Victoria Taylor (1)

A compilation of two separate visually-oriented Doctor Who reference books:

Doctor Who: The Visual Dictionary: This is actually a revised version of a book that originally came out sometime during the Eleventh Doctor's run. It now covers up through the Twelfth Doctor's first season, so it's still out of date at this point, but less so. It features pictures, with some explanatory text, of all kinds of people, places, and things from Doctor Who. Or rather, from the new version; you won't find much in the way of references to the classic show here. The text, to be honest, is kind of... insipid. (And not necessarily always 100% accurate, although the one obvious mistake I noted --since when does the Doctor affectionately refer to his TARDIS as "Tardy?" -- I'm inclined to explain by some ashen-faced editor seeing the word "Sexy" in there, exclaiming, "But children are going to be reading this!" and changing it just before going to press.) But visually it's very cool, fun to browse through, and potentially useful if you're into costuming or fan art.

The Doctor Who Character Encyclopedia: This one covers both the classic and new series, although I do think it's more comprehensive about the newer stuff. It only goes up to the very beginning of the Twelfth Doctor's stint, though. It contains entries on various people and species to be found in the show: Doctors, companions, friends, enemies, and prominent one-story guest characters. For each person (or species) there's a large, colorful picture (well, colorful except for some of the folks from the black-and-white era), and some notes about who they are and what they did on the show. Overall, I liked this text better than that to be found in the Visual Dictionary, possibly just because it's more succinct. And at one entry per page, it's fast and reasonably entertaining to flip through.

Overall, I think it's not necessarily something every Who fan needs to rush out and buy, but I can testify (having received it that way) that it makes a very nice gift.… (mehr)