Target Artwork Origins

I was really interested to find this, the blog of Paul Scoones, whose currently putting the final touches to his Who book, 'The Comic Strip Companion 1964-1979' (tip of the hat to Combom once again!). Now I love the early comics, and have a nice collection of scans of many thanks to the online Who scanners and uploaders. And I also dig the artwork, another one of my interets.

So I was pleased to find this cool graphic, illustrating Target artist Chris Achilleos rather direct influences for his first cover, The Daleks.


I'd known about this before, and even mentioned it on this blog way back towards the end of 2009 (here), where I posted:

"The now classic cover illustration was by Chris Achilleos, who has acknowledged the influence of Ron Turner's artwork for The Dalek Chronicles comic published in TV Century 21 (more about that soon!), in particular the two Daleks were modelled from Issue 60 (The Rogue Planet, part 2) and the title graphic from Issue 76 (Legacy of Yesteryear) onwards."

So a bit surprised to find that Paul didn't know about this, or indeed many folk at all. Now unfortuantely I can't even remember where I got this information, but when I find out, I'll update and link on this post. I obviously had more info, as I promised a follow up post on it!). I guess it must have been an old interview with Chris, probably in DW Monthly or some other mag of the period. (Anyway, I'm looking!).

I see nothing wrong in Achilleous being inspired so directly from the comic artwork of Ron Turner, or his strong influences from Frank Bellamy. I think it continues a proud and original style of artwork which became a huge attraction in itself, and a huge part of the early magic of Who for many.

Here's the Day of the Daleks cover, again with Daleks inspired by Ron Turner's artowork.


Thanks Paul for the images, and can't wait for the book...

Target reprinted!

Now I'm loving this... target Who novelisations reprinted, by BBC Books (will they do them all? And fill the gaps??) with original cover illustrations by Chris Achilleos and nice shiny Who logo... only thing that's missing is the target logo! If only I had the disposable income I'd buy them all again... which reminds me, I haven't got all my first editions yet...

Source: Combom t

The First Three Targets

And here's the Chris Achilleos artwork for the Target reprints.

Ice Warriors!

Just an excuse to show some of the artwork from published versions of The Ice Warriors. And why not.

The photomontage artwork for the audio CD release:


And the video special edition boxset:


And an offical Beeb colourised photo, from their website:


Which was obviously the same photo Achilleos used, together with Victoris screaming (used in the photomontae cover for the audio CD above) for the original Target cover, by Chris Achilleos:

Achilleos Art

And we shouldn't forget the artist who inspires most of these designs, Chris Achilleos. Here's a couple of recent designs which throwback to his early Target book covers.

Rose


Doomsday


And a recent(ish) working for Tomb of the Cybermen, following it's rediscovery.


Don't forget to visit Chris's site, here, where you can still buy original prints of his amazing classic Who work.

The Cave Monsters

Now I was thinking about Silurians and decided it was time to listen the audio reading of the Target novelisation, as I have a couple of these but hadn't yet listened to any. In truth, I wanted to listen to the audio recording of the original TV soundtrack, with linking narration, as I really like these. But I don't have it (yes, I really must save up my pennies and get that monsters box set tin... it's on the list!). And I fancied re-visiting the novelisation but didn't feel like dedicating my time to such endeavours. I’m a slow reader. I also find the audios useful as I can fiddle around on my computer whilst listening along.

So off I set on a journey back in time. Now I always liked Malcolm Hulke's work. His novelisations were always full of detail and background. I also liked his stories, which often had an ecological theme which I felt a particular empathy to, such as The Green Death, and also with wider concepts.

The Cave Monsters is number nine in the Target range, although that does not necessarily make it the ninth story to be published... Target only introduced their numbering system half way through, and decided to number those already published in alphabetical order, thus making the Abominable Snowman number 1 and the Cave Monsters number 9. In fact, the first 'proper' Target novelisation was the Auton Invasion, followed by the Cave Monsters, in 1974. These are, in publication order, numbers 4 and 5, after Target reprinted the first 3 Doctor Who stories (The Daleks, Crusaders and Zarbi) to launch their range. So, depending on which way you look at it, it could be the second book in the Target range, the fifth, or the ninth. But it is definitely Malcolm Hulke's first of seven novelisations.


The original Target publication had a classic cover by Chris Achilloes, with a great portrait of Pertwee, and the first few printings had the black block ‘Doctor Who’ lettering before the arched logo was introduced. It also contained 11 internal black and white line illustrations by Achilleos (you can find these online here). The book was later republished under the original TV series title of The Silurians and with a new cover by Alister Pearson.


The book also starts with a prelude missing from the TV story, which was shown in 1970, creating a powerful and almost, possibly, just about believable tale of the capturing of the moon in the earth's gravitational orbit during the time of the dominance of Silurian civilisation, and the reason for their hibernation. Why not, it definitely worked for me when I was 8.

