Last weekend saw the anniversary of the beginning of the television series, Doctor Who. The series was created by Canadian Sydney Newman, who was then the BBC’s head of drama. It was first shown during the weekend of the Kennedy assassination. Despite critical dismissal, the series gained a strong following and ran on the BBC, in its first incarnation, till December of 1989. The Doctor’s ability to regenerate made it possible to use a number of actors in the role and anyone who knows the series can name his or her favourite incarnation. For me, it’s a tie between Tom Baker (the fourth Doctor) and David Tennant (the tenth). Despite cancellation, interest in the series never died as it was kept alive with novels, fan clubs, a magazine and conventions.
The series was revived in 2005 and has gone on to outstrip its previous popularity in terms of numbers of fans, and garnering accolades and awards throughout the world. The premise of the show is simple, an unidentified human-like alien travels though time and space in his TARDIS, which resembles a British police call box, righting wrongs and preventing catastrophes. The character, who has come to be known as the Doctor, is accompanied on his adventures by a human companion or companions. The popularity of the series has grown to the point that the recent anniversary special, “Day of the Doctor”, was the largest simulcast ever. The future of Doctor Who looks bright as the series prepares to refresh itself with a new actor, Peter Capaldi, becoming the next Doctor. As the years have gone by, the library has collected a wide variety of “Who” materials in many formats, so grab your sonic screwdriver and head down to the library.
In DVDs, we carry the most recent incarnations of the Doctor Who, beginning with the 2005 re-introduction of the Doctor starring actor Christopher Eccleston. We also have some classic episodes on DVD, such as Doctor Who, the Peter Davison Years, 1982-1984.
For listening, we carry tales of the Doctor in cd book, playaway and downloadable formats. Some of the stories are classified as adult, while others are designed for a young adult audience, which would be a great choice to share on a family car trip. Standouts in this category would be Doctor Who: The Taking of Chelsea 426 by David Llewellyn, or Doctor Who: Peacemaker by James Swallow.
If reading is your preference, than Doctor Who is available in novel and graphic novel formats. Two of the most recent additions include a story by the late novelist Douglas Adams, who worked as a script writer of the original series, and one of his unproduced ideas has become Doctor Who: Shada : The Lost Adventure. Completed by author Gareth Roberts, the story follows the Doctor, his companion Romana and his mechanical dog, K-9, as they try to prevent an ambitious alien from controlling the universe by making himself into a Godlike creature. The story showcases the wit, whimsy and inventiveness of Douglas Adams.
While a novel like Shada showcases the lighter side of the Who universe, Stephen Baxter’s Wheel of Ice, takes a much darker tone and places the Doctor and his companion on a mining colony on the ring of Saturn where danger to the Doctor and company, as well as the neighbouring earth colony, continues to mount as the pages turn.
For the true Whovian, we carry a number of trivia and behind-the-scenes type of books, including Doctor Who: A Celebration, Two decades through Time and Space by Peter Haining. Doctor Who: Companions looks at the actors and characters that have accompanied the Doctor throughout the years. The newest is The Brilliant Book 2012 which is published annually by the BBC and details everything about the making of the series.
Lori Kauzlarick
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