The Discontinuity Guide

by Keith Topper, Paul Cornell, Martin Day, et al.

Book Overview

Indispensable, hysterical and brilliant. The Discontinuity Guide is everything the typical television reference manual or episode guide isn't. As well as being a thorough record of every single plot... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0426204425
• ISBN13: 9780426204428
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Virgin Publishing
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.3" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

Essential For Any Fan Of Doctor Who

There are only two Doctor Who guides I would recommend getting: Lance Parkin's Ahsitory and this book by the trio of Paul Cornell, Martin Day and Keith Topping. While Ahistory is essential to any Doctor Who fans library for putting the whole range of stories into a "historical" context this book is essential for a whole different reason. It's a guide to the original series and does so with considerable tongue and cheek style. For one thing this isn't your typical TV show guide. It isn't full of cast info, behind the scenes information and the like but is a solid but tongue-in-cheek look at the show itself. With sections covering everything from (possible) story influences to an ever humorous list of goofs, fluffs, bad/good dialogue, pieces of useless technobabble and continuity pieces the trio found after sitting through the series who knows how many times. For a fan of the original series its good fun and even illuminating at times. In particular their takes on the two possible histories of the Daleks and if it's possible to rewrite history make for some interesting reading indeed. The only part of the book I found debatable was the section called "the bottom line" where the trio gives their thoughts on the stories. While Ahistory was very much non-partisan and didn't judge the stories Discontinuity Guide does and the result is rather interesting. Some stories tend to be over praised and others tend to get dished unnecessarily. Then again that section is just pinions and there's one thing that can be said about Doctor Who fans it's that we can't really agree on anything. While it may only cover the original series (and not the new series) if you're a Doctor Who this is essential. With its tongue in cheek attitude it makes for not only good reading but for a hilarious one at that. You may disagree with the trios opinions of the various stories but otherwise it is hard to find much else wrong with the book. Get this and Ahistory and you're set to go inside the universe of Doctor Who.

Tons of information about Doctor Who.

This book is great, full of goofs, interesting dialogue, the roots (sources) of many of the stories, fashions, screw ups and lots of humor. But while the book examines each and every episode it does not tell you what happened within the episode. In other words, it tells you how something does not make sense without telling you WHY it didn't make sense. UNLESS you have ALREADY seen the episode. In other words, if you are a fan, this is the book for you. But if you are new to Doctor Who? this won't make sense. In other words there is no summary of any of the plots. So, for a fan, it is five stars. For a person new to the show, it is worthless untill AFTER they watch a few episodes. ENJOY!

Won't Watch Doctor Who Without It!!!

Since receiving this book, I can't watch a Doctor Who episode without it. I don't know how the authors could analyze and link all the episodes together, but they did. I love to read the fluffs and goofs sections before watching an episode to spot the same bloopers. The book has a rather curious habit of taking any line with "end" or "take it" or other such language and turning it into something sexual. This may be a result of watching too many episodes and trying to insert humor into a book that has more of a reference quality. My copy is well worn and I also use it to see which episodes I am missing when searching to buy videos. If you don't have this book- get it!!!

Dr. Who analyzed with a fine tooth comb

Paul Cornell, Martin Day, and Keith Topping really must have taken a year's worth vacation days to come up with this book, and they spent all that time watching Dr. Who stories over and over. Some people get all the fun! However, their purpose was to examine programs, stories, or movies that influenced certain stories, and more important to point out goofs and links, both within a story and the entire series, which is where the C-word comes in--continuity. They also write down dialogue that have double meanings, makes one (well, them anyway) cringe, and those that are positively memorable.Example of a Dialogue Triumph: "Listen to that! It's the sound of the planet screaming its rage." That was from Inferno, where the Doctor is referring to the parallel Earth that will soon become engulfed in molten lava. From Colony In Space, when Jo asks on any other living things on Uxarius, Mary Ashe answers: "There's no animal life, just a few birds and insects." Now that's a Dialogue Disaster!And finally, to find out what they thought of it, there's The Bottom Line section. While I see pointing out errors useful, there is a clear border between justifiable mistakes and petty nitpicking. In the latter case, well, there could be an unstated explanation. Why, does everything have to be explained for the benefit of the viewer? When I was in the now-defunct Friends of Doctor Who fan club, one member disparagingly referred to it as the Disco Guide.One justifiable "goof," for example, is the in The Three Doctors, where UNIT, being a top secret establishment, has a sign advertising its headquarters, as well as Lethbridge-Stewart's name listing him as commanding officer. That's understandable. I mean, to use a similar example, would the powers that had Kennedy killed have a sign reading "Military Industry Complex-Assassinating JFK since 1963" on their headquarters? Puh-leeze!An easily explained "goof" is when Tegan speaks to Kukurtji, the ancient-era aborigine, in Four To Doomsday. Cornell and company complained that Tegan responded in the correct language and era. Well, pardon me, guys, but remember The Masque Of Mandragora, when the Doctor explained to Sarah that her ability to understand foreign languages was a Time Lord gift he shared with her? Surely it applies there? So there!Which of my favorite stories do they give the highest honors to? Spearhead From Space, Inferno, The Pirate Planet, Remembrance Of The Daleks, and The Curse Of Fenric, to name a few. Lowest honors? The Time Monster, Monster Of Peladon, Planet Of The Spiders, The Android Invasion, Time-Flight, and Time And The Rani. Well, actually, there aren't any Who stories I totally loathe but I do admit there are some that are worth watching but aren't as good as others.The troika also do not look favorably on Dalek and Cybermen stories and go out of their way to find flaws. There must be a full page of flaws listed in Resurrection Of The Daleks! The Invasion doesn't get shredded

Irreverant but far from irrelivant

I bought this book because the title intrigued me. Now I can't sit down to watch a video without this trusty tome by my side. The book is interesting, informative, painstakingly detailed and often hilarious in its observations. I was also pleased to see that when the authors disagreed on a rating, it was noted in the text. (Poor Creature for the Pit!) While some of the goofs need to be watched frame-by-frame to catch, others are so glaringly obvious I couldn't believe I'd missed them.I purchased the "Pocket Essentials" recently and was extremely dissapointed. With this volume to compare it too...well, actually, there is no comparison. The "Guide" is quite simply better.