From Doctor Who’s Space War to his encounter with The Cave Monsters, the 1970s range of episode novelisations from Target Books was as familiar to fans as the show itself, allowing readers to re-live the fleeting lost broadcasts from the show’s past in the pre-video age. Universal-Tandem Publishing had established Target as a children’s paperback imprint in 1973, picking up the rights to three 1960s Doctor Who novels based on early William Hartnell episodes. Reissued with brash new cover paintings, they spun the web for a series of books that would span two decades and over 150 titles.
Without doubt, the initial success of the range owed much to its distinctive cover art. In an age before Photoshop and publicity posters, Target’s illustrations were Doctor Who rendered with movie poster gusto, pushing the show’s visuals beyond the limitations of budgets and the countdown of any studio clock. This investment in new artwork was unusual for TV tie-ins, which typically fell back on recycled publicity stills.