Who needs all these books? Doctor Who fans
- Publication: Red Eye
- Date: 2013-06-06
- Author:
- Page: 42
- Language: English
Obsessive "Doctor Who" fans, your wish has been fulfilled.
In honor of the golden anniversary of the show's first broadcast comes a new volume from BBC Books, "Who-ology: The Official Doctor Who Miscellany' by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright.
The BBC TV series "Doctor Who" started on Nov 23, 1963, with the venerable William Hartnell as the first Doctor. It currently airs on BBC America in the U.S.
The Doctor, an alien with two hearts, regenerates into a new body when the show needs a new actor in the part. Over 5o years, there have been it Doctors, numerous assistants and visits to a fantastic number of planets and time periods, both in the past and in potential futures. The latest Doctor, Matt Smith, has just announced he will leave after the 2013 Christmas Special, so the search is on for the nth Doctor.
"Who-ology" covers all the current ones. The chronology goes through the Doctors in exhaustive detail, down in such details as the music used in various episodes. Incredibly, the only thing it neglects to include is an index.
Need a gateway book into the world of science fiction for a young fan who enjoys "Doctor Who"? The BBC also has delved into its archives for the printed word.
It has reprinted it novels, one for each Doctor. Of note with these books is that they reflect the time of the Doctor (sometime in the last 5o years), and the period when the writers were active.
For example, Stephen Cole wrote "Ten Little Aliens" in zoot, starting his writing in September 2001. The plot was formulated earlier when he was an editor of a "partwork magazine dedicated to Agatha Christie. Thus, as he explains in his introduction, the pitch was "'Starship Troopers' {Heinlein} meets Agatha Christie." He ended up using the First Doctor, played by Hartnell.
Hartnell's elderly Doctor is much more physically fragile than, say, Jon Pertwee's younger and more robust Third Doctor, who stars in the "Last of the Gaderene," originally written by Mark Gatiss in 2000. Here, the Doctor nearly gets minced by a large fan—something that the First Doctor never would have survived.
Finally, for the devoted fan there is "Summer Falls," a young adult novel written by Amelia Williams. Doctor Who devotees know that is the married name of Amy Pond, a companion of the Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith. The Ponds, wife and husband, were lost to one of the Doctor's great enemies, the Weeping Angels.
But in the latest season, one of the characters is reading "Summer Falls."
Despite the incestuous intertwining of different aspects of the TV series, "Summer Falls" is an entertaining fantasy novel with a female protagonist, a talking cat and an exciting finale.
Disclaimer: These citations are created on-the-fly using primitive parsing techniques. You should double-check all citations. Send feedback to whovian@cuttingsarchive.org
- APA 6th ed.: (2013-06-06). Who needs all these books? Doctor Who fans. Red Eye p. 42.
- MLA 7th ed.: "Who needs all these books? Doctor Who fans." Red Eye [add city] 2013-06-06, 42. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: "Who needs all these books? Doctor Who fans." Red Eye, edition, sec., 2013-06-06
- Turabian: "Who needs all these books? Doctor Who fans." Red Eye, 2013-06-06, section, 42 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Who needs all these books? Doctor Who fans | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Who_needs_all_these_books%3F_Doctor_Who_fans | work=Red Eye | pages=42 | date=2013-06-06 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=23 March 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Who needs all these books? Doctor Who fans | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Who_needs_all_these_books%3F_Doctor_Who_fans | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=23 March 2025}}</ref>
