Monsters and Villains by Justin Richards

reviewed by Dan Berry (April 25th 2009)

Published in 2005, Monsters and Villains is the first in a series of guide-books to the world of Doctor Who, primarily aimed at newcomers to the television show. Penned by Justin Richards, it’s a detailed run-down of “the Doctor’s most evil enemies”, fully illustrated and beautifully-designed.

Arranged in alphabetical order, from Autons to Zygons, each alien race is covered in depth, with short summaries of each television story they appeared in, box-outs covering episode-specific elements of their backstory, and annotated photographs. Sometimes, the information is a little bit bewildering – I’m sure I wouldn’t have noticed the Moxx of Balhoon’s “distinctive blue skin” or the Sontarans’ “space armour” if it hadn’t been for Mr Richards’ handy annotations – but it’s mostly very good, giving the right level of detail and presenting information in a straightforward, accessible manner.

As Monsters and Villains was released during the Ninth Doctor’s single season on television, there weren’t enough aliens in the New Series to fill its 96 pages, so there’s a decent amount of Classic Series material too, mainly focusing on the most famous creatures (Cybermen, Daleks, Zygons, Sea Devils and Silurians) with the odd left-field choice as well (Haemovores, anyone?). However, the balance still seems to be very much in the Ninth Doctor’s favour, with the Slitheen (who has appeared in just one story when the book was published) receiving ten pages, in contrast to the Master’s dismally inadequate one page.

Alongside the in-universe information about the creatures’ anatomy, tactics, and skirmishes with the Doctor, there’s some nice behind-the-scenes material, too. Russell T Davies explains his motivation for bringing back the Autons in Rose, for example, and this extends to older stories, with script extracts from stories like The Tenth Planet and behind-the-scenes photos from the likes of The Web of Fear also included. There’s also some brand new fictional material, exclusive to this book: Davies expands on the story of the Forest of Cheem, and gives some information on the Face of Boe which is especially interesting in the light of Gridlock.

Newcomers to the world of Doctor Who will enjoy Monsters and Villains as a detailed guide to the monsters they’re already familiar with, and perhaps as a doorway into the Classic Series. Older fans might find less to enjoy, aside from the new material from the show’s writers. Ultimately, although this is a decent volume, it’s hard to enthuse too much about a book which gives roughly the same amount of space to Mr and Mrs Pakoo as it does to the flippin’ Master . . .