The thing I like about this story is the unique position it places the Doctor in relation to his normally non-swaying support for humanity. By creating an intelligent reptilian race which predates mans evolutionary ascent on earth, and hence have valid claims to 'invade', the issue becomes a little more complex for our moral Doctor. I must admit I always side with the Silurians and hope they'll look after the earth better than we do. I'd double-cross humanity in a second - but then any power-crazed megalomaniac worth his salt would do the same.


The Silurian's third eye is evidence of their higher evolutionary path compared to modern humans, an element missing in their return story, Warriors of the Deep (apparently a production mistake), and again sadly in their current new series reappearance. It acts as a means of dominance over humans, and non-living matter itself. They also appear at one point to be able to communicate telepathically. Together with their technological superiority, this creates a powerful threat.

Hulke also like to paint his human characters full of weakness and selfish motives. He appears to take great fun of making fools of establishment figures, of men in suits and their attempts to control each other, in this story highlighted by the importance of chairs within the politics of power and human relationships.

There's a good detailed review of the story on the Doctor Who Reference Guide here.


Now I'm so inspired by this story, I still want to listen to the audio recording, and watch the video or DVD (was the DVD remastered?). Or perhaps I'll learn Dutch and read Doctor Who en de Holenmonsters. More likely I'm going to revisit Bloodtide, the Big Finish Silurian story, maybe I should try Warriors of the Deep. Or perhaps even read Blood Heat, the seventh Doctor Virgin New Adventure, which I have discovered includes Jo, the Brigadier, Liz Shaw and a few others. But, it all appears within the concept of an alternative universe, so can easily be forgotten about as none of it actually happened. No, really. Or there’s the Missing Adventure book The Scales of Injustice, which is available online on the BBC classic series website (find it here).

But as it's Petwee's second story, it sort of makes sense to start with the Auton Invasion and see if I can work my way through Pertwee's stories one by one... or perhaps I'll just pick out Hulke's stories... or just stick with the Target audio recordings or...

Another Dalek ´first´...

Published on 12 November 1964, just in time for the second arrival of the Daleks in the TV series ´The Dalek Invaision of Earth´, was the first ever Who book. A novelisation of their first appearance almost a year earlier, Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks, was written by David Whitaker and published in hardback by Frederick Muller. The first edition of 20,000 copies, with pink dustjacket, soon sold out and was quickly reprinted in December (the second, and later third, editions have grey covers).


Twelve internal black and white illustrations were by Arnold Schwartzman (a detail from one was reused on the cover).


A paperback edition was issued on 4th October 1965 by May Fair Books Ltd, under the Armada Paperbacks imprint. This version did not use Schwartzman's artwork, instead having a colour cover and 6 line illustrations by Peter Archer. This was the first Doctor Who novel to be published in paperback.


On 2 May 1973 it was the first Who title published under the Target Books range, renaming it as ´Doctor Who and the Daleks´, although the full title was still given on the inside frontpage, and with the subtitle "Based on the popular BBC television serial". From 1977 onwards reprinted editions, now complete with the arched Who logo, dropped the full title completly. All of the Target editions included the 12 illustrations by Schwartzman.

The now classic cover illustration was by Chris Achilleos, who has acknowledged the influence of Ron Turner's artwork for The Dalek Chronicles comic published in TV Century 21 (more about that soon!), in particular the two Daleks were modelled from Issue 60 (The Rogue Planet, part 2) and the title graphic from Issue 76 (Legacy of Yesteryear) onwards.


In January 1992 it was republished by Virgin, retitled ´Doctor Who - The Daleks´ and released with a new cover by Bruce Pearson.

BBC Audio used the Achilleos artwork on the cover of their 2005 audio CD release as part of the ´Doctor Who: Travels in Time and Space´ collectors tin, with actor William Russell (Ian) reading the novelisation.

Probably one of the best Who related websites, On Target, has jacket details and cover examples, including a section on foreign editions, complete with scans of inside illustrations by varying artists. Definately a site to booknmark!

Time for tea?

In 1976 TyPhoo Tea ran one of the best Who promotional offers ever, featuring the work of the great Chris Achilleos on the boxes, 12 photographic collectors cards, and a supporting hardback annual style album called ´The Amazing World of Doctor Who´, with an outstanding cover, again produced by Achilleos. Apparently there´s a wallchart to go with this, although I have yet to find a photo of this. Just a shame the cards are photographs rather than original artwork, but hey, you can´t have everything (not that us power crazed megalomanics listen to such sweeping statements).


You can still pick up the cards for a reasonable price on ebay and the like, and the album is also occasionally found. However the promotional boxes themselves are probably the most sought after and few and far between, after all, who keeps old tea boxes?!


