The first of a new series in which we look at the artwork which has accompanied book adaptations, VHS and DVD covers of the Classic Era stories. These pieces will appear at some point during my look at the relevant Episodes.
We start with An Unearthly Child. The story was adapted for novelisation as Doctor Who And An Unearthly Child, by Terrance Dicks and released to tie in with its repeat screening as part of The Five Faces of Doctor Who season, in 1981.
First editions had a foiled logo.
The cover shows the TARDIS in the junkyard at 76 Totter's Lane, painted by Andrew Skilleter.
It's a very bland image, bearing in mind everything that happens in this story. It isn't even a nocturnal image, which would have been more atmospheric and fitted in better with the story as broadcast.
The book was reissued in 1990 with a new cover by Alistair Pearson, using his image for the VHS cover. Reissues dropped the Doctor Who and... format for the titles. Both versions of the cover stressed the fact tat this was the very first story, presumably an attempt to draw in the casual browser. As well as images of the Doctor and Susan we get the TARDIS in the prehistoric landscape - something which the DVD covers will pick up.
The German translation of the book (Doctor Who Und Das Kind Von Den Sternen) actually reused the Andrew Skilleter cover for The Keys of Marinus novelisation.
The French version came with the "Igor et Grichka Bogdanoff presentent..". banner, and was titled Docteur Who Entre En Scene. The brothers Bogdanoff presented a Sci-fi show on French TV which briefly took Doctor Who episodes. They were quickly shunted to a Sunday morning graveyard slot. The brothers have been in the news recently as both died within a few weeks of each other from Covid. They were fervent anti-vaxxers, who were obsessed with plastic surgery.
The cover is a colourful image of cavemen surrounding the TARDIS - giving it a sort of 2001: A Space Odyssey obelisk vibe.
A book of Anthony Coburn's scripts for "The Tribe of Gum", which became An Unearthly Child, was released by Titan Books in 1988. The cover was by David McKean. Despite the title, the contents were transcripts of the four broadcast episodes.
As part of the 50th Anniversary celebrations in 2013, AudioGo were going to release a new novelisation of the story by Target range editor Nigel Robinson, read by William Russell. Unfortunately the company went bust and the release was halted. It remains in a sort of legal limbo. The main cover image is derived from a photograph from the final episode (The Firemaker) as everyone runs back to the TARDIS.
As mentioned above, the first VHS cover for the story was painted by Alistair Pearson. Like the novelisations, a banner stressed that this was the first ever story. This was released in February 1990.
Ten years later the story got a reissue on VHS, this time with a photomontage cover, and as part of a "Beginnings" box-set with The Daleks and The Edge of Destruction. Whilst the companion images were from publicity shots from this story, the image of Hartnell came from a photograph from The Space Museum. Despite the title referring to Susan, she doesn't feature on the cover.
The DVD followed in 2006. Once again it had a photomontage cover, and was part of a box-set with the other two early serials. The cover was composed by Clayton Hickman, one-time editor of DWM. The unearthly child got a more prominent role in this cover. On her right are the junkyard gates, and on her left the TARDIS in the prehistoric landscape.
The American cover gave equal prominence to the Doctor and Susan, whilst this unused German version below managed to find room for everyone, including the TARDIS. It mimics the UK DVD designs, with the title against grey TARDIS roundels. At bottom is the cover they went with.
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