Explore Neil Gaiman’s Fantasy Worlds

Written by Jon Williams

As the British television series Doctor Who moves toward its 50th anniversary, to be celebrated with a television special in November, the show’s producers wanted to add a new edge to a classic enemy, the Cybermen. To do so, they turned to popular fantasy writer Neil Gaiman, who penned the episode “Nightmare in Silver,” which aired earlier this month. It was Season 7’s penultimate episode. Gaiman previously contributed an episode, “The Doctor’s Wife,” to the series’ sixth season.

Even before writing for the series, Gaiman was no stranger to Doctor Who, having watched the series since the very beginning, when he was a young child. Along with fantasy classics like The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia, it helped to set a tone that would serve him well in his coming career.

Gaiman began his career in journalism, writing for a number of British publications. He moved from there into comics and graphic novels. In 1990, he published his first novel, Good Omens, in collaboration with fellow fantasist Terry Pratchett. His first solo novel, Neverwhere, was actually a novelization of a screenplay he wrote for a BBC miniseries. He followed that with Stardust in 1999, which was turned into a film starring Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Robert DeNiro in 2007. Gaiman’s latest work, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, will be released on June 18, and has received a great deal of advance acclaim.

Of course, not all of Gaiman’s fiction is aimed at an adult audience. He is also an acclaimed children’s author, known for works such as Coraline (upon which the innovative animated film was based). In 2008 he released The Graveyard Book, a Newbery Medal and Hugo Award winner based heavily upon Rudyard Kipling’s classic The Jungle Book. His next children’s title, Fortunately, the Milk, is scheduled for release in September.

Gaiman also writes for film and screen, having co-written the script for 2007’s Beowulf. In addition to the episodes he wrote for Doctor Who, he also wrote an episode for season five of the sci-fi TV series Babylon 5. Currently he’s adapting his novel American Gods into a television series for HBO, which is tentatively slated to begin airing sometime later this year. He’s also writing a sequel to that book, which will be incorporated into the series’ later seasons.

New Season, TV Special for Doctor Who’s 50th Year

Written by Jon Williams

I’ll admit up front that my research for this post was as minimal as possible. Doctor Who is a fairly recent interest of mine—my wife and I just finished watching the 2006 season (the finale of which was absolutely heartbreaking)—so I didn’t want to accidentally come across any spoilers for what’s to come.

For those unfamiliar, Doctor Who centers on a character known only as “The Doctor,” an alien (in human form) known as a Time Lord. He travels throughout time and space, getting into various adventures, via his craft, the TARDIS, which is shaped like a 1960s-era London police call box. His travels frequently bring him to Earth, where he generally befriends a female companion to accompany him for a time.

The British series has long been a staple of BBC programming. The first episode aired on November 23, 1963. The original series ran until 1989; it was revived in 2005 and has been going strong ever since. The new season, starring Matt Smith in his fourth season playing the Doctor, premieres on the BBC and BBC America on March 30. In addition, a television special, An Adventure in Space in Time, is filming this year to document the beginnings of the character and the series.

Doctor Who’s popularity isn’t contained just within one long-running television series. One spinoff series, Torchwood, deals with a small team of alien hunters operating out of the Torchwood Institute, which was established following one of the Doctor’s visits to Earth. Another, The Sarah Jane Adventures, follows the exploits of Sarah Jane Smith, a former companion who finds that she can’t settle into a regular life after traveling the universe with the Doctor. There are also a number of books that detail the Doctor’s adventures, in addition to these TV shows.

In the series’ 50th year, it’s still attracting new fans (I’m evidence of that), while longtime fans will want to revisit old favorites and discover the spinoffs. Make sure the Doctor is available at your library.