Doctor Who Encyclopedia by Gary Russell

Doctor Who Encyclopedia Reviews

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  Sophie Crane

  Awesome book - a must for any Dr Who fan, lots of pictures, "nerd info" for those, like me, who like to know a little bit of the behind the scenes stuff! Brilliant - can't wait for the updated version to come out!
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  Ken

  My edition heavily focused on the first three series of the modern series.
  It’s a fun in-depth look that will keep fans of the show entertained for hours.
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  Nicholas Richard Pearson

  Doctor Who’s Television Revival in 2005 saw the dawning of a new age for us ‘Whovians’ as we hadn’t seen anything related to the series on the small screen since the 1996 TV Movie starring Paul Mcgann. Paul Mcgann’s Eight Incarnation of the famous time-lord who could change his cellular structure upon ‘death’ (thereby creating a fantastic plot convention for new seasons) wasn’t successful in its plan to carry an American produced television series. However, the character and the show in general had survived throughout the ensuing years in a range of formats; including tie-in novels, comic books, audiobooks and documentaries, amongst other such things. Fans were unsurprisingly ecstatic when the show was renewed for revival in 2005 on British television, helmed by the great writer Russell T Davies and starring Christopher Ecclestone as the titular Doctor, alongside Billie Piper as companion Rose Tyler (who was known most for her brief pop music career in the 90s).
  
  After a fantastic First Season, the regeneration concept was used again to place long-time Whovian David Tennant as the leading star of the show; much to the delight of many with his heartthrob good looks, and thereby bringing in a whole new generation of fans to the series. At first, it wasn’t quite clear if the Revival series (now cited as NuWho) was going to contain plot elements and retain the vast history it had accumulated since the show first aired in 1963 with William Hartnell at the helm. This was confirmed to be true within the first few episodes with the Doctor talking to Rose about Galifrey (his home planet) and the inclusion of past enemies, including the Autons, Cybermen and his most nefarious foes the Daleks, who it was said were responsible for the Time War; a recurring theme within the New Series. Over three seasons, we had two new Doctors; the Ninth and Tenth respectively, and two great new companions in the form of Rose and Martha.
  
  ‘Doctor Who - The Encyclopaedia: A Definitive Guide to Time and Space’ was published in 2007 by BBC Books and put together by Gary Russell, the man who wrote and co-wrote a lot of the scripts and novels for Doctor Who. It contains an A-Z listing of (nearly!) all characters, phrases, places and planets that appeared in the first three seasons of Doctor Who from 2005 – 2007, as well as special articles for heavier entries including the Tardis and the Doctor himself, and artwork that appeared throughout these televised episodes. There is a host of artwork accompanying these entries relating to certain episodes or people, and there are over 1700 entries in total. The layout is in the same vein as an encyclopaedic book should be; starting with numbers and specific years (1987 for the death of Pete Tyler for instance; i.e. Rose’s father) going on to larger entries such as ‘Earth’, and smaller entries for ‘Debbie’; a friend of Jackie Tyler’s mentioned here and there. All in all, these entries cover 191 pages that are still expanding as the series continues.
  
  For those of us who have been fans of Doctor Who since the early 60’s onwards until the show’s cancellation in the late 80’s, there is little mention of what is colloquially known as Classic Who; i’.e the stories that came before the 2005 revival, and such a feat would require a much larger page count than what this book has to offer. This is simply for the first three seasons of Doctor Who starring the Ninth and Tenth Doctors, plus the Christmas special at the end of Season Two starring comedienne Catherine Tate as Donna Noble. There are also entries for the BBC Red Button mini-episode ‘Attack of the Graske’; as well as the animated serial ‘The Infinite Quest’; making for a realised connection between these separately broadcasted stories.
  
  Because of the book’s statement as an encyclopaedia, it probably isn’t the kind that you would sit down and read all in one sitting. It is fascinating to realise details that hadn’t even occurred to me whilst watching an episode, and the author has really done a job in trying to include everything within his given remit. That being said, there is a lot that is left out, or indeed not yet written for the sake of series marketing, due to the inherent fact that this book only contains information for Seasons 1-3. Doctor Who lore is vast and wide, and has only just been embraced by a new generation. Having just watched the end of Series 10; looking at the entry for the Weeping Angels makes for an interesting look-back at how such an integral symbol of the New Series had only just made its mark, having only featured in one episode up till this point.
  
  BBC Books have now published many more Doctor Who themed books and guides to the series, and this is an interesting look-back at the show’s beginnings when being targeted towards a fresh and modern audience. Nowadays these guides would normally incorporate at least something relating to the Classic stories before the 2005 revival; however, with NuWho still in its infancy, it is easy to see how the publishers didn’t want to confuse people. This being the case, I could never label this as a ‘definitive’ guide to the show as we have come such a long way now since its initial publication. It is an interesting read however, and it is certainly recommended for the sheer depth it goes into for the first three seasons (plus a little bit more).
  
  N.B. BBC Books published an updated version of this book in 2011 that incorporates Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor and subsequent stories; fleshing out more detail and analysis from the show in the same encyclopaedic fashion but with a much higher page count.
• 
  Alli

  My only complaint with this book was that there wasn't as much Rose stuff in there as there was the other companions. Shame... Otherwise, a nice, carefree read about one of my favorite shows
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  Hufflepuff_princess

  i got this book at a bookstore for $39.00. money worth spent? i think so
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  T.M. Carper

  Very, detailed A-Z photo-filed guide to creatures, planets, people, etc. from the new series of Doctor Who. The downside is that it only covers series 1 - 3, not 4 (the end of the Tenth Doctor). Other than that, it's an intense read and very, very detailed.
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  Gloria

  Won't tell you a whole lot new, and sadly, little about the series before 2005. But for those fans out there who want to know every single detail? This is a good choice for you!
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  Tearese

  My only complaint is that it doesn't include season 4 or any subsequent specials, but then they are still in production. A fun book for fans of the new series.
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  Christopher Jarvis

  This was so accurate and hardly missed anything. If you spot an object in an episode of Doctor Who that didn't get a mention in this book, you deserve a medal.
• 
  Holly

  Wow.
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  Jaq

  A great encyclopaedia for the whovian.
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  Fangirl

  A fun encylopedia with plenty of pictures to look up all my favorite Doctor Who trivia.