– Customer review on 22/11/2011

As another reviewer has noted, this encyclopedia focuses virtually exclusively on the adventures of the "new" Doctors from the series reboot, covering Eccleston's single season and Tennant's first two. It's very handsomely illustrated with numerous color photos and packed with short and pithy entries and character biographies. It is NOT an episode guide, so be certain you know that you're getting a quick reference manual and not detailed synopses and reviews.

There's a lot of material here, but a surprising amount of it smacks of filler. For instance, every song that was ever heard for more than three pico-seconds in any episode is included here--along with separate entries for the band or singer. And in some cases, for the composer. So, we get to read a bit about Jeff Lynne--because he wrote an ELO song that was featured in one episode. That's...just a little oddly obsessive to me. Where do you draw the line? Why not comment on the brand of spark plugs used by a taxi the Doctor rode in?

Another minor annoyance is that the author seems to pay overwhelming attention to two animated episodes ("Attack of the Graske" and "The Infinite Quest") that are probably not canonical and that are not very likely to be known to American viewers. I mean--sometimes it seems that every third or fourth entry pertains to one of these. It's a bit frustrating.

The wealth of photos makes this a pretty good value, but overall this encyclopedia just seems a bit lightweight and has a lot of questionable entries. Try to get someone to buy it for you as a gift.