The Mind Robber

Here's a guy with a really interesting website, The Mind Robber. Check it out.

Amongst his varied output are a couple of 'fake' covers, the first in Target Achilleos style...


And the second in the original style of the hardbacks by Frederick Muller in the mid-1960s...


Find these images here.

Fake Christmas Invasion!

I think I'm going to have to set up a label for 'fake Target covers' as I'm enjoying these. Here's one I found on DeviantArt, here, by Ant1975uk (Anthony Dry).


There's a wealth of artists showing off their Who stuff on DeviantArt, well worth exploring...

Off Target

Here's another mock early Target cover, this time a rendition of Warriors of the Deep but with a Troughton Doctor, so following on from the other Silurian stuff I posted here.

The image is by Daryl Joyce, whose online galleries can be found here. Daryl's done a lot of official Who work, see the TARDIS wiki for more info. There's more of his work on DeviantArt, here.

I think this is a great image, and even more interesting to think of Warriors as a Troughton story. Would it have been better? Probably not - even Troughton and team would have stuggled to make this story work. But it couldn't have been any worse.

Silurian spin-offs

As we know, the Silurians first appeared in the Third Doctors second story, Doctor Who and the Silurians (yep, thats the official name after the full script title appeared on the screen titles, rather than just The Silurians), also known as The Cave Monsters (from the Target novelisation). Later, in Pertwee's third season, their cousins the Sea Devils took their turn to try and reclaim the earth.

All went quiet under the earth until Davison's third season, when they both returned in Warriors of the Deep. Whilst the Silurian head design included the third eye, for some reason the script forgets about this ability. As far as the classic TV series is concerned, this was their last appearances.

In the Virgin New Adventures novel (number 19), the Seventh Doctor meets the Silurians in Blood Heat. Featuring the Brigadier, Liz and Jo, events turn out to be taking place in an alternative universe where the Silurians were successful in defeating the Doctor in the first encounter. There's a detailed story synopsis here. There's a whole host of crazy things that happen in the Virgin New Adventures, which I'm not even going to touch on here... have a look here for references and links (including other odd spin-off bits and bobs).


We also have the Silurians reappearing, this time including versions hybridised with Sea Devils, in the Missing Adventure novel The Scales of Injustice, with the third Doctor and Liz Shaw. Again find the synopsis here


This story is available online on the BBC Classic Who website which is available online here, together with some interesting artwork in the style of the Target series for the period, including a mock Chris Achilleos style cover.


And the Silurians again return in the Big Finish audio Bloodtide, with the sixth Doctor this time taking his turn to deal with some menacing Silurian scientists.


Doctor Who Weekly magazine ran a two part comic strip story Twilight of the Silurians, in issues 21 and 22. The story, which didn't feature the Doctor, was dedicated to Malcolm Hulke, who had died in May 1979.


The Doctor Who Monthly 1992 Summer Special features a story called City of Devils with Sarah-Jane and K9 (the only example of comic strip in this format, itself supporting the spin-off K9 and Company).

And then Doctor Who Monthly ran the story Final Genesis in issues 203 to 206 which again followed on after the events of the original Silurian story, with the Doctor again failing and being killed before alternative events unfold...

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.