Synopsis: Two spacecraft collide and are fused together. An investigator suspects that one of the pilots was under the effect of a terrifying drug called Vraxoin. But how did it get aboard? The Doctor and Romana get involved and their attention is drawn to a device that stores snapshots of alien worlds. But these aren’t just photographs, that’s a real jungle from the planet Eden. That’s a real Mandrel from the jungle. Now that’s a real Mandrel leaving the jungle and marauding around the ship, killing real passengers. And more of them. And more…

Chapter Titles

• 1. Warp Smash
• 2. The Collector
• 3. The Attack
• 4. Monster in the Fog
• 5. Drugged
• 6. The Fugitive
• 7. The Rescuer
• 8. Man-eater
• 9. Monster Attack
• 10. The Plotters
• 11. The Secret of the Hecate
• 12. The Smugglers
• 13. Round-up
• 14. Electronic Zoo

Background: Terrance Dicks adapts Bob Baker’s scripts for the 1979 story.

Notes: The Doctor and Rigg discuss the history of Vraxoin, which the Doctor says keeps cropping up on various planets but its source has never been found as it was smuggled in from somewhere else. Scientists tried to create it artificially while trying to find a cure for vraxoin addiction, and the drug is ‘a mixture of animal and vegetable elements combined in some unique way’. Secker’s body is too frail after the attack as his system has been weakened by the drug. As ever, the version of the Mandrels from TV is enhanced in Dicks’ description:

The boar-like head had a curiously flattened nose-structure; the huge bulging eyes were a luminous green; and the creature was covered with thick, shaggy fur. Most terrifying of all were the rows of drooling fangs and the massive paws ending in razor-sharp claws. 

The Doctor urges Stott to quarantine Eden to enable the Mandrels to live in peace, their secret safe.

Cover: Andrew Skilleter paints the Doctor and a rather drab Mandrel (aside from its glowing green eyes).

Final Analysis: Another no-frills adaptation, a couple of small scenes are missing – the search among the passenger lounge when the Doctor and Romana have leapt through into Eden – and a few scenes are reordered, but otherwise it’s another basic tome.