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I read the earlier collection, Chicks Dig Time Lords and really enjoyed it so I was happy to get my hands on this one and it did not disappoint.
I have to admit I am a Classic Who fan and not a New Who fan at all, so I found the older companions much easier and interesting to read about but all of the essays were well written and make interesting points. Some covered the same companions but from a different perspective and it was fun and informative seeing how two different people could form such radically different opinions about the same companion or even the same costumes.
To me there seemed to be a fair coverage between New Who and Classic Who companions, so there should be plenty for fans of each and no companion seemed to be lost in the shuffle.
A must read for Doctor Who fans.
This is the sixth of the Geek Girl Chronicles, and the third of them to collect essays by women about Doctor Who (following on from Chicks Dig Time Lords and Chicks Unravel Time). Published earlier this year, it is eligible for next year's Hugo nominations as Best Related Work; the first in the series won that category in 2011, and Mad Norwegian Press has had three more nominations since (Chicks Unravel Time, Chicks Dig Gaming and Queers Dig Time Lords).
Obviously this is mainly going to appeal to Who fans with a decent knowledge of both Old and New Who, but I commend it to the rest of you anyway. I think the weakest essay here is better than the weakest ones in the two previous volumes; I think that there are a couple of really standout pieces; and I think that the best of them relate the ongoing story of Doctor Who to wider cultural and literary trends in a way that should be relevant to anyone with an interest in the genre.
You'd probably expect such a collection to take a linear approach, starting with season one and working its way up through the most recent episodes of the new series, but instead these essays are in no discernible order at all. It's an odd choice, but appropriate for a show that describes time as a "big ball of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff," and it works surprisingly well.
The essays themselves range from unabashed fangirling to careful analysis of thematic elements, which considerably more of the latter than the former. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a great many of them deal with gender issues in one form or another, but the writers seem to have been left free to focus on whatever aspects of their individual season they like, and there's a fair amount of variety as a result.
I don't know that there's anything here that strikes me as extremely memorable or insightful, but almost all of these pieces are thoughtful and reasonably interesting, and it's rather nice to see such a diversity of perspectives on the show. I'm also quite impressed by the balanced way in which almost all these authors manage to embrace both a deep affection for the series and a willingness to accept and analyze its faults. Far too often, fans seem to exhibit either the kind of love that regards any criticism as a personal attack or the kind of bitter hate that leads to wails of "Now they've completely gone and ruined it!", and it's always a relief to be reminded that there are people perfectly capable of inhabiting a middle ground between the two.
I should probably note that this is definitely a book aimed at hardcore Who fans, as it often tends to assume that you're familiar with the episodes and characters and ideas it's referencing. While I wouldn't exactly call it essential reading, even for said hardcore fans, it is interesting enough to be worth a look for Whovians of any gender.
I was impressed with how honest the essays were, these were not written by rabid, rose colored glass wearing fangirls but by thoughtful fans who clearly put a lot of thought into what made one of their favorite shows work and sometimes not work. Where it got it right, where it got it wrong and why both were important for so many reasons.
My one and only quibble with this book is that I wish they had organized the essays in order of the seasons they covered. I feel it would have been interesting to see the essays as a progression through the series but that is such a small thing and ultimately their order didn’t really detract from my enjoyment of reading them so I don’t really hold it against the book.
If you are a fan of Doctor Who, especially if you are a fan of the classic Doctor Who series this is a fun book that makes you think and look a bit differently at a beloved series and it made me want to invest in a regionless DVD player so I can get as many of the surviving episodes as I can.
A sister book to Chicks Dig Time Lords, this is a set of essays by women on each season/series of Doctor Who, old and new. One or two are sheer squee, but most are serious examinations of the show, usually (but not always) positive, often looking at gender issues, and one or two commentaries on race (also one chapter on "The Doctor's Balls" and another on "David Tennant's Bum"). I particularly enjoyed the chapters which were constructively critical - thinking of Caroline Symcox and Aliette de Bodard in particular - but almost all of them are good and thought-provoking. (But I discover that I have a finite tolerance for sheer squee.) Recommended for thoughtful Who fans.
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It's not my favourite story, but Myles successfully persuades me that there is quite a lot going on here, with chapters on:
* the opening titles, which have a unique-for-Old-Who pre-title sequence and a musical sting for the words "OF DEATH";
* the triple Doctor/Brigadier/Liz dynamic;
* the Doctor/Brigadier relationship;
* the Doctor/Liz relationship;
* the villainy or not of the three main guest characters, Reegan, Cornish and Carrington;
* the fact that there are no women apart from Liz;
* the problem of UNIT;
* fictional and real British space programmes;
* class divisions, especially Sir James Quinlan;
* the problem of the Ambassadors themselves;
* the problem of the absent TARDIS (though actually this does explain for me the silly time-travel bit in the first episode);
* the CSO special effects;
* the genre shading into spy adventure and crime-fighting;
* a note on Quatermass;
* a conclusion. "Ambassadors has been my favourite of season seven since I first watched it, and putting it under such close scrutiny has only increased my admiration and love for it. It’s a complicated, nuanced story that explores humanity’s conflicted, messy reactions to the unknown, and comes down firmly on the side of patience, knowledge, curiosity and trust."
As is probably clear, I don't go all the way with Myles on this - the internal inconsistencies annoy me too much - but it's still nice to read someone else's appreciation, even for something I don't like as much as she does.