Doctor Who: The Time Lord Letters
Hardcover | Kindle
by Justin Richards
Harper Design | HarperCollins Publishers
Release date: September 29, 2015

Ahhh, what would it mean to know the mind of a Time Lord? It must be something to know what a Time Lord saw. There must be wit! There must be wisdom! There must be an ambivalence, a humor about the mundane moments. There must be perspective that comes from the understanding of time and history as a sometimes malleable thing. So, we are presented with a book called Doctor Who: The Time Lord Letters. What does it tell us?

In the end, it doesn’t tell us much. It tries to create a narrative of Doctor Who history that is approachable for younger television viewers. The actual history of the show is far more complex than that, due to reasons that have little to do with good storytelling. The full-color hardcover title does little to weave together all the historical threads of the Doctor’s lives. Instead, the book’s best appeal is to provide both older and younger viewers with an excellent photo collage of the entire history of Doctor Who. That, I think, is what will keep readers coming back to this book.

There was a lot of speculation leading up to the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor, as to which of the former Doctors would appear in it. As it turns out, some of the actors who’ve played the Doctor throughout its 50-year history were wondering the same thing.

Former Doctor Peter Davison put together something special for the occasion, writing and directing a short, The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot, which he stars in with other former Doctors Sylvester McCoy and Colin Baker in a quest for the actors to be included in the 50th anniversary special.

Here below, watch the very cool, humorous 31-minute short, which stars several other famous faces, including some big ones from outside the Who universe.

Happy Doctor Who Day!

It won’t be long now till the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor, debuts in the U.S. But over in London, there’s a Doctor Who Official 50th Celebration happening and it saw the uniting of current Doctor Matt Smith and four former Doctors of the Classic Who era.

Check out the photo here below of Smith with his fellow Time Lords, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, and Sylvester McCoy, along with a video report from the event on this historic moment.

Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time #6
Written by Scott & David Tipton
Art by John Ridgway and Charlie Kirchoff
Covers by Francesco Francavilla, Charlie Kirchoff, Dave Sim
IDW Publishing
Release Date: June 26, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

If the first five issues were love letters to classic Doctor Who, then the sixth issue of Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time is a marriage proposal!

The Sixth Doctor era of Doctor Who, with Colin Baker taking up the mantle of the Time Lord, is an interesting era. It suffered from high criticism from the BBC, the beginning of a period that would inevitably lead to the cancellation of the series; and also made Baker don the costume that fashion forgot. Besides this, it’s the comic book era of Colin Baker’s personification that is of great interest – and an aspect of which that gets a great tribute in this new issue of Prisoners Of Time.

Doctor Who Classics, Series 4 #1
Written by Alan McKenzie
Original Art by John Ridgway
Colors by Charlie Kirchoff
Covers by John Ridgway and Charlie Kirchoff
IDW Publishing
Release Date: February 01, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

Talk about a blast from the past. Doctor Who Classics Series 4 #1 is a republication of the original Doctor Who comic book series as first released in Doctor Who Magazine. Younger fans of the original television series who have viewed the DVD releases may recall some special features dealing specifically with these comic strips.

Classics Series 4 undertakes the interesting era of the Colin Baker years. During his time as the sixth incarnation of the Doctor, the television series was under threat of cancellation, an ever-increasing strain on budget availability, and a rising dissatisfaction from many fans as their criticisms of the John Nathan-Turner showrunner years would reach their peak.

It’s Doctor Who Week! That’s right; it’s just a few days to go until the premiere episode of Series 6, The Impossible Astronaut. And even though there are many fans out there waiting for the new season with high anticipation, there’s also a bunch of people out there who are new to the Time Lord, so to help out new folks with the continuity, The Fine Brothers have put together a video: 47 Years of Doctor Who in 6 minutes.

Now, you could go down the route that Neil Gaiman recommends:

With the new season of Doctor Who coming up on us quickly on April 23, there’s a level of anticipation and excitement among fans online I’ve not seen for quite some time. What’s interesting is I continually find myself running into new fans who have only ever seen the new Doctor Who series that has been going since 2005.

Indeed, to a generation of Doctor Who fans, there have been only three Doctors since they discovered the adventures of the Time Lord: Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, and Matt Smith. And inevitably, many of these fans find themselves wanting to dive deeper into the mythos and legend of the good Doctor.

And why shouldn’t they? The series has had a legacy spanning close to half a century, with some amazing stories being created from some of the greatest creative minds including Terrence Dicks, Douglas Adams, Terry Nation, and so many more.

Today marks a sad day around the universe for Doctor Who fans. Long-time cast member Nicholas Courtney has passed away at the age of 81. Courtney portrayed the famous Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, otherwise referred to as the Brigadier, alongside eight of the eleven Doctors. His first role as Lethbridge-Stewart was in The Web of Fear opposite Patrick Troughton‘s Second Doctor, and his final role in the Doctor Who universe was along with Elisabeth Sladen in a 2008 episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures entitled Enemy of the Bane.

Aside from Doctor Who, Courtney has made his mark in other television series over the years, including Escape, The Avengers, All Creatures Great and Small, and Yes Prime Minister. Despite his acting in other shows, he is forever known as the Brigadier, an aspect of his career Courtney was openly proud of.

One of the greatest aspects of Doctor Who is that even though the Doctor will always be the Doctor, each incarnation brings some unique personality aspects to the Time Lord. Part of these personality traits are also embodied in the manner of image that the Doctor portrays himself: by costume.

From the long scarf of the Tom Baker days, to the crime against fashion that was the Sixth Doctor’s outfit, to Matt Smith declaring that both bow ties and fezzes are cool, each Doctor’s costume is as much a part of the mythos of the Time Lord as the sonic screwdriver, or even the TARDIS itself.

Doctor Who fan and graphic artist Alex Freeman recognizes this. Relatively known among geek fandom online for his minimalist designs for Star Wars book covers, Freeman has now taken on the challenge of applying his minimalist art approach to each Doctor’s personality and appearance. Using simple outlines and colors, he making posters for each Doctor, and his Flickr page states they should be on sale soon – providing there’s enough interest.