PLOTLINE 

All is not well at the Wenley Moor underground atomic research station: there are unaccountable losses of power-output; nervous breakdowns amongst the staff; and then - a death!

UNIT is called in, and the Brigadier is soon joined by Doctor Who and Liz Shaw in a tense and exciting adventure with subterranean reptile men - Silurians - and a 40 ft. high Tyrannosaurus rex, the biggest, most savage mammal which ever trod the Earth!

COMMENT

The Target adaptations were written for a pre-teen audience and tended to resemble elementary transcriptions of the source material, but Hulke makes the transition from script writer to novelist with relative ease.

Writing a novel for a young audience has its own skill set and Hulke delivers, presenting a heart-felt, bleak parable on humanity and inhumanity, although plotting is a problem because it captures the frankly drawn-out script too well ( seven episodes of people running around caves, basically). It is not an alien invasion story: these 'aliens' are the original owners of the planet and they want it back! The legitimacy of this view gives the story a gentle but distinct political edge (seen again in THE GREEN DEATH).

Hulke writes interesting people and gives them things to say that are worth hearing. One character - the tragic spinster, trying to make up for lost youth - can be seen elsewhere, e.g. Shirley Jackson's THE HUNTING OF HILL HOUSE, but to encounter such a sophisticated, adult persona in a DOCTOR WHO tale of this vintage is refreshing. Another, Major Barker, is presented as an absurd (Barker on the Silurian plans: "One thing I'm certain of. It's not good for England!"), deluded yet dangerous buffoon, nevertheless noble in his own peculiar way. The Doctor's view: "A really brave man. A fool. But a really brave man." Liz and Barker have a brief exchange that stands out because he is given the last word (and so is not just the butt of the joke):

Barker: "Soldiers have to accept getting killed"
Liz: "You can only do it once."
Barker: "Under the circumstances, I don't find that funny!"

There are additional sound effects to underline mood or signify transitions and they're fine but one necessary sound effect is missing - that odd trilling noise associated with Silurian technology - and it should be here because it is a major element in the plot.

Audio performance is still an underrated art form. It is not just a case of sticking someone in front of a microphone and asking them to read aloud; the performer must bring the text to life, no easy task when faced with the job of making sure different characters stand out and that their respective emotional states are conveyed effectively.

Caroline John's Liz Shaw had maturity and authority on her side and this underpins the quality of her work here. In elementary technical terms, her enunciation and pronunciation are flawless. She provides different voices for different characters; not all DOCTOR WHO audio book readers manage to do this either.

For any fan of Hulkes writing and/or the Pertwee era per se, this release is a must-buy.