Read this: Philip Sandifer’s blog

If you’ve never read Philip Sandifer’s Doctor Who blog (sometimes known as the TARDIS Eruditorum), there’s never been a better time to jump on board. He’s just dropped an epic, meticulously observed entry about “Rose” to kick off a series of essays about every episode of New Who.

And while you’re there, and waiting a mere two days for the next entry, you can also check out his reviews of every episode of Classic Who, various pop culture phenomena intersecting both eras in time, and lots of the novels and audio adventures that kept Doctor Who fans warm in the two nine-year gaps (the so-called “Wilderness Years”) when the show wasn’t on TV.

I don’t always agree with his point of view or even, in some cases, his approach, but it should be obvious that this is exactly what makes his writing fascinating. It’s frequently challenging, at least in length and structure and often also in ideas, and his analysis is deep, but his insights — like the theory about the Doctor’s relationship to the “Land of Fiction” I cited in an earlier entry — are numerous and occasionally revelatory.

He only rarely writes as much as he does about “Rose,” but if you find yourself reading it with avid interest and get all the way through, it’s a cinch you’ll like the rest of the blog. Go check it out.

One comment

  1. Jeffrey Lampert · May 1, 2013

    In general, I enjoy how deeply he sets the context around which the show airs – things we probably would simply take as read at the time but have probably since forgotten, and yet which nonetheless have a profound effect on our impressions of the episode.

    Regarding his theories, I vacillate between “brilliant” and “rubbish”, but it’s always worth reading, even for the times I’m shaking my head in disbelief. At best, it’s thought-provoking. At worst, it’s every parody of literary (over)analysis.

    I like the Rose review, but I couldn’t help thinking he could use an editor (yes, I know, this is much larger than a typical entry). By the end, I was hearing the blog in my head voiced by John Cleese as Gavin Millarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr (“The point is taken, the elk is dead, the beast stops at Swindon, Chabrol stops at nothing, I’m having treatment and La Fontaine can get knotted”)

    I look forward to his analysis of “Love and Monsters” 🙂