TARDIS Eruditorum: Volume 1 – William Hartnell
“Absolutely fascinating and hugely persuasive.” – Robert Shearman
“He has some really serious and fascinating points to make about how television was made and viewed back in the 1960s” – Adventures With the Wife in Space
“Demented rubbish.” – Some random guy on the Internet
Collecting and expanding on the posts from the acclaimed blog TARDIS Eruditorum, this book provides a critical history of the William Hartnell era of Doctor Who. Ambitiously aiming to tell the developing story of Doctor Who from its beginning, TARDIS Eruditorum moves beyond received fan wisdom to treat Doctor Who not just [sic] a classic sci-fi show but a show that tells the story of an entire strain of mystical, avant-garde, and radical culture in Great Britain – a show that is quite literally about all of time and space, everything that ever happened, and everything that ever will.
Every essay from the blog has been revised and expanded, and eight new essays have been written specially for this collected edition. Inside, you can learn:
Whether The Celestial Toymaker – long one of the most beloved of Hartnell-era stories – is in fact an irredeemably racist mess.
How the epic The Daleks’ Masterplan is actually four distinct stories, and how The Daleks themselves are not only brilliant monsters, but an outright attack on the very structure of the show.
The way in which the Cybermen, as originally conceived, are a terrifying challenge to the nature of humanity and society inspired as much by mysticism as by science.
And much, much more.
New version cover sypnosis
“I made some cocoa and got engaged”
The Doctor
In this newly revised and expanded first volume of essays adapted from the acclaimed blog TARDIS Eruditorum you’ll find a critical history of William Hartnell’s three seasons 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 that story not just as the story of a geeky sci-fi show but as the story of an entire line of mystical, avant-garde, and radical British culture. It treats Doctor Who as a show that really is about everything that has ever happened, and everything that ever will.
This volume focuses on the earliest years of the program, looking at how it emerged from the existing traditions of science fiction in the UK and how it quickly found its kinship with the emerging counter culture of the 1960s. Every essay from the Hartnell era has been revised and expanded from its original form, and the eight new essays exclusive to the collected edition have been augmented by a further eleven, providing nineteen book-exclusive essays on topics like what happened before An Unearthly Child, whether the lead character’s name is really Doctor Who, and how David Whitaker created the idea of a Doctor Who novel. Plus, you’ll learn:
How acid-fueled occultism influenced the creation of the Cybermen.
Why The Celestial Toymaker is irredeemably racist.
The Problem of Susan Foreman
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