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Outside In: 160 new perspectives on 160 classic Doctor Who stories by 160 writers by Robert Smith?
nwhyte's review against another edition
5.0
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3129345.html
According to the subtitle, this is a collection of "160 New Perspectives on 160 classic Doctor Who stories by 160 writers". I must say it's a very refreshingly different take compared to other guides I have read to Old Who; the variety of voices makes for a very entertaining read. There are some interesting defences of stories which are generally held in low esteem. Steven Warren Hill looks at the Silurians in the context of the Northern Ireland conflict; Matthew Kilburn looks at The Invasion of Time in terms of the British class system; there are lots of entertaining insights, and very few that miss the mark (fewer than one gets in the many books about Old Who where the same author or authors write about each story).
Not every essay is actually about the show as broadcast. There's a review of the first BBC video release of one story, of the novelisation of another. The shortest piece of the lot is by my own brother, who writes up "The Daemons in the style of new Doctor Who" thus:
[start]
JO: Don't kill the Doctor, he's fantastic! Kill me instead!
AZAL: Good point. I was just realizing how stupid it would be to kill the Doctor. (KILLS JO).
DOCTOR: Tut tut.
AZAL: I'm the last of my kind, you know.
DOCTOR: Really?
[end]
It's very refreshing.
According to the subtitle, this is a collection of "160 New Perspectives on 160 classic Doctor Who stories by 160 writers". I must say it's a very refreshingly different take compared to other guides I have read to Old Who; the variety of voices makes for a very entertaining read. There are some interesting defences of stories which are generally held in low esteem. Steven Warren Hill looks at the Silurians in the context of the Northern Ireland conflict; Matthew Kilburn looks at The Invasion of Time in terms of the British class system; there are lots of entertaining insights, and very few that miss the mark (fewer than one gets in the many books about Old Who where the same author or authors write about each story).
Not every essay is actually about the show as broadcast. There's a review of the first BBC video release of one story, of the novelisation of another. The shortest piece of the lot is by my own brother, who writes up "The Daemons in the style of new Doctor Who" thus:
[start]
JO: Don't kill the Doctor, he's fantastic! Kill me instead!
AZAL: Good point. I was just realizing how stupid it would be to kill the Doctor. (KILLS JO).
DOCTOR: Tut tut.
AZAL: I'm the last of my kind, you know.
DOCTOR: Really?
[end]
It's very refreshing.
knitchick's review
5.0
It's taken eleven months but I am finally done!
It only took that long because, inspired by Sarah Baum's essay, I decided to watch each serial before reading the essay about it. The stories were fresh in my mind as I read the writer's opinion of them.
This was a fantastic book! Each and every one of the 160 authors in this wrote a wonderful piece. Some I agreed with, some I disagreed with, but all of them made the experience of watching the entire classic series in order all that much better.
I can't wait to get Outside In volume 2!! (just wish I already had it so I could read it as I watch all of New Who in order).
It only took that long because, inspired by Sarah Baum's essay, I decided to watch each serial before reading the essay about it. The stories were fresh in my mind as I read the writer's opinion of them.
This was a fantastic book! Each and every one of the 160 authors in this wrote a wonderful piece. Some I agreed with, some I disagreed with, but all of them made the experience of watching the entire classic series in order all that much better.
I can't wait to get Outside In volume 2!! (just wish I already had it so I could read it as I watch all of New Who in order).
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