I used a picture of the album on my post about Chris´s work (here), and should again plug Chris´s website where you can order limited edition prints of the cover artwork, and a great Tom Baker portrait, again used in the promotion. You can visit his website here.


Unfortuantely we were a PG Tips family (probably my fault as I was also an addicted collector of the free collectors cards which appeared in these, so my poor mum probably had no choice but to buy PG!) and I have never had the disposable income to buy the stuff second hand since. But as soon as I win that lottery...

When I originally posted this I had lost the source of these images, which I have now rediscovered. Who collector Mike Hall has an excellent site called Dalek-mania which contains a wealth of information on all things Dalek and beyond, including original props. He has marked these images as his own copyright, which we respect, but wonder if the artist and manufacturer (and designer!) also have copyright claims. As the images are in the public domain, and refer to a once publicially available item, we think it´s OK to reproduce them here in this context. However, please respect this copyright if you copy these images for your own use by at least crediting Mike and his site.

The Art of Who (Part 1) : Chris Achilleos

Growing up with the Target novelisations of the original ´classic´ Who meant that one artist was synonymous with early Doctor Who stories - the one and only Chris Achilleos. Highly styilized, and yet increadibly accurate, often with a pointilist style black and white portrait of the Doctor, Chris´s covers jumped off book shelves and were almost as exciting as reading the books themselves.

Between 1973 and 1977 Chris illustrated the covers of 28 of the first Target books, some of which included back cover illustrations, and a few also included black and white illustrations inside the books as well. Some of these covers were replaced on later reprints and editions (criminally in my view - no disrespect to the subsequent artists).

He also illustrated covers for some special non-fiction books, most noteably the ´Doctor Who Book of Monsters´ and ´The Amazing World of Doctor Who´, both of which feature great colour portraits of Tom Baker with an assortment of monster enemies. The latter title was an annual-style title produced as part of a 1976 TyPhoo Tea promotion, and special boxes also featured his art - now highly sought after by crazed collectors of all things Who. I certainly wish I had an example (I´ll stick up some pics when I get the chance).


You can see all of Chris´s covers, including some special limited editions (for example a 20th Anniversary Five Doctors commorative print and other one-off paintings), on his website. Chris is now a well established fantasy artist, having published several solo books and becoming rather well known for his fantasy female figures. And very nice they are too.

Sadly, some of Chris´s original works where apparently stolen some years back, including Day of the Daleks, the Tenth Planet and The Cybermen. As a result Chris can´t offer prints of these images for sale, which is a great shame not only for him, but also us.

I´ve copied the main illustration on this post from his site, and I sincerely hope he doesn´t mind (I´m writing to him to request his permission for its use in this context, but acknowledge his copyright in the meantime). What I didn´t realize until I first browsed his site is that Chris sells high quality prints of his work. He has even done new commissions, including a special ´Tomb of the Cybermen´ cover and a couple of New Series prints.

Sometime back in the 1980´s (I think - I´ll update this when I get more time!) a portfolio of six of his covers was released, of which I am a proud owner, and I did manage to pick up a signed print of his tribute to the New Series with a 9th Doctor and Rose illustration, complete with Autons and Dalek.

If you can´t afford to get yourself a print from Chris yourself (but it must surely be worth saving up the pennies), or if you´re not loaded enough to commission your own personal painting, then it´s well worth hunting down early editions of these books just for the covers. They can still be found secondhand at reasonable prices, and must surely be a good investment. Check out ebay or greenmetropolis.com (a secondhand book site which donates to The Woodland Trust).


Doctor Who and the Daleks (Cover and interior illustrations)
Doctor Who and the Crusaders (Cover and interior illustrations)
Doctor Who and the Zarbi (Cover and interior illustrations)
Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion (Cover and interior illustrations)
Doctor Who and the Cave-Monsters (Cover and interior illustrations)
Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks (Cover and interior illustrations)
Doctor Who and the Doomsday Weapon (Cover and interior illustrations)
Doctor Who and the Dæmons (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Sea Devils (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Abominable Snowmen (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Curse of Peladon (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Cybermen (Cover)
Doctor Who - The Three Doctors (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Loch Ness Monster (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Tenth Planet (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Ice Warriors (Cover)
Doctor Who - Revenge of the Cybermen (Cover)
Doctor Who - Genesis of the Daleks (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Web of Fear (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Space War (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Pyramids of mars (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Carnival of Monsters (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Seeds of Doom (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Dalek Invasion of Earth (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Claws of Axos (Cover)
Doctor Who and the Ark in Space (Cover)

Non-fiction

The Making of Doctor Who (Cover, Target Books edition)
The Doctor Who Monster Book (Cover)
The Second Doctor Who Monster Book (Cover)
The Amazing World of Doctor Who (Cover)
The Target Book (Cover)


Thanks Chris, your work is a great addition to the world of Who, and an inspiration to aspiring artists.