Doctor Who: A History of the Universe [Paperback]

Lance Parkin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1996

At last, the complete timeline of the Doctor Who universe, from Event One to the universe's final destruction billions of years in the future. This essential reference work reveals the full story of the Daleks, the Cybermen and the Time Lords--as well as a comprehensive history of Earth and humankind, from primitive African tribes to galactic conquest. With dates ranging from the obvious to the obscure, this book is truly an indispensable guide to the world of Doctor Who.

Product Details

• Paperback: 273 pages
• Publisher: Virgin Pub (June 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0426204719
• ISBN-13: 978-0426204718
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #238,581 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A true labour of love from Lance Parkin!, April 20, 2002

By 

Daniel J. Hamlow (Narita, Japan) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Doctor Who: A History of the Universe (Paperback)

The first attempt to chronologize the Doctor's adventures began in Jean-Marc Lofficier's Terrestrial Index. It was a nice starting point, but with the coming of the New Adventures, i.e. the continuing adventures of the Seventh Doctor and Ace, and Missing Adventures, stories of the previous Doctors, well, fans learned a lot more of the Time Lord. Lance Parkin, author of the NA Just War, and the MA Cold Fusion, has superceded Lofficier's chronology into a more expanded and enlightening work.

In addition to incorporating the NAs and MAs, he uses his own conjecture in various places, but those are few. For example, in The Masque Of Mandragora, the Doctor says that it will return to Earth in five hundred years, 1992. He assumes that if it did, it must have been defeated once more. The text for the televised adventures is done in a normal font, the NA and MAs in bold, and his own conjecture in a slightly thicker bold-italic. The footnotes after each event or story is explained in detail on the sides of each page. It's easy for stories that explicitly state the date e.g. Silver Nemesis takes place on 23 November 1988, but what about stories like Delta And The Bannermen, which takes place in ?4287 AD? Parkin gives arbitrary dates, but the interesting thing is, the last two digits are equal to the digits the show came out, 1987. The Caves Of Androzani, which came out in 1984, is given a date of ?2884.

There are seven sections in the book: Prehistory, Known History, Contemporary, the Near Future, which we're in right now, Colonisation, the Earth Empire, and the Far Future. Although a history of the universe, there is clearly an Earth-bias especially in the Earth Empire section. Yes, the Earth follows the model of the British Empire, from rise to collapse, as was mentioned in the TV story The Mutants.

There are explanations of the Great Old Ones, the powerful beings such as Fenric, the Animus, and the Great Intelligence, in the Prehistory section, as well as known astronomical theory such as the Big Bang and Galaxy formation hypothesis, and the variability of races that sprang up.

My favorite part is probably the period we're in right now in the book, with technological gluts, environmental disasters, shifts in the ozone layer, severe overpopulation, goth-apocalypse culture, and civil wars. All this takes place 2001-2009, and I sometimes wonder that given the corporate mindset of industrial countries, if this science-fiction will become reality.

One peeve I have is the dating of the Patrick Troughton/Jon Pertwee era UNIT stories, a sore point between Who fans. I belong to the faction that puts them the year or the year after the story came out on TV. Others put them in the future. Parkin merely dates those stories (1970's UNIT--<story name>). I don't know about that.

This last New Adventure covered here is Happy Endings, where Bernice gets married to Jason, and the last Missing Adventure is Sands Of Time, the sequel to Pyramids Of Mars. It's important to note that around the time this book came out, Virgin Publishing's rights were set to expire in May. A handful more of New and Missing Adventures came out, too late to be incorporated into Parkin's book. That also meant there could never be a second edition of the Universe book, also published by Virgin.

What I wonder is, now that BBC books has the rights to new Who stories, will they come out with their own Who universe guide, thereby invalidating Lance Parkin's painstakingly crafted work? It would be a shame if it did. Why not incorporate the New/Missing and the current new adventures in a future book? For now, this will do just nicely.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Parkin surpasses himself with this work of metafiction, January 27, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Doctor Who: A History of the Universe (Paperback)

While I wouldn't suggest this title as standard fare for anyone but "Dr Who" fans, it is certain to be a staple in their diet for years to come. By dint of long effort, Parkin manages to reconcile the television and book worlds of "Who", creates an arguable but entertaining future history that explains a good deal about the good Doctor's adventures over the years. A must piece of "Who" nonfiction

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Quintessestial Dr. Who Reference book, February 12, 2002

By 

Daniel Firli (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Doctor Who: A History of the Universe (Paperback)

Wow Lance, you obviously had a lot of time on your hands when putting this masterpiece together. This book puts everything that has happened in the Doctor Who universe from the TV series and Virgin novels into chronological order. A great feat to accomplish especially with all the discontinuity in the series.
This book deserves an award - thanks Lance. RECOMMENDED!!!