Doctor Who - The Scripts, Tom Baker 1974-5

Rating:
Summary: Read what was mean't to be seen...
Review: Alot of people ask "why a script book?" I wondered myself until I got it.
It includes the complete shooting scripts including dialog & scenarios not used in the finished product.
It also gives behind the scenes insight to the filming of Tom Baker (Doctor #4's) First Season as the Doctor.
If you are a fan of the show, I would highly recommend it to you!

Rating:
Summary: Read what was mean't to be seen...
Review: Alot of people ask "why a script book?" I wondered myself until I got it.
It includes the complete shooting scripts including dialog & scenarios not used in the finished product.
It also gives behind the scenes insight to the filming of Tom Baker (Doctor #4's) First Season as the Doctor.
If you are a fan of the show, I would highly recommend it to you!

Rating:
Summary: Beyond Definitive...
Review: Not so much another retelling of a year of "Doctor Who" as the ultimate reference guide to Season 12 of the series, "Doctor Who: The Scripts, Tom Baker 1974/5" tells virtually everything you could want to know about the production and execution of "Doctor Who" in the first year of Tom Baker's tenure as the Doctor. Included here are the scripts (complete with changes made during shooting) for all 20 episodes across the 5 stories of the year, story histories, production notes, casting choices, transmission information, music notes, prop histories and inventories, scene sketches and maps, reproductions of newspaper clippings, notes on potential but unmade stories, changes made for American TV, audience reaction polls, and a ton of footnoting for just about every reason imaginable.

More than any other behind-the-scenes science fiction book I've read, this one really tells you what tough choices and concessions had to be made, why they chose person A over person B, what got cut for budgetary reasons (a common problem with Doctor Who) and what concessions (or lack thereof) were made for continuity. This book is a massive undertaking, and, indeed, authorship is spread between numerous people. If there is a question you want answered about Season 12 of Doctor Who, the odds are really good it's in here somewhere.

While I find it hard to recommend this book to the casual Doctor Who fan, it's invaluable to the die-hard Whovian or the student of film or TV production. This is simply the finest production book I've read and I dearly hope to see them tackle other seasons in the same way in the future.

Rating:
Summary: Beyond Definitive...
Review: Not so much another retelling of a year of "Doctor Who" as the ultimate reference guide to Season 12 of the series, "Doctor Who: The Scripts, Tom Baker 1974/5" tells virtually everything you could want to know about the production and execution of "Doctor Who" in the first year of Tom Baker's tenure as the Doctor. Included here are the scripts (complete with changes made during shooting) for all 20 episodes across the 5 stories of the year, story histories, production notes, casting choices, transmission information, music notes, prop histories and inventories, scene sketches and maps, reproductions of newspaper clippings, notes on potential but unmade stories, changes made for American TV, audience reaction polls, and a ton of footnoting for just about every reason imaginable.

More than any other behind-the-scenes science fiction book I've read, this one really tells you what tough choices and concessions had to be made, why they chose person A over person B, what got cut for budgetary reasons (a common problem with Doctor Who) and what concessions (or lack thereof) were made for continuity. This book is a massive undertaking, and, indeed, authorship is spread between numerous people. If there is a question you want answered about Season 12 of Doctor Who, the odds are really good it's in here somewhere.

While I find it hard to recommend this book to the casual Doctor Who fan, it's invaluable to the die-hard Whovian or the student of film or TV production. This is simply the finest production book I've read and I dearly hope to see them tackle other seasons in the same way in the future.

Rating:
Summary: Not just the scripts, but plenty of additional information
Review: This is a collection of the scripts from Season 12 of Doctor Who, Tom Baker's first season. When one encounters this sort of material, it's worthwhile to see how much value-added there is. Is this just a simple reproduction of the scripts, or is there a significant amount of additional material? I am pleased to report that there is. For starters, the scripts themselves indicate the changes between the camera scripts and what actually made it on the air. But besides that, there is a season overview that discusses the casting of Tom Baker, the addition of Harry Sullivan as a character, and how the season was planned.

Then, with the individual scripts, the book provides background along the lines of the DWM Archive features, covering the development of the scripts, the production team, the production details, and a brief critique.

There are also numerous footnotes associated with the scripts, and my chief complaint with the book is that these are stuck at the end of each episode rather than at the bottom of individual pages, necessitating either a lot of flipping back and forth or a good memory if you choose to wait until after reading the episode to see what the footnotes say.

However, that's basically a quibble on what is an excellent book and a significant addition to my Doctor Who collection.