Doctor Who: The TARDIS Handbook

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3202777.html

I'm not always enthused by the various Who spinoff publications, BBC or otherwise, but this one is a real winner (and I should say that in general I've been more than satisfied with Steve Tribe's work). Here we have the TARDIS examined from all angles, its non-fictional inspiration in the drafts of C.E. "Bunny" Webber, the designs of Peter Brachacki and his successors, and the various ways it has been used in the show, from both in-universe and external perspectives. It was published in 2010, just nicely in time for The Doctor's Wife the following year. It's fully but not obsessively detailed and gorgeously illustrated. ( )

This slim volume is really not so much a TARDIS handbook as a mish-mash of mostly TARDIS-related stuff. It includes, among other things: a longish writeup on the history and culture of the Time Lords cobbled together from various bits of information given on the show over the years, descriptions and pictures of the different interior and exterior TARDIS designs (although I was a bit disappointed by how little detail there was on the classic series console room designs, as opposed to the new series ones), brief synopses of the first season of Eleventh Doctor episodes, behind-the-scenes info including some notes on early concepts for the show that were never used, some TARDIS-related quotes, descriptions of each of the Doctor's regenerations, and a long list of TARDIS systems and functions that have been mentioned in the series.

Like this TARDIS itself, much of it feels a little random. And I think it's probably a bit too geeky for casual viewers, while covering too much familiar ground for the truly dedicated ones. But it was still a reasonably diverting way to spend an hour or two, and it seems potentially useful as reference material for fan writers/artists/people who build TARDIS consoles in their garage.

It should be noted, though, that this was published in 2010. And, of course, the show has done some very interesting new things with the TARDIS since then... ( )

I expected - for obvious reasons - the book to focus exclusively on the TARDIS and information (or speculation) directly related to it, but half the book was descriptions of the Doctor's regenerations, a brief history of the Time Lords, Eleventh Doctor episode summaries, companion bios, etc. While there is some fun stuff, let's just say I was a little disappointed. ( )