Start reading TARDIS Eruditorum - An Unauthorized Critical History of D... on your Kindle in under a minute. Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.

Deliver to your Kindle or other device

 
 
 

Try it free

Sample the beginning of this book for free

Deliver to your Kindle or other device

Read books on your computer or other mobile devices with our FREE Kindle Reading Apps.
TARDIS Eruditorum - An Unauthorized Critical History of Doctor Who Volume 1: William Hartnell
 
 
Share your own customer images

TARDIS Eruditorum - An Unauthorized Critical History of Doctor Who Volume 1: William Hartnell [Kindle Edition]

Philip Sandifer (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews) |
Digital List Price: £3.08 What's this?
Kindle Price: £3.08 includes VAT* & free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
Unlike print books, digital books are subject to VAT.

Product Description

Product Description

"He has some really serious and fascinating points to make about how television was made and viewed back in the 1960s, while all we do is bicker about the length of Barbara's skirts." - Adventures of the Wife in Space

"Absolutely fascinating, and hugely persuasive." - Rob Shearman, writer of Dalek.

TARDIS Eruditorum is a sprawling and very possibly completely mad critical history of Doctor Who from its first episode in 1963 to the present. In this first volume, we look at topics like how acid-fueled occultism influenced the development of the Cybermen, whether The Celestial Toymaker is irredeemably racist, and whether Barbara Wright was the greatest companion of all time. This book aims to be the most staggeringly thorough look at the evolution of Doctor Who, Great Britain, and the world from 1963 to 1966 ever published.

Includes:

* Revised and expanded versions of every entry from the acclaimed blog TARDIS Eruditorum from the start to finish of William Hartnell's tenure as the Doctor.
* Essays on every single Doctor Who story from the Hartnell era looking at its historical context and significance in the development of Doctor Who.
* Essays on selected novels written later but set in the Hartnell era, major non-televised Doctor Who stories, and major cultural events outside of Doctor Who.
* Eight new essays exclusive to this volume.

Product details

More About the Author

Philip Sandifer
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Philip Sandifer Page

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

› Explore similar items

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(2)
(1)
(1)
(1)
Agree with these tags?

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

Customer Reviews

4 star
0
3 star
0
2 star
0
1 star
0
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is something very rare, in that it's something I feel I need to write a review on Amazon about. But for a Doctor Who fan that's looking for an intellectual critique of the programme that's still perfectly accessible, this is exactly spot on. Each story is put into its historical and cultural context with a brief round up of that month's charts and headlines, and then the story is analysed with intelligence and humour. It's really readable and the use of literary critical techniques is judged just right so that intelligent points are made without needing a degree to understand them.

There are also whole essays about other cultural goings-on of the time and also some entries cover some of the 90's novels set during the era.

This isn't even my favourite era of Dr Who but it's fascinating to see the evolution of the character interpreted by the author, and I very much look forward to his next volume!
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
great value 11 Feb 2012
Format:Kindle Edition
The Tardis Eruditorum is based on a blog of the same name-- a work in progress that has just now arrived at the Peter Davison era. So why spend 3 and a bit quid for something you can get free? The author has taken time to expand his blog with many additional entries and even change some of his raw reactions to the William Hartnell era whilst charmingly letting us know what his original opinion was.It is probably necessary to be a bit of a fan to get full value out of this book. (You need to have watched or listened to the stories), but the book puts the stories in their context both in terms of the program's history (both past and future) as well as the contemporary context. A well written and thought provoking book with some nice controversial opinions
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:  3 reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Meet the contender 20 Jan 2012
By pango - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase
I had thought no one would be able to match the legendary six-volume Lawrence Miles and Tat Wood analysis of Doctor Who, which seemed like the last (very long) word on the subject. Then came a blog started last year by one incredibly productive academic, and suddenly there's a viable challenger.

First, a caveat: as other reviewers have noted, the book version is missing a chapter, and sadly, it's for a fantastic story (and good essay), "The Massacre." You may wish to get the Kindle version if that omission will bother you (Sandifer has put his revised essay up for free on his site, and will include it in the next volume.) Also, the restrictions of self-publishing are evident in places. I wished for some different fonts now and again, some pull quotes or something to break up what can seem like an endless run of identical-looking pages. But that's really minor stuff.

What's great about Phil's book is his fearlessness, his willingness to stake out a jaw-dropping argument (e.g., that "The Ark" and "Celestial Toymaker," two fairly revered Who stories, are irredeemable racist garbage) and make his case clearly and succinctly (and convincingly). His take on the "Tenth Planet" argues that serial has been entirely misunderstood by generations of fans, and that it's in fact the horrifying sudden demise of the show, from which Who has never quite recovered. He analyses the much-maligned "The Chase" as postmodern goof. He rightly praises Maureen O'Brien, the oft-forgotten, secret Mod heart of Hartnell's best era. With great insights into Nineties novels that attempted to reclaim the era.

Essential stuff. Buy this book.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
The start of a long, strange trip through all of Time & Space 19 Jan 2012
By M. Wagner - Published on Amazon.com
Phil Sandifer has been blogging the history of Dr. Who from the very first episode on 1963, wandering through a "psychonography" of the program, not just the characters, but the actors, the producers, the writers, and the times and cultural events that shaped it, unconsciously. This first volume collects his blog from the very first entry through the end of the William Hartnell era, but also includes some excellent expanded material, essays written just for the book, and a nice wrap up of Hartnell the man and "The Doctor" as portrayed by same.

It's a fascinating and thought provoking ride - not always fun, as Sandifer is unafraid of challenging quite a bit of received fan wisdom, and of bringing to light painful topics such as the blatant racism in several early stories, but honest and interesting, with a voice that invites discussion.

To be fair to the reader, I'd point out that there were some printing mistakes in the paper edition of this first volume, including an entire missing chapter. If you've got a kindle or e-reader that will support the electronic edition, I'd go for that first since you'll get the corrected form.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Though-provoking look at Doctor Who's first three seasons (and a bit more) 17 Jan 2012
By Michael Beasley - Published on Amazon.com
Much like the blog where this material was originally written, this book is a thought-provoking look at the William Hartnell years of Doctor Who. I loved Sandifer's efforts to interpret these stories in the context of their time. The essay on The Tenth Planet is a great example of this approach, where Sandifer strips away all of the fan lore that has built up over the years to look at how intensely frightening this story must have been. Also valuable were Sandifer's look at the influences on the writers, from other television shows to the occult, and at how fandom has reinterpreted this era of the show.

A downside of this format is that it requires knowledge of the stories themselves, or access to a good reference. Sandifer doesn't spend time summarizing what each story is about. This is something to keep in mind. My print edition also had numerous typos and a missing essay (however, the essay will appear in the next volume, which I intend to buy!). These are minor downsides - on the whole, this book is an excellent read for dedicated fans of Doctor Who and deserves to stand with other works like About Time and the Discontinuity Guide.
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject





i.e., each title must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Amazon Media EU S.à r.l. GB Privacy Statement Amazon Media EU S.à r.l. GB Delivery Information Amazon Media EU S.à r.l. GB Returns & Exchanges