Useful, Entertaining, Insightful... need I go on?, 05 Jul 2008
Given this as a Christmas present, I was not immediately inspired, however I did dip into it and found myself rather hooked!
As a reference book it is wonderful- all those little things that you weren't sure about... all those things you were wondering...
How does that work?
Who was he?
How did he do that?
Which episode did that happen?
What does a Compact Laser Deluxe do? Who had one, and, you know... Where?!
Get all your questions answered and more in this neat, beautifully illustrated guide to the world that is uniquely Doctor Who!
The entire book it dedicated to every useful, and er, not so useful fact that is Doctor who. Who knows what happened in 1336 with the doctor, Rose and Captain Jack? What was the doctor planning for the year 5006 on a Tuesday in October at 6pm? What are the co-ordinates 761390 for?
It's all in this marvelous book! *****

FILLS IN THOSE MISSING BITS, 15 May 2008
A well produced hardback with excellent photographs, visually arresting layout and eminently readable text, THE DOCTOR WHO ENCYLOPEDIA is a worthy addition to any fan's collection. GARY RUSSELL has clearly done his research and the finished result is perfect for the Target Audience which, in theory, must reach into the millions.

Pretty much everything to do with the last three seasons is covered from major characters to major events with direct and indirect references and links, but there's still no avoiding the plot holes, contradictions and contrivances found in most DOCTOR WHO episodes - that sort of thing simply goes with the territory, especially shaky science, which has been elevated to almost art-form status since the show's rebirth. What this encyclopedia attempts to do, however, is fill in some of the more "Eh...?" gaps with solidly thought-out explanations which weren't always made clear in the original broadcasts, the result of (presumably) lazy or fuzzy scriptwriting. As you no doubt already know, Exec Producer RUSSELL T DAVIS is no stranger to this particular phenomenon.

But, hey, now we can all understand the Master's plan for the Toclafane in UTOPIA or the effects of The Paradox Machine from THE LAST OF THE TIME LORDS; the method by which the Weeping Angels steal people's futures from BLINK or how The Beast came to be held captive and the engineering of his subsequent destruction from THE SATAN PIT. Presented in paragraph or short caption form it all appears to make perfect sense now (within some seriously barmy parameters, that is). The introduction even manages to include names or words that might feature in a future revised edition, including Adipose, Rattigan, Mrs (!!), Vespiform...and so on. A neat bit of foreshadowing there, Gary.

Whatever the case, when the time comes, let's ensure this Doctor Who product enjoys a full and happy regeneration.


HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

So good I bought it twice!, 11 Dec 2007
I bought this for my son for Xmas, but with a last minute birthday party invitation I had to give it away to his friend. When my son saw it he was absolutely rapt and said "I wish I'd put that on my list for Santa". Little does he know that Santa already knew he'd like it and is about to order a replacement for him. ;o) The book itself is nice and big and full of in depth detail which will keep Doctor Who fans engaged for hours. There's lots of full colour illustrations and, as the title suggests, it is laid out like an encyclopedia, so it's easy to look up those facts that may have slipped your mind. Well worth the money (and absolutely essential at £3.99!!).

I'm Sorry!, 04 Dec 2007
I'm sorry, I really am. I'm about to insult a hell of a lot of people. But I have to say it. This book is just...unnecesarry! And the fact that I can't spell makes the insult even worse!
I can't believe I'm saying this, I really can't. I'm talking about the writer from The Inside Story, who I've just given a 5 Star Rating.
This book is so detailed, so well written, packed with facts, and yet I don't know anyone who's spend higher thann ten pounds on a book, that's useless, contributes nothing to the DW world, and has information that isn't going to benefit anybody. There, I've said it. Now, here come the insults...

FANTASIC, 17 Nov 2007
This book is packed with information and definetly worth the price. A must-have for only £14.99!!! You can get it for £3.99 delivered...somewhere...

Useful, Entertaining, Insightful... need I go on?, 05 Jul 2008
Given this as a Christmas present, I was not immediately inspired, however I did dip into it and found myself rather hooked!
As a reference book it is wonderful- all those little things that you weren't sure about... all those things you were wondering...
How does that work?
Who was he?
How did he do that?
Which episode did that happen?
What does a Compact Laser Deluxe do? Who had one, and, you know... Where?!
Get all your questions answered and more in this neat, beautifully illustrated guide to the world that is uniquely Doctor Who!
The entire book it dedicated to every useful, and er, not so useful fact that is Doctor who. Who knows what happened in 1336 with the doctor, Rose and Captain Jack? What was the doctor planning for the year 5006 on a Tuesday in October at 6pm? What are the co-ordinates 761390 for?
It's all in this marvelous book! *****

FILLS IN THOSE MISSING BITS, 15 May 2008
A well produced hardback with excellent photographs, visually arresting layout and eminently readable text, THE DOCTOR WHO ENCYLOPEDIA is a worthy addition to any fan's collection. GARY RUSSELL has clearly done his research and the finished result is perfect for the Target Audience which, in theory, must reach into the millions.

Pretty much everything to do with the last three seasons is covered from major characters to major events with direct and indirect references and links, but there's still no avoiding the plot holes, contradictions and contrivances found in most DOCTOR WHO episodes - that sort of thing simply goes with the territory, especially shaky science, which has been elevated to almost art-form status since the show's rebirth. What this encyclopedia attempts to do, however, is fill in some of the more "Eh...?" gaps with solidly thought-out explanations which weren't always made clear in the original broadcasts, the result of (presumably) lazy or fuzzy scriptwriting. As you no doubt already know, Exec Producer RUSSELL T DAVIS is no stranger to this particular phenomenon.

But, hey, now we can all understand the Master's plan for the Toclafane in UTOPIA or the effects of The Paradox Machine from THE LAST OF THE TIME LORDS; the method by which the Weeping Angels steal people's futures from BLINK or how The Beast came to be held captive and the engineering of his subsequent destruction from THE SATAN PIT. Presented in paragraph or short caption form it all appears to make perfect sense now (within some seriously barmy parameters, that is). The introduction even manages to include names or words that might feature in a future revised edition, including Adipose, Rattigan, Mrs (!!), Vespiform...and so on. A neat bit of foreshadowing there, Gary.

Whatever the case, when the time comes, let's ensure this Doctor Who product enjoys a full and happy regeneration.


HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

So good I bought it twice!, 11 Dec 2007
I bought this for my son for Xmas, but with a last minute birthday party invitation I had to give it away to his friend. When my son saw it he was absolutely rapt and said "I wish I'd put that on my list for Santa". Little does he know that Santa already knew he'd like it and is about to order a replacement for him. ;o) The book itself is nice and big and full of in depth detail which will keep Doctor Who fans engaged for hours. There's lots of full colour illustrations and, as the title suggests, it is laid out like an encyclopedia, so it's easy to look up those facts that may have slipped your mind. Well worth the money (and absolutely essential at £3.99!!).

I'm Sorry!, 04 Dec 2007
I'm sorry, I really am. I'm about to insult a hell of a lot of people. But I have to say it. This book is just...unnecesarry! And the fact that I can't spell makes the insult even worse!
I can't believe I'm saying this, I really can't. I'm talking about the writer from The Inside Story, who I've just given a 5 Star Rating.
This book is so detailed, so well written, packed with facts, and yet I don't know anyone who's spend higher thann ten pounds on a book, that's useless, contributes nothing to the DW world, and has information that isn't going to benefit anybody. There, I've said it. Now, here come the insults...

FANTASIC, 17 Nov 2007
This book is packed with information and definetly worth the price. A must-have for only £14.99!!! You can get it for £3.99 delivered...somewhere...

A MIGHTY TOME OF INFORMATION IMEASURABLE, 19 Jun 2008
Finding an informative and concise book on Anime can be difficult and expensive. I was unsure if this book was simply a movie guide rather than a resource about Anime and its complex history and themes.

After taking the plunge I was pleasantly surprised to find this book to be both. There are an estimated three thousand entries, each giving specific information about a particular Anime such as themes, influences and a brief summary of the characters and stories. Each entry is fascinating in its own right providing a wealth of information that can be surprising, funny and a little strange, especially when looking at Anime such as Urotskidoji. Reading entries can be addictive as they are also linked to other Anime within the book that are similar or have other links such as being by the same director.

