New Dimensions of Doctor Who: Exploring Space, Time and Television

by Matt Hills (Editor), David Mellor, Andrew O'Day (Contributor)

The Doctor may have regenerated on many occasions, but so too has Doctor Who. Moving with the times, the show has evolved across fifty years...New Dimensions of Doctor Who explores contemporary developments in Doctor Who's music, design and representations of technology, as well as issues of showrunner authority and star authorship. Putting these new dimensions in context means thinking about changes in the TV industry such as the rise of branding and transmedia storytelling. Along with its faster narrative pace, and producer/fan interaction via Twitter, 'new Who' also has a new home at Roath Lock Studios, Cardiff Bay. Studying the 'Doctor Who Experience' in its Cardiff setting, and considering audience nostalgia alongside anniversary celebrations, this book explores how current Doctor Who relates to real-world spaces and times. New Directions of Doctor Who is the scholarly equivalent of a multi-Doctor story, bringing together the authors of Triumph of a Time Lord and TARDISbound, as well as the editors of Time and Relative Dissertations in Space, Impossible Worlds, Impossible Things, Torchwood Declassified and Doctor Who, The Eleventh Hour.
It also features contributions from experts on TV brands, bioethics, transmedia and cultural icons. As 'new Who' creates ongoing mysteries and poses exciting questions, this collection demonstrates the vitality of Doctor Who studies.

Genres: Nonfiction, Doctor Who

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[ValeryVal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dimensions es un buen libro recopilatorio de ensayos de Doctor Who. Esa es la sensación general que me quedó al cerrar el libro por última vez (metafóricamente hablando, por supuesto, ya que ni lo leí en físico ni lo pienso abandonar en un futuro próximo).

Aunque el Doctor se precie por ser simplemente un loco con una cabina, la serie británica abarca en la realidad muchísimo más. Podríamos decir que es más grande por dentro que por fuera... Doctor Who, como concepto, ha pasado de ser el programa de los sábados, a consolidarse como una marca reconocida a nivel mundial. Los ensayos de este libro han sido capaces de reconocer la serie como tal y darle el tratamiento que merece.

Ojo, no estoy diciendo que sus palabras te vayan a cambiar la vida, pero resultan interesantes para quién desee aprender más sobre todo lo relacionado con Doctor Who. Algunos de los capítulos que os podéis encontrar son "Hablándole a la TARDIS: Doctor Who, Neil Gaiman y la mitología cultural", "Aprendiendo con el Doctor: Estrategias pedagógicas en la transmedia de Doctor Who" y "Una buena partitura va a la guerra: Multiculturalismo, monstruos y la música en Doctor Who moderno".

En general, recomiendo su lectura para el fan curioso que quiera ir más allá. Hay libros mejores, pero también los hay muchísimo peores. Quizás sea conveniente leer solo los ensayos que interesen especialmente y no leerse el libro al completo (hay algunos capítulos de relleno). Eso sí, aunque mi reseña esté en español, actualmente el libro solo puede conseguirse en inglés. Y ahora es cuando meto un poco de spam en la reseña y os invito a pasar por mi canal de YouTube donde hablaré de alguno de estos ensayos completamente gratis y en español:
www.youtube.com/ValeryVal

[Ruth Waterton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Doctor Who is now a multi-platform worldwide brand and this new collection, edited by Matt Hills, reflects this reality. There is a greater emphasis on the marketing and branding of official DW content, rather than fan-created works. For those who find such cultural phenomena fascinating this is a useful addition to the bookshelf. Essays on interactions on Twitter between Stephen Moffatt and fans, the rebranding of Cardiff Bay as a DW tourism destination, educational DW computer games and the commemoration of Sarah Jane, are all included. This is a varied collection that reflects the central place the DW brand now occupies in BBC merchandising, and the transmission of British cultural values and identity to an international audience.

On the creative side, I particularly enjoyed the essay by Will Brooker on the Neil Gaiman-authored episode "The Doctor's Wife" , which looks at the fruitful creative intersection between Gaiman's cult status as a producer of comic fiction and Gothic fantasy, and how this has fed into his particular slant on writing for the show. An interesting point that hadn't occurred to me before was that the much-admired Paul Cornell episode in Series 3, "Human Nature/Family of Blood" was itself strongly influenced by Gaiman's "Sandman" series.

This is well up to the usual I B Tauris standard of TV criticism, and follows Doctor Who into the reality of its latest incarnation as a worldwide brand. A review of the show's anniversary celebrations, up to and including the recent 50th, rounds off the collection satisfactorily.

[Tara Brabazon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally a reasonable book on Doctor Who. I have read some absolute nonsense about this programme. It is a tragedy that such a fine programme creates such diabolically dreadful commentary about it.

This book does not hide from theory and it does not hide behind narrative. There is attention to digitization and digital fandom and some interesting attention on aliens, cultural difference, memory, nostalgia and a fine chapter on Cardiff and "cult geography."

The introduction by Matt Hills explores the potential of Doctor Who Studies. The capacity and potential of this emerging interdisciplinary field is revealed in and through this book.

[Katherine Sas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection gets an extra ratings boost not because the essays are that much better (although they are quite good), but for going outside the blue police box. Explorations of the show's music and costumes, Neil Gaiman's reciprocal relationship with Who lore, Cardiff's Doctor Who Experience", the Moff's use of Twitter, and other such oddities set this one apart from the pack.

[Mina]

Not rating because it varies from essay to essay.