A Pirate's History of Doctor Who
 |
Welcome to the first (but not the last) Pirate's History of Doctor Who. What's a Pirate's History¸ you ask? Well¸ there's the official¸ sanitized¸ orderly histories that are approved by and all about the powers that be. Then there are the Pirate's histories¸ the things that they don't want you to know about¸ or that they don't care about¸ things that are great and marvellous and intriguing... but unapproved. It's a history of secret and forgotten corners of the Whoniverse.
Thrill to the story of the first Woman Doctor¸ Barbara Benedetti¸ whose four adventures during the end of the Colin Baker era and the start of the McCoy reign¸ rivalled the official BBC in quality¸ and launched an entire series of women Doctors¸ Sharon Horton¸ Lily Daniels¸ Krystal Moore¸ thirty years before Jody Whittaker.
Or how about BBC's attempt to kill Doctor Who in 1984¸ the fan campaign that saved the show¸ the hiatus¸ and the slow secret war the BBC waged to end one of its most popular shows. There's the tragic tale of the decline and fall of John Nathan-Turner.
There's a history that includes a fan group's attempt to create a feature length Doctor Who movie with Super 8 cameras in the 70s¸ and a whole lost generation of fans and films. Here's the story of the explosion of Doctor Who in the 80s¸ the emergence of fan culture¸ and the rise of fan films¸ beginning with the woman Doctor.
As Doctor Who was driven into oblivion by the BBC¸ it was fans who stepped up¸ creating their own stories¸ building their own adventures¸ creating Daleks and Cybermen¸ producing parodies¸ and even re-creating the show that the BBC had abandoned with astonishingly professional productions.
Here are the tales of stories and adventures aspiring to¸ and sometimes rivalling the classic series¸ Wrath of Eukor¸ Visions of Utomu¸ Ocean in the Sky¸ Regenesis¸ Phase Four¸ Spectre from the Past¸ the Experiment¸ the Chronotron Effect¸ Resurrection of Evil¸ Time and Again and others.
Subsequent volumes will explore Doctor Who's history of stage plays; the recreation and resurrection by fans of Lost stories in every way¸ from pioneers audio-recording the entire series¸ to fan artists and animators re-creating the episodes¸ to the astonishing diversity and imagination of fan art. Witness the creation of audio Who universes¸ or the stories of fans who figured out how to make legal films and videos in the Doctor Who universe¸ whether the BBC approved.
We'll bring you adventures and epics you've never heard of and never dreamed of¸ open new worlds in time and space¸ show how the fans creativity and accomplishments¸ often against the BBC's wishes¸ opened up creative possibilities for the show. And how people driven by nothing more than sheer love¸ were inspired to create amazing and wonderful works.
You may think you know Doctor Who¸ but these are books unlike any other¸ and we'll show you places in the Whoniverse that you never dreamed of. All you have to do is join us for the ride.