This was my all-time favourite Dr Who episode, just shading Pyramids of Mars. The creeping green Wirrn larvae sacred the bejesus out of me and gave me sleepless nights for ages. becaue it had such an impact on em I sought out the novelization and was intrigued to find it had been written by ian Marter, who of course played Harry Sullivan in the show. I think the inside knowledge he brought made this one of the best novelizations. I wish I still had my copy today. ( )

http://nhw.livejournal.com/763482.html

Marter may well have been tempted to write this from the viewpoint of Harry Sullivan; if so, I think he was wise to restrain himself. He both adds and subtracts from the TV show here. He subtracts, somewhat to my surprise, most of the humorous lines of dialogue - specifically the Doctor's line "Well, my doctorate is purely honorary, and Harry here is only qualified to work on sailors." It is of course a joke against Harry (a naval doctor, but one who appears rather a twit at times), but I don't think that is the reason; perhaps Marter just felt the line didn't work as well on the page as it does on the screen, as he also drops the banter between Rogin and Lycett just after they are woken up.

He adds, however, some simply superb descriptive passages which one really regrets were not realised on-screen. Sometimes it's just little things, like the Doctor opening a door on the space station by thinking at it. There's also Sarah's journey through the ventilation duct, through the mass of Wirrrn (another thing added by Marter is an extra "r" in the name of the monster). He also adds graphical nastiness and violence. Noah's head explodes, revealing the Wirrrn within. Rogin's body is "burnt to a colourless crystal".

Basically, if your attention is suddenly held by the prose in one of Marter's novelisations, it's a fair bet that it's something he added to the original story. Doctor Who and the Ark in Space is a really good read. ( )