This revised and expanded edition also has Thematic Entries which provide the reader with a wealth of information on the various themes explored within Anime. This includes entries discussing Horror and Monsters, Comedy and Fantasy & Fairy tales. There are also other entries that explore the Anime industry itself such as Censorship and localization which are equally as fascinating as those entries discussing Science Fiction and Robots.

This book is a must own for any fan of Japanese Animation. The entries about each individual Anime are clear, concise and well written providing the reader with invaluable information. The Thematic entries help make this book an indispensable guide and help put the numerous entries in to context. Each Thematic entry can vary in length from half a page to several pages, yet each entry provides clear and detailed information about an industry that is full of strange and wonderful ideas. A truly fantastic book that you will read for hours and hours and hours....


Amazing, for now :), 17 Jul 2007
I have only purchased this book today and so should probably take time to consider its usefulness, but at first glances it seems to deliver exceedingly well on expectations.
I have been a fan of anime since 2003 now so I have had some time to familiarise myself with quite a few titles, from fairly well known ones like Ghibli's to lesser knowns I've stumbled across from friends or random showings at conventions. This book's listed all the one's I can think of, and plenty more besides. Not all get pages and pages of text, but hey, you can't expect the authors to have watched and deeply analysed EVERYTHING, and there's a lot of interesting and enlightening stuff here.
There's a slight review in many of the descriptions, usually enough to serve as a warning or reccomendation. Personally I'm really enjoying the commentary, I think it's quite funny in parts... but then if you've watched much anime you'll know it can be quite hard to do a significant number of descriptions seriously, and when you include more adult anime - well, it was surreal enough already.
There's also some commentry on themes of anime and other stuff, which is probably really interesting and useful for people properly interested, but I've spent most of my time looking up anime I've watched so far. I did read a bit about ratings of anime (as in people tuned in, or however it's measured these days). That was very illuminating, I'd always assumed anime must be highly rated in Japan, and also I completely bought that GTO (live action) was the highest rated series in Japan. Surprise!
But really, this is a very good book, and VERY UP TO DATE considering others I've read. It's up to sometime in 2006: 1917 to 2006 doesn't seem a bad span to me!
I can imagine a book like this might confuse a newcomer to anime, given the amount of content. But also, each description will ususally contain a mention of an anime of similar plot or style, giving thozse exploring the genre a bit of a tour, without having to ask the advice of someone else who m,ight have COMPLETELY different tastes?
Anyway, like I've said, I've only had this book a day, so maybe I'm speaking to soon. All I know is that having had it this long has given me more motivation to write a review than I think I've had in a long time.

Useful, Entertaining, Insightful... need I go on?, 05 Jul 2008
Given this as a Christmas present, I was not immediately inspired, however I did dip into it and found myself rather hooked!
As a reference book it is wonderful- all those little things that you weren't sure about... all those things you were wondering...
How does that work?
Who was he?
How did he do that?
Which episode did that happen?
What does a Compact Laser Deluxe do? Who had one, and, you know... Where?!
Get all your questions answered and more in this neat, beautifully illustrated guide to the world that is uniquely Doctor Who!
The entire book it dedicated to every useful, and er, not so useful fact that is Doctor who. Who knows what happened in 1336 with the doctor, Rose and Captain Jack? What was the doctor planning for the year 5006 on a Tuesday in October at 6pm? What are the co-ordinates 761390 for?
It's all in this marvelous book! *****

FILLS IN THOSE MISSING BITS, 15 May 2008
A well produced hardback with excellent photographs, visually arresting layout and eminently readable text, THE DOCTOR WHO ENCYLOPEDIA is a worthy addition to any fan's collection. GARY RUSSELL has clearly done his research and the finished result is perfect for the Target Audience which, in theory, must reach into the millions.

Pretty much everything to do with the last three seasons is covered from major characters to major events with direct and indirect references and links, but there's still no avoiding the plot holes, contradictions and contrivances found in most DOCTOR WHO episodes - that sort of thing simply goes with the territory, especially shaky science, which has been elevated to almost art-form status since the show's rebirth. What this encyclopedia attempts to do, however, is fill in some of the more "Eh...?" gaps with solidly thought-out explanations which weren't always made clear in the original broadcasts, the result of (presumably) lazy or fuzzy scriptwriting. As you no doubt already know, Exec Producer RUSSELL T DAVIS is no stranger to this particular phenomenon.

But, hey, now we can all understand the Master's plan for the Toclafane in UTOPIA or the effects of The Paradox Machine from THE LAST OF THE TIME LORDS; the method by which the Weeping Angels steal people's futures from BLINK or how The Beast came to be held captive and the engineering of his subsequent destruction from THE SATAN PIT. Presented in paragraph or short caption form it all appears to make perfect sense now (within some seriously barmy parameters, that is). The introduction even manages to include names or words that might feature in a future revised edition, including Adipose, Rattigan, Mrs (!!), Vespiform...and so on. A neat bit of foreshadowing there, Gary.

Whatever the case, when the time comes, let's ensure this Doctor Who product enjoys a full and happy regeneration.


HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

So good I bought it twice!, 11 Dec 2007
I bought this for my son for Xmas, but with a last minute birthday party invitation I had to give it away to his friend. When my son saw it he was absolutely rapt and said "I wish I'd put that on my list for Santa". Little does he know that Santa already knew he'd like it and is about to order a replacement for him. ;o) The book itself is nice and big and full of in depth detail which will keep Doctor Who fans engaged for hours. There's lots of full colour illustrations and, as the title suggests, it is laid out like an encyclopedia, so it's easy to look up those facts that may have slipped your mind. Well worth the money (and absolutely essential at £3.99!!).

I'm Sorry!, 04 Dec 2007
I'm sorry, I really am. I'm about to insult a hell of a lot of people. But I have to say it. This book is just...unnecesarry! And the fact that I can't spell makes the insult even worse!
I can't believe I'm saying this, I really can't. I'm talking about the writer from The Inside Story, who I've just given a 5 Star Rating.
This book is so detailed, so well written, packed with facts, and yet I don't know anyone who's spend higher thann ten pounds on a book, that's useless, contributes nothing to the DW world, and has information that isn't going to benefit anybody. There, I've said it. Now, here come the insults...

FANTASIC, 17 Nov 2007
This book is packed with information and definetly worth the price. A must-have for only £14.99!!! You can get it for £3.99 delivered...somewhere...

A MIGHTY TOME OF INFORMATION IMEASURABLE, 19 Jun 2008
Finding an informative and concise book on Anime can be difficult and expensive. I was unsure if this book was simply a movie guide rather than a resource about Anime and its complex history and themes.

After taking the plunge I was pleasantly surprised to find this book to be both. There are an estimated three thousand entries, each giving specific information about a particular Anime such as themes, influences and a brief summary of the characters and stories. Each entry is fascinating in its own right providing a wealth of information that can be surprising, funny and a little strange, especially when looking at Anime such as Urotskidoji. Reading entries can be addictive as they are also linked to other Anime within the book that are similar or have other links such as being by the same director.

This revised and expanded edition also has Thematic Entries which provide the reader with a wealth of information on the various themes explored within Anime. This includes entries discussing Horror and Monsters, Comedy and Fantasy & Fairy tales. There are also other entries that explore the Anime industry itself such as Censorship and localization which are equally as fascinating as those entries discussing Science Fiction and Robots.

This book is a must own for any fan of Japanese Animation. The entries about each individual Anime are clear, concise and well written providing the reader with invaluable information. The Thematic entries help make this book an indispensable guide and help put the numerous entries in to context. Each Thematic entry can vary in length from half a page to several pages, yet each entry provides clear and detailed information about an industry that is full of strange and wonderful ideas. A truly fantastic book that you will read for hours and hours and hours....


