The ABOUT TIME Books

[Steve67]

Received ABOUT TIME 3 yesterday and man is this book a monster! 500+ pages of Tat Wood's detailed analysis/exploration of Pertwee-era WHO. I'll admit to being largely unfamiliar with this period of the show, but I've remedied that with both this book and the few DVDs available. The Brigadier is known to me from the first Tom Baker season, but it'll be interesting to see his relationship with the Third Doctor.

The essays are fantastic, with those cultural and continuity analysis going full tilt.

Everytime I read a volume of this, I lament the fact that Star Trek has nothing like this available. It would seem as though Dr. Who has a more interested and dedicated fanbase. Trek has plenty of authors cranking out non-canon stories, but no one's interested enough to give any thought to a book chronicling the show's considerable cultural backstory. I will continue to lament this.

ABOUT TIME Vol. 2 is next on my shopping list.

 

[Steve67]

About Time 2: The Unauthorized Guide to Dr Who (the Troughton years) is apparently OOP and going for ridiculous prices on Amazon Marketplace!

The lowest price is...

Spoiler: $$$

969.98

!!!

 

[Cutter John]

Figures. I finished one awhile back and had planned on gettign the second one.

Guess I won't be reading about the second Doctor.

And while I'm on the subject. What dumbass actually believes someone would pay that much for a book?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

About Time 2: The Unauthorized Guide to Dr Who (the Troughton years) is apparently OOP and going for ridiculous prices on Amazon Marketplace!

The lowest price is...

Spoiler: $$$

969.98

!!!

Hell, I should have picked up the one I saw yesterday in a comic shop for half cover price!

 

[Steve67]

The publisher, Mad Norwegian Press, has it available for $15.95 before shipping, so perhaps it's just that Amazon's not selling it. Volume 3 was going for an exorbitant sum before the second, expanded edition was published.

 

[FredH]

^Also, the entire 6-book set is available from the publisher for $109 plus shipping. I just got it, and am not sorry.

 

[Cutter John]

Thanks for that bit of info Steve. I should've thought of that.

Makes the dealer on Amazon seem an even bigger dumbass.

 

[The]

I've now obtained vols 1, 5, & 6, and other than a bit of unfairness towards McGann and the TV Movie, it's been a pretty fun read!

 

[Steve67]

Everytime I read a volume of this, I lament the fact that Star Trek has nothing like this available. It would seem as though Dr. Who has a more interested and dedicated fanbase. Trek has plenty of authors cranking out non-canon stories, but no one's interested enough to give any thought to a book chronicling the show's considerable cultural backstory. I will continue to lament this.

Still waiting on the "unauthorized" guide to Star Trek!

It's amusing how Wood and Miles often slag Trek in the About Time books, as if some Who fans were pathologically obsessed with it; Harlan Ellison's introduction in the first US paperbacks of the Dr Who novelizations come to mind...

 

[The Nth Doctor]

^Also, the entire 6-book set is available from the publisher for $109 plus shipping. I just got it, and am not sorry.

Thanks for the tip. I'll probably pick them up...when I have the space for them.

 

[diankra]

Everytime I read a volume of this, I lament the fact that Star Trek has nothing like this available. It would seem as though Dr. Who has a more interested and dedicated fanbase. Trek has plenty of authors cranking out non-canon stories, but no one's interested enough to give any thought to a book chronicling the show's considerable cultural backstory. I will continue to lament this.

Still waiting on the "unauthorized" guide to Star Trek!

It's amusing how Wood and Miles often slag Trek in the About Time books, as if some Who fans were pathologically obsessed with it; Harlan Ellison's introduction in the first US paperbacks of the Dr Who novelizations come to mind...

In the 1970s, the BBC continually claimed that Star Trek was repeated 'by popular demand'. That irritated Doctor Who and Blake's 7 fans who wondered why they didn't get repeated so often (the explanation being that the BBC could only repeat so many British series because of agreements with the actors' union, but they could buy any number of American series. So Trek got rerun because it was the most popular American series).
When TNG came along, the British rift between Who and Trek fans started to close.

