Andrew Rilstone has been blogging about his favourite TV show since before there was such a thing as a blog. This book collects everything he wrote about "the welsh series" between 2005 and 2010. It's a real-time account of one fan's relationship stormy relationship with Doctor Who.
The Viewer's Tale
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I read these essays on Doctor Who as they were posted at the time on Mr. Rilstone's blog, but as collected here they take on a new meaning, telling the sad tale of one fan's disillusionment with the programme he loved.
The book starts in 2004, with Mr Rilstone's excitement at the then-forthcoming Doctor Who revamp, and ends in 2009 in disgust. Mr Rilstone's reviews of the first series of the show under Russel Davies' control are enthusiastic, excited and joyful, but as the series goes on, with David Tennant in the lead, this becomes a gripping but sad portrait of a man falling out of love with something that had previously given him utter joy.
The whole thing is wonderfully written, and well thought-out - the early, excited reviews are not just "Squee!", and neither are the later reviews the typical "Davies destroyed my childhood" nonsense. Rather, Rilstone carefully analyses the ways in which the programme succeeds and fails, both on its own terms and on those Rilstone would prefer.
Fascinating reading.
The book starts in 2004, with Mr Rilstone's excitement at the then-forthcoming Doctor Who revamp, and ends in 2009 in disgust. Mr Rilstone's reviews of the first series of the show under Russel Davies' control are enthusiastic, excited and joyful, but as the series goes on, with David Tennant in the lead, this becomes a gripping but sad portrait of a man falling out of love with something that had previously given him utter joy.
The whole thing is wonderfully written, and well thought-out - the early, excited reviews are not just "Squee!", and neither are the later reviews the typical "Davies destroyed my childhood" nonsense. Rather, Rilstone carefully analyses the ways in which the programme succeeds and fails, both on its own terms and on those Rilstone would prefer.
Fascinating reading.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
We always kill the things we love...
24 Oct 2012
By Tetleylee
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
The Viewers Tale in some ways represents, and even recognises itself, the paradox of being a Doctor Who fan, that without the fans, the show could never have hoped to survive and thrive as long as it has, but that in order to survive and thrive the show needs to ignore, even brutally reject at times its most faithful fans. After all, look what letting fans in to run the show back in the late 80s did for its future. Even bringing in a Scot with a complicated Masterplan couldn't save that one...Lucky they never thought about putting a fan in charge again hey Russell? This is not because there is any great disconnect between what fans and more general viewers want out of a television show: well told, well made stories that entertain and engage with their audience. But more because, well, fans just don't get it do they, all that business about marketing and ratings and EVENT TELEVISION. It's almost like a Blimovitch Limitation Effect at times. Two parts of the same audience, but never must they meet. Rilston's funny, thoughtful, at times angry take on the return of Doctor Who since doesn't pull any punches, takes no prisoners, leaves no sacred cows unturned and is all the better for it. Genuinely critical appraisal of the RTD era of Who is sadly lacking at times, certainly the hagiography that has become DWM would never dare voice a negative viewpoint of NuWhu lest its official organ status be cut off. Rilston gives praise where he thinks it is due and sinks the boot in where he feels it is not, albeit with more and more sinking feelings as the series goes on. And while he sometimes seems a little bit too hung up on the sexual orientations of the mosquito fans, may this Nick Hornby of Who fans long continue to blog and blag his way through the sometimes wet paper bag of watching and witing about Doctor Who.
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