In 2070, the Earth’s weather is controlled from a base on the moon. But when the Doctor and his friends arrive, all is not well. They discover unexplained drops of air pressure, minor problems with the weather control systems, and an outbreak of a mysterious plague.With Jamie injured, and members of the crew going missing, the Doctor realises that the moonbase is under attack. Some malevolent force is infecting the crew and sabotaging the systems as a prelude to an invasion of Earth. And the Doctor thinks he knows who is behind it: the Cybermen.This novel is based on ‘The Moonbase’, a Doctor Who story which was originally broadcast from 11 February–4 March 1967.Featuring the Second Doctor as played by Patrick Troughton, and his companions Polly, Ben and Jamie
Moonbase under siege ‘There are some corners of the universe… which have bred the most terrible things. Things which are against everything we have ever believed in. They…’ he shivered in spite of himself,’… must be fought. To the death.’I do like it when the Cybermen are sneaky. They really can be quite creepy as they infiltrate their targets, keeping hidden as they undermine and convert. All this stomping about in formation they do nowadays just doesn’t have the same scare factor. But I’m a long way from nine years old now… so what do I know?Script Editor Gerry Davis on the 1967 story transcribes the Kit Pedlar script to novel pretty much word for word. He does add a strong narrative though and there are also a few references to the real moon landing which hadn’t taken place when the episodes were first shown but revisiting the script in 1975 gave him the chance to arm Ben and Polly with knowledge that would back up their new 1970s origins overwriting their 1960s one from debut story ‘The War Machines’. It’s a nice touch. The story relies on the often used ‘base under siege’ story template so often employed during Pat Troughton’s era, though there’s little attempt to keep the Cybermen under wraps as the tv episodes did. No mystery threat here. It’s the Cybermen – woo-hoo. They’re on the cover and we get a little origin prologue to kick off. With half of the serial missing reading this rereleased novelisation is probably the best way to either relive the adventure or discover it for the first time. Great stuff.This new edition includes an introduction by Gareth Roberts, the original illustrations by Alan Willow, profiles of gerry Davis and Kit Pedlar and a look at the changes made to the tv script and the novelisation.