Author: Steven Savile
Price: £14.99 (Amazon price: £8.54)
ISBN: 978-085965420-3
Pages: 272
Publisher: Plexus Publishing
Published: May 2010
What do you want from a non-fiction book about television, specifically science-fiction and fantasy TV? It’s a good question, since there are so many possible options.
Do you want a reference book like the Encyclopedia of TV Science Fiction that’s exhaustive, gives a good description of each show and its themes, maybe an episode guide, and some production details?
No? How about a book like Doctor Who: The Unfolding Text that really goes to town on analysis, explaining the imagery, history, concepts, et al of a show so that you truly understand where it fits into modern culture and what it’s emblematic of?
No? How about a memoir like Paul Magrs’ The Diary of a “Dr Who” Addict, in which the author explains why a show holds personal appeal to them?
No? How about an ungainly, inaccurate mismatch of all three, where the author randomly cherry picks shows based purely on what interests him and that he either recalls quite well or has at best only a passing knowledge of; he then scribbles down a few ‘facts’ about the show, some of them wrong, together with descriptions that explain very little about the show to anyone who hasn’t seen it and misses out most of the characters and things that made them important; and then adds some meandering attempts to analyse the themes, importance to the genre and issues that would make a sixth-form media studies essay seem focused?
Yes? Then have I got the book for you: it’s called Fantastic TV and although it does have some things going for it, you do have to wonder not only why anyone would publish it, but whether it’s really an epic advert for the importance of book editors.
Continue reading “Review: Fantastic TV – 50 Years of Cult Fantasy and Science Fiction”