Amazing, for now :), 17 Jul 2007
I have only purchased this book today and so should probably take time to consider its usefulness, but at first glances it seems to deliver exceedingly well on expectations.
I have been a fan of anime since 2003 now so I have had some time to familiarise myself with quite a few titles, from fairly well known ones like Ghibli's to lesser knowns I've stumbled across from friends or random showings at conventions. This book's listed all the one's I can think of, and plenty more besides. Not all get pages and pages of text, but hey, you can't expect the authors to have watched and deeply analysed EVERYTHING, and there's a lot of interesting and enlightening stuff here.
There's a slight review in many of the descriptions, usually enough to serve as a warning or reccomendation. Personally I'm really enjoying the commentary, I think it's quite funny in parts... but then if you've watched much anime you'll know it can be quite hard to do a significant number of descriptions seriously, and when you include more adult anime - well, it was surreal enough already.
There's also some commentry on themes of anime and other stuff, which is probably really interesting and useful for people properly interested, but I've spent most of my time looking up anime I've watched so far. I did read a bit about ratings of anime (as in people tuned in, or however it's measured these days). That was very illuminating, I'd always assumed anime must be highly rated in Japan, and also I completely bought that GTO (live action) was the highest rated series in Japan. Surprise!
But really, this is a very good book, and VERY UP TO DATE considering others I've read. It's up to sometime in 2006: 1917 to 2006 doesn't seem a bad span to me!
I can imagine a book like this might confuse a newcomer to anime, given the amount of content. But also, each description will ususally contain a mention of an anime of similar plot or style, giving thozse exploring the genre a bit of a tour, without having to ask the advice of someone else who m,ight have COMPLETELY different tastes?
Anyway, like I've said, I've only had this book a day, so maybe I'm speaking to soon. All I know is that having had it this long has given me more motivation to write a review than I think I've had in a long time.

Best Book I've Ever bought, 27 Dec 2008
This Is Excellent. it tells you everything from Nudity, Zoos comments and Ratings of every film the Families of the boys and much much more.

There are some pictures from The Bullfuighters, Dancing Masters and Nothing but trouble

If youve read bad reviews then ignore them - there a matter of taste rather than about it.

One Thing, The Writing is smaller than I Thought it would be

superb book about comedy legends, 12 Jul 2008
This revised and updated version is superb everything you wanted to know about Stan and Ollie THE LAUREL AND HARDY BIBLE
IAN TROOPS WINCOBANK SHEFFIELD

A goldmine of Laurel and Hardy information, 26 Feb 2001
Several hundred pages of A-Z information on the boys. I don't think any stone has been left unturned. This book is as up to date as it could possibly be (1/2000). If you have any questions unanswered about Stan and Ollie then this book is for you. Excellent.

This book is essential to all L&H buffs, 15 Oct 1999
This is a gold mine of information, much of which is not going to be found elsewhere easily, if at all. Glenn Mitchell has done a thorough job of researching his subjects, and it shows. Clearly, he enjoys The Boys as well, since a noticeable amount of wit and humor add to the fun of reading the book. Incidentally, it's virtually im possible ("I have just two words...") to read the book in sequence; the cross references just go on and on. All in all, it's a most worthy companion to Randy Skretvedt's "Laurel and Hardy: the Magic Behind the Movies".

This new version of the Star Trek Encyclopedia is a reissue of the 1997 edition plus a 128-page supplement of additional material that updates Deep Space Nine to the end of its run and Voyager to midway through season five. It also covers the movie Star Trek: Insurrection. The supplement is as meticulously detailed as the rest of the volume, listing such fascinating trivia as chadre kab (Seven of Nine's first meal), "Kahless and Lukara" (a Klingon opera) and voraxna (a Cardassian poison), as well as all the new characters and species. Appendices include illustrations of starships, cast and crew listings, a historical timeline and a bibliography. All photographs and illustrations (except a few historical shots) are in colour. The encyclopedia was devisedin part to help production staff on the various Star Trek TV series keep up with the ever-increasing level of detail generated by over more than 30 years of creative effort. It is an excellent reference volume and, whether you want to settle an argument or write a novel, this book will answer your questions. But beware: The extensive cross-referencing leads to curious time-distortion effects, in which the unwary reader, dipping in to settle a single query, encounters an irresistible urge to browse further, during which hours of normal time can pass in the wink of aneye. --Elizabeth Sourbut

Useful, Entertaining, Insightful... need I go on?, 05 Jul 2008
Given this as a Christmas present, I was not immediately inspired, however I did dip into it and found myself rather hooked!
As a reference book it is wonderful- all those little things that you weren't sure about... all those things you were wondering...
How does that work?
Who was he?
How did he do that?
Which episode did that happen?
What does a Compact Laser Deluxe do? Who had one, and, you know... Where?!
Get all your questions answered and more in this neat, beautifully illustrated guide to the world that is uniquely Doctor Who!
The entire book it dedicated to every useful, and er, not so useful fact that is Doctor who. Who knows what happened in 1336 with the doctor, Rose and Captain Jack? What was the doctor planning for the year 5006 on a Tuesday in October at 6pm? What are the co-ordinates 761390 for?
It's all in this marvelous book! *****

FILLS IN THOSE MISSING BITS, 15 May 2008
A well produced hardback with excellent photographs, visually arresting layout and eminently readable text, THE DOCTOR WHO ENCYLOPEDIA is a worthy addition to any fan's collection. GARY RUSSELL has clearly done his research and the finished result is perfect for the Target Audience which, in theory, must reach into the millions.

Pretty much everything to do with the last three seasons is covered from major characters to major events with direct and indirect references and links, but there's still no avoiding the plot holes, contradictions and contrivances found in most DOCTOR WHO episodes - that sort of thing simply goes with the territory, especially shaky science, which has been elevated to almost art-form status since the show's rebirth. What this encyclopedia attempts to do, however, is fill in some of the more "Eh...?" gaps with solidly thought-out explanations which weren't always made clear in the original broadcasts, the result of (presumably) lazy or fuzzy scriptwriting. As you no doubt already know, Exec Producer RUSSELL T DAVIS is no stranger to this particular phenomenon.

But, hey, now we can all understand the Master's plan for the Toclafane in UTOPIA or the effects of The Paradox Machine from THE LAST OF THE TIME LORDS; the method by which the Weeping Angels steal people's futures from BLINK or how The Beast came to be held captive and the engineering of his subsequent destruction from THE SATAN PIT. Presented in paragraph or short caption form it all appears to make perfect sense now (within some seriously barmy parameters, that is). The introduction even manages to include names or words that might feature in a future revised edition, including Adipose, Rattigan, Mrs (!!), Vespiform...and so on. A neat bit of foreshadowing there, Gary.

Whatever the case, when the time comes, let's ensure this Doctor Who product enjoys a full and happy regeneration.


HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

So good I bought it twice!, 11 Dec 2007
I bought this for my son for Xmas, but with a last minute birthday party invitation I had to give it away to his friend. When my son saw it he was absolutely rapt and said "I wish I'd put that on my list for Santa". Little does he know that Santa already knew he'd like it and is about to order a replacement for him. ;o) The book itself is nice and big and full of in depth detail which will keep Doctor Who fans engaged for hours. There's lots of full colour illustrations and, as the title suggests, it is laid out like an encyclopedia, so it's easy to look up those facts that may have slipped your mind. Well worth the money (and absolutely essential at £3.99!!).

I'm Sorry!, 04 Dec 2007
I'm sorry, I really am. I'm about to insult a hell of a lot of people. But I have to say it. This book is just...unnecesarry! And the fact that I can't spell makes the insult even worse!
I can't believe I'm saying this, I really can't. I'm talking about the writer from The Inside Story, who I've just given a 5 Star Rating.
This book is so detailed, so well written, packed with facts, and yet I don't know anyone who's spend higher thann ten pounds on a book, that's useless, contributes nothing to the DW world, and has information that isn't going to benefit anybody. There, I've said it. Now, here come the insults...

FANTASIC, 17 Nov 2007
This book is packed with information and definetly worth the price. A must-have for only £14.99!!! You can get it for £3.99 delivered...somewhere...

A MIGHTY TOME OF INFORMATION IMEASURABLE, 19 Jun 2008
Finding an informative and concise book on Anime can be difficult and expensive. I was unsure if this book was simply a movie guide rather than a resource about Anime and its complex history and themes.

After taking the plunge I was pleasantly surprised to find this book to be both. There are an estimated three thousand entries, each giving specific information about a particular Anime such as themes, influences and a brief summary of the characters and stories. Each entry is fascinating in its own right providing a wealth of information that can be surprising, funny and a little strange, especially when looking at Anime such as Urotskidoji. Reading entries can be addictive as they are also linked to other Anime within the book that are similar or have other links such as being by the same director.

