. 1, No. 13), October 1985

UK Editions

Miscellaneous

Author

BILL STRUTTON

Bill Strutton, creator of TV's mysterious race of Zarbi, was born on Yorke's Peninsula in South Australia. A scholarship took him to Adelaide University shortly before the war and during hostilities he fought with the Australian Army in the Middle East and Greece. Captured when Crete fell, he spent captivity learning languages, writing and running a prison-camp newspaper. After the war he settled in England and wrote books before turning almost exclusively to television.
He thought of the Zarbi "because ants are my enemy" - his earliest memory is of trying to separate two large fighting bull ants with his finger. They both turned and bit him, and he remembers their stings to this day.

William Harold Strutton was born on the 23rd of February 1923 on Yorke's Peninsula in South Australia. He was the last of nine children.

He joined the Australian army in 1939 and fought in the Middle East and Greece, being captured by the Germans in Crete in 1941. He was imprisoned in Stalag VII where he learnt to speak German, Spanish and French. At the end of the war he was repatriated to Bicester in the UK and became a journalist.

His first novel, a detective story called A Jury of Angels, was published in 1957. This was followed by A Glut of Virgins (1973) (published elsewhere as The Carpaccio Caper).

He also wrote two non-fiction accounts of World War II: The Secret Invaders (1958 - with Michael Pearson, later retitled The Beachhead Spies) and Island of Terrible Friends (1961 - reprinted in the USA as Commando Force 133). The Secret Invaders was translated into French and German.

(Island of Terrible Friends pb scan courtesy of Jon Preddle)

Moving into television, Strutton contributed scripts to Ivanhoe (1958), Top Secret (1959), The Avengers (1961), The Saint (Iris and The Rough Diamonds, both 1963), Echo Four-Two, The Man in Room 17, The Protectors (1964), Strange Report, Undermind, Paul Temple, Dr Finlay's Casebook and R3 (On the Spike, 1964), among others. In total he wrote over 200 teleplays.

His single Doctor Who contribution came with The Web Planet in 1965 which he adapted into a novel for Frederick Muller Publishers the same year.

Doctor Who and the Zarbi

Following a heart attack in 1978 he retired to his Elizabethan House in Surrey and then moved to Palafrugell in Spain.

Bill Strutton died on the 23rd of November 2003.

Illustrations

The original Frederick Muller novel contained 15 illustrations by John Wood. These were reprinted in all of the Target editions.

Misccellaneous 1

The Zarbi, huge ant-like creatures with metallic bodies and pincer claws, are waiting for Tardis when its police-box shape materializes on the cold and craggy planet Vortis. They capture Doctor Who, Ian and Vicki and take them to their weird Headquarters, a city of web-like organic matter.
But the Zarbi are not the only beings on Vortis. Barbara has fallen into the hands of the butterfly-like creatures with soft voices and iridescent wings, whose civilisation has been destroyed by the Zarbi. She learns that her captors are only the advance party of Menoptera in exile who plan to win back their planet by an invasion from outer space. For the Zarbi 'have brought the dark age to Vortis'.
In the final thrilling chapters, Doctor Who and the crew of Tardis encounter the power which controls both the Zarbi and the living Web City. How can they defeat this strange bladder of blazing light which draws in and absorbs all who come into its presence?
The original novelisation was published in hardback by Frederick Muller Ltd on the 16th of September 1965. It included the Wood illustrations and cost 12 shillings and six pence. The other original Frederick Muller releases were David Whitaker's two adaptations - Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks and Doctor Who and the Crusaders. Unlike the other two, Zarbi was not printed in paperback until the Target release.
Cover artist: John Wood
1965 Frederick Muller hardback edition

Misccellaneous 2

'Your instruments, Doctor! They've all gone mad! Why? What can be doing all that to them?'
Doctor Who was shaking his head grimly.
He muttered slowly. 'I don't know. I...suppose we could have materialised for a split second of time, and been caught in the...influence...'
'Influence? What influence?'
Doctor Who raised his head and looked at both Ian and Barbara.
'We seem to have been imprisoned by some kind of...force. I can't break the hold at all.' He paused. 'Something, somewhere, is slowly pulling us - plucking us down...'
Doctor Who lands his space-time machine Tardis on the cold, craggy planet of Vortis. The Doctor and his companions, Ian and Vicki are soon captured by the Zarbi, huge ant-like creatures with metallic bodies and pincer claws; meanwhile Barbara falls into the hands of the friendly MENOPTERA who have come to rid Vortis of the malevolent power of the ZARBI...
In 1975, the rights to the first three books were bought by White Lion Publishers Ltd. The current Doctor, Tom Baker, was used on the covers despite the illustrations of Hartnell within. The ISBN for Doctor Who and the Zarbi was 85686 167 7 and it was released in September 1975.

Cover artist: unknown
1975 White Lion hardback edition

Foreign Countries

Netherlands

DOCTOR WHO landt met zijn ruimte-tijdmachine de Tardis op de ijskoude, rotsachtige planet Vortis. De Doctor en zijn metgezellen Ian en Vicki, worden gevangen door de ZARBI's, grote, mierachtige wezens met stalen pantsers en klauwen als tangen.
Barbara valt ondertussen in handen van de zachtaardige MENOPTERA's die teruggekomen zijn om Vortis te bevrijden van de kwaadaardige ZARBI's...

In 1974, Doctor Who en de Zarbi's was released in The Netherlands. Published by Unieboek B.V. Bussum, it was translated by M. Hohage. It had ISBN 90 269 8103 1 and was priced f 3,95. As with all of the Dutch editions, it did not feature the internal illustrations. All three of the original 1973 Hartnell Target books were adapted, followed by the first 5 of the Pertwees from 1974. Curiously, all featured a portrait of Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor on the back!

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

Portugal

In 1983, Portugal saw Doutor Who e os Zarbi, translated by Eduardo Nogueira and Conceição Jardim, and published by Presença. The wonderfully surreal wraparound cover was by Rui Ligeiro and the book contained the John Wood illustrations. It was the tenth and final book in the series.

Cover Artist: Rui Ligeiro
1983 Editorial Presença edition

Audio

In November 2005, BBC Audio rereleased an audiobook of the adventure on 5 CDs as part of a limited edition tin. The book was read by the actor who played Ian Chesterton on the show, William Russell. The executive producer on the readings was Michael Stevens, with additional music by Simon E. Power. The tin contained Russell's unabridged reading of Doctor Who and the Daleks (which had been released earlier in the year on MP3 CD), Doctor Who and the Zarbi and Doctor Who and the Crusaders.