Author Biography

Paul Booth is Professor of Media and Cinema Studies in the College of Communication at De Paul University, USA. He is the author or editor of ten books, including the Wiley Companion to Media Fandom and Fan Studies (2018); Crossing Fandoms: SuperWhoLock and the Contemporary Fan Audience (2016); Game Play: Paratextuality in Contemporary Board Games (Bloomsbury, 2015) and Seeing Fans: Representations of Fandom in Media and Popular Culture (Bloomsbury, 2016).

Craig Owen Jones is a lecturer at San Jose State University, USA, and an Honorary Research Associate at the School of Music and Media, Bangor University, Wales. He has written three books and over 30 articles on TV and film studies, music, history, and literary criticism.

Table of Contents

Figures
Tables
Foreword by Paul Cornell
Acknowledgements
Notes on Titles
Introduction: Going Forward in All Our Beliefs: Regenerating and Re-Valuing Doctor Who Fandom
Chapter One: The Concept of Evaluation in Doctor Who Reception
Case Study 1A: The Mightiest Values: Rankings of Doctor Who - Paul Booth
Case Study 1B: Fan Reaction Videos: Responding to Doctor Who - Craig Owen Jones
Dialogue 1C: Evolving Evaluation of Doctor Who - Paul Booth and Craig Owen Jones
Chapter Two: Reception History and Fan Perceptions of Doctor Who
Case Study 2A: Tegan: The Makers' Vision - Craig Owen Jones
Case Study 2B: Reception after the Fact: Companions in Big Finish - Paul Booth
Dialogue 2C: The Ends of an Era - Paul Booth and Craig Owen Jones
Chapter Three: The Error of Eras
Case Study 3A: Nightmare of Eden and the Limitations of Genre - Paul Booth
Case Study 3B: The Discovery of The Time Meddler - Craig Owen Jones
Dialogue 3C: Series 24 - Craig Owen Jones and Paul Booth
Chapter Four: Re-Evaluating Value in the Canon of Doctor Who
Case Study 4A: Evaluative Changes in The Talons of Weng-Chiang - Craig Owen Jones
Case Study 4B: The Caves of Dilemma: or, The Twin Androzani? Evaluating Value at the Poles - Paul Booth
Dialogue 4C: Minisodes and Changing Appreciation - Craig Owen Jones and Paul Booth
Conclusion: Go Forward in All of Your Beliefs, and Prove to Me that I Am Not Mistaken in Mine

Endnotes
Bibliography
Index

Review

This book proves that some of the most fascinating adventures of Doctor Who didn't take place onscreen, but within the constant flux of critical perception and reassessment. This is an extraordinary and celebratory look at the evolution of a television series that can still inspire and baffle well into its sixth decade. Watching Doctor Who moves smartly across fan and academic debates surrounding the value of TV series more generally, and the valuation of Doctor Who stories in particular. For anyone who's ever argued over their favourite episodes, Paul Booth and Craig Owen Jones offer a timely provocation, a brilliant new dialogue, and a valuable intervention in the many understandings and evaluations of the good Doctor's epistopic interfaces. An incisive and thoroughly readable study of how Doctor Who fandom ascribes value - and values - to the series in all of its incarnations, and how those value(s) shifting over time are reflected in the larger study of fandom as a cultural experience. An entertaining and informative history and examination of Doctor Who fandom and criticism. I recommended it for anyone who ever debated their favourite Doctor ... or companion ... or monster - in other words, for all Doctor Who fans.

Review Quote

Watching Doctor Who moves smartly across fan and academic debates surrounding the value of TV series more generally, and the valuation of Doctor Who stories in particular. For anyone who's ever argued over their favourite episodes, Paul Booth and Craig Owen Jones offer a timely provocation, a brilliant new dialogue, and a valuable intervention in the many understandings and evaluations of the good Doctor's epistopic interfaces.

Promotional "Headline"

Explores the critical fan reception of Doctor Who across the show's sixty year history.

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