A look at Doctor Who Fandom

I have had, shall we say, an unsteady relation with Doctor Who. While occasionally brilliant far more often it is painfully frustrating or just plain disappointing. Whatever my personal views on the show, however, I have to admit that, over its extraordinarily long run, it has been both hugely popular and influential, and is therefore deserving of study.

This was the reason why I picked up Chicks Unravel Time, sequel to the Hugo Award winning Chicks Dig Time Lords. A series of essays by over thirty female writers, including Diana Gabaldon, Juliet E. McKenna and Caroline Symcox, it promised to be an interesting exploration of the show’s history.

Each writer focuses primarily on one season of the show but, apart from that one unifying theme, the essays vary wildly in topic – from looking at the Doctor’s companions, to the personality of the Doctor himself to the general philosophy of the show itself. Each piece is insightful, well thought out and highly researched. Indeed, many of the essays are in fact nothing less than fully cited research articles, unsurprising given that many of the writers are academics.

Every writer is clearly very passionate about the show and, while in many cases, this makes for more interesting articles it also leads to the book’s main problem. The fact that each writer is a massive Doctor Who fan means that their analysis is invariably positive. While some of the worst female stereotyping of the old series is, quite rightly, pointed out and criticised, many other problems are glossed over.

There is no mention of the many failures in pacing, characterisation and basic plotting, nor of the frankly disturbing Doctor-Amy-River relationship (where the Doctor completely and repeatedly ruins his companion’s life and then marries her daughter). Admittedly, many of these issues are subjective and so you would not expect them to be brought up by fans of the show, but I am still greatly annoyed by how it repeatedly feels that the book is making excuses for the show.

Don’t get me wrong; this is still an objectively good book (as much as you can say that about anything), but certainly one aimed primarily for confirmed Doctor Who fans. If you don’t like the show the book won’t change your mind and you’ll find the near constant praise tiresome and annoying. Neither is this the book for you if you are looking for an objective analysis of the show’s history. It is, however, highly informative and an interesting look at why so many people love the show.

Juliet E. McKenna will be at Imperial College for Picocon 30 on the weelend of February 16-17 as part of the Write Fantastic collective (also including Pat Cadigan, Ian Whates, Kari Sperring, Sarah Ash, Mike Shevdon and others). She will be participating in the ‘Overcoming Death Through Science’ panel on Saturday and running a series of drop in Writers’ Workshops on the Sunday. For more information, and to register your attendance, visit icsf.org.uk/picocon.