The Monsters
The Monsters was a fictional anthology reference book published by Virgin Publishing in September 1992.
It was published in celebration of the 30th anniversary of Doctor Who.
Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Monsters – Tales from three decades of terror
The almost thirty-year history of the television series Doctor Who has produced many memorable characters and incidents – but above all, everyone remembers the monsters.
Here, in a remarkable combination of fiction and paintings, are some of the nastiest creatures in the galaxy: the warlike Ice warriors, the even more fanatically belligerent Sontarans, the ominous Yeti, the terrifying Autons, and many others.
This vivid verbal and pictorial re-creation of alien evils is the result of a collaboration between two Doctor Who specialists. Adrian Rigelsford has been studying and writing about Doctor Who for many years, and provided material for Andrew Skilleter's previous illustrated book, Cybermen. Andrew Skilleter's other work includes Doctor Who illustrations for book covers, video cassettes, and calendars.
In Monsters they have combined words and pictures to create a unique view of many of the Doctor's greatest foes.
Subject matter[[edit] | [edit source]]
The book takes a new look at the Doctor's old enemies, illustrated throughout with glorious new paintings and rare photographs from the BBC and private collections. A woven history from various sources presented in a new format with a detailed background section.
Contents[[edit] | [edit source]]
Notable features[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The stories provide a new, imaginative and unusual insight into the history, mythology or misdeeds of races of monsters against which the Doctor has fought.
- Richly illustrated, each topic is dealt with in a different manner;
- The Sontaran encounters are told as a training exercise for an officer cadet.
- The Menoptera and Zarbi story is told as a history of their conflict.
- Ancient legends tell of the monster-cursed planet of Peladon.
- The UNIT Files are opened to tell of the Auton attacks.
- Computer records tell of the discovery of the Ice Warriors in a future England.
- Extracts from the casebook of Miss Olive Hawthorne, demonologist, tell us of other-worldly visitors to our planet.
- The Monster Makers section includes a wealth of behind-the-scenes information covering; production details, production data, technical data, broadcast details, cast details and production credits and additional data for each of the monsters covered.
Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- As explained in its introduction, the book was split into two sections, the first being a series of "cunningly crafted stories" written by Adrian Rigelsford and the second being a behind-the-scenes look into the people who created these monsters.
- This reference book was priced £14.99 in the UK.
- This reference book was a single edition hardback with illustrated dust-jacket over plain bound red book cover.
