The template was never designed
for art though; it was designed for a random photograph from the particular
story. When I first saw The Robots of
Death cover at Panopticon 2000, I was appalled. Tom and Louise were
marketing it like bulls in china shops (well, Tom was) and it was just so
bloody ugly. Spearhead from Space
wasn’t much better. And what was with Remembrance
of the Half A Smoky Dalek? The Caves of Androzani boasted the often-spoken-of
stand-out image from that story: a blindfolded Peter Davison in a boudoir. Vengeance on Varos starred Forbes
Collins as the Doctor and some extra called Colin Baker got down to his sweaty
shirtsleeves. Clayton Hickman’s (to be honest, uninspired) eventual cover for Tomb was a blessed relief. The Ark in Space and Carnival of Monsters were similarly
uninspired though I seem to recall an edict for Hickman to focus on monsters.
It’s a tricky brief without a decent photograph of a drashig. And when the
story is The Aztecs.
Surprisingly, The Aztecs was Hickman’s chance to show
off and his cover art is strikingly beautiful. Perhaps its breaking of the
template and utter gorgeousness was what convinced BBCWW to allow Hickman to go
his own way with the covers from then on. Suddenly, after almost two years, we
had artwork we could talk about again. Aside from the persistence of those
bloody awful roundels, below are my Top Ten favourites! Enjoy!
10: THE WEB PLANET
Yes, it’s a direct rip-off of the
Alister Pearson VHS painting, but when the source material is so beautiful, you
can’t blame Clayton for thievery. What makes The Web Planet DVD cover different, however, is the glorious purple
colour scheme. William Hartnell proudly looks to the stars, tearing right
through that awful grey template, not a hero to be tied down by such rot as
uniformity. This is one of Clayton’s best covers. Just as The Web Planet itself re-wrote the rules for what Doctor Who could
be, Clay’s cover re-writes the rulebook as to how a cover can be composed. It
paved the way for the likes of Lee Binding’s orange Terror of the Zygons eight years later.
9: CASTROVALVA
It looks like a simple headshot
but look more carefully and the intricacy of Clayton’s composition becomes
clear. An underused and vaguely puckish image of Davison is flanked by two
darkened images of the Portreeve and Shardovan, the potential villains of the
piece, and for once the concentric circles that Hickman would begin to overuse
make perfect sense. Each cutaway section of the circle contains a different
section of the distorted city of Castrovalva itself. The pinks match the
story’s design aesthetic and the covers matches a Doctor Who story’s usual
sense of adventure but Castrovalva’s
rare sense of philosophy and thought.
8: THE CHASE
In later years, Hickman would
occasionally adopt the throw-everything-at-it approach to cover design.
Luckily, so did Terry Nation when he wrote The
Chase and it’s got a cover to match. Against the classic title sequence of
the early 60s (given a stylish purple wash), Hickman depicts several of the
story’s multitudinous settings: The Empire State Building; the Marie Celeste
and the planet Mechonus. In the middle, a mercurial Hartnell, fingers
interlinked gives his weird Doctor photo finish whilst below him, the heart of
the story – Ian and Barbara – stare at one another. Pus Mechonoids, the TARDIS
and Daleks! It’s a real hotch-potch but it’s exactly the right cover for a
galactic Chase.
7: THE ARMAGEDDON FACTOR
All the Key to Time covers are
tremendous (barring perhaps The Power of
Kroll due to its photographic paucity) but The Armageddon Factor marks a culmination. At its centre is the
completed Key to Time, the sinister Shadow stands in the foreground victorious,
whilst either side a haunted-looking Tom Baker and Lalla Ward are bathed in
darkness. This feels like the cover to a season finale and for once in the
classic series, it got one.
6: THE INVISIBLE ENEMY
Yes, it’s the well-worn
photoshoot with K9 on a lead but what a bloody photoshoot that was! The word
iconic is overused but the image of Tom, Louise and K9 epitomises the thrill of
late 70s Who. It’s a small wonder it’s never been used on a cover before. Behind,
a burst of space colour and lightning, the Titan shuttle and the nucleus of the
swarm combine to create a cover that thrills and delights the imagination. It
matches perfectly the psychedelia of The
Invisible Enemy.
5: PLANET OF EVIL
So the most obvious thing to say about
the Planet of Evil cover is that it’s
The Hand of Fear cover. However, it’s
been given a masterful paint job by Lee Binding. Despite the pink overprint and
the pink planet behind them, the Doctor and Sarah seem to be in genuine peril,
Elisabeth Sladen’s expression one of real fear. Tom Baker looks desperate and
heroic at the same time. Put simply, it’s such a great action shot it deserves
to be used on two covers.
4: THE LEISURE HIVE
A Season 18 Doctor against a Sid
Sutton starfield and an 80s Cyberman was precisely the wrong cover for Revenge of the Cybermen. For The Leisure Hive, however, (sans
Cyberman) it’s inspired. Clayton picks a great image of Tom: he’s still bright
and breezy, not quite the funereal Doctor of later that year. The starfield,
used in the story itself outside of the title sequence, feels like a perfect
fit here. The Hive itself, towering in the foreground is impressive and intimidating
and even the Foamasi almost manages to look threatening. Not every cover could
look like this, but for this sudden dive into the 1980s, it feels absolutely
right.
3: PLANET OF THE DALEKS
It’s the classic photograph which
sums up the story: Pertwee and Horsfall wrestling with the Dalek. This is such
a deliberate homage from Clayton Hickman that he even includes Chris Achilleos’s
upwards flying comets from the Target book cover. But why deviate when the
original was one of those images which positively sums up the programme itself,
let alone this particular story?
2: THE MIND ROBBER
When one thinks of the wonderment
of The Mind Robber, it’s easy to
remember images from the story itself but difficult to recall a particular photograph.
With such limited choice of publicity shots, Clayton Hickman’s cover is all the
more impressive. The toy soldiers look genuinely threatening in the foreground,
looming over the viewer. The forest of words behind looks faithful to the (very
sloppy) sets and yet atmospheric and frightening. Above everything, the TARDIS
is breaking into splinters. Troughton seems to be in despair and the mysterious
Master seems characteristically enigmatic. It’s a supremely well put-together montage,
making a limited selection of photos work incredibly well.
1: DESTINY OF THE DALEKS
For me, Lee Binding’s Destiny of the Daleks is easily the best
cover in the entire range. It’s not a difficult choice. No deliberation. It
brings to mind pictures from the 70s Dalek annuals with all their dynamism and
physicality. There’s Tom and Lalla racing through the adventure, the Movellans
armed and ready to fire, Davros creeping slowly behind, the suicide Daleks
front and centre and angry. It is a blisteringly exciting cover and for once, doesn’t
come second best to the Target or VHS covers. Whilst Clayton Hickman was the
backbone of the DVD range, producing an incredible amount of artwork and
bringing the series to life in its new format, Lee Binding came along and
offered something new. His works for Paradise
Towers, The Greatest Show in the
Galaxy and The Sensorites were
worthy of note but in Destiny of the Daleks,
he produced something transcendent. This was a brand-new image which seemed to
define Season 17. The artwork the show had never had back in the day. It remains tremendous.
Near misses: Not every cover
could make a Top 10 list. Here’s a few I deliberated with: The Aztecs, The Claws of Axos and The Seeds of Death (the originals rather than the Special Editions;
simple and effective), The Androids of
Tara, The Pirate Planet, The Twin Dilemma (yes, really!) The Tomb of the Cybermen, Resurrection of the Daleks and The Caves of Androzani (Special
Editions) and Horror of Fang Rock!
JH
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