Paul Smith (17)

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2828067.html

This book's subtitle is A Comprehensive Guide to the Novelisations of Broadcast Doctor Who, and that's precisely what it is. It is only available as an interactive PDF where you can if you like (and I did) read through the entries in chronological order of publication rather than (as they are presented) in order of broadcast of the original story. For each novelisation, the gap in time between broad cast of the TV story and publication of the book is given (starting from -1 day, in the case of The Five Doctors) and the word count for all but the three most recent (shortest: Doctor Who - Planet of Giants, by Terrance Dicks; longest: Doctor Who - The Evil of the Daleks, by John Peel). There's then a listing of UK editions with images of the different covers, the blurb, the chapter titles, individual notes on each book including the fate of the original cover artwork where it is known, and then an account of foreign editions. It's full of odd little bits of trivia - why, for instance, did a Polish publisher decide in 1994 to translate Day of the Daleks, The Three Doctors, Revenge of the Cybermen and nothing else? I was also unaware that there are Australian novelisations of four Eleventh Doctor stories - The Eleventh Hour, Victory of the Daleks, The Time of Angels and The Lodger. Smith loses completist points, however, by including K9 and Company by Terence Dudley (as well as the Pescatons, the two Barry Letts Third Doctor audios and the Sixth Doctor missing stories) but omitting the Sarah Jane Adventures novelisations (which are actually not bad). Still, I mustn't complain; I don't have the time or energy to put this together and I am very glad that someone else does. You can download it for free.… (mer)

Paul Smith's third book is his first serious one, a series of "data visualisations" about the making of Doctor Who. Some are too complicated to glean information from (such as a chart of common story endings used in the modern series), but some are really quite informative, such as most commonly visited planets, most commonly visited locations on Earth, or (my favorite) how many weeks prior to transmission each 1960s episode was filmed. I'd known they use to cut it close, but this visualisation really highlighted how much so! It's an interesting way to reconceptualize information you know, or learn something new.… (mer)

Paul Smith's second pastiche recreates the 1973 Radio Times 10th anniversary special for the 50th anniversary-- only it's written as if there never was any Doctor Who prior to 2005, so it's celebrating the "8th anniversary" instead. It mixes genuine tributes to the companions with muddled "facts" and episode synopses. I'm not familiar with the original in this case, but I enjoyed it regardless, particularly some of the brilliant artwork accompanying the companion tributes (especially the one for Rose). Some of the jokes wear thin, but the "make your own Dalek" feature skewering "Asylum of the Daleks" is worth the price of entry alone.… (mer)

This fan-made book pastiches the Brilliant Books of Doctor Who, positing that such a thing existed for the first series back in 1964. It's good fun, with a guide to every story and the same mix of nonfiction and in-universe content. Only much of the "nonfiction" is made up-- such as every interview! These are good fun, such as William Russell talking about how he gets on with the ladies, or William Hartnell declaring his favorite story was The Keys of Marinus because he got two weeks off in the middle to go to Spain. There's also a worked-out geography for Marinus, which is actually kind of awesome, and the listed facts for each actor include their "first episode off"! I enjoyed "Tlotoxl's Portents!" a lot, which mixes real clues about the second season with fake ones, in a perfect aping of the same feature in the Brilliant Books or the Annuals/Storybooks. It's a brilliant recreation of a brilliant book for a brilliant era.… (mer)