The True History of Planets

The True History of Planets
Type:	Story
Made by:	Reginald Tyler
First appearance:	Mad Dogs and Englishmen
Appearances:	PROSE: Anachrophobia PROSE: Fellowship of Ink COMIC: The Train in Vain and the Junkmail Messiah

The True History of Planets was a long and complicated multi-book fantasy story written by Reginald Tyler. It was an endless project which lasted almost 60 years until Tyler's supposed death in the early 1970s. It was adapted into a popular movie which was released in the 2000s. Much of the story was adapted from mid-Icelandic mythology.

The book contained fairies, magic, great battles, quests, necromancy, sorcery, trolls, lizards, gnomes, dwarves, and pixies. Locations in the story included the Diamond Mines of Marlion and the Third Ring of the Netherscope. Chapter six of book two featured the singing trolls of Morscinnivir and the Plain of Scorched Earth. In one timeline, the footnotes to chapter eighty-six of book two had the coordinates of the dogworld space station.

Tyler created fictional languages which were used in the book. (PROSE: Mad Dogs and Englishmen)

History

Creation

Reginald Tyler began writing The True History of Planets while he was hospitalised in Whitby in 1917.

Starting in 1928, Tyler began sharing his ever-expanding story with fellow writers and colleagues during weekly meetings so that they could give him advice. At first, only John Cleavis heard Tyler's weekly readings, but this soon expanded to include a larger group known as the Smudgelings.

When Tyler retired to Bournemouth, he continued to work on The True History of Planets in the garage of his bungalow. Tyler was still working on the book at the time of his recorded death in either 1972 or 1974. (PROSE: Mad Dogs and Englishmen)

Publication

In the 1950s, two chapters of the book were published as baroque short stories in magazines.

After Reginald Tyler's death, Enid Tyler sold the manuscript for The True History of Planets. It became widely published and well-known. The Eighth Doctor once read the book. (PROSE: Mad Dogs and Englishmen) It was published by Penguin Books. (COMIC: The Train in Vain and the Junkmail Messiah)

Adaptation

In 1978, John Fuchas began working on a film adaptation of The True History of Planets which would take thirty years to make. Fuchas initially planned on using Ron Von Arnim's stop-motion model-work to create the film's monsters, but he later replaced it with CGI. The opening of the movie had a scrolling starscape. The film was released in either 2007 or 2008. It was broadcast on BBC Three on 25 December 2010. (PROSE: Mad Dogs and Englishmen)

Attempted alteration

Princess Margaret of dogworld came up with a scheme to manipulate history so that the film adaptation of The True History of Planets could be used to jumpstart a rebellion that would lead to her taking the throne from the emperor of dogworld. She seduced William Freer and had him infiltrate the Smudgelings in 1942 to open up a direct psychic link between Reginald Tyler and dogworld.

In the new timeline, Tyler's "True History of Planets" was actually a propagandised history of dogworld. When John Fuchas adapted the book into a film, it was similarly affected by the changes to time. Fuchas chose the Noël Coward song Martha - as sung by Brenda Soobie - to be the film's theme tune.

When the Christmas 2010 television broadcast of The True History of Planets reached the dogworld space station in 2077, it was recorded by Char and Fritter. Margaret attempted to get the tape onto dogworld, but Char and Fritter left the space station with the tape in the Eighth Doctor's TARDIS. The Eighth Doctor, Fitz Kreiner, Anji Kapoor, Char, Fritter, and Flossie split up and tried to return history to as it originally was. The Ministry for Alien Incursions and Ontological Wonders also conducted an investigation into the anomalies surrounding The True History of Planets.

In 1942, the Doctor and Char discouraged Reginald Tyler from writing about dogworld, while Anji and Fritter visited 1978 and accidentally encouraged Ron Von Arnim to murder John Fuchas. History was somewhat restored and The True History of Planets became like it was before. Even without Fuchas' involvement, a film adaptation of the book was released in the 2000s. (PROSE: Mad Dogs and Englishmen)

Other events

When the Eighth Doctor was pulled backwards along his personal timeline by the Clock-People, he briefly returned to a point when he was reading The True History of Planets. (PROSE: Anachrophobia)

Theo Possible once read The True History of Planets with interest. (COMIC: The Train in Vain and the Junkmail Messiah)

At some point in history the book was banned. It would later be celebrated as part of an annual Banned Books Week. (PROSE: Time Traveller's Diary)