1987: THE EQUALIZER 2: TO EVEN THE ODDS (Target Books)

From 1987: The second and, as far as I know, final in the brief series of novelizations of the Universal series THE EQUALIZER.  

This one adapts The Defector (episode 3) and Back Home (the 13th), both from the show's first (of four) seasons. 

1986: THE EQUALIZER BOOK 1 by DAVID DEUTSCH (Target Books)

From 1986: Another entry in the Target/ Star TV tie-in stakes: the first of two novelizations derived from Universal's THE EQUALIZER, starring the late Edward Woodward.

This one adapts the show's standard-length opener and The Children's Song, the seventh episode aired during the first season.

I think this show is, without doubt, one of the best action shows to emerge from the Eighties.  And I think it is a tribute to both the studio and CBS that they were willing to rework the DEATH WISH formula for the small screen... and make the star a ready-for-retirement Brit rather than (as the not-too-bad almost-in-name-only movie proved) a dashing young actor in his action-ready prime.  

Of course, CBS' audience at this time did skew older (and more rural) so this was appealing the net's core audience.  This was probably an older audience, sitting and watching the evening news every day, convinced that America's cities had slipped into urban anarchy... and wishing someone (with a nice wardrobe or sensible cardigans) would do something about it.  

In the UK, ITV (once the home of Woodward's CALLEN) was the obvious home for the show.  Although their predilection for heavy editing and erratic scheduling hardly treated the show with respect.  At one point it was possible to watch several episodes per week thanks to the show enjoying both a prime time network slot AND a berth in the overnight schedules if you lived in the right regions.  Nowadays, with wall-to-wall sitcom repeats cluttering the digital schedules, this doesn't sound odd but... at the time... it was unusual.   

1976: THE MAKING OF DOCTOR WHO (Target Books)

From 1976: Target Book's THE MAKING OF DOCTOR WHO.  

This tie-in seems pretty basic today but, I bet, at the time this was essential reading for fans desperate for any information that could find on the thirteen year old show. 

1984: KNIGHT RIDER 4: THE 24-CARAT ASSASSIN (Target Books)

From 1984: KNIGHT RIDER: THE 24-CARAT ASSASSIN, the fourth and (as far as I know) final book in the run of paperback episode novelizations.  

This is an adaptation of the second season two-parter ALL THAT GLITTERS aka MOUTH OF THE SNAKE.  These doubled as a back-door pilot for a potential series, CODE OF VENGEANCE, which suffered from a messy birth and very swift death.  A second, retooled, tele-flick (CODE OF VENGEANCE) aired to some success in the summer of 1985 and NBC went ahead and commissioned a weekly series.  Which was canned, before any episodes actually aired, after four outings.

In the KR episode, Dalton (played by Charles Taylor) is a government agent who crosses paths with Michael Knight.  For the subsequent outings he was a drifter (and obligatory Vietnam Vet).  

KNIGHT RIDER is no stranger to spin-offs and revivals but this remains the only contemporary one... and the least well remembered. 

1984: KNIGHT RIDER 3: HEARTS OF STONE (Target Books)

From 1984: Another elongated episode adaptation: KNIGHT RIDER 3: HEARTS OF STONE by Roger Hill and (contractually) Mister Larson.  

The episode was the 14th first season show out of the gate. 

1984: KNIGHT RIDER 2: TRUST DOESN'T RUST Novelization (Target Books)

From 1984: The Target novelization of the legendary KNIGHT RIDER episode TRUST DOESN'T RUST.

Legendary?  It's Michael and KITT's first encounter with the infamous KARR: the first-season evil "twin" episode (there's a sequel in the following season) that's the episode that everyone (along with the Hoff's double-duty as the evil Garth Knight) remembers thanks to the playground buzz it created way-back-when.

With the distance of thirty-odd years (gosh), it's clear that it's not the greatest hour of TV ever shot... but, like much of the series, it's still a lot of fun.  

I've not read the book yet (it was cheap online... so I had to have it) but I imagine there's a heck of a lot of padding to bring a single TV script up to full book length.  The usual formula was to run two adaptations back-to-back in each book.  One clue might be on the back cover: Counter-intelligence in Vietnam.  That sounds like a bit of Michael Knight's (actually Michael Long... it's a - ahem - long story) backstory that the show didn't mention much... if at all.  Being a Vietnam vet was compulsory for Eighties action heroes... but I'm not sure if Knight/ Long was even old enough to have had fought in 'Nam considering fighting ended a decade earlier.  Maybe I'll have to just read the book...