This revised and expanded edition also has Thematic Entries which provide the reader with a wealth of information on the various themes explored within Anime. This includes entries discussing Horror and Monsters, Comedy and Fantasy & Fairy tales. There are also other entries that explore the Anime industry itself such as Censorship and localization which are equally as fascinating as those entries discussing Science Fiction and Robots.

This book is a must own for any fan of Japanese Animation. The entries about each individual Anime are clear, concise and well written providing the reader with invaluable information. The Thematic entries help make this book an indispensable guide and help put the numerous entries in to context. Each Thematic entry can vary in length from half a page to several pages, yet each entry provides clear and detailed information about an industry that is full of strange and wonderful ideas. A truly fantastic book that you will read for hours and hours and hours....


Amazing, for now :), 17 Jul 2007
I have only purchased this book today and so should probably take time to consider its usefulness, but at first glances it seems to deliver exceedingly well on expectations.
I have been a fan of anime since 2003 now so I have had some time to familiarise myself with quite a few titles, from fairly well known ones like Ghibli's to lesser knowns I've stumbled across from friends or random showings at conventions. This book's listed all the one's I can think of, and plenty more besides. Not all get pages and pages of text, but hey, you can't expect the authors to have watched and deeply analysed EVERYTHING, and there's a lot of interesting and enlightening stuff here.
There's a slight review in many of the descriptions, usually enough to serve as a warning or reccomendation. Personally I'm really enjoying the commentary, I think it's quite funny in parts... but then if you've watched much anime you'll know it can be quite hard to do a significant number of descriptions seriously, and when you include more adult anime - well, it was surreal enough already.
There's also some commentry on themes of anime and other stuff, which is probably really interesting and useful for people properly interested, but I've spent most of my time looking up anime I've watched so far. I did read a bit about ratings of anime (as in people tuned in, or however it's measured these days). That was very illuminating, I'd always assumed anime must be highly rated in Japan, and also I completely bought that GTO (live action) was the highest rated series in Japan. Surprise!
But really, this is a very good book, and VERY UP TO DATE considering others I've read. It's up to sometime in 2006: 1917 to 2006 doesn't seem a bad span to me!
I can imagine a book like this might confuse a newcomer to anime, given the amount of content. But also, each description will ususally contain a mention of an anime of similar plot or style, giving thozse exploring the genre a bit of a tour, without having to ask the advice of someone else who m,ight have COMPLETELY different tastes?
Anyway, like I've said, I've only had this book a day, so maybe I'm speaking to soon. All I know is that having had it this long has given me more motivation to write a review than I think I've had in a long time.

Best Book I've Ever bought, 27 Dec 2008
This Is Excellent. it tells you everything from Nudity, Zoos comments and Ratings of every film the Families of the boys and much much more.

There are some pictures from The Bullfuighters, Dancing Masters and Nothing but trouble

If youve read bad reviews then ignore them - there a matter of taste rather than about it.

One Thing, The Writing is smaller than I Thought it would be

superb book about comedy legends, 12 Jul 2008
This revised and updated version is superb everything you wanted to know about Stan and Ollie THE LAUREL AND HARDY BIBLE
IAN TROOPS WINCOBANK SHEFFIELD

A goldmine of Laurel and Hardy information, 26 Feb 2001
Several hundred pages of A-Z information on the boys. I don't think any stone has been left unturned. This book is as up to date as it could possibly be (1/2000). If you have any questions unanswered about Stan and Ollie then this book is for you. Excellent.

This book is essential to all L&H buffs, 15 Oct 1999
This is a gold mine of information, much of which is not going to be found elsewhere easily, if at all. Glenn Mitchell has done a thorough job of researching his subjects, and it shows. Clearly, he enjoys The Boys as well, since a noticeable amount of wit and humor add to the fun of reading the book. Incidentally, it's virtually im possible ("I have just two words...") to read the book in sequence; the cross references just go on and on. All in all, it's a most worthy companion to Randy Skretvedt's "Laurel and Hardy: the Magic Behind the Movies".

A must for all you Trekkies!, 04 Jan 2006
A brilliant book if you're a fan of Star trek, or a brilliant present for anyone who likes star trek. Filled with plenty of facts, biographys, pictures that will keep you looking through for hours.

The Ultimate Trekkie Book, 04 Sep 2005
This is an absolutely brilliant book for any star trek fan. It is jam packed with just about everything ever featured in the star trek universe.
There are detailed crew biographies, ship descriptions, episode descriptions, and even Neelix's favourite foods. Not only this, it is also filled with thousands of detailed colour pictures and background and production information.
The only real downside is that, having been published in 1999, the information included does not include seasons 6 & 7 of voyager, star trek nemisis or any of the enterprise series. Although this is a bit of a dissapointment, I still think that is a great book.
I would say that this is the ultimate trek book and any hardcore fan really should have it. I really enjoyed reading it. I can only hope that they release an updated version with all of the more recent details.

A Must for Trekkies, 20 Jan 2004
I bought this excellent book for my son (and me) for Christmas.After reading through it, I wonder how I ever followed the various Star Trek adventures without it. It is filled with information pictures and drawings. My son is using it as a referance guide for his college assingnment, and he admits, even with his vast knowledge of Star Trek he would be lost without it. Uniforms,Weapons are all covered along with insignia and the ships.All series are covered from Original to DS9 & Part of Voyager, an update would be nice to finish the Voyager series and "Enterprise". Altogether a really great book that is well worth the money, and a neccesity for anyone remotely interested in Star Trek

Star Trek from A to Z....(up to 1994 Trek, that is), 26 Dec 2003
It's hard to believe that Star Trek -- in all its incarnations -- has been around for nearly 40 years. Indeed, it's hard to remember American pop culture before Gene Roddenberry's now-iconic TV series and its legendary characters -- Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Sulu, Chekov, Uhura and the Starship Enterprise -- came to life in the fall of 1966. Now, of course, Star Trek is a huge force in the entertainment universe; it has spun off four television series, 10 feature films, hundreds of hardcover and paperback novels and dozens of reference works.

The Star Trek Encyclopedia: A Reference Guide to the Future, written by Star Trek staffers Mike and Denise Okuda with Debbie Mirek, is one of a triumvirate of reference books (the others being The Star Trek Chronology: A History of the Future and The Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual) that focus on the Star Trek universe.

Unlike Allan Asherman's The Star Trek Compendium (essentially a guide to the original series' episodes and feature film incarnations), the conceit of these books is that they are presented as though the Star Trek universe really existed. Written from a "24th-Century point of view," the entries read as though they had been composed by historians chronicling the events and scientific developments in Federation history. As the introduction explains, "we have assumed editorially that both authors and readers are residents of the late 24th century" a few years after some of the latter series' (Star Trek: The Next Generation for the first 1994 edition) runs.

Although the Okudas considered using "facts" from some of the many authorized Star Trek novels published by Pocket Books, they decided to limit their entries to data taken directly from The Original Series, the feature films and the various television spin-offs. Thus, while there is an entry for Zarabeth (who appeared in TOS episode "All Our Yesterdays"), there is none for Zar, the son Spock fathered during his brief fling with her on Sarpeidon (and who appeared only in A.C. Crispin's novels Yesterday's Son and Time for Yesterday). It would have been difficult for the compilers of the Encyclopedia to choose which "facts" to include and which ones to exclude, so all the entries are about people, planets, weapons, life forms, civilizations and starships seen on film or video. (NBC/Filmation's 1970s Star Trek animated series is also excluded because it was not produced by Paramount.)

As in Steven Sansweet's 1998 Star Wars Encyclopedia, the entries are presented in alphabetical order from A ("A&A Officer") to Z ("Zytchin III"). Many entries are short and to the point; there are no long, detailed articles about the workings of a hand phaser or the intricacies of the transporter (that's in Rick Sternbach and Mike Okuda's Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual). The longer entries focus, appropriately, on the major characters (such as Kirk, Spock and Picard). All the actors who portrayed onscreen characters are properly credited in parentheses, and the episode or film where data points are derived from are also identified.

In addition to still photos from episodes and feature films, The Star Trek Encyclopedia is replete with charts, graphs and line drawings of starships, uniforms, equipment, weapons, and Starfleet signage and insignia.

Even more enjoyable are the authors' "real-life" observations that, like their text commentaries on the new Collector's Edition Star Trek feature film DVDs, give the reader insights that are both informative and amusing. The entire series of "official reference works" has these little gems that reflect the wonder and genuine affection that the authors -- and the fans -- have for the various incarnations of Roddenberry's optimistic look at the future.

