May Books 5) About Time: The Unauthorised Guide to Doctor Who, 1985-1989

[nwhyte]

5) About Time: The Unauthorised Guide to Doctor Who, 1985-1989

This is the last (so far) of the About Time series of guides to Doctor Who, covering not only all the Seventh Doctor series and all but the first of the Sixth Doctor stories, but also the 1999 TV movie, the misconceived 1993 Dimensions in Time piece, The Curse of Fatal Death and the

Comments

[wwhyte]

The overall structural glitch with the books is that they tell the story in series-by-series form. I found myself wishing for an essay about Jo, or about Sarah, or about UNIT, or about how the Key to Time arc held together, instead of the in-depth mining of very narrow seams that they went in for.

The last volume was probably the least bad offender in that category, as they actually had a "did Cartmel have a masterplan?" essay which at least provides an overview of the narrative thrust of the last two seasons. Hilariously, though, in that essay they only reference the actual stories and not any of the other writing or interviews Cartmel's provided about the period, which makes it a very bizarre kind of in-depth analysis.

[dm_1977]

vwhyte, the 'in-depth' analysis bits are (largely) restrcited to what we see and hear on screen; most other sources are acknowledged in The Lore when it comes to behind the scenes intentions.