Reviews by David J Howe
DOCTOR WHO: THE TIME TRAVELLING ALMANAC
Another title from BBC Books tying into Doctor Who is a smallish hardback tome called The Time-Travelling Almanac.
This is something like the eleventh factual book to be authored or co-authored by Simon Guerrier, and as usual the depth of research is impressive. Simon really knows his Who and so at least we can be sure that the facts that are present are all correct.
But this is a strange beast … it reminded me of the old Doctor Who Annuals where new stories and comics spinning off from the show sit side by side with articles on the Sun or Space Travel or Spaceships or whatever – material which actually has nothing to do with Doctor Who (aside from maybe some tangential references).
This is an Almanac, and as the introduction explains: it contains ‘useful information and fun stuff to help enliven and illuminate your journey through 2025’. So we have the transmission dates of all the Doctor Who episodes to date (though a little frustratingly those with no episode number on screen have none here, so for most of the Hartnell stories, you need to know which episode title is which, for example, The Ark: ‘The Steel Sky’ or The Dalek Invasion of Earth: ‘The Waking Ally’. It also includes the spin off series like Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood (and, pointing to the fact that the book is aimed at a young audience, there’s a helpful note pointing out that ‘Torchwood and Class are aimed at an adult audience and contain adult themes, violence and upsetting scenes’ – just the same as Doctor Who does then …)
There’s birthdates of some of the cast noted, and also for some of the fictional characters (but the text doesn’t distinguish between them) and also ‘firsts’ in Doctor Who, like the first appearance of the Daleks, of Vicki, of K9 and so on.
For the astronomy and science buffs, there’s articles and entries for various real life meteor storms, comets and the like, phases of the moon, descriptions of the planets of the solar system and how and when to see them … There’s entries on decimalisation in the UK, on eclipses and equinoxes … but there’s also fiction from the worlds of Doctor Who, suggesting how the fire of London started, or when Auderly House was invaded by Daleks and Ogrons. All of these things sit side by side … any child reading this to perhaps research for their history homework could come up with some very interesting elements in their essays.
I have to mention too, that the gravity/mavity joke is perpetuated, with it being called mavity throughout. Even when talking about how the moon affects the tides. Again, sitting somewhat uneasily with the ‘real world’ information that the book also contains.
There’s some factual items in here as well, for example about some Doctor Who spin off records, or about the Guinness World Record for William Russell having the longest time between appearances as the same character in the same show (57 years and 120 days), but as with the material from the fictional side of the show, and indeed science fact, there seems to be no rhyme nor reason why some things are included and some are not. It seems a little scattergun.
However.
Given that it’s clearly aimed at the young set (those who might be upset or offended by Torchwood or Class), then it is a fun and diverting book to flick through. Day by day you can see what was transmitted (and maybe crank up iPlayer to rewatch those episodes) and it may spark an interest in children to turn their gaze to the skies and watch some meteors pass by, or to try and spot Mars or Venus or Mercury in the sky (at one point the text even suggests downloading an App to help them!).
Probably an ideal Christmas gift for the burgeoning Who Fan!
DOCTOR WHO: THE GOLD ARCHIVE
The latest large format hardback Doctor Who title from Ebury/BBC Books is a step up from some of the recent fare. True it still focusses exclusively on the ‘in universe’ information, but the presentation is attractive and the content raises a smile or two along the way.
What impresses me is the breadth that the show now encompasses. My area of favour is the so-called ‘classic’ series, but there’s many, many more episodes now from the new series, and keeping track of them all is something of a challenge! Indeed, there are a couple of characters and plotlines outlined in this tome which I simply do not remember at all! I suspect that a rewatch of the whole of New-Who is in order! (I really need a TARDIS myself!)
The ‘conceit’ of this book is that it’s a file pulled together by Kate Lethbridge Stewart of UNIT of all the available information on all the many and varied invasions, incursions, and alien monsters which Earth had encountered over history. There’s some nice tie in with The Great Serpent, and that he (and his operatives) may have corrupted and changed information over the years, and so this is a complete review and brush-up of what is termed UNIT’s ‘Gold Archive’.
The book breaks all these alien incursions down thematically: Prehistoric Incursions; Recurring Threats; Pre-UNIT Incursions; World Extinction Danger: Nuclear Events; Falling to Earth; Biological Hazards; Rogue Time Travel; and more, and within each presents a ‘dossier’ written by Kate Lethbridge Stewart, or Shirley Anne Bingham, with contributions from Ace, Tegan, Mel, Rose Noble, Christofer Ibrahim, and the robotic Vlinx (who provides succinct summaries of the various incursions). There are further pieces by the Doctor, and the text is scattered with post it notes from Kate and the Doctor and others which comment on the information within.
Pictorially it’s gorgeous, and this is probably where the book wins out. The illustration is well chosen and clever, as it also uses a particular love of mine: ‘faked’ newspaper cuttings, memos, transcripts and so on from people involved in the various adventures. These are smashing. I only spotted one which was (to my mind anyway) ‘wrong’ and this was a news report of someone in Devesham finding a cache of fake 50p pieces. This is all referencing the story ‘The Android Invasion’ and of course the ‘fake’ 50ps were in the till of the pub and were found there by the Doctor and Sarah … but this pub and village were recreations of Devesham on an alien planet, not on Earth, and so the fake coins could never have been found on Earth. These documents are also a neat way of showing UNIT’s involvement in providing cover stories and so on for the various alien (or home-grown) incidents and monsters.
At 312 pages, this is a chunky tome, and there is a lot to read and digest. As I say, I’m impressed at the ‘whole world’ knowledge of the writers, Steve Cole and Mike Tucker, and at how they draw it all together in the various dissertations and articles within. There’s even some explanations for some of the obvious ‘issues’ with the show: like for example why the Silurians, Sea Devils and Zygons changed their appearance, motivations, weapons and abilities between the ‘classic’ and ‘new’ Doctor Who stories to feature them (other than the production team(s) just missing the point/not realising/getting it wrong).
Although I might be in the minority for not really liking the fairly plain ‘graphic’ approach cover, the book is perfect for the Who fan looking to find out and read more about the in-universe happenings of UNIT. And for the more knowledgeable fan too – a refresher course on all the various UNIT/Earth related happenings over the show’s 60+ year history.