A must read!!!, 07 May 2002
This is the best information source for star trek fans that I have ever read. It covers all aspects of the film, ships, characters and much much more. I would rate this 10 stars if I could but obviously not!

Useful, Entertaining, Insightful... need I go on?, 05 Jul 2008
Given this as a Christmas present, I was not immediately inspired, however I did dip into it and found myself rather hooked!
As a reference book it is wonderful- all those little things that you weren't sure about... all those things you were wondering...
How does that work?
Who was he?
How did he do that?
Which episode did that happen?
What does a Compact Laser Deluxe do? Who had one, and, you know... Where?!
Get all your questions answered and more in this neat, beautifully illustrated guide to the world that is uniquely Doctor Who!
The entire book it dedicated to every useful, and er, not so useful fact that is Doctor who. Who knows what happened in 1336 with the doctor, Rose and Captain Jack? What was the doctor planning for the year 5006 on a Tuesday in October at 6pm? What are the co-ordinates 761390 for?
It's all in this marvelous book! *****

FILLS IN THOSE MISSING BITS, 15 May 2008
A well produced hardback with excellent photographs, visually arresting layout and eminently readable text, THE DOCTOR WHO ENCYLOPEDIA is a worthy addition to any fan's collection. GARY RUSSELL has clearly done his research and the finished result is perfect for the Target Audience which, in theory, must reach into the millions.

Pretty much everything to do with the last three seasons is covered from major characters to major events with direct and indirect references and links, but there's still no avoiding the plot holes, contradictions and contrivances found in most DOCTOR WHO episodes - that sort of thing simply goes with the territory, especially shaky science, which has been elevated to almost art-form status since the show's rebirth. What this encyclopedia attempts to do, however, is fill in some of the more "Eh...?" gaps with solidly thought-out explanations which weren't always made clear in the original broadcasts, the result of (presumably) lazy or fuzzy scriptwriting. As you no doubt already know, Exec Producer RUSSELL T DAVIS is no stranger to this particular phenomenon.

But, hey, now we can all understand the Master's plan for the Toclafane in UTOPIA or the effects of The Paradox Machine from THE LAST OF THE TIME LORDS; the method by which the Weeping Angels steal people's futures from BLINK or how The Beast came to be held captive and the engineering of his subsequent destruction from THE SATAN PIT. Presented in paragraph or short caption form it all appears to make perfect sense now (within some seriously barmy parameters, that is). The introduction even manages to include names or words that might feature in a future revised edition, including Adipose, Rattigan, Mrs (!!), Vespiform...and so on. A neat bit of foreshadowing there, Gary.

Whatever the case, when the time comes, let's ensure this Doctor Who product enjoys a full and happy regeneration.


HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

So good I bought it twice!, 11 Dec 2007
I bought this for my son for Xmas, but with a last minute birthday party invitation I had to give it away to his friend. When my son saw it he was absolutely rapt and said "I wish I'd put that on my list for Santa". Little does he know that Santa already knew he'd like it and is about to order a replacement for him. ;o) The book itself is nice and big and full of in depth detail which will keep Doctor Who fans engaged for hours. There's lots of full colour illustrations and, as the title suggests, it is laid out like an encyclopedia, so it's easy to look up those facts that may have slipped your mind. Well worth the money (and absolutely essential at £3.99!!).

I'm Sorry!, 04 Dec 2007
I'm sorry, I really am. I'm about to insult a hell of a lot of people. But I have to say it. This book is just...unnecesarry! And the fact that I can't spell makes the insult even worse!
I can't believe I'm saying this, I really can't. I'm talking about the writer from The Inside Story, who I've just given a 5 Star Rating.
This book is so detailed, so well written, packed with facts, and yet I don't know anyone who's spend higher thann ten pounds on a book, that's useless, contributes nothing to the DW world, and has information that isn't going to benefit anybody. There, I've said it. Now, here come the insults...

FANTASIC, 17 Nov 2007
This book is packed with information and definetly worth the price. A must-have for only £14.99!!! You can get it for £3.99 delivered...somewhere...

A MIGHTY TOME OF INFORMATION IMEASURABLE, 19 Jun 2008
Finding an informative and concise book on Anime can be difficult and expensive. I was unsure if this book was simply a movie guide rather than a resource about Anime and its complex history and themes.

After taking the plunge I was pleasantly surprised to find this book to be both. There are an estimated three thousand entries, each giving specific information about a particular Anime such as themes, influences and a brief summary of the characters and stories. Each entry is fascinating in its own right providing a wealth of information that can be surprising, funny and a little strange, especially when looking at Anime such as Urotskidoji. Reading entries can be addictive as they are also linked to other Anime within the book that are similar or have other links such as being by the same director.

This revised and expanded edition also has Thematic Entries which provide the reader with a wealth of information on the various themes explored within Anime. This includes entries discussing Horror and Monsters, Comedy and Fantasy & Fairy tales. There are also other entries that explore the Anime industry itself such as Censorship and localization which are equally as fascinating as those entries discussing Science Fiction and Robots.

This book is a must own for any fan of Japanese Animation. The entries about each individual Anime are clear, concise and well written providing the reader with invaluable information. The Thematic entries help make this book an indispensable guide and help put the numerous entries in to context. Each Thematic entry can vary in length from half a page to several pages, yet each entry provides clear and detailed information about an industry that is full of strange and wonderful ideas. A truly fantastic book that you will read for hours and hours and hours....


Amazing, for now :), 17 Jul 2007
I have only purchased this book today and so should probably take time to consider its usefulness, but at first glances it seems to deliver exceedingly well on expectations.
I have been a fan of anime since 2003 now so I have had some time to familiarise myself with quite a few titles, from fairly well known ones like Ghibli's to lesser knowns I've stumbled across from friends or random showings at conventions. This book's listed all the one's I can think of, and plenty more besides. Not all get pages and pages of text, but hey, you can't expect the authors to have watched and deeply analysed EVERYTHING, and there's a lot of interesting and enlightening stuff here.
There's a slight review in many of the descriptions, usually enough to serve as a warning or reccomendation. Personally I'm really enjoying the commentary, I think it's quite funny in parts... but then if you've watched much anime you'll know it can be quite hard to do a significant number of descriptions seriously, and when you include more adult anime - well, it was surreal enough already.
There's also some commentry on themes of anime and other stuff, which is probably really interesting and useful for people properly interested, but I've spent most of my time looking up anime I've watched so far. I did read a bit about ratings of anime (as in people tuned in, or however it's measured these days). That was very illuminating, I'd always assumed anime must be highly rated in Japan, and also I completely bought that GTO (live action) was the highest rated series in Japan. Surprise!
But really, this is a very good book, and VERY UP TO DATE considering others I've read. It's up to sometime in 2006: 1917 to 2006 doesn't seem a bad span to me!
I can imagine a book like this might confuse a newcomer to anime, given the amount of content. But also, each description will ususally contain a mention of an anime of similar plot or style, giving thozse exploring the genre a bit of a tour, without having to ask the advice of someone else who m,ight have COMPLETELY different tastes?
Anyway, like I've said, I've only had this book a day, so maybe I'm speaking to soon. All I know is that having had it this long has given me more motivation to write a review than I think I've had in a long time.

Best Book I've Ever bought, 27 Dec 2008
This Is Excellent. it tells you everything from Nudity, Zoos comments and Ratings of every film the Families of the boys and much much more.

There are some pictures from The Bullfuighters, Dancing Masters and Nothing but trouble

If youve read bad reviews then ignore them - there a matter of taste rather than about it.

One Thing, The Writing is smaller than I Thought it would be

superb book about comedy legends, 12 Jul 2008
This revised and updated version is superb everything you wanted to know about Stan and Ollie THE LAUREL AND HARDY BIBLE
IAN TROOPS WINCOBANK SHEFFIELD

A goldmine of Laurel and Hardy information, 26 Feb 2001
Several hundred pages of A-Z information on the boys. I don't think any stone has been left unturned. This book is as up to date as it could possibly be (1/2000). If you have any questions unanswered about Stan and Ollie then this book is for you. Excellent.

