was a blast to read, It read very quickly and was quite informative, I've seen several Doctor Who interviews and behindthescenes and have read a few other 'about' books, and there was still new information in here that I didn't know previously.
The author had an easy, conversational manner about his writing, almost like he is sitting down with you at a coffee house, enjoying a latte and his love for the science fiction cultural phenomenon that is Doctor Who.
Each Doctor is given a fair amount of page time, delving into how the actor was chosen for the role, where he went to school and what other parts he had played in the past.
Companions are fleshed out as well, and I enjoyed reading about Louise Jameson, Elizabeth Sladen and others, There's also quite a bit of talk about the producers and the writers, and how they often struggled with ideas and rewrites, clashes of opinion and keeping the show on the air.
Kistler also goes into specials and spinoffs and current popular opinion of the show, I really in particular feel bad for Colin Baker, who got a raw deal behind the scenes a horrible outfit due to the flamboyant producer, and terrible scripts from writers who just didn't like him personally.
I also never realized how much the show was struggling to stay current and afloat all through the's, The other thing that stuck in my craw was how much better The Five Doctors movie could have been had it not been strangled and stymied by the producer, JohnNathan Turner.
I wasn't aware of how many potentials and couldhavebeens there were in the Whoniverse, only to be crushed behind the scenes before anyone could see it,
On a positive note, it is very obvious who the author's favorite Doctor is Paul McGann, He constantly quotes him and attempts to bring him into the conversation whenever possible as well as having an entire chapter devoted to theth Doctor expanded universe stories via BBC novels allof them, which Kistler has surely read as he summarized the overarching plots and the huge library of audioplays, mentioning Zagreus several times one of McGann's best.
As Doctoris one of my favorites, I can't say I blame him, and that certainly added to the reading experience for me, The only downside to reading this It was published in, before theth Anniversary special as Kistler is unaware of The Doctor gaining a new set of regeneration cycles, and of course the knowledge of who is DoctorPeter Capaldi.
I almost wish he would write several new chapters and rerelease the book so it is completely up to date, I would recommend this book to anyone who has watched Doctor Who in the past, and is curious about the history, the actors and how the program has changed over the years.
Absolutely an enjoyable ride, and one I will probably revisit in the future, Finally a Doctor Who book that indirectly blames John Nathan Turner for ruining the show! Kistler doesn't try to hide his own opinions by constantly including quotes from people involved with the show's reactions to JNT's idiotic decisions, Kistler makes its intentions abundantly clear.
Like not wanting the show's characters to demonstrate any emotions because it'd become too much like a soap opera, . . or not using experienced TV writers to write TV shows, . . or Colin Baker's well just Colin Baker.
An INCREDIBLY comprehensive look at the complete Whoniverse, including outofcanon work by Big Finish audio adventures a myriad of novelizations Alan Kistler is a truly dedicated nerd.
For such a short book, this really managed to cover a LOT, I'm not ordinarily big on Nonfiction or biographies, so I was surprised at how much I truly enjoyed reading this at least half of my ebook is highlighted and bookmarked for easy reference because I am a Ravenclaw and that's how we express literary affection.
I was late on the Harry Potter train too but when I got going, I STUDIED those books more than any school textbook, lol,
This book was fantastic, I love knowing the history of the show, especially because I only recently became a Whovian which, I'm sure, ALL of my school teachers and university lecturers can be really glad about else I would have pulled a David McDonald Tennant and tried to pass off Doctor Who fan fiction/ art work for all school projects.
They were subjected to the Matrix instead I knew most of the dialogue off by heart anyway so drama class was easy in that regard, Luckily for my educators, I was born inwhen the show was cancelled and remained mostly unaware of it until after I was done with my education, I also have to gripe a bit because I happened to get obsessed with the show just as they announced taking a bloody year's break from production I'm sorry fellow Whovians, it breaks both my hearts, but I'm your bad luck charm.
I absolutely devoured this book, it was wellwritten and obviously wellresearched by a big fan, with actual interviews from most of the surviving actors, It was something that I literally could not put down untilam, when I decided to leave the lastfor the next day, Unfortunately, I was reading the ebook and failed to notice the lastof the book is basically an index, so I was terribly disappointed when I resumed reading, I still have too many feelings to adequately describe here, especially about the struggle to get New Who started, but I am so much more appreciative of Chris Eccleston we only bonded in the "Dalek" episode, before that I nearly gave up on the show.
Without Chris' ultimately fantastic take on the role, and a very determined production team, David would probably never have had the chance to realise his ultimate dream to play The Doctor, and the world would have missed out on stellar performances by Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi.
A look back at fifty years of Doctor Who, profiling the tenures of each of theDoctors you can't not count John Hurt, despite what Nine through Twelve say, their companions, and their most notable adventures.
Most interesting to me were the tales of what happened behind the scenes: what the early actors went through to immortalize a children's show, how the BBC began to disown it as ratings slipped in the's, how the Eighth Doctor came to be, and how the modern series finally got kicked off.
