Five of the first season episodes ("Seek-Locate-Destroy", "Duel", "Project Avalon", "Deliverance" and "Orac") are given essentially the same treatment as Target have been providing for Doctor Who. But, at under 200 pages, and fifty minutes per episode, they're compressed about two and a half times as much as your average Doctor Who novelization. "Deliverance", in particular, gets short shrift, as the lead in to "Orac".

The five episodes have been selected on the grounds that they all feature Tarrant as the antagonist (and Servalan holding his hand, of course), which means there are some episodes missing from the broadcast sequence. However, that's not a loss to the continuity, although collectors will regret it.

The writing is mostly adequate (there's a cringe inducing "Tarrant reacted imperceptibly", and a wonderful reference to Orac being obstreperous and "only obey the rules of Logic he chose to"), but doesn't really add anything to the broadcast. Not really worth the effort, unless it's the closest book to your hand, in which case it'll pass a couple of hours. ( )