The First Doctor Handbook (Doctor Who (BBC Paperback)) [Mass Market Paperback]

David J. Howe (Author), Daniel Blythe (Author), Mark Stammers (Author)

Book Description

Series: Doctor Who (BBC Paperback) | Publication Date: December 1994

Mass Market Paperback.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Virgin Publishing (December 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0426204301
• ISBN-13: 978-0426204305
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #510,332 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for all Doctor Who fans who want to know more!, May 3, 2000

By 

B. Mah "Bill" (Edmonton, AB, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The First Doctor Handbook (Doctor Who (BBC Paperback)) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is a must for any Doctor Who fan. From the inception of the show in April 1962 to the end of October 1966, this book looks at the William Hartnell era of Doctor Who. These handbooks are really good. I've only seen these stories recently, but the book brings back the memories of them. It even thoroughly helps out on the missing episodes that can't be seen, by summarising these stories. So you get a sense of how it might've been like to have seen them. The attention to production details is excellent. You learn about interesting facts about the episodes: budgets, originally intended actors, location and studio recordings, original titles, original direction of some stories, etc. The book is divided into 8 chapters: William Hartnell stuff, the Doctor, the stories, establishing the myth, production diary, a focus on the making of the classic story "The Ark", and selling the doctor. The First Doctor Handbook is a great reference source of information on Doctor Who's early years. These handbooks are all great (there are 7 volumes in the Doctor Who handbook series), but the fact is that the first doctor handbook was actually the third one made in the series, published in 1994.

The co-authors trio of David J. Howe, Mark Stammers, and Stephen James Walker have proven themselves to be the definitive historians on the Doctor Who TV series. Besides the handbooks, they have also written three volumes focusing on the three decades of Doctor Who's television run: The Sixties, The Seventies, and The Eighties. I highly recommend all of these books to any fan of the world's longest running science fiction TV series!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Dazzer's review of 'The First Doctor Handbook', December 7, 1999

By 

Mr. D. G. Hill - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The First Doctor Handbook (Doctor Who (BBC Paperback)) (Mass Market Paperback)

Marcus Hearn's exhaustive research in the early 1990's provides the basis of most of the information in this comprehensive guide to the formative years of Doctor Who, yet nowhere in the book does he recieve even pssing credit. Rather than being presented as a dry 'info-dump',the book's accessibility could have been vastly improved by more user-friendly approach to conveying its wealth of material, some of which is interesting, some mindlessly dull. Unforgiveable, too, is the insulting 'What others said about William Hartnell' section, which is not used in any other handbook in the series, woefully implying some kind of inadequacy, or unreliabilty in Hartnell's own words. Equally annoying are the reviews offered by David Howe for each individual story, which are vapid and predictable in the extreme. He awards 'Marco Polo' and 'The Crusade' 10/10, despite both being broadcast some 35 years ago, claiming 'he really can't find anything wrong' with either story. Is this really the point of being a Dr. Who fan, as Howe claims to be? Strangely enough, the stories that remain intact in the archives (and thus accessible for review) such as 'An Unearthly Child', the classic first ever story, favour less well, suggesting, as John Nathan-Turner once infamously stated, 'The memory cheats'. Although, as usual, it's sheer wealth of information is indispensible, this is by far one of the weaker handbooks in the series.

5.0 out of 5 stars doctor who the handbook-the first doctor, August 10, 2009

By 

Evelyn Pace - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The First Doctor Handbook (Doctor Who (BBC Paperback)) (Mass Market Paperback)

i bought this book,after buying another handbook about the third doctor.i really found this book to be fascinating!it tells of the beginning of the show,`doctor who',when william hartnell was the first actor to play the doctor.i loved reading how the show was first thought up,the episode guide,and also the way that mr.hartnell felt doing his portrayal of the first doctor.the only part of the book that i didn't like was the part about how much it cost the studio ,the producers etc.,to make each episode of the hartnell era.but,other than that,it was a great book!