TARDIS Eruditorum - An Unofficial Critical History of Doctor Who Volume 8: Paul McGann and Christopher Eccleston

TARDIS Eruditorum #8

by Elizabeth Sandifer

In this eighth volume of essays adapted from the acclaimed blog TARDIS Eruditorum you'll find a critical history of the Paul McGann and Christopher Eccleston eras of Doctor Who. TARDIS Eruditorum tells the ongoing story of Doctor Who from its beginnings in the 1960s to the present day, pushing beyond received wisdom and fan dogma to understand the story not just as the story of a geeky sci-fi show but as the story of an entire tradition of mystical, avant-garde, and politically radical British culture. It treats Doctor Who as a show that is really about everything that ever happened, and everything that ever will.

This volume focuses on the end of the so-called wilderness years and the series' triumphant 2005 return to television, looking at its connections with weird fiction, reality television, and the Spice Girls. The book contains a mixture of revised blog posts and a bevy of brand new essays exclusive to this collected edition, including a look at the strange continuity of the Paul McGann era, the astonishing cultural footprint of the new series, and an all new section on the John Hurt era. Plus you'll learn:

* How many Time Wars there were
* What happens when a minor tie-in work gains sentience
* The metaphor at the heart of both Doctor Who and Big Brother

Genres: Doctor Who

604 pages, Paperback

First published October 20, 2023

About the author

Note: This author previously published under the name Philip Sandifer.

Reviews

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been reading this on-and-off, over and over again, for the better part of a month. I don't always agree with Elizabeth Sandifer's analysis (and I dread the overall package for the 13th Doctor era that drives her barmy) but it is always worth reading, and her TARDIS Eruditorum project is still the best analysis of "Doctor Who" written in the 21st century (so far). Even when I think she's wrong, she's insightful, angry and hilarious in all the best ways imaginable.

[F.R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The McGann section becomes a bit wearying , but this is another thoughtful, combative and above all entertaining journey through the show. Sandifer remains one of my favourite writers on DOCTOR WHO.

[Jamie Revell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have said, more than once while reviewing the earlier volumes in this series that Sandifer is always interesting to read even when I disagree with her. Well, this is the book that reached my breaking point.

Two-thirds of this volume covers the 8th Doctor era, and the issue there is that there isn't really one to cover - at least not on TV. Of course, the TV movie gets an essay, but the bulk here deals with the BBC Books 8th Doctor Adventures and the 8th Doctor audios that came out in the gap up until 2005. And the problem there is that, by large, Sandifer has a negative opinion of them both. I mean, sure, some of them (especially the earlier novels) deserve a kicking, and one can hardly blame a reviewer for not having the same tastes as you do. But there's something tiring about reading a steady stream of negativity, much of it about things you enjoy and disagreeing with the author even when they do find something to praise - almost all of the rare examples that Sandifer does enjoy from this period are works I actively dislike.

I don't expect to agree with a reviewer (or essay writer, really, since these aren't always reviews in the usual sense) on everything. But if I'm reading a fan book about something I enjoy, it turns out that there's only so much "nah, this is crap" that I can take. Things change in the final third, when we get to the 9th Doctor's era and Sandifer is clearly writing about something she can be enthusiastic about again (to her great relief, one assumes) and that's why this gets three stars from me: the last third is really good, back on form. And it's not as if it's badly written and doesn't occasionally have the experimental flair of the essays in the earlier volumes.

Yet, well, it may not be the author's fault per se; if she found it a slog, she found it a slog. But that's how I found the first two thirds of this book, too; I just didn't enjoy reading it. So, nope.

[Horror Nerd · Rating 2 out of 5]

I went into this expecting a fun AND critical analysis of the Doctor Who era commonly called 'the wilderness years', and also coverage on the first series of the Doctor Who revival. The part devoted to the 'wilderness years' makes up the bulk of this book, with the Ninth Doctor's series taking up only a small portion. The show along with the spinoff material (like the books, comics, audio stories, etc) is extensively covered here.
This was kind of a disappointing read, despite some really brilliant parts (the analysis of the first episode of the new show, and connecting it to the culture of the day is fun to read). For most of the book there's kind of a mean streak to the analysis of the 'wilderness years' (the digs at the Big Finish company, the Eighth Doctor novels, etc), and the author even admits towards the end that she doesn't really like that era. The tone shifts when she starts discussing the Ninth Doctor's era, but since the bulk of the book is focused on the era the author actively dislikes, it doesn't make for a fun experience reading large portions of it.