This book is essential to all L&H buffs, 15 Oct 1999
This is a gold mine of information, much of which is not going to be found elsewhere easily, if at all. Glenn Mitchell has done a thorough job of researching his subjects, and it shows. Clearly, he enjoys The Boys as well, since a noticeable amount of wit and humor add to the fun of reading the book. Incidentally, it's virtually im possible ("I have just two words...") to read the book in sequence; the cross references just go on and on. All in all, it's a most worthy companion to Randy Skretvedt's "Laurel and Hardy: the Magic Behind the Movies".

A must for all you Trekkies!, 04 Jan 2006
A brilliant book if you're a fan of Star trek, or a brilliant present for anyone who likes star trek. Filled with plenty of facts, biographys, pictures that will keep you looking through for hours.

The Ultimate Trekkie Book, 04 Sep 2005
This is an absolutely brilliant book for any star trek fan. It is jam packed with just about everything ever featured in the star trek universe.
There are detailed crew biographies, ship descriptions, episode descriptions, and even Neelix's favourite foods. Not only this, it is also filled with thousands of detailed colour pictures and background and production information.
The only real downside is that, having been published in 1999, the information included does not include seasons 6 & 7 of voyager, star trek nemisis or any of the enterprise series. Although this is a bit of a dissapointment, I still think that is a great book.
I would say that this is the ultimate trek book and any hardcore fan really should have it. I really enjoyed reading it. I can only hope that they release an updated version with all of the more recent details.

A Must for Trekkies, 20 Jan 2004
I bought this excellent book for my son (and me) for Christmas.After reading through it, I wonder how I ever followed the various Star Trek adventures without it. It is filled with information pictures and drawings. My son is using it as a referance guide for his college assingnment, and he admits, even with his vast knowledge of Star Trek he would be lost without it. Uniforms,Weapons are all covered along with insignia and the ships.All series are covered from Original to DS9 & Part of Voyager, an update would be nice to finish the Voyager series and "Enterprise". Altogether a really great book that is well worth the money, and a neccesity for anyone remotely interested in Star Trek

Star Trek from A to Z....(up to 1994 Trek, that is), 26 Dec 2003
It's hard to believe that Star Trek -- in all its incarnations -- has been around for nearly 40 years. Indeed, it's hard to remember American pop culture before Gene Roddenberry's now-iconic TV series and its legendary characters -- Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Sulu, Chekov, Uhura and the Starship Enterprise -- came to life in the fall of 1966. Now, of course, Star Trek is a huge force in the entertainment universe; it has spun off four television series, 10 feature films, hundreds of hardcover and paperback novels and dozens of reference works.

The Star Trek Encyclopedia: A Reference Guide to the Future, written by Star Trek staffers Mike and Denise Okuda with Debbie Mirek, is one of a triumvirate of reference books (the others being The Star Trek Chronology: A History of the Future and The Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual) that focus on the Star Trek universe.

Unlike Allan Asherman's The Star Trek Compendium (essentially a guide to the original series' episodes and feature film incarnations), the conceit of these books is that they are presented as though the Star Trek universe really existed. Written from a "24th-Century point of view," the entries read as though they had been composed by historians chronicling the events and scientific developments in Federation history. As the introduction explains, "we have assumed editorially that both authors and readers are residents of the late 24th century" a few years after some of the latter series' (Star Trek: The Next Generation for the first 1994 edition) runs.

Although the Okudas considered using "facts" from some of the many authorized Star Trek novels published by Pocket Books, they decided to limit their entries to data taken directly from The Original Series, the feature films and the various television spin-offs. Thus, while there is an entry for Zarabeth (who appeared in TOS episode "All Our Yesterdays"), there is none for Zar, the son Spock fathered during his brief fling with her on Sarpeidon (and who appeared only in A.C. Crispin's novels Yesterday's Son and Time for Yesterday). It would have been difficult for the compilers of the Encyclopedia to choose which "facts" to include and which ones to exclude, so all the entries are about people, planets, weapons, life forms, civilizations and starships seen on film or video. (NBC/Filmation's 1970s Star Trek animated series is also excluded because it was not produced by Paramount.)

As in Steven Sansweet's 1998 Star Wars Encyclopedia, the entries are presented in alphabetical order from A ("A&A Officer") to Z ("Zytchin III"). Many entries are short and to the point; there are no long, detailed articles about the workings of a hand phaser or the intricacies of the transporter (that's in Rick Sternbach and Mike Okuda's Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual). The longer entries focus, appropriately, on the major characters (such as Kirk, Spock and Picard). All the actors who portrayed onscreen characters are properly credited in parentheses, and the episode or film where data points are derived from are also identified.

In addition to still photos from episodes and feature films, The Star Trek Encyclopedia is replete with charts, graphs and line drawings of starships, uniforms, equipment, weapons, and Starfleet signage and insignia.

Even more enjoyable are the authors' "real-life" observations that, like their text commentaries on the new Collector's Edition Star Trek feature film DVDs, give the reader insights that are both informative and amusing. The entire series of "official reference works" has these little gems that reflect the wonder and genuine affection that the authors -- and the fans -- have for the various incarnations of Roddenberry's optimistic look at the future.

A must read!!!, 07 May 2002
This is the best information source for star trek fans that I have ever read. It covers all aspects of the film, ships, characters and much much more. I would rate this 10 stars if I could but obviously not!

A good book is now even better in the 2nd edition !, 20 Sep 2005
With 260 new articles (the total is now over 6,260), updates on existing articles to mid-2005, and numerous revisions, the second edition (with its red cover) has been well worth waiting for. It has more pages than the earlier edition, and at the same price. If you are a British film buff, a teacher/ student of British Film, or just enjoy watching DVDs of British films (both ancient and modern) this book will be your constant companion and guide, and you will probably be referring to this book on a daily basis. An essential purchase.

A tragic misfire, 13 Dec 2003
"This is a book I've been waiting for all my life," says a back cover quote from Philip French. Well, so have I, and after waiting all that time, I couldn't be more disappointed.

The editor of the book has given almost all of its space to the enumeration of the actors' and directors' most notable films. Yet doesn't it stand to reason that the obvious target audience of this volume, fans of the British cinema, would be aware of those titles anyway? And in any case, in the era of the world wide web and IMDb, wasn't he doing a lot of work that had already been done by others? While the most important thing that I expected to find here, lots and lots of biographical information, is almost entirely missing, so the many fascinating but obscure faces of the British cinema have remained obscure, and even the well-known ones do not fare much better. The best you can hope to get are the birth/death years and brief details of the person's education. The rest, while taking up a lot of space, is mostly useless. What a pity, and what an awful lot of totally misguided effort.

A Major Achievement - an essential purchase for film fans, 28 Nov 2003
A very useful book, and a good first point of call for anybody interested in British cinema, past and present. Editor Brian McFarlane and his expert contributors (over a hundred) have rolled aside the stone guarding the entrance to a long-sealed cave containing much of the treasure house of British cinema, and have shone their torches into the darkness to illuminate, following their own enthusiasms. The book benefits greatly from not being written by one author, as each contributor shares their enthusiasms with the reader - indeed, some of the essays are far from bland, and contributors are not afraid to give an opinion, or vent their prejudices ! The major past of the book (about 75%, or 600 pages) consists of concisely written but informative biographical articles, leaving a quarter of the book for thematic essays on British film genres as well as other topics (child actors, black representation, newsreels, film studios, exhibition etc.) which are very useful, especially for students looking for research topics in British cinema. The major figures are well (and generally accurately) covered, with British filmographies(complete for major figures) and selected filmographies for the rest (but extra details readily available on the www on the Internet Movie Database). And some articles, such as those on Herbert Wilcox and Eric Portman stand as models of their kind. There are numerous articles on hundreds of lesser figures not covered in any other reference work. And a comparison of the articles on major British figures in this book with those on the same actors/directors in other encyclopedias by Leslie Halliwell, Ephrahim Katz, and David Thompson, reveals much greater depth and insight in the this Brian McFarlane book. A phenomenal amount of work has gone into this, which probably explains why such a work has never been attempted before. Book also features 150 excellently reproduced B/W illustrations,a detailed bibliography, many suggestions for further reading, a British Film Awards appendix and more....Highly recommended!