A really nice summary of one of my all time favorite shows, sitelinkDoctor Who: A History
Leading up to the Doctor Whoth Anniversary Comic Book Historian and Doctor Who expert Alan Kistler decided to put together a history of the oldest running scifi show in television History.
The book starts with the getting the show off the ground and ending with Matt Smith announcing that he would be leaving the show, this book beautifully constructs a history for Whovians who are more familiar with the modern show and don't know where to start if they want to go back and watch Classic Who.
Even though it is only a brief history of each doctor and his many companions, it is just enough information to start getting a feel of who the Doctor is and how he changes through out the fifty years of the show.
It also points out key episodes that can be found on netflix where you can go and watch a specific Doctor or a specific companion,
The book also mentions how each actor felt after they left and what it felt like to be replaced as the Doctor, You learn how each doctor regenerated, and how not all of them were shown in the series,
I highly recommend this to all Whovians especially those who want to know more about Classic Who, This book is filled with like pockets of information that is really cool like the inspiration for River Song came from Aubrey Nieffeneger's novel "The Time Travelers Wife" or the fact that the Doctor Who movie starring Paul McGann as theth Doctor was filmed in Vancouver, Canada.
This book in my opinion is a much have in a Whovians collection, I did not get into Doctor Who while growing up and even with the series reboot in the earlys, I largely avoided it, However, a friend got me to try Torchwood and I really enjoyed that towards the end, So I started to flirt with Doctor Who and was slowly making my way through the show, David Tennant was growing on me but I still wasn't sold on the showit was something to have on in the background while playing games and such, Then, I listened to Alan Kistler's book and that changed pretty quick, Kistler provides a keen history of Doctor Who from inception to it's forthcoming new doctor theth and strikes a great balance between the background of the show such as the actors, the writers, the politics of it all and explaining the ongoing character development of the doctor from season to season and from doctor to doctor.
It's a complete joyride for fans and for those who are interested in fully understanding Doctor Who without having to watch or rewatch all the older episodes though I will likely do that at some point.
It's clearly a work of passion
and one that readers will definitely enjoy if you're looking to know more about Doctor Who,
If you enjoyed this review, feel free to check out my other reviews and writings at sitelinkBy Any Other Nerd/ This book was, . . fantastic! For the fiftieth anniversary of the premiere of Doctor Who, theres no shortage of information available about the TV series and one TV movie, up to and including BBC Americas entertaining Doctors Revisited documentaries.
But as a fan of the show, Id been looking for a more comprehensive history of the program, I hadnt found any such book until I received an advance reading copy of Doctor Who: A History,
Contrary to its subtitle, this book is actually two histories: the fictional history presented in the series and its reallife production history, As a fictional history, the book does a good job of summarizing a halfcentury of the shows sometimes convoluted stories, The author, clearly a fan of the program, provides a very readable analysis of each incarnation of the Doctor, describing key storylines, important villains and the bewildering array of companions that have traveled with them.
As a production history, the book contains behindthescenes information that provides the context for the onscreen stories, Starting with a detailed account of the shows creation, Doctor Who: A History works its way through the different eras of the program, showing how it changed and evolved under different production teams.
The author has interviewed numerous actors, writers and production staff including a majority of the living Doctors, supplemented by information from numerous other sources, All of this information is brought together in a way that entertainingly tells the story behind Doctor Who,
The author frequently touches on the novels, audio dramas and other tiein media, though never in a way that takes the focus off the show itself, As a relatively new fan of Doctor Who, I thought it was a helpful introduction to the other adventures of the Doctors,
My only quibbles with Doctor Who: A History are minor, At just underpages, the books length isnt sufficient to get into a great amount of detail about any one topicthe less fortunate Doctors only get a chapter eachmaking the book a better overview of the program as a whole than a reference work for someone interested in a particular era of the show.
And although the book contains a good number of photographs, as an unlicensed publication, it doesnt contain any from the show itself, While some production photos might have been nice, their absence doesnt take away from the books wellresearched content,
For the most part, this is the Doctor Who reference book Id been looking for: a comprehensive look at the show throughout the years, told with the enthusiasm of someone who clearly enjoys what hes writing about.
Kistler presents his history of Doctor Who in a rushed, barelyskimthesurface manner, There is a lack of indepth research, interviews, and commentary that made this book very frustrating for me, He hints at troubles between actors and management in just about every series, but fails to provide any true insights as to their nature, It's as if Kistler wants to keep his Fanboy Access status with all of the people behindthescenes and, therefore, leaves out anything that might be the least bit controversial.
The lack of photographs in this book is inexcusable, Whether Kistler's decision or Lyon's Press' decision, any book on a show as brilliant in imagery as Doctor Who, needed far better representation than this,
Overall, very disappointing, I listened to the audio book read by the author and it was a fantastic, informative, trip into the past, Sure, that was a timey whimey reference, It was super fun and contained a lot of great info that I didn't even know about the history of the show, I highly recommend if you're a fan of the show, past and present,