Published by BBC Books
Stalwart Who writer Justin Richards has produced another great book giving us more insight on what makes the greatest Sci-fi show in the world tick.
He has taken 14 of the most popular monsters in the show and looked at them in detail.
‘Based’ on access to classified government files, we see how these monsters have been noticed at various times in the Earth’s history (apparently the Daleks are mentioned in hieroglyphics found in the Great Pyramid dating back to 2600BC).
The Cybermen, Odd, Zygons, Autons and The Great Intelligence are all featured.
Strangely, The Krillitanes are in – even though they only feature in one story, but then, we also get the return of Sarah Jane Smith and K-9 in that one.
All the ‘files’ ar gleaned from in-depth viewing of the relevant stories and although it is heavily based on the ‘new’ series, which started in 2005, the sections also document the adventures the various monsters appeared in during the ‘classic’ years of 1963 to 1989.
After each review of the sightings of each monster, there is a small ‘behind the scenes’ section outlining how these creatures were brought to life on the screen.
It’s a great addition to the plethora of books about Doctor Who, and indeed would make a great Christmas present.
I had to chuckle at the cover though; even though it is all about fictitious creatures and a fictional hero, the book is classed as ‘non-fiction’.