Who's Next: An Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Doctor Who [Paperback]

In one way this book is an interesting and engaging episode guide, while in another it's destined by its very nature to be oddly outdated. Published in early 2005, it eagerly anticipates the revival of "Doctor Who" as a television series later that same year (hence the somewhat quirky title), freezing that moment in time forever. Which now as of early 2008 after three seasons and counting seems almost quaint in retrospect. In any case, the three authors have taken it upon themselves to prepare a way for the renegade Time Lord's second coming by encapsulating all that had gone before in one handy volume--presumably for the education and edification of a new generation of viewers mainly while giving old-timers an enjoyable recap and a different perspective.

Of course this primarily involves a standard storyline-by-storyline episode guide for the TV show from 1963 to 1989 with all the usual info: original transmission dates, notable cast, notes on the writers and directors and such. No plot synopsis as such is given, making the book a bit unhandy for the newcomers even though the tale can pretty much be gleaned from the data given: the setting of the story in time and space, the story's villain(s) and their plan(s), the portrayal of the Doctor in the story--his personality and behavior (including when important aspects of his identity are established for the first time), (pseudo)scientific principles invoked in the story, problems and nitpicks with the production, and a final sort of opinionated critical analysis. Also, each story's availability on VHS and DVD is listed, a feature almost immediately dated and obsolete since the DVDs are still in the process of being released.

In addition to the television series per se, the book covers the ill-fated Anglo-American TV movie of 1996, the false-start animated internet feature "Scream of the Shalka" of 2003, and several of the radio dramas and charity specials of the 1990's mostly. Truth be told this was the most informative aspect of the book for me personally; I was all but unaware of the existence of the "Shalka" cartoon or of the "Curse of Fatal Death" spoof, nor did I know that an adventure with the Sixth Doctor intervened in the unusually long gap between his first and second seasons in 1985. Then too, some of the other radio dramas I'm unlikely to check out any time soon, really, so it was good to get the gist of them here.

Overall the strength of the book though is probably that it eschews continuity. It does not attempt to pry a self-consistent, self-complete universe out of hundreds of stories written by a host of very diverse writers over several decades. Rather it evinces a sort of historian's glee in pointing out irresolvable discrepancies and inconsistencies as well as outlining major shifts in the Doctor Who mythos. In many ways this seems a more honest and satisfying approach, really. And much more historically insightful concerning this long-running show than, say, pretending the Doctor was always already a 900-year old Time Lord from Gallifrey with two hearts and twelve regenerations as of the first moments of "An Unearthly Child."

The book has a few weaknesses, too. Its numbering of the storylines begins to diverge from the standard BBC system after number 108 ("The Horns of Nimon") and skews more and more as it goes on. Any such numbering is arbitrary, yes, but for new viewers trying to make sense of things and hunt down DVDs and such, this probably presents a dose of needless confusion. On a different note, the critical analysis for each storyline (the "verdict" as it's rather ponderously put) is both enjoyable and annoying. Taken with a grain of salt as another fan's subjective opinion, it's fun to see what others think, but having it in print grants it a false air of legitimacy that can be irksome. Many of the judgments seem overly harsh, to the point you start to wonder why the authors even bother being fans of the show in the first place--and you can't help but suspect that this harshness will repel rather than attract curious newcomers, while only serving to tick off old-timers already set in their ways. All of which is a bit counterproductive to the intended purposes of this otherwise worthwhile and handy little guide.

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