Missing Serials: Soundtracks vs. Novelizations/Audiobooks

Ooh, tricky. I'd go for Marco Polo's soundtrack for the performances. The Myth Makers and The Massacre both have really illustrative novelisations. The latter is markedly different from what turned up on television, having been based on Lucarotti's original scripts. The Daleks' Master Plan, though... They're both equally good. I'd recommend the Loose Cannon reconstruction, but without any visuals, the audiobook narrated by Peter Purves and Jean Marsh might just edge it out. It's very animated -- danger, panic, it's all there. Have a listen to a sample from Audible and see what you think.

For me, I'd say it tends to vary depending on the author. I love the novellas for The Crusaders and The Ark, primarily because of what they can offer outside of the serial itself, but Fury from the Deep's soundtrack is just so creepy in places. I find the stories that tended to be written more like stageplays or were very dialogue-heavy tend to fare a bit better as a soundtrack.

I prefer the BBC soundtracks for those missing/incomplete First and Second Doctor stories. It's great to listen to those episodes that I will never see and hear the original characters talking and sound effects. They're very atmospheric. The Target novelisations are very good too, but they often have differences to the TV episodes so I'd always recommend people hear the original episodes first. The BBC soundtracks give a real feel of what Doctor Who was like in the 1960's, which for me the audiobooks with one narrator don't.

Missing TV Soundtracks, never needed the Audiobook versions of the Targets cause I have all the books gifted to me as a kid.

As I think I've said Fury is my all time favourite Missing Soundtrack, the Novel of it is very good as well, but the Novels set me up for a fall with Pertwee Tv Eps, Day of the Daleks and Doomsday Weapon, really enjoyable Novels, TV Eps not so much.

Regards

mark687

For myself, an opportunity to listen the soundtracks is always something special. That we can listen to often high quality remasters of lost stories/episodes of which are unseen since transmission and of which existed only as Target novelisations until the Telesnaps emerged fills in a very substantial void in the long term fans collective experience of the B/W serials. 

Daleks Masterplan makes for a pretty dramatic listen, thanks to the narration, especially by Peter Purves, and Frazer Hines also does an excellent job of evocation of the visual aspects in a way that does not interrupt the flow of the episodes.

For Novelisation readings, I find these of interest as a more leisurely take on stories more familiar from watching on Video or DVD, as the narration throws new light on the additional descriptions provided by the likes of Terrance Dicks, Malcolm Hulke, Ian Marter and others. 

For many of the Soundtracks though, I find that watching at least an episode apiece of the Loose Cannon reconstructions helps to get a flavour of the visuals prior to an Audio listen through. There was far more of visual interest in the missing episodes of Abominable Snowmen via Telesnaps than the surviving episode, in my opinion, at least.

It depends on the story whether I go for the soundtrack or the novel. I'd say I lean toward the soundtracks, though. Many of them are quite effectively done. Web of Fear comes to mind as one that I found particularly creepy when I listened to the soundtrack late one night. I have every soundtrack that's been released, but I tend to pick and chose a bit with the audio book novelizations of episodes, so perhaps that tells the story of my preference the most.