A book for the video shelf, 01 Oct 2003
A very useful book, and a good first point of call for anybody interested in British cinema, past and present. Melbourne based editor Brian McFarlane and his expert contributors(over a hundred) have rolled aside the stone guarding the entrance to a long-sealed cave containing much of the treasure house of British cinema, and have shone their torches into the darkness to illuminate, following their own enthusiasms. The book benefits greatly from not being written by one author, as each contributor shares their enthusiasms with the reader - some of the essays are far from bland, and contributors are not afraid to give an opinion, or vent their prejudices (see the Jean Carson article for an example). Approximately a quarter of the book has thematic essays on film genres as well as other topics (child actors, black and gay representation, newreels, film studios, exhibition etc. etc.) which are very useful, especially for students looking for research topics in British cinema. The major figures are well (and generally accurately)covered, with filmographies, complete for major figures only, and selected filmographies for the rest, but details readily available on the IMDB). Ssome articles, such as those on Herbert Wilcox and Eric Portman stand as models of their kind. But the main problem with this booklies in the numerous articles of hundreds of lesser figures (which, although it is claimed all have benn read by several vetters) still manage to contain quite a few errors (Cilla Black featured in 'Alfie', Anton Walbrook starring with Ethel Merman in 'Call Me Madam'- he niether did this with Merman on stage or film), and several biographies of actors are missing from their BIBLIOG entries ((Sid James, Joan Sims, Kay Kendall, Anthony Newley...). My recommendation would be to wait for a second edition ! And where is Rolf Harris ?

Useful, Entertaining, Insightful... need I go on?, 05 Jul 2008
Given this as a Christmas present, I was not immediately inspired, however I did dip into it and found myself rather hooked!
As a reference book it is wonderful- all those little things that you weren't sure about... all those things you were wondering...
How does that work?
Who was he?
How did he do that?
Which episode did that happen?
What does a Compact Laser Deluxe do? Who had one, and, you know... Where?!
Get all your questions answered and more in this neat, beautifully illustrated guide to the world that is uniquely Doctor Who!
The entire book it dedicated to every useful, and er, not so useful fact that is Doctor who. Who knows what happened in 1336 with the doctor, Rose and Captain Jack? What was the doctor planning for the year 5006 on a Tuesday in October at 6pm? What are the co-ordinates 761390 for?
It's all in this marvelous book! *****

FILLS IN THOSE MISSING BITS, 15 May 2008
A well produced hardback with excellent photographs, visually arresting layout and eminently readable text, THE DOCTOR WHO ENCYLOPEDIA is a worthy addition to any fan's collection. GARY RUSSELL has clearly done his research and the finished result is perfect for the Target Audience which, in theory, must reach into the millions.

Pretty much everything to do with the last three seasons is covered from major characters to major events with direct and indirect references and links, but there's still no avoiding the plot holes, contradictions and contrivances found in most DOCTOR WHO episodes - that sort of thing simply goes with the territory, especially shaky science, which has been elevated to almost art-form status since the show's rebirth. What this encyclopedia attempts to do, however, is fill in some of the more "Eh...?" gaps with solidly thought-out explanations which weren't always made clear in the original broadcasts, the result of (presumably) lazy or fuzzy scriptwriting. As you no doubt already know, Exec Producer RUSSELL T DAVIS is no stranger to this particular phenomenon.

But, hey, now we can all understand the Master's plan for the Toclafane in UTOPIA or the effects of The Paradox Machine from THE LAST OF THE TIME LORDS; the method by which the Weeping Angels steal people's futures from BLINK or how The Beast came to be held captive and the engineering of his subsequent destruction from THE SATAN PIT. Presented in paragraph or short caption form it all appears to make perfect sense now (within some seriously barmy parameters, that is). The introduction even manages to include names or words that might feature in a future revised edition, including Adipose, Rattigan, Mrs (!!), Vespiform...and so on. A neat bit of foreshadowing there, Gary.

Whatever the case, when the time comes, let's ensure this Doctor Who product enjoys a full and happy regeneration.


HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

So good I bought it twice!, 11 Dec 2007
I bought this for my son for Xmas, but with a last minute birthday party invitation I had to give it away to his friend. When my son saw it he was absolutely rapt and said "I wish I'd put that on my list for Santa". Little does he know that Santa already knew he'd like it and is about to order a replacement for him. ;o) The book itself is nice and big and full of in depth detail which will keep Doctor Who fans engaged for hours. There's lots of full colour illustrations and, as the title suggests, it is laid out like an encyclopedia, so it's easy to look up those facts that may have slipped your mind. Well worth the money (and absolutely essential at £3.99!!).

I'm Sorry!, 04 Dec 2007
I'm sorry, I really am. I'm about to insult a hell of a lot of people. But I have to say it. This book is just...unnecesarry! And the fact that I can't spell makes the insult even worse!
I can't believe I'm saying this, I really can't. I'm talking about the writer from The Inside Story, who I've just given a 5 Star Rating.
This book is so detailed, so well written, packed with facts, and yet I don't know anyone who's spend higher thann ten pounds on a book, that's useless, contributes nothing to the DW world, and has information that isn't going to benefit anybody. There, I've said it. Now, here come the insults...

FANTASIC, 17 Nov 2007
This book is packed with information and definetly worth the price. A must-have for only £14.99!!! You can get it for £3.99 delivered...somewhere...

A MIGHTY TOME OF INFORMATION IMEASURABLE, 19 Jun 2008
Finding an informative and concise book on Anime can be difficult and expensive. I was unsure if this book was simply a movie guide rather than a resource about Anime and its complex history and themes.

After taking the plunge I was pleasantly surprised to find this book to be both. There are an estimated three thousand entries, each giving specific information about a particular Anime such as themes, influences and a brief summary of the characters and stories. Each entry is fascinating in its own right providing a wealth of information that can be surprising, funny and a little strange, especially when looking at Anime such as Urotskidoji. Reading entries can be addictive as they are also linked to other Anime within the book that are similar or have other links such as being by the same director.

This revised and expanded edition also has Thematic Entries which provide the reader with a wealth of information on the various themes explored within Anime. This includes entries discussing Horror and Monsters, Comedy and Fantasy & Fairy tales. There are also other entries that explore the Anime industry itself such as Censorship and localization which are equally as fascinating as those entries discussing Science Fiction and Robots.

This book is a must own for any fan of Japanese Animation. The entries about each individual Anime are clear, concise and well written providing the reader with invaluable information. The Thematic entries help make this book an indispensable guide and help put the numerous entries in to context. Each Thematic entry can vary in length from half a page to several pages, yet each entry provides clear and detailed information about an industry that is full of strange and wonderful ideas. A truly fantastic book that you will read for hours and hours and hours....


Amazing, for now :), 17 Jul 2007
I have only purchased this book today and so should probably take time to consider its usefulness, but at first glances it seems to deliver exceedingly well on expectations.
I have been a fan of anime since 2003 now so I have had some time to familiarise myself with quite a few titles, from fairly well known ones like Ghibli's to lesser knowns I've stumbled across from friends or random showings at conventions. This book's listed all the one's I can think of, and plenty more besides. Not all get pages and pages of text, but hey, you can't expect the authors to have watched and deeply analysed EVERYTHING, and there's a lot of interesting and enlightening stuff here.
There's a slight review in many of the descriptions, usually enough to serve as a warning or reccomendation. Personally I'm really enjoying the commentary, I think it's quite funny in parts... but then if you've watched much anime you'll know it can be quite hard to do a significant number of descriptions seriously, and when you include more adult anime - well, it was surreal enough already.
There's also some commentry on themes of anime and other stuff, which is probably really interesting and useful for people properly interested, but I've spent most of my time looking up anime I've watched so far. I did read a bit about ratings of anime (as in people tuned in, or however it's measured these days). That was very illuminating, I'd always assumed anime must be highly rated in Japan, and also I completely bought that GTO (live action) was the highest rated series in Japan. Surprise!
But really, this is a very good book, and VERY UP TO DATE considering others I've read. It's up to sometime in 2006: 1917 to 2006 doesn't seem a bad span to me!
I can imagine a book like this might confuse a newcomer to anime, given the amount of content. But also, each description will ususally contain a mention of an anime of similar plot or style, giving thozse exploring the genre a bit of a tour, without having to ask the advice of someone else who m,ight have COMPLETELY different tastes?
Anyway, like I've said, I've only had this book a day, so maybe I'm speaking to soon. All I know is that having had it this long has given me more motivation to write a review than I think I've had in a long time.

