Customer Reviews
doctor who rocks!!!!!!_ - By: Nik, 23 Jul 2008 
This book can provide you with many facts & information, covering most of the past Doctors. It also takes you through the journeys of the Doctor & his TARDIS... but it fails to mension any information about the future... therefore this is why it failed to achieve the 5 star rating. Overall it's a great book to buy for kids... a must have for all Doctor Who fans!!!
A real step down in quality - By: S. F., 15 May 2008 
Whilst I have been suitably impressed with previous volumes of Justin Richards' Doctor Who guides, I was left feeling that the new edition seemed like it was done by someone else, someone who didn't care quite as much about the content. Previous books have focused on various aliens & enemies of the Doctor, with a healthy mix of Classic foes & villains from the new series up to the point of publishing. So for example, last year's "Creatures & Demons" book featued old skool terrors like the Krynoid & the Wirrn, alongside monsters from the tail end of S2 (the Cult of Skaro) & first half of series 3 (Judoon, Sec Hybrid). Arrangedin alphabetical fashion, with beautiful photos & design sketches, the first three books were great for fans wishing to complement their Classic guides with new Who info, & ideal for newcomers to both incarnations. Most importantly, the guides featured a detailed index at the back for referencing monsters & the episodes they feature in.
The new book "Starships & Spacestations" is a real departure from the "a-z monsters" approach, & the book suffers as a result. One need only look at the contents page to see how haphazardly the guide has been assembled. Previous books have had around 30 entries to peruse, whilst the new volume has just 6 & tries to lump together categories of alien & Earth ships from across time & space & both versions of the show.
It also tries to stick to the principle of mixing old & brand new with mentions for late S3 episodes & early S4, but these are randomly shovedin - who would honestly expect "The Fires of Pompeii" to crop upin a book on starships & spacestations? Similarly, the splendid two-parter of "Human Nature" & "The Family of Blood" is chucked in, but notin the detail it would be were the book a guide to MONSTERS rather than SHIPS, so there's no scarecrows, no John & Joan & no real detal on the family.
Infact, it seems to me that even the field of spaceships isn't serviced very well as there are many many omissions & some entries at the back mention the alien races who have ships & don't even show a still of the ship itself, just the alien. And surely any guide to DW's vessels needs to devote more than a page at the back to the TARDIS?!
Of course, like any Justin Richards & BBC production, the book is still lavish & detailed, but with no index, a poorly thought out structure & confusing one page pictures with no caption or relevance to the pages around them, this guide is a disappointment. And maybe Justin Richards was running out of suitable ingredients for titles (after "Monsters & Villains", "Aliens & Enemies" & "Creatures & Demons") or maybe it seemed time for a guide to the technology of DW, but as volume 4 of this particular range, it was a real disappointment, & as a guide to spacecraft it was sorely lacking.
2.5 stars
