Customer Reviews

The Brilliant Book of Doctor Who 2011

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you've enjoyed Panini's Doctor Who "Storybooks", then you'll love the "Brilliant Book". This is essential for fans of the show, and especially of Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor. The "Brilliant Book of Doctor Who 2011" is illustrated throughout with many,many images from the show(some are behind the scenes photographs, some are actually promotional images,etc.), offers original fiction stories(which are also illustrated), gives good summaries of the fifth series episodes,and a bunch of other cool stuff.

I personally liked the page that focused on the so-called "Dream Lord", and which actually gave the readers what appear to be hints about future episodes of the show. Another cool thing fans will appreciate, are the small script extracts scattered throughout the book, showing what scenes of dialogue Steven Moffatt chose to leave out of the finished episodes. :)

Overall, this is a book that could be fun for the younger fans, but if you're an "older" fan of the show I'd recommend picking this up instead of the "Doctor Who Annual 2011"(which is also published by the BBC, and is more kid-centric/friendly than the "Brilliant Book of Doctor Who 2011").

When you're a Doctor Who fan, there is more merchandise available than you can possibly buy, unless you are that happy combination, both rich and obsessed. The question thus becomes, which of the latest books, toys, video, audio, etc. are the must haves? What gives me the most bang for my buck? I rate The Brilliant Book 2011 very high on that scale. There is more fun to be had with this book than, for example, a recent Doctor Who novel.

Essentially a modern, adult-friendly update of the "Annual" concept, this is a 132-page, heavily illustrated book, full of photos from the 2010 series of Doctor Who. But that's not what's so great about it. Each Eleventh Doctor story from Series One/31/Fnarg gets a two-page spread, including a synopsis, a "magic moment" from the story, some "Fantastic Facts," etc. Nice, but not essential, especially if you get every issue of Doctor Who Magazine and watch Doctor Who Confidential. BUT! You also get bits of deleted dialogue, and "behind the scenes" interview material with Steven Moffat and others. Ah, now we're getting somewhere!

Surrounding these episode-based spreads are interviews with Moffat, Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Murray Gold, plus producer Beth Willis taking you through the entire production process and Gareth Roberts' detailed and amusing insights into writing for Doctor Who. But what really makes this book so much fun is the ancillary features of new material to accompany the various episodes. Mark Gatiss brings us excerpts from Churchill's diary, for example, with glimpses of scenes from the great man's many encounters with the Doctor. (In so doing, Gatiss also manages to close the worst of the episode's plot holes.) Rory's stag party is commemorated with pictures and comments from a "Twitbook" page, including a partygoer's boasts about going home with the girl the doctor replaced in the cake. Gareth Roberts tells us about all the ancillary characters who never made it into "The Lodger," and how their lives were affected by the Doctor's brief tenancy. There is even an original Doctor Who short story by Brian Aldiss, although frankly it's the least impressive thing in the book.

My husband was initially annoyed that I'd added this book to my Amazon order, so I could get free shipping on Murray Gold's recent Doctor Who CD Doctor Who: Series 4 - The Specials. After five minutes with the book, he wasn't annoyed anymore. "You're right," he said. "This is a good book!" Trust me: from my husband, that's high praise!

It's a book about Doctor Who and it's brilliant!

Much like the TARDIS it seems bigger on the inside due to the number of things that are covered.

- episode guide for Matt Smith's Doctor with each episode from this season getting two pages about the show itself

- a peek behind the scenes touching on some monster creation and how the show gets made from start to finish

- interviews with the major cast as well as Steven Moffat and Murray Gold

- fiction based on some episodes (such as entries from Churchill's journal about his various meetings with the Doctor) as well as a new six page story.

If you liked the first season with this new Doctor, it's a must have.

It does seem to be possibly aimed at a younger read but let's face it, we fans of the Doctor are timeless and ageless ourselves.

Great book for Doctor Who fans, especially with Matt Smith. This book made an excellent Christmas present, with lots of great pictures of characters in soooo many episodes. My daughter loved it.

I bought this as a gift for my fiance and he loves it. There is a lot of info that was in the book that you dont get if you just watch the show, so bonus info is always good! It goes into more depth on the characters of the show and the quality is excellent! Great product and great price!

This is a great book that helps for those of us in the US that do not have BBC america and need to wait for DVD releases

Often the books devoted to movies or TV shows are nothing more than the collection of still frames. Luckily this is not the case, the book is full of interesting behind-the-scenes information and the interviews go beyond the usual "Did you enjoy working on the series?". This is indeed something you can read, not just flip through the pages in two minutes and never open it again. Totally worth to buy for a Doctor Who fan.

This is a definite must-have for any Dr. Who fan! It is a great companion book to Matt Smith's first season as the 11th Doctor, providing an in-depth episode guide along with wonderful behind the scenes stuff, interviews, and even some additional back-story about Winston Churchhill's interactions with the Doctor over several Regenerations. It just seems to fill out the season and add any missing pieces, especially the juicy stuff like bloopers, cast quotes, and alternate story ideas and casting that we never got to see on the final cut. My husband and I are tried and true fans, have been for many years, and always love adding these books to our extensive Dr. Who collection.