 

[Steve67]

In the 1970s, the BBC continually claimed that Star Trek was repeated 'by popular demand'. That irritated Doctor Who and Blake's 7 fans who wondered why they didn't get repeated so often (the explanation being that the BBC could only repeat so many British series because of agreements with the actors' union, but they could buy any number of American series. So Trek got rerun because it was the most popular American series).

When TNG came along, the British rift between Who and Trek fans started to close.

I just read a fascinating essay in ABOUT TIME 3--"Who's Running the Country?" and in it, Tat Wood gives we yanks the backstory to Britain's woes during the 1970s; the actions of Wilson, Heath, and Callaghan are all recalled as well as "kingmaker" Jermy Thorpe--the PM is named "Jeremy" in the Pertwee story, The Green Death-- as well as the botched assassination(!) of one of Thorpe's ex-lovers. Anyway, this apparently ties in with how government was represented on Dr Who. However, the real-life happenings are infinitely more interesting--and insane.

 

[DWF]

Everytime I read a volume of this, I lament the fact that Star Trek has nothing like this available. It would seem as though Dr. Who has a more interested and dedicated fanbase. Trek has plenty of authors cranking out non-canon stories, but no one's interested enough to give any thought to a book chronicling the show's considerable cultural backstory. I will continue to lament this.

Still waiting on the "unauthorized" guide to Star Trek!

It's amusing how Wood and Miles often slag Trek in the About Time books, as if some Who fans were pathologically obsessed with it; Harlan Ellison's introduction in the first US paperbacks of the Dr Who novelizations come to mind...

In the 1970s, the BBC continually claimed that Star Trek was repeated 'by popular demand'. That irritated Doctor Who and Blake's 7 fans who wondered why they didn't get repeated so often (the explanation being that the BBC could only repeat so many British series because of agreements with the actors' union, but they could buy any number of American series. So Trek got rerun because it was the most popular American series).
When TNG came along, the British rift between Who and Trek fans started to close.

But TNG lastest longer on Space than it ever did on the BBC, I think in the end the BBC were just embarrassed by Dr. Who and Blake's 7 to the point of getting rid of both of them, thankfully they got Dr. Who back so RTD could bring it back.

 

[Steve67]

^Also, the entire 6-book set is available from the publisher for $109 plus shipping. I just got it, and am not sorry.

I just saved $916.00 by ordering vols 1 and 2 direct from Mad Norwegian Press... It's like saving nine hundred bucks *and* getting About Time Vol. 1 absolutely free!

 

[Steve67]

^Also, the entire 6-book set is available from the publisher for $109 plus shipping. I just got it, and am not sorry.

I just saved $916.00 by ordering vols 1 and 2 direct from Mad Norwegian Press... It's like saving nine hundred bucks *and* getting About Time Vol. 1 absolutely free!

The books arrived today!

 

[Steve67]

I find that the essays in vols. 2 and 3 are best understood and better appreciated when one is familiar with the Troughton and Pertwee era-stories. Essays like "Did the Doctor Know Sergeant Pepper?" and "How Does Time Work?" require one's full attention and--at least with my chick-pea brain--the re-reading of certain paragraphs to understand fully what's being discussed.

Still, the delving into British culture and shared experiences are quite involved and if anything, I find that they inspire further exploration into the time and places(s) covered, as well as making those aforementioned Troughton and Pertwee tales seem all the more interesting. And isn't that what Science Fiction (and its analyses) is supposed to do?

BTW, it would appear that my books were sent directly from the publisher's house; from the "Mad Norwegian" himself!

 

[Steve67]

Okay, it's one year later. Has anyone else besides the few of us who already have these...have them?

 

[Dukhat]

Okay, it's one year later. Has anyone else besides the few of us who already have these...have them?

Yes, I have all the books, and they are extremely well-written and interesting to read. And if the internet (and specifically Amazon) didn't exist, I never would have been able to get these books, as they're not the type of books that are sold at regular bookstores.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Wow, I completely forgot about this thread and how I said I would look into buying these (which I'll probably do sometime this week).

 

[Stevil2001]

I owned them all back when the thread was posted, though I didn't reply for some reason. I've only completely read volumes 1-3, though I've dipped in and out of the others as relevant.