I thought this was a great unofficial guide to the Doctor Who series. I like how they started with Matt Smith and worked their way up. I liked how each author broke down different episodes and gave their thoughts on the plot, monster, and characters. A must for all Whovians.

56 years and 37 seasons: the unstoppable Dr. Who, the Time Lord who regenerates, battles monsters, and travels in the Tardis. From the authors of the original WHO IS THE DOCTOR? (2012), here is the second Guide to all the information, facts, and genuine good fun you ever wanted to know about the totally unique "Doctor Who."

Who Is the Doctor 2 is the second book deconstructing and celebrating the modern Dr. Who series from 7 (Matt Smith - 2012) up to 11 (Jodie Whittaker - 2018). Due out 17th March 2020 from ECW Press, it's 400 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.

Although this isn't an officially endorsed BBC release, it is scrupulously well researched and accurate. Additionally, the collaborative commentary is incredibly detailed (and geeky), plucking out details that nobody in my deeply committed family had even noticed in a lot of places. The authors tie-in crossover plot info with references to other appearances of characters, places, themes, and episodes.

Each of the episodes (gathered loosely in chapters by each series) is given the same treatment: episode number, title, author credits, airdate, a short precis ("the big idea"), roots & references, adventures in time & space (background, continuity), place in the main story arc, narrative development between the doctor and companion, the high (and low) points in the narrative (and the authors, despite obviously being huge fans are not letting the writers get away with anything), along with overarching critique and commentary.

The authors, and the book, are pretty well structured and easy to navigate for a show with an incredibly dense history and rabidly engaged fandom community. The book also includes appendices covering some of the shows and media which don't fit neatly into the canonical series. Some of the mini-episodes are covered in the appendices, but not all (for example the online-only minis are generally not covered). Really, all things Dr. Who inside the given time frame (ha-ha) are here, or can be further investigated with resources included here.

This would make a superlative choice for a fan of the series, fans of media history, SF and speculative fiction fans in general, geeks, nerds, and other gloriously committed members of the fandom community.

Well done. Four stars for me, likely 5 stars for those who are greatly interested in the series.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

An in-depth study into all the Matt Smith ( from the Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe Christmas special) Peter Capaldi and Jodie Whittaker episodes of Doctor Who. Each episode is analyses with pointers and reminders of previous episodes and regeneration of the Doctor and aliens, adversaries and companions from along the way. Great detail, insights and opinions. A great aide memoirs for fans, and an interesting read.
Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ahead of publication in exchange for an honest review

Who Is the Doctor 2 provides commentary and insight to seasons 7-11 of modern Doctor Who. If you enjoy fun facts and commentary on Doctor Who, this is the book for you!

The best part of this book were the fun facts and things I didn’t know about the episodes. For someone like me, who likes to read about the Easter Eggs and trivia on Wikipedia, fandom wikis, and IMDB, this was fascinating. It’s all in one place, with little searching for the information.

The thing I didn’t care for was the commentary and opinion pieces. I don’t usually put much stock in fandom opinions, just for the fact it is such an objective thing. However, if you enjoy reading other people’s opinions on Doctor Who, you’ll probably enjoy this more than I did.

This was an enjoyable read, and I definitely would suggest this to someone who hasn’t been exposed to a lot of the trivia of Doctor Who that is found on the internet.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Four out of five to Who is the Doctor 2: The Unofficial Guide to Doctor Who – The Modern Series by Graeme Burk and Robert Smith?

This was such a fun read for a Doctor Who fan! All right, perhaps not so much if you’re a casual fan who just likes to watch the show when it’s on, but if, like me, you’re head-over-heels in love it’s really a delight.

Firstly, the book has a great structure. It’s an episode-by-episode guide, and for each episode there is a brief summary, a list of ‘roots and references’ which might have had an influence on the writing, a rounding-up of references to previous stories, a few points about what the story does or doesn’t do for a series arc, the authors’ favourite and least favourite moments, and a review of the episode from each of the authors. It’s a nice balance of information and opinion which I think works very well.

Then, the authors really know their stuff. Well, you’d expect that people writing a whole book about a thing would, but it’s surprising how often that seems not to be the case and then you have to throw the book out of the window. This book remained undefenestrated.* Of course, I knew this would be the case when I saw Graeme Burk was a co-author – he’s the co-host (with Joy Piedmont) of the delightful Doctor Who podcast Reality Bomb! I’m not so familiar with Robert Smith?, but I loved his commentary in this book too.

My favourite kind of fandom is the kind that can see the flaws in the thing it loves and how it could do better, while still being able to love the thing and praise what it does well. Who is the Doctor 2 holds this balance excellently. Burk and Smith? have no problem with pointing out things that Doctor Who has done badly in the past, for example when they talk about the episode Journey to the Centre of the Tardis, in which we’re finally given some black characters, only for them to turn out to be utter pieces of shit without a particle of common sense between them. But at the same time, their love and joy in Doctor Who shines through every page.