1984: KNIGHT RIDER: KNIGHT OF THE PHOENIX (aka the pilot) Novelization (Star Books)

From 1984: the first KNIGHT RIDER novelization from Star Books.

Star were, alongside Target, another imprint of WH Allen, who - as we've been seeing (and will continue to see) had a nice little sideline in TV based novels (all adapting screen adventures) during the mid-Eighties.  

This was the last Larson show created under his Universal contract (I think his day-to-day involvement on the weekly series was minimal as he'd moved over to 20th Century Fox to create the likes of THE FALL GUY, MANIMAL and AUTOMAN) so, sure enough, he made sure that he garnered a co-author credit (ala BATTLESTAR).  In reality, he probably never even knew this existed except as an income line on his contract.  

The book, which I've not read yet, is based on the show's feature-length opening movie aka Knight of the Phoenix.  It's worth a watch because, tonally, it's a little darker than the series itself.  Larson's stock company of Star Age performers saw several familiar faces clock in for opening night.  

According to the commentary on the DVD release, Larson didn't have time to finish shooting and editing the opener by deadline so he completed a partial version and pitched that to NBC.  Once the deal was sealed and the series green-lit, he went back and inserted the (cringy) comedy sub-plot with the bumbling car thieves to bring it up to the requisite length for broadcast. 

David Hasselhoff... Superhuman.  Apparently. 

1985: AIRWOLF 2: TROUBLE FROM WITHIN (Target Books)

From 1985: the second (and, I think, final) paperback spin-off from AIRWOLF: TROUBLE FROM WITHIN, published in the UK by Target Book.  

The adapted episodes, Bite of the Jackal and Daddy's Gone a-Huntin, were the second and third aired. 

The cover rates highly on the slap-it-together scale. 

1984: AIRWOLF 1 (Target Books)

From 1984:  Target's crack rights acquisition squad struck again (the famous-for-one-thing publisher also, during this point in the Star Age, also issued paperbacks based on STREET HAWK, THE A-TEAM and KNIGHT RIDER... see once - and - future - posts) by snapping-up AIRWOLF.

It was, of course, another of the hardware shows (spawned by the success of The Hoff) from the Universal stable.  It initially faced competition from BLUE THUNDER but emerged from the Chopper Wars victorious by virtue of being the better show.  

The first year was a mid-season replacement followed by two more full seasons.  The ratings were never great and the 'wolf only stayed on the air thanks to some network-ordered format-tweaking that played down the international threats of the first batch of episodes in favor of more domestic threats to the States.  

CBS lost patience after the end of year three and dropped the show, leaving the studio in something of a predicament.  The number of completed episodes wasn't sufficient to put the show into profitable daily reruns on local stations.  So, Universal struck a deal with the cable station USA NETWORK (which just happened to share corporate DNA with... surprise... Universal) to get another year's worth of shows into production.

Season four (aka AIRWOLF II) was, literally, only making up the numbers so had to be made as quick and cheaply as possible.  For cable cash.  The original production team and cast were all jettisoned (original star Jan Michael Vincent did stagger back long enough to appear in the opening episode of the new run... his colleagues were less fortunate) and production relocated to Canada.  Improbably the show's back story was fudged to allow Stringfellow Hawk's long-lost MIA brother to suddenly reemerge and become Airwolf's new pilot.  

The new Hawk was played by Barry Van Dyke, no stranger to parachuting into defunct Universal action shows being revived, on the cheap, in the hopes of padding out the episode count.  He was previously involved in the GALACTICA 1980 debacle.  

The new batch of episodes were heavily dependent on stock footage from the original series.  Anything brand new, whether it be sets, locations or effects looked painfully cheap.  The show was (presumably) shot on film but edited on tape, adding to the "that'll do" nature of the end product.

I'm not sure if Universal managed to flog the new episodes to ITV in the UK (the show was a frequent off-peak schedule filler so it's entirely possible the local schedulers just shifted around new and repeated episodes from the CBS years) but i did see the odd episode as part of the show's reruns on BRAVO. 

