The Life And Scandalous Times Of John Nathan-Turner

Discussion in 'Doctor Who' started by StCoop, Mar 10, 2013.

  1. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    I don't see any naivete there. He's not saying he's surprised that people are focusing on the salacious parts at the expense of the majority of the book; he's just saying, quite correctly, that it's an unfairly biased take on the work. Just because unfairness is predictable, that doesn't make it right.
     
  2. Nagisa Furukawa

    Nagisa Furukawa Commander Red Shirt

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    This is not a book called "John Nathan-Turner - A Life Devoted to the BBC" or something similar.

    This is a book called "The Life and Scandalous Times of John-Nathan Turner."

    It's absolutely, absolutely designed to make you go, "Ooh, what's the dirt in here?" He gets to have his cake and eat it too; he gets to draw them in with a salacious sounding title, get a lot of publicity from it, and then go, "Oh, no, no, that's just one small part in a larger book about more things!" If he truly felt this way, he wouldn't have named his book that or have been more vocal about the publishers giving it that title and bringing in attention he thinks is unfair.
     
  3. Mr Awe

    Mr Awe Vice Admiral Admiral

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    ^ Seriously, he gives it that title and of course are going to be looking for that and talking about!
     
  4. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    But that's assuming that he gave it that title, and that may very well be untrue. A lot of the time, it's the editors or publishers who give a book a different title than the author wanted because they think it'll sell better. I've had that happen to me a couple of times myself, though at least I've been consulted in selecting a new title. But I've heard of cases where authors were saddled with more sensationalist or misleading titles than they wanted, especially in nonfiction.
     
  5. Atticus

    Atticus Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    He did.
     
  6. Nagisa Furukawa

    Nagisa Furukawa Commander Red Shirt

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    I mentioned that in my post. If that was the case, you think it'd be something he'd mention when bitching about people being drawn to this for salacious content.
     
  7. StCoop

    StCoop Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Given that it's a Vanity Published book I doubt there was any editorial interference involved.
     
  8. Mr Awe

    Mr Awe Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Fair to a point. However, even if he didn't give it that title, it still has that title. Consequently, the reaction is predictable.

    Mr Awe
     
  9. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    ^Again, whether the audience reaction is predictable or not has nothing to do with it, because he didn't say he was surprised by it, he said he found it unfair. Lots of predictable reactions are unfair. The cynic would say that it's surprising when anything in life is fair.
     
  10. diankra

    diankra Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Right, because saying that on network radio would really help to damp the fire... (rather than, for instance, setting up a follow-up headline of "Doctor Who sex expose writer slams publishers")
     
  11. Mr Awe

    Mr Awe Vice Admiral Admiral

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    All right, I'll grant you that if he didn't give it that title and if he only said the reaction was unfair, I might agree somewhat. However, in that specific scenario, it sounds like he's blaming the public when he should be blaming the publisher.

    Mr Awe
     
  12. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Two sides of the same coin, though. Publishers play up sensationalism because audiences embrace it.
     
  13. JoeZhang

    JoeZhang Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Colin Baker isn't very happy:

    http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/yoursay/opinion/look/10322613.Why_did_papers_use_my_image_/
     
  14. Sindatur

    Sindatur The Gray Owl Wizard Admiral

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    I dont blame him. In my opinion, even if it's not "legally" slander, it most certainly is ethically slander, and I can't imagine they were completely aware of what they were doing and how easily it could be miscontrued (And how unlikely it would be for a passerby reading it through a window not to miscontrue it)

    Who the hell wants to be subjected to something like that at anytime in their life, but, especially not when you're in your 70s and 80s and above.
     
  15. Starkers

    Starkers Admiral Admiral

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    I hopes he sues em!
     
  16. Marc

    Marc Fleet Admiral Premium Member

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    Be nice but as C. Baker states he's not really able to afford it - he's still got dependent daughters and his going after the media scum could impact them in as well.