Having said that, my biggest problem with this book is the ableist language its authors keep using. They use the word ‘stupid’ so much. So much! Also ‘moron’ a couple of times. Yikes. Even if ‘stupid’ weren’t ableist (here’s a good article on why it is) it’s incredibly overused in this book. Tip: if you’re tempted to say ‘stupid’ about something, think for a moment about what you actually mean because you can probably say something much more interesting. Since I read an ARC from Netgalley (thanks Netgalley!) I’m hoping that this’ll be picked up by authors or editor and fixed before it’s published.

Apart from this, Who is the Doctor 2 is a really excellent read. It’s a lot of fun and is chock full of great information. The reviews of each episode were my favourite part because both of the authors have well thought out opinions and a chatty, engaging, way of writing, with lots of jokes but lots of interesting thoughts as well. I’d recommend it to Doctor Who fans who want something entertaining and informative to read in the long gaps between seasons of the show!

*Disclaimer: I’ve only ever defenestrated one book and in my defence I was homesick at the time and I really really hated it.

Nice companion piece to have to keep track of all the Doctor Who episodes from series 7-11, plus the 50th anniversary special. Interesting takes on what the co-authors liked or disliked about each episode, and why it did or didn't work. This book covers Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi, and Jodie Whittaker (only her first season). It also points out when an episode looks back on the classic series.

I thought I would be bored, as I have seen these episodes multiple times, because I own the DVDs, but was actually delighted to find there were some things I had forgotten, or not known about in the first place.

A perfect book for a fan. Not sure how a non-fan would feel about this book. Probably be just confused.

The only drawback I have about this book is that it is coming out just in time for the latest series of Jodie Whittaker, but won't have those stories in there.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

An entertaining TV guide for fans and the casual viewer alike which cover the episodes from series 7 to 11 with geektastic gusto.

I randomly chanced upon the authors when I read a copy of Who’s 50: The 50 Doctor Who Stories to Watch Before You Die from my local library in 2017. I liked their style and I was pleasantly surprised to discover their new book on NetGalley. So I was overjoyed to be successful for a review copy. I’m a massive fan of Doctor Who and found this latest guide highly engaging. I loved the trivia and the mini debates that the authors have in print for their hit and misses for each episode.

An essential reference for any fan of Doctor Who, this second volume by the witty and well informed team of Graeme Burk and Robert Smith picks up from where its predecessor left off, and covers series 7 to 11 as well as the various special episodes aired during that period.
As well as the basic information about each episode such as writer, director, main cast and plot synopsis, what really makes this book worth the time is the information about connections between the old and new series and the always witty and sometimes contradictory opinions and reviews of the episodes by the two authors. Having picked up the first volume at a convention several years ago, I was excited to get my hands on this, and I really was not disappointed.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

A guide to each episode of seasons 7 through 11, featuring a quick plot recap, trivia, continuity and other notable points.

Good as far as it goes, listing influences and trivia for each episode. Some of the trivia was genuinely interesting. I'd have liked to have quotes as well; the authors often talk about how great a particular line was, but they never actually give us the line, which is annoying. In addition, the last section of each episode is unreadable because of a combination of missing lines and jumbled up lines. I started skipping that section entirely. I've taken a star off for these two issues. Assuming that problem is fixed in the physical book, I'd give it four stars.

I love Doctor Who and because I’m a massive geek, I also love talking about and analysing Doctor Who, so this follow up to the original Who is the Doctor book was right up my street - an episode by episode guide taking us from series 7 (Matt Smith’s last series) right up to the present day (Jodie Whittaker’s first series). Messrs Burk and Smith? (yes, the question mark is meant to be there) take us very entertainingly and thought-provokingly through each episode, sharing information and opinions.

Celebrating the brilliant (there’s plenty) and eviscerating the occasionally awful (looking at you, Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS), Graeme and Robert’s commentary is fair and balanced yet underpinned by a love for the show in all its guises. I don’t necessarily always agree with them, but then they don’t necessarily agree with each other.

Unfortunately the text in the “extra” sections is so jumbled/has sections missing as to be unreadable on my Kindle. I’m not sure why this happens, and I’d assume it to be an ARC issue except that the previous “Who is the Doctor” Kindle book - which I purchased - had a very similar issue.

Probably not one for the casual viewer, but fans will find plenty to delight in.

A great resource for doctor who fans, I am a long term doctor who fan from the 1970's and I found information I had not known before, I recommend for any doctor who fan

This is a fantastic guide to the latter half of the Modern Series starting from the final series of the 11th Doctor Matt Smith through the entirety of the 12th Doctor (my favorite Doctor) and ending (so far) with the first series of the 13th Doctor Jodie Whittaker, with commentary on the Christmas Specials, the 50th Anniversary special, mini (web) series during this time frame. The book details the overall plot of each episode, high and low points (in their opinion), interesting facts, callbacks to the Classic series, ongoing character relationships / arcs and includes the two author's personal opinions.

It's a handy quick guide to the adventures of that "Idiot with a Box" and the companions who join in the TARDIS.

Really interesting book, will be loved by dr who fans all over the world and in all time periods.

Well worth reading to get the background of the scripts of the tv series.