'In light of the BBC's request not to use the likenesses of non-current Doctors on the covers (the Second Doctor's face having been removed from the previous Doctor Who and the Web of Fear), the Third Doctor's face does not appear on the cover'
[http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Doctor_Who_and_the_Space_War_(novelisation)]
They asked for Pertwee's likeness to be removed from the cover of Doctor Who and the Space War so what's it doing on here?
Let's start with the fact that it's not actually so clear-cut that anyone did ask for Pertwee's face to be removed from Doctor Who and the Space War:
'There were also further points raised by the BBC regarding the cover artwork. They had previously queried both the use of a past Doctor on the cover of The Web of Fear and the fact that the Doctor did not appear on the cover of The Space War, and when presented with Chris Achilleos's cover for The Claws of Axos in November 1976, they again queried the use of a past Doctor' [David J Howe, The Target Book].
This might explain why we'll see Pertwee again on covers for Doctor Who and the Carnival of Monsters and Doctor Who and the Claws of Axos, what with the BBC seemingly complaining about his absence from the cover of Doctor Who and the Space War.
Two further quotes from The Target Book make things a bit clearer:
'A sketch for an unused cover for Doctor Who and the Mutants. The artist is unknown, but it is thought the concept was scrapped when the Doctor Who production office requested that the novelisations only feature the image of the current Doctor (at the time Tom Baker)'
and
'Initial cover designs for both The Mutants and The Tomb of the Cybermen were ultimately not used, presumably again as both featured the appropriate past Doctor. In the case of The Mutants, the Controller of BBC1, Graeme McDonald, when he was consulted in February 1977, demanded in very forceful terms to know why Tom Baker was not pictured on the cover'.
It appears that what the BBC wanted, Graeme McDonald specifically, was Tom Baker on the cover of everything. Maybe he was unaware of which eras individual stories were from and this was why it took Target a while to work out what exactly he was demanding, but we do then enter a period in which past Doctors disappear from the novelisations' covers entirely (with the possible exception of Meglos - maybe this was justified by the fact they're actually picturing the villain - and the obvious exception of The Five Doctors).
What this boils down to, if we ignore the already mentioned missteps, is that only the current Doctor (and not even him when it came to Colin Baker) was portrayed on the cover of Target novelisations from around September 1974, the eve of season 14, and January 1986, mid-hiatus and pretty much when season 23 would have started, when The Gunfighters merrily shoved William Hartnell on its front. What I find interesting is that that's well past The Five Faces of Doctor Who season in 1981 and the Doctor Who and the Monsters season in 1982, which saw the BBC merrily repeat actual episodes featuring past Doctors, suggesting they felt the audience was now responsive to old stories and old faces.
There are some caveats. The first of these seasons is broadcast on BBC2, presumably in anticipation of a smaller and more dedicated audience than was usually expected for the show, and the second, which was on BBC1, was cobbled together late in the day to fill six slots left vacant by an axed US import (originally seven slots, which is why 'Genesis' was picked and the hacked to pieces).
However, the main point about the repeat seasons was that they were seasons. Five Faces presents itself as an opportunity to revisit not five old individual serials but the whole history of the show, especially as it was first designed with 'The Masque of Mandragora' included (tardis.wikia.com/wiki/The_Five_Faces_of_Doctor_Who) - you got the first ever story, a chance to see every Doctor including the fifth thanks to 'Logopolis', alien worlds and monsters, a pseudo-historical, UNIT, Jamie, Jo and Sarah and the special occasion when multiple Doctors worked together. It was a package in which each story was to be appreciated in the context of all the other stories (have a look at the Tachyon TV-hosted trailer at www.dailymotion.com/video/x158xpc).
The same is sort of true of Doctor Who and the Monsters. It's designed to show off the one thing oddly missing from the Five Faces selection, even to the extent that the stories are billed in Radio Times by monster rather than title, the season consisting of 'The Ice Warriors', 'The Daleks' and 'The Cybermen' (tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Doctor_Who_and_the_Monsters) - you get to assess the Doctor's biggest foes alongside each other.
Presumably the BBC felt that the novelisations had a greater reach than BBC2 repeats (not necessarily a larger market but one more reliant on casual interest) and that their release schedule was too random for past Doctors to be presented with any sense of context. These problems, however, are capable of solving each other - as the perceived audience shrinks, it's increasingly composed only of those familiar enough with the history of the show to not be thrown by the random presentation of old Doctors.
And the BBC feels that the Doctor Who audience reaches that point shortly before or during the 1985/6 hiatus. Either that or it's just the point when they feel it's no longer worth the while of anyone of the stature of the Controller of BBC1 paying attention to a range of novelisations.
Click here if you believe there's anything more to be said about Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks than this.
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