Doctor Who in other media

[Steve Roby]

One of the things I like about Doctor Who is the vast multimedia universe of Who stuff: hundreds of books, hundreds of original audio stories, comic strips from various magazines and, more recently, US comic books, even original webcasts like Scream of the Shalka.

Personally, I've read a lot of the books (and some of the best Doctor Who storytelling exists in book form), and I've been catching up with some of the classic comic strips in the Panini trade paperbacks. I am way, way behind on the audios. Haven't even heard any of the relatively new Eight Doctor stories with Sheridan Smith as the new companion Lucie Miller yet.

I get the impression a fair number of people participating here got into the show through the new series. Are you interested in all this other stuff? Overwhelmed by it? Aware of it? Or just focusing on the TV series for now?

 

[The Nth Doctor]

After years of wanting to but never following through, I've finally purchased a bunch of audios while I was in Sydney earlier this month. I haven't had the chance to listen to any of them but I'm very excited about them. I don't have the list of titles but I have one of each Doctor (through the Eighth, of course) with the first four told by companions.

 

[Joy]

Oh, I will eventually get to them all, as it is my goal to assimilate every known piece of film, audio, literature, art, etc. that has been produced "officially", as well as non-official stuff like fan films and what-not (which will be kind of a side-viewing project).

I'm really eager to read the books, but have no time for anything outside of school right now. I'm also really interested in the audios, especially the Eighth Doctor audios, since all we've got on film of him is the TV movie.

But, yeah... I'm definitely interested in them all. Sure, some Doctors more than others (so far, more interested in Five, Six, and Eight than the others, though kind of eager to introduce myself to Four, after watching some of the great Dead Ringers stuff on YouTube), but I will trudge through the bad as well as the good in my quest to completely Doctor myself out.

Joy

 

[IcecreamLtDan]

I have read some of the books off and on over the years. I honestly don't know how many books there are now. My wife just bought me one from the David Tennant doctor, I don't even remember the name now, just that it was about Daleks and bounty hunters or something. I have never listened to any of the audio stuff, I guess I should give it a try sometime.

 

[Andrew_Kearley]

There are something like 300 original novels and around 800 pieces of short fiction, more than 200 audios and more than 500 comic strip adventures - and that's not counting spin-off stuff like Sarah Jane, Benny Summerfield and Torchwood. The tv series seems to pale into insignificance beside all this material.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

No worries. I have the rest of my life to catch up.

 

[WillsBabe]

I just watch the show. When I was a kid I read the Target books, but I don't do anything else these days.

 

[Joy]

See, this is *exactly* what I was looking for! At the beginning of this new TV season, the only show that I watched "religiously" that was still on the air was/is House. And Harry Potter is over, and while they're working on a new PotC movie, that's still a ways in the future... There just wasn't much entertainment left for me to get into.

Then I finally come around to getting into Doctor Who, and BAM! My need for continuous new entertainment is more than fulfilled... My cup runneth over... into a bowl... into a bathtub... into a swimming pool... into an entire ocean! LOL

Doctor Who is gonna keep me busy with new stuff for the rest of my life.

I LOVE it.

Joy

 

[Worf2DS9]

The only "other media" I really partake in are the 8th Doctor audios (which I love, though the format change accompanied by the arrival of Sheridan Smith has been a bit jarring), and novels based on the new series -- not all of them, mind, just the ones that catch my fancy. I have a few of the 9th Doctor, a lot of the 10th/Martha ones, and not really interested in the 10th/Donna ones. Oh, and I love Doctor Who Magazine, even though a lot of the "news" is old by the time I get the mag here.

 

[WillsBabe]

My cup runneth over... into a bowl... into a bathtub... into a swimming pool... into an entire ocean! LOL

Joy

I know how you feel (to a lesser extent) on discovering, and watching 5 seasons of NCIS this year! It's great to have something new to discover and explore.

 

[23skidoo]

I get the impression a fair number of people participating here got into the show through the new series. Are you interested in all this other stuff? Overwhelmed by it? Aware of it? Or just focusing on the TV series for now?

I've tried following some of the "expanded universe", but just as with Trek there's simply too much to do more than "pick and choose". I've got many of the novels and comics, only a few of the audios (due to them not being easy to find in Canada, especially the Big Finish releases), and I enjoy them. But I don't try to keep up with everything. I can't afford it and I simply don't have the time. But it's cool that all this stuff is out there.