All four seasons have been released on DVD.  There is also a BR set of the three network years (omitting the last season).  The "movie" version of the pilot (which was only released on VHS in the UK but I believe did get a full theatrical release in some markets) has also been released as a Blu Ray.  It's a certificate 18 edit (which must have confounded a few parents back-in-the-day all thought they were renting the same thing they saw every week on ITV for their kids) which spices up the sex, violence and swearing a bit (although not as much as the certification suggests) and lops off the coda that sets up the premise for the weekly series.  The TV edit is including on the DVD and (presumably... I've not felt the need to upgrade ) BR sets. 

This first book adapts the TV pilot. 

1985: STREET HAWK 4: DANGER ON TARGET

 

From 1985: the fourth (and final) in the series of STREET HAWK TV adaptations published in the UK by Target Books.

The appropriately named Danger On Target adapts the TV episodes Murder is a Novel Idea and Hot Target.

That means, of the thirteen episodes produced, seven were novelized.  Not bad for a failure. 

1985: STREET HAWK 3: GOLDEN EYES (Target Books)

From 1985: the third (of four) STREET HAWK paperback, published in the UK by Target Books.

GOLDEN EYES adapts the telly outings Follow the Yellow Gold Road and Dog Eat Dog. 

1985: STREET HAWK 2: CONS AT LARGE (Target Books)

From 1985: the second, of four(!), Target novels adapting the short-lived (but memorable) STREET HAWK: Cons At Large.

This one, as the back cover contractually tells us, adapts the TV episodes The Adjustor (episode 3 in US broadcast order) and The Unsinkable 453 (the 8th). 

1985: STREET HAWK The Novel (Target Books)

From 1985: the first (of four) novelizations based on the brief TV series STREET HAWK.  

The first rule of TV is that success spawns imitation (just look at all the X-FILES knockoffs that cluttered the schedules in the 1990s... even BAYWATCH had a punt) so it's traditional for each new season to start with a raft of series that are lawyer-baiting clones of whatever show had been the breakout hit of the previous year.  

KNIGHT RIDER had been a breakout hit for NBC from its debut in 1982, sparking a brief dalliance in similar high-tech-hardware shows over the next few seasons.  BLUE THUNDER aired from January to May 1984, AIRWOLF trumped that with an extended flight which started the same month and lasted through to 1987 and STREET HAWK aired from January-May 1985.

NBC, watching "V"'s ratings plummet faster than stock footage of a Sky Fighter crashing, even offered the show a cash injection to bankroll a futuristic car for the Resistance.  Warner Brothers passed.  

STREET HAWK, which has all the hallmarks of a Larson show... but isn't, is a variation on the KR theme.  Herein, Jessie Mach (Rex Smith... latterly Daredevil in one of the INCREDIBLE HULK reunion movies from New World) is a cop with a double-life as a top secret, government bankrolled vigilante.  On a bike. 

It only clocked-up thirteen episodes before ABC called time although I think, like AUTOMAN and MANIMAL (two shows that did emerge from Larson's febrile mind), most people probably assume it lasted longer.

Tangerine Dream supplied the memorable theme and incidental music.  

The UK seemed to take to it in a big way: Target signed-up for four of these novelizations (this one adapts the feature-length pilot) and there was also the traditional annual and a Poster Magazine.

It also seems to have spawned two different computer games for the ZX Spectrum.  A rush-released 1985 version (which garnered poor reviews) and a refined 1986 version. 

1984: AUTOMAN: THE NOVEL (Target Books)

From 1984: the one-and-only novelization spun-off from Glen Larson's short-lived (but, like MANIMAL, fondly remembered) adventure show AUTOMAN.

This is another of Target Book's attempts to expand their range by signing licensing deals for various US adventure shows.

Amazingly, Larson doesn't attempt to claim credit (unlike the BATTLESTAR book range) for being co-author of the novel.  Clearly his deal with 20th Century Fox wasn't quite as generous in the credit department as the deal he'd brokered at Universal (which saw him take credit for anything that might bring in additional monies on top of the show itself). 

The preposterous show swiped its inspiration and visual style from TRON (1982), which itself owed a visual debt to the conclusion of Britain's BREAKING GLASS (1980).  It ran between December 1983 and the following April, clocking-up only thirteen episodes including the feature-length pilot (adapted herein).  The BBC premiered the pilot on 12 May 1984 and aired the final episode at the end of August. 

1983: THE A-TEAM (Target Books)

From 1983: THE A-TEAM, by Charles Heath, published by Target Books.

