The TARDIS Inside Out: Difference between revisions

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{{Infobox Reference Book
{{Infobox Reference Book
|book name=''Doctor Who: The TARDIS Inside Out
|book name=''Doctor Who: The TARDIS Inside Out
|image=[[Image:The_TARDIS_Inside_Out.jpg|250px]]
|image=[[file:The_TARDIS_Inside_Out.jpg|250px]]
|writer= [[John Nathan-Turner]]
|writer= [[John Nathan-Turner]]
|publisher= [[Piccadilly Press]] (UK Publisher)<br>[[Random House]] (US Publisher)
|publisher= [[Piccadilly Press]] (UK Publisher)<br>[[Random House]] (US Publisher)

Revision as of 22:14, 3 April 2011

The TARDIS Inside Out is a 1985 illustrated, non-fiction book. in which John Nathan-Turner gives his personal reflections on each of the six men who had then played the part of the Doctor. Despite the title, it has absolutely nothing to do with explaining the workings of the TARDIS.

Publisher's summary

At last, a book on DOCTOR WHO actually written by an insider — the producer!

John Nathan-Turner, in his unique position as producer of the programme for the past six years, is able to discuss the six Doctors and the actors who played them with fresh insight. He reveals not only how many of the decisions are made, but also what really happens behind the scenes.

Each Doctor has a full-page colour portrait painted by the talented Andrew Skilleter. More colour and black and white illustrations detail the Doctors' activities and their most exciting adventures.

Main focus

Inside Out is clearly skewed towards things JNT personally knows about the actors. For instance, he claims The Space Pirates is his favorite Patrick Troughton story, not because it was Troughton's finest hour, but because it "was [his] first encounter face to face with the Doctor". Indeed, William Hartnell's section is tiny, because JNT admits he never met him, and the sections on Hartnell's next three successors focuses substantively upon their involvement with The Five Doctors, a JNT production.

It is somewhat of a forerunner to The Writer's Tale, in that it is the work of a producer offering his thoughts on his involvement with Doctor Who. Still, it is nothing like as detailed as Russell T Davies' book, which is effectively an annotated production diary. Nor does it include any primary source material, like internal memos, so JNT is allowed to claim anything he likes without reference to supporting documentation.

Because of the lack of proper sourcing, and his failure to admit to any conflict between himself and any of the actors, critical readers can find cause to doubt the accuracy of JNT's recollections.

Notable features

The book tends towards a few major areas of interest:

  • JNT's favourite story of every Doctor
  • The production of The Five Doctors
  • JNT's working relationship with each man. Within the Tom Baker section, by far the biggest in the book, he solidly devotes his attention to the circumstances surrounding Baker's resignation, and goes to great lengths to suggest that he and Baker had an amicable relationship. He also claims he "never stopped to think of Tom and Lalla as a couple", which seems unlikely, as their relationship negatively affected the production of the show under his watch. (DCOM: State of Decay and others)
  • JNT's memories of working with each actor outside Doctor Who proper, particularly in panto and convention settings.

Notes

External links

to be added