Published: December 1987

Edition read: Target first, 1987- didn’t even realise I had it until I started this project.

Coolest Cover: In the absence of much reference material, Tony Masero makes use of what he has. Viewers of Allo Allo will no doubt have their own ideas as to how Von Smallhausen would comment on the design.

The BBC Budget Wouldn’t Run To: Well, they did actually make a Macra...

The TARDIS materialises with... "a new quality, as though they were driving into increased pressure".

...and dematerialises with..."a whirling sound, a little like a dynamo in need of attention"

Childhood Recollections: The fact that I didn’t really realise that I had the book rather suggests that I didn’t read it at the time.

Ramblings: Although the absence of a hefty chunk of 1960s Doctor Who from the archives is of course to be regretted, when it comes to ‘The Macra Terror’ it seems particularly sad, because the story appears from its various manifestations to have had just that little bit more to give. Ideas about individuality versus conformity, exploitation and brainwashing- and of course a bloody enormous crab big enough to keep Rick Stein in business for a fortnight. Ian Stuart Black’s earlier adaptation of ‘The Savages’ seemed to lack a certain something (but then so did the original story, as far as we can tell), but ‘The Macra Terror’ seems to have had a little more spirit to it and was probably one of the better stories in the now largely non-existent fourth season- those tantalising censor clips of Macra and claws being a fascinating glimpse of a story we may never get to see as a whole.

Having spent much of the last couple of months reading a collection of very worthy and occasionally quite intense adaptations of little-known stories from the Hartnell era, it came as rather a pleasant change to move on to something a little more like conventional Doctor Who. Author Ian Stuart Black is also sensitive to the change of tone, and there are a number of moments where the Doctor is noticeably the Second rather than the First- not only when he uses the rough-and-tumble machine to restore his unkempt appearance, but a talent for using his scruffiness and eccentricity to persuade people to underestimate him, while also quietly making the connections and keeping his own counsel. The other regulars, however, perhaps don’t have quite the same presence on the printed page and apart from Medok (who’s given a particularly affectionate send-off in the final chapter) the supporting characters are also given a lower priority than the sense of atmosphere and mystery.

The Macra themselves remain suitably mysterious; apart from the cover (which is a reasonable good synthesis of the few surviving photos and descriptions from the text), they’re generally described in terms which combine Black’s original conception of them as insects and their final crustacean form, and there’s sufficient restraint in the way they’re described to leave a certain amount of impact left when the Pilot is finally shown them. One curious thing, though- the moment when the Macra claw hauls the real Controller off the screen is missing (despite it being considered too edgy for Australian audiences!), and the Doctor says that the colony is sadly "very cheerful" rather than "gay". Faced with the complexity and attention to detail of some of the other releases in the 1987 schedule, however, the adaptation is refreshingly straightforward with no ambition other than to tell an entertaining and thoughtful story- to that extent it complements some of the more earnest efforts around it, and serves as a reminder that there were still some conventional monster stories left to be adapted. As the first of the Second Doctor’s stories to be published after Patrick Troughton’s death, it’s also an effective reminder of just why the missing stories of the Second Doctor’s era were held in such high regard by those who saw them the first time around.