A Mixed Bag Of Monsters

A Mixed Bag Of Monsters

I've just dug out The Doctor Who Monster Book. For the sake of accuracy, I'd better qualify that by saying that I've just dug out the 1985 reprint of The Doctor Who Monster Book, which has some different photos compared to the original and didn't include a free poster of the cover art, like the 1975 original version did.

But leafing through it for today's video, reminded me of how much I treasured this book in the late 1970s. Before 'Doctor Who Weekly' came along there was only this, a couple of poster magazines (available from the exhibitions) and, of course, The Making Of Doctor Who (I had the Tom Baker version) to give you an insight into the history of a show rapidly approaching its 15th birthday.

It's a treat for the eyes, combining all manner of arresting visual images as we alternate between photographs and Chris Achilleos artwork, but Terrance Dicks is also on hand to provide his usual clear commentary.

Older fans joke about how phrases such as 'Yartek, Leader Of The Alien Voord' stick in their memories, but 'Monsters Who Came Back For More!' and  'A Mixed Bag Of Monsters' are equally deserving of praise.

As I say in the video, I can just about remember bits of Jon Pertwee's last season, but Tom Baker is really my Doctor. The Doctor Who Monster Book sits nicely in my timeline, reminded me of things that I'd seen, but also showcasing stories I could only hope to experience through the Target books. And it would be many years before the Sensorites or the Mechanoids (that's how they spell it in the book!) would make it into print.

The fact that the final page consists of a long list of writers, giving them credit for their creations is probably one of those things that led to my interest in the details of the production process. I could happily juggle the notions that these were both terrifying creatures from distant planets and also the product of some bloke with a typewriter. And there seemed to be an awful lot of people called Bob or Robert involved. Clearly, but sadly, people called Andrew weren't allowed to write for 'Doctor Who', at least not in the 1970s...

Obviously it's from a more innocent age- it would be quite some time before I began to suspect that there were other people of my age quite as potty about the show as myself. But it was a treasured possession that I read and re-read so many times, that the middle pages  needed some attention from a roll of sellotape to keep them in place.

I loved The Doctor Who Monster Book when I was 8 and I still do to this day.

"They arrived on Earth as beautiful golden beings, but turned into savage many-tentacled monsters when the Doctor exposed their true aims." - that's how to get kids hooked onto finding out about the history of 'Doctor Who'...

(By Andrew Trowbridge)