Alex

 

[Stevil2001]

I pick and choose-- I get all the audio dramas featuring Paul McGann and some of the rest; I think I have roughly 50% of Big Finish's Doctor Who output. I used to pick up the sporadic book, but that's gone down a lot now that there's just the NSAs. I have: 15 Target novels, 30 New Adventures (including Benny books), 3 Missing Adventures, 16 Eighth Doctor Adventures, 16 Past Doctor Adventures, 12 new series adventures, 9 DWM graphic novels, 17 Short Trips, 5 Telos novellas, and assorted spinoff books like Faction Paradox, Iris Wildthyme, and Bernice Summerfield.

Okay, I have a lot. 165 Who-related books all told, plus 113 audio CDs.

 

[WillsBabe]

Okay, I have a lot. 165 Who-related books all told, plus 113 audio CDs.

Bet your book shelf looks as impressive as it sounds!

 

[Stevil2001]

Most of my tie-in books are boxed up-- but the Doctor Who ones aren't because I have so few(!) and there's actually room for 'em. And the audio dramas take up three-fourths of my CD rack.

 

[Worf2DS9]

...only a few of the audios (due to them not being easy to find in Canada, especially the Big Finish releases), and I enjoy them.

You could try Big Finish's download service rather than trying to find the actual CDs. This is how I've been getting mine and it works very well, not to mention it's way cheaper too.

 

[Stevil2001]

Also, I don't know what the shipping to Canada is like, but they're quite easily available from retailers like Mike's Comics, WhoNA, and Alien Entertainment.

 

[captcalhoun]

other than reading the Target novelisations as kid, i've got one 7Doc novel (loving the alien), one EightDoc novel (The Crooked World), which were cover-mounts on an SFX special. and i've read one TenDoc novel. and i read the Radio Times' EightDoc comic strips.

 

[23skidoo]

...only a few of the audios (due to them not being easy to find in Canada, especially the Big Finish releases), and I enjoy them.

You could try Big Finish's download service rather than trying to find the actual CDs. This is how I've been getting mine and it works very well, not to mention it's way cheaper too.

That's a fairly recent development, and by the time they started to come out in that format there were already so many of them that the "overwhelmed" aspect kicked in. And anyway I'm a supporter of permanent media, and while I could burn them to CD (I assume they're not DRM'd), it's not the same as having a professionally produced disc with packaging, so if I'm going to buy them, I'd rather get a permanent copy.

It's not impossible to order them from here -- I went through Amazon.co.uk and got the recent release featuring Mary Tamm as Romana -- but I very much have to pick and choose. I'm thinking of ordering the "Lost Season" series with Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant (adapting stories from the version of Season 23 that was abandoned when they decided to do Trial of a TimeLord instead), and I also want to order the Hornets Nest series with Tom Baker but I'm waiting to see first if BBC Audio puts out a box set of the 5 releases before I order them separately from the UK.

Also, I don't know what the shipping to Canada is like, but they're quite easily available from retailers like Mike's Comics, WhoNA, and Alien Entertainment.

Very hit and miss. Due to fluctuations with the Canadian dollar and uncertainties over customs duties and imports, I find a lot of these places either won't ship to Canada or will slap some sort of "import processing fee" on the orders. Amazon.com was doing this for awhile until someone reminded them that NAFTA forbids customs duties on CDs, books and DVDs so long as they're produced in the US ... which is probably an issue given the Big Finish CDs are made in the UK!

Alex

 

[Starkers]

I just watch the show. When I was a kid I read the Target books, but I don't do anything else these days.

Thats pretty much me too, although I have listened to a couple of audios, but only because I got them free from magazines. I think the trouble is if he get into the extended universe stuff it just keeps going indefinitely and I don't have the time or the money. It's like with Star Wars EU. I really enjoyed the first few books, but once I realised they were never going to end I gave up.

 

[Steve Roby]

Very hit and miss. Due to fluctuations with the Canadian dollar and uncertainties over customs duties and imports, I find a lot of these places either won't ship to Canada or will slap some sort of "import processing fee" on the orders.

That's not my experience at all. I've placed dozens of orders with WhoNA over the last eight years, and at least a couple with Mike's Comics (their refusal to do credit card transactions online is why I never used them regularly). The shipping is a bit expensive, but that doesn't appear to be a markup issue.

What can happen occasionally is that a parcel with a high enough dollar value on the customs sticker may result in getting a card from the post office telling you to pick up the parcel in person and pay GST on the parcel. Plus a $5 GST processing fee. But that's the government of Canada doing that, not the supplier, and it rarely happens on small packages.