Doctor Who: 365 Days of Memorable Moments and Impossible Things (Richards)

Doctor Who: 365 Days of Memorable Moments and Impossible Things by Justin Richards (2016)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

A lot of Doctor Who trivia, much of it repetitive, organized into little bites by date, to fit the theme of a calendar. Smartly, it's not a calendar, as that would kill the book by the end of the year.

The book iteself says that it isn't something that should be read straight through. After trying that, I have to agree. The selection of dates of things is a little haphazard, and some things are just listed on days for no particular reason at all.

While it isn't a narrative, the book doesn't work as a reference, either. Nothing is crossed-referenced (I guess because of the calendar-ish nature), so when some episodes are topics are mentioned again, a lot of backstory has to be repeated.

Each entry ends with a list of things for that date, usually the year that an episode was first broadcast, when a particular actor or historical figure was born or died, when a character's birthday might've been if it was ever referenced. Some shows set in the past or future took place on specific dates, and those get referenced as well.

There were a bunch of references to the old shows that I didn't know, and some to shows that I either remember from long ago or have seen in recent years.

An interesting book, and also a library loan, which I had to take out twice because I needed to put it down a few times and read something else.

Doctor Who: The Writers Tale -- The Final Chapter (Davies, Cook)

Doctor Who: The Writers Tale -- The Final Chapter , Russell T Davies and Benjamin Cook (2010)

The second part of the ebook continues the correspondence between Davies and Cook past "The Journey's End" and through "The End of Time". For the uninitiated, that would be the last episode of Series 4 of Doctor Who through the last of the specials that followed that series, in place of a fifth series.

Once more you see the trials and tribulations of trying to run such a massive series. Lots of trivia, quite a few setbacks. Plenty of talk about Davies' old work, the search for a new Doctor, and the final shots of David Tennant as the Doctor.

And, of course, working with lots of secrecy, much of which gets blown one way or another (such as the careless reveal of Timothy Dalton in costume, leaving little wiggle room for whom he could be playing or what was coming back.)

Enjoyable to read, although I did want to skip to the end of some of the longer emails, particularly ones that didn't involve Doctor Who primarily.

Doctor Who: The Writers Tale (Davies, Cook)

Doctor Who: The Writers Tale , Russell T Davies and Benjamin Cook (2008)

First book of the new year, and I'll count it as two because it was originally published as two books, even if the ebook collects them together. Plus, I'll only have time to read the first before the library loan expires.

I only recently became aware that this book exists, and it was available at the New York Public Library website. It contains correspondence between Russel T. Davies, the Doctor Who showrunner (writer, producer, multi-hat person), and Benjamin Cook, a writer for Doctor Who Magazine, which took place from the time that Series Four was being conceived (and Series Three was to begin airing) through production of the Series Four finale, not counting the specials which came afterward.

If nothing else, this book was fun for the trivia -- Note: SPOILER ALERTS for Series Four, both here and in the book. For one thing, Donna Noble was not supposed to be the Companion for the entire series, but was supposed to return in the finale along with many of the others. In fact, the character, Penny Carter, who appears as a reporter in the season opener gets her name from the would-be Companion. (Not that this character, or the actress, were ever set to be the Companion. Likewise, the return of Wilf (Bernard Cribbins) was brought on by tragedy. He was made Donna's grandfather after the fact (along with an excuse at why he wasn't at the wedding).

But the big draw here is seeing what went into creating Series Four, the writing process, the rewriting process, editing, FX days, meetings, and oh so many struggles. The veil gets lifted from some of those pieces that looked like they were so carefully planned and laid out, and yet there is so much that happened by circumstance, or just worked out that way. Granted, it takes a master to leave dangling threads that can be grasped later, or work together similar plot points into an intended pattern.

Also there's a lot of talk about other shows that Davies was involved in, most of which I've never seen, and aren't likely to.

Fascinating, interesting book. I'm likely to read Book Two (The Final Chapter) which runs from The Next Doctor to the end of his (and David Tennant's) time with the program.

Note: not a book to read if you are offended by a gay man constantly thinking about sex, particularly with certain actors on his sets, or by the overuse of the word "Arse".

Doctor Who: Engines of War (Mann)

Doctor Who: Engines of War, by George Mann, 2014

The Time Lord who rejected the name "The Doctor" nonetheless picks it up again, mostly because readers need to call him something. Likewise, so do the rest of the Time Lords on Gallifrey, including Rassillon, the Daleks, and, of course, his latest companion.

Taking place in the middle of the Great Time War, the Doctor is part of an attack fleet that's ambushed by Daleks. He crash lands on the planet Moldox, infested not only with Daleks, but with Skaro Degradations with new weapons. The Temporal Cannon removes the target from history, though gaps seem to remain. Even though a soldier never existed, his cot is still there, even if you can't remember whose cot it was. (Problems like this occurred with the crack in the universe in the first Matt Smith series.)

The Doctor and "Cinder", whose family was killed by Daleks when she was a child, head off to Gallifrey where the Council decides to kill the Daleks by destroying the Tantalus Spiral and annihilating billions of lives (along with Daleks), which are acceptable losses to save trillions of others. Oh, and kill the Doctor. The Doctor does his best to make sure that neither of those happen.

Long time fans of the series (from before the revival) will be rewarded, but no viewers won't be left scratching their heads.

It reads like a long episode, and that's not a bad thing. It's a satisfying read, but it doesn't really give us more insight into the War Doctor, except that he's already tired of War. He rejects the name Doctor, but that's all he ever seems to be. Again, not that that's a bad thing.