Second paragraph of third chapter ("The Edge of Destruction: A New Fan's Guide to Old Who, by Val. E. Gurl" (as told to Taylor Deatherage)):Anyway, this episode was... disappointing to say the least. First of all, it was in black and white. Borning! I know each episode is only, like, 26 minutes, but it felt like an ETERNITY. Next time, they should ( Read more... )

I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected. It’s a collection of the best lines from Doctor Who, from 1963 to 2014, organised thematically, with a strong but not overwhelming leaning to New Who (where in fairness the writing has generally been better). I’m writing this on holiday, having left the book behind at home, so no direct quotes here, but ( Read more... )

Second paragraph of third chapter: Other than this official scrutiny, Verity knew that she was likely to be the focus of a different kind of attention in her new role and, as a consequence, she was careful with her image, choosing well-cut expensive clothes to offset her well-cut, expensive hair, discreet jewellery and killer heels. She was ( Read more... )

Second to fourth paragraphs of third chapter: John [Nathan-Turner], never backward in coming forward, took advantage of tis to lobby [Bill] Slater about his aspirations to produce. "One day, during an annual interview," he recalled in his memoirs, "I restated my ambition yet again. 'Well, if you're serious, you'd better learn the PUM's job [ ( Read more... )

The Space Pirates is missing. But in a way, it has to be. These gaps are as much a part of what Doctor Who is as the TARDIS or the Daleks - something that is not just a DVD set for obsessive 21st century fans, but that has been a living, breathing part of every year since 1963. Without stories like The Space Pirates that flicker on in an imagined ( Read more... )

An unexpected Christmas bonus for us subscribers from Big Finish (unexpected to me at any rate, though I admit I tend to just download my own subscriptions and the occasional podcast and therefore miss a lot of the interactivity on offer). This is the original 4 CD set of the memoirs of Doctor Who's longest serving producer, read by JNT himself and ( Read more... )

I'm getting near the end of my rewatch of Old Who now, and I wondered to myself if I could have tried reading the various Doctor Who novels, novellas and annuals in parallel with watching the shows, in such a way that I could follow the continuous narrative all the way from An Unearthly Child to Survival. (I did in fact slot the annuals from 1966 ( Read more... )

This short (170 pages) and digestible book of essays on the Russell T. Davies era of Doctor Who was published last month by the Science Fiction Foundation; the editors kindly invited me to contribute when it was first mooted two years ago, and I wish I had had the time (and scholarly resources) to do so, as it is always nice to be in good company ( ( Read more... )

Today is the seventh and last date of the year on which six episodes of the first run of Doctor Who were broadcast in different years. The reason for this pile-up of dates is ( explained at length )

I was unreasonably grumpy about having to order this book physically from a real bookshop last year. It was well worth going to some extra trouble to get hold of it. It's a lovely collection of 27 essays by fans of Doctor Who, ranging from the gleeful to the mildly profound (as far as one can be in less than ten pages), ranging over various aspects ( Read more... )