Paul Smith (17)

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 show more 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. show less

This book - available on download only at http://www.wonderfulbook.co.uk/ - has one of the more peculiar disclaimers one is ever likely to read:

"The contents of this book are entirely fabricated and should not be believed, not even the bits that say they are facts. All quotes by persons living or dead are not genuine and are intended for entertainment purposes only. They should not be taken as suggesting or reflecting the opinions then or since of anyone named in this book or concerned with show more the production of Doctor Who at any time, or even of the author of this book."

This is because the book is a combination of alternate fannish history and affectionate piss-take; what if the same creative spirit that moved Clayton Hickman and colleagues to produce last year's Brilliant Book of Doctor Who 2011 had animated the production team of 1964 to produce an annual along the same lines? In reality, of course, the first of the Doctor Who annuals came out a year later, and the production values and brand management of the time were very far removed from what we expect of any serious cult series today. But Paul Smith gets some good laughs from any reader who knows either the original first season, or the Brilliant Book, or preferably both, and also makes us think about how the way we are told what we are watching in 2011 has changed since 1963-4; and how it has stayed the same. show less

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 show more 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. show less

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 show more visualisation really highlighted how much so! It's an interesting way to reconceptualize information you know, or learn something new. show less