The Art of... The Keys of Marinus

 

The Keys of Marinus novelisation, which was written by the series' one-time producer Philip Hinchcliffe, has one of the worst covers in the series. It's not that it's badly executed - it's just that it is bland, and has no relevance to the story as broadcast. It depicts the TARDIS in space, orbiting above a planet. At no point in the story is the TARDIS ever seen like this.

The artist is David McAllister.

Hinchcliffe's successor, Graham Williams, was the producer at the time this novel was being prepared for publishing (November 1980), and he raised a concern about the cover - though this was mainly his observation that the TARDIS wasn't grey, and did not have a red light.

Of all the stories which needed a reprint with a new cover, this one failed to be given one.

Apparently a story-specific cover was prepared for this book, but for some reason it went unused.

Andrew Skilleter published the above image as an unused VHS cover on one of his calendars, and often the book reprints and the videos made use of the same cover. Oddly, Skilleter has opted to include an Ice Soldier, but not a Voord - supposedly the main villains of the story.

When the story was released on VHS in 1999 it was during a period when they had foresworn the painted covers and were only providing photomontage ones - which is probably why Skilleter's image went unused.

This was a two tape release, so it had the cover image reproduced on the spine. Not every double pack had this feature (and the early double length stories had each tape released individually).

The UK and US DVDs carried the same photomontage cover, with an image of William Hartnell that was taken from a publicity shot for this story's first episode - the one which had featured in the Radio Times. Alongside the Doctor we have images of Arbitan, two Voord, and the Conscience Machine. In the background is the swastika-like symbol of the City of Millennius, and there is a snowy mountain backdrop to the right - so they've tried to fit as many story elements in as possible.

Like many of the DVD covers, this was the work of Clayton Hickman, who was editor of Doctor Who Magazine either side of the 2005 relaunch.

The UK releases had a permanent brand image of the title printed against a backdrop of TARDIS grey roundels taking up the top third of the cover, giving the entire run some consistency. 

The US covers also had a certain consistency of design, but on the spine rather than the front. The image from the front cover wrapped around the spine on the UK releases, but the US ones didn't have this - just the title against black, with the relevant Doctor's image at the top.

For the forthcoming audiobook reading of the novelisation, they have employed Jamie Glover. The son of series guest stars Julian Glover and Isla Blair, he had portrayed William Russell in the 50th Anniversary drama An Adventure In Space And Time. Unfortunately, they have not taken the opportunity to commission any new artwork, so it is lumbered with the boring and irrelevant original novelisation artwork.