One of the Star Age things that's been all-but -eradicated by the digital age (although i suspect the rise of VHS was an early nail in the coffin) are novelizations of pretty much any film of TV show that looked like it might shift a few pulpy paperbacks.  

Target Books, long time publishers of the DOCTOR WHO range, decided to hedge their bets in the early Eighties and start publishing books based on imported US action shows.  Ironically, THE A-TEAM was thrashing the pants off WHO in the Saturday night schedules at this point.

The US editions of the these books came courtesy of Dell although it seems like Target kept the faith longer as they managed several additional outings that didn't see US release.

THE A-TEAM was, at least for a while, red hot on both sides of the Atlantic.  Target managed to eek out at least ten paperbacks adapting various episodes.  And they also indulged in some brand extension with at least a few Choose-Your-Own-Adventure type outings. 

This first book in the series (no number... presumably because Target weren't confident they had a franchise on their hands) adapts Mexican Slayride, the show's feature-length first outing.  Despite the bog-standard cast publicity photo on the cover, Dirk Benedict (Face!) didn't actually appear in the episode.  Tim (Captain Power) Dunigan had the honors but looked too young to be convincing as a Vietnam vet.  Benedict stepped in from the second episode and no effort was made to remount the pilot (presumably on the grounds of cost and time). 

I've not read the book but I do have a soft spot for the show itself.  It's easy to dismiss as being repetitive and not very clever but, watching as an adult, it's easy to see Stephen J. Cannell's light touch shining through and elevating the material.  The cast are also uniformly excellent (Bennedict is basically channeling Starbuck... which makes the Cylon gag from the episode Steel even more fun), especially Dwight Schultz as Murdoch.  He brings the right charm and manic energy without pushing it OTT and into the please-get-off-the-screen zone. 

1979: TERRY NATION'S DALEK SPECIAL (Target Books)

Terry Nation's DALEK SPECIAL, also by Terrence Dicks, was the even-more-exciteing companion to the K9 book I posted earlier in the week.  It followed the same oversized paperback format and - once again - featured black & white illustrated (stills and art) interiors on good paper stock.

The star attraction were a short story by Terry nation which - I believe - had previously appeared in a newspaper or some such.  It's thirty-odd years since I last read it but I recall that his Doc-less tale of Daleks under London was pretty gripping at the time.

Another well-studied section was the innards-revealing Dalek cutaway (the K9 book had a similar feature) which finally revealed all the things the BBC SFX department couldn't.  I recall a similar feature in the DOCTOR WHO AND THE DALEKS OMNIBUS, an oversized mid-seventies hardback from Marks and Spencer, but I don't think this was the same piece of art.

Sir Terrence filled-out the rest of the book with a summary of the Daleks screen adventures to date (which seemed like ancient sacred texts to a young fan like me) and a background piece on Dalekmania.  All simple stuff by today's standards but a real revelation at the time.

When this book was released, my only knowledge of the Daleks was the TV adventure Destiny of the Daleks and - possibly - reruns of the two big-screen sixties flicks (there is - by the way - an excellent new Telos Books tome on all the made - and unmade WHO movies to date out this week) but I still knew they were very cool.  Perhaps it's programmed into our DNA somehow....

1979: THE ADVENTURES OF K9 AND OTHER MECHANICAL CREATURES (Target Books)

My copy of Bob Baker's new autobiography, K9 STOLE MY TROUSERS, arrived from Amazon yesterday.  I've only had time to give it the most cursory of glances (looks good!) but it did remind me of this other essential K9 text, from 1979: THE ADVENTURES OF K9 AND OTHER MECHANICAL CREATURES by the ubiquitous Terrance Dicks.

This was published - alongside a similar DALEK volume - by Target Books (of multiple paperbacks fame) and was one of the earliest DOCTOR WHO reference works.  It's undemanding stuff but - for a seven-year-old fan - an absolute must-have.

The mechanical mutt is - obviously - the main draw but clearly Dicks couldn't think of enough things to say so he expanded the brief to include various robots featured in the show to date.  In the pre-home video era, and with no repeats of note on TV, these glimpses into the show's past were tantalising indeed.  I wonder if today's young fans look at the various photo-heavy reference books of today and feel a similar surge of excitement about the show's hitherto undiscovered past?

Priced at 85p, this wasn't cheap but I kept hassling my parents every time we went to WH Smith until they bowed to the inevitable.  My original copy eventually fell apart and this is actually a recently acquired replacement.  I'll post the DALEK book soon.