Mad Norwegian press I, Who 3

Author	Lars Pearson
ISBN#	1 57032 900 1
Publisher	Mad Norwegian Press
Published	2001

Summary: More guides to all sorts of Who product.

• Four out of Five by Jamas Enright

Four out of Five by Jamas Enright 2/9/04

Release Date: May 2003

Order: The Unauthorized Guide To Doctor Who Novels and Audios #3

TARDIS CREW Lars Pearson and the Mad Norwegians.

TRAVEL LOG Novels EarthWorld to Time Zero and Rags to Ten Little Aliens, audios Loups-Garoux to Neverland, Bennys The Squires Crystal to The Plague Herds of Excelis, Dalek Empire I and Death Comes To Time.

STORY SUMMARY Obviously this is the third of the series, picking up from the previous works and carrying on. When I was reading it for this review (and, I have to admit, for pleasure), I did read every part of the entry for each item except for the story summary. This might seem a little pointless, if I knew the story (which was why I skipped the summary), why not skip the other entries? For one, it did make a lot of stories clearer, but I also got to see just what Lars Pearson and co thought was important. Hmm, interesting. See below for certain appraisals.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS Being able to understand what some books were actually on about. Finding out that Trix wasn't original to Timeless (although more negative points to Stephen Cole for not bringing up her earlier appearance in Time Zero). The Uber-Who Time Line. Yeah, I have to admit it's impressive. A list of every TV story/book/audio and other (where appropriate) so far (even including stuff that hasn't been released yet). Admittedly it does make some Chronology articles I was planning void... although on the other hand I don't necessarily agree with his ordering, so TSV might still be getting some more articles yet.

SEX AND SPIRITS How could I talk about sex and/or spirits about a reference book? Easy: there be pimping in those pages. Since Lawrence Miles and Mad Norwegian Press are in cahoots over the Faction Paradox range, this book refrains from commenting on The Adventuress of Henrietta Street (although it's fairly obvious what stance the book takes). That doesn't stop them from dropping Faction Paradox references all over the place (including the prelude for the first Faction Paradox novel This Town Will Never Let Us Go... argh, I'm doing it now!). Also, in their Top Ten list of Who novels, they again clearly don't take a position on Adventuress... although they point this out by pointing out that they don't do this. Yeah, ok, clearly no biasness there...

ASS-WHUPPINGS Well, the English languages gets a pounding or two. Another editing run wouldn't have gone amiss. Nothing too drastic, but still these things are always distracting.

TIE-INS The tie-in segments aren't really tie-ins, but free-associations to other moments in Doctor Who. The novel tie-ins of Superior Beings, the "Elves" link in The Infernal Nexus, the sword TV tie-ins in Seasons of Fear... there's no need for them. That's just showing off and being unnecessarily referential.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT Similarly, it's amazing how much casual throwaway lines by the characters become gospel. If the Doctor said "I don't remember that bicycle" it would become 'The Doctor can't remember a particular bicycle.' It might be true, but not really relevant. Too many details. I'm waiting for the ultimate detail: 'The Doctor uses the words "The", "apple", "fell", "from", "the" and "tree".'

AT THE END OF THE DAY Another great reference work for the novels and audios. A bit over-the-top on some details, but still something I will refer to constantly.