Lost Media - Paint and Draw the Film of Dr Who and the Daleks
A look at the rare 1965 Paint and Draw the Film of Dr Who and the Daleks activity book - a strange hybrid of colouring book, puzzle collection and condensed film adaptation now considered effectively lost.
Paint and Draw the Film of Dr Who and the Daleks
Film Tie-in Activity Book
“The adventure is over. Back in the Tardis, the time travellers admire Ian’s Thal cloak. Soon they will set off on new adventures, knowing that the Daleks are finished—OR ARE THEY?”
There was a considerable amount of tie-in merchandise released alongside the Dr Who and the Daleks film featuring Peter Cushing, but very few could be considered a story or an adaption in its own right. One of the more unusual examples was the Paint and Draw the Film of Dr Who and the the Daleks, a book which adapted the film plot down to it’s bare bones featuring dot-to-dot puzzles and colouring-in pages.
Written by Alan W Lear and published by Souvenir Press in 1965, the story broadly follows the plot of the film, with several notable simplifications and omissions. Rather than beginning in Dr Who’s home in Earth, the story immediately starts with the TARDIS arriving on Skaro. In addition, the Thals are reduced to largely anonymous supporting characters, with most of the focus on the core four.
Although the novelisation of Doctor Who stories are commonplace, the book is an unusual form of this from the height of Dalekmania. Like much of the early Doctor Who merchandise, it shows how quickly the Daleks and Doctor Whohad commercialised to a wider audience.
Due to the nature of this puzzle book, surviving copies are exceptionally rare. No complete digital scan or archival copy is currently available. A physical edition still exists, however is extremely rare and is not accessible. As such, we have classified this as “lost”. However, a video flip-through of the book survives online, allowing the story and artwork to at least be partially documented.