Best Book I've Ever bought, 27 Dec 2008
This Is Excellent. it tells you everything from Nudity, Zoos comments and Ratings of every film the Families of the boys and much much more.

There are some pictures from The Bullfuighters, Dancing Masters and Nothing but trouble

If youve read bad reviews then ignore them - there a matter of taste rather than about it.

One Thing, The Writing is smaller than I Thought it would be

superb book about comedy legends, 12 Jul 2008
This revised and updated version is superb everything you wanted to know about Stan and Ollie THE LAUREL AND HARDY BIBLE
IAN TROOPS WINCOBANK SHEFFIELD

A goldmine of Laurel and Hardy information, 26 Feb 2001
Several hundred pages of A-Z information on the boys. I don't think any stone has been left unturned. This book is as up to date as it could possibly be (1/2000). If you have any questions unanswered about Stan and Ollie then this book is for you. Excellent.

This book is essential to all L&H buffs, 15 Oct 1999
This is a gold mine of information, much of which is not going to be found elsewhere easily, if at all. Glenn Mitchell has done a thorough job of researching his subjects, and it shows. Clearly, he enjoys The Boys as well, since a noticeable amount of wit and humor add to the fun of reading the book. Incidentally, it's virtually im possible ("I have just two words...") to read the book in sequence; the cross references just go on and on. All in all, it's a most worthy companion to Randy Skretvedt's "Laurel and Hardy: the Magic Behind the Movies".

A must for all you Trekkies!, 04 Jan 2006
A brilliant book if you're a fan of Star trek, or a brilliant present for anyone who likes star trek. Filled with plenty of facts, biographys, pictures that will keep you looking through for hours.

The Ultimate Trekkie Book, 04 Sep 2005
This is an absolutely brilliant book for any star trek fan. It is jam packed with just about everything ever featured in the star trek universe.
There are detailed crew biographies, ship descriptions, episode descriptions, and even Neelix's favourite foods. Not only this, it is also filled with thousands of detailed colour pictures and background and production information.
The only real downside is that, having been published in 1999, the information included does not include seasons 6 & 7 of voyager, star trek nemisis or any of the enterprise series. Although this is a bit of a dissapointment, I still think that is a great book.
I would say that this is the ultimate trek book and any hardcore fan really should have it. I really enjoyed reading it. I can only hope that they release an updated version with all of the more recent details.

A Must for Trekkies, 20 Jan 2004
I bought this excellent book for my son (and me) for Christmas.After reading through it, I wonder how I ever followed the various Star Trek adventures without it. It is filled with information pictures and drawings. My son is using it as a referance guide for his college assingnment, and he admits, even with his vast knowledge of Star Trek he would be lost without it. Uniforms,Weapons are all covered along with insignia and the ships.All series are covered from Original to DS9 & Part of Voyager, an update would be nice to finish the Voyager series and "Enterprise". Altogether a really great book that is well worth the money, and a neccesity for anyone remotely interested in Star Trek

Star Trek from A to Z....(up to 1994 Trek, that is), 26 Dec 2003
It's hard to believe that Star Trek -- in all its incarnations -- has been around for nearly 40 years. Indeed, it's hard to remember American pop culture before Gene Roddenberry's now-iconic TV series and its legendary characters -- Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Sulu, Chekov, Uhura and the Starship Enterprise -- came to life in the fall of 1966. Now, of course, Star Trek is a huge force in the entertainment universe; it has spun off four television series, 10 feature films, hundreds of hardcover and paperback novels and dozens of reference works.

The Star Trek Encyclopedia: A Reference Guide to the Future, written by Star Trek staffers Mike and Denise Okuda with Debbie Mirek, is one of a triumvirate of reference books (the others being The Star Trek Chronology: A History of the Future and The Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual) that focus on the Star Trek universe.

Unlike Allan Asherman's The Star Trek Compendium (essentially a guide to the original series' episodes and feature film incarnations), the conceit of these books is that they are presented as though the Star Trek universe really existed. Written from a "24th-Century point of view," the entries read as though they had been composed by historians chronicling the events and scientific developments in Federation history. As the introduction explains, "we have assumed editorially that both authors and readers are residents of the late 24th century" a few years after some of the latter series' (Star Trek: The Next Generation for the first 1994 edition) runs.

Although the Okudas considered using "facts" from some of the many authorized Star Trek novels published by Pocket Books, they decided to limit their entries to data taken directly from The Original Series, the feature films and the various television spin-offs. Thus, while there is an entry for Zarabeth (who appeared in TOS episode "All Our Yesterdays"), there is none for Zar, the son Spock fathered during his brief fling with her on Sarpeidon (and who appeared only in A.C. Crispin's novels Yesterday's Son and Time for Yesterday). It would have been difficult for the compilers of the Encyclopedia to choose which "facts" to include and which ones to exclude, so all the entries are about people, planets, weapons, life forms, civilizations and starships seen on film or video. (NBC/Filmation's 1970s Star Trek animated series is also excluded because it was not produced by Paramount.)

As in Steven Sansweet's 1998 Star Wars Encyclopedia, the entries are presented in alphabetical order from A ("A&A Officer") to Z ("Zytchin III"). Many entries are short and to the point; there are no long, detailed articles about the workings of a hand phaser or the intricacies of the transporter (that's in Rick Sternbach and Mike Okuda's Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual). The longer entries focus, appropriately, on the major characters (such as Kirk, Spock and Picard). All the actors who portrayed onscreen characters are properly credited in parentheses, and the episode or film where data points are derived from are also identified.

In addition to still photos from episodes and feature films, The Star Trek Encyclopedia is replete with charts, graphs and line drawings of starships, uniforms, equipment, weapons, and Starfleet signage and insignia.

Even more enjoyable are the authors' "real-life" observations that, like their text commentaries on the new Collector's Edition Star Trek feature film DVDs, give the reader insights that are both informative and amusing. The entire series of "official reference works" has these little gems that reflect the wonder and genuine affection that the authors -- and the fans -- have for the various incarnations of Roddenberry's optimistic look at the future.

A must read!!!, 07 May 2002
This is the best information source for star trek fans that I have ever read. It covers all aspects of the film, ships, characters and much much more. I would rate this 10 stars if I could but obviously not!

A good book is now even better in the 2nd edition !, 20 Sep 2005
With 260 new articles (the total is now over 6,260), updates on existing articles to mid-2005, and numerous revisions, the second edition (with its red cover) has been well worth waiting for. It has more pages than the earlier edition, and at the same price. If you are a British film buff, a teacher/ student of British Film, or just enjoy watching DVDs of British films (both ancient and modern) this book will be your constant companion and guide, and you will probably be referring to this book on a daily basis. An essential purchase.

A tragic misfire, 13 Dec 2003
"This is a book I've been waiting for all my life," says a back cover quote from Philip French. Well, so have I, and after waiting all that time, I couldn't be more disappointed.

The editor of the book has given almost all of its space to the enumeration of the actors' and directors' most notable films. Yet doesn't it stand to reason that the obvious target audience of this volume, fans of the British cinema, would be aware of those titles anyway? And in any case, in the era of the world wide web and IMDb, wasn't he doing a lot of work that had already been done by others? While the most important thing that I expected to find here, lots and lots of biographical information, is almost entirely missing, so the many fascinating but obscure faces of the British cinema have remained obscure, and even the well-known ones do not fare much better. The best you can hope to get are the birth/death years and brief details of the person's education. The rest, while taking up a lot of space, is mostly useless. What a pity, and what an awful lot of totally misguided effort.

A Major Achievement - an essential purchase for film fans, 28 Nov 2003
A very useful book, and a good first point of call for anybody interested in British cinema, past and present. Editor Brian McFarlane and his expert contributors (over a hundred) have rolled aside the stone guarding the entrance to a long-sealed cave containing much of the treasure house of British cinema, and have shone their torches into the darkness to illuminate, following their own enthusiasms. The book benefits greatly from not being written by one author, as each contributor shares their enthusiasms with the reader - indeed, some of the essays are far from bland, and contributors are not afraid to give an opinion, or vent their prejudices ! The major past of the book (about 75%, or 600 pages) consists of concisely written but informative biographical articles, leaving a quarter of the book for thematic essays on British film genres as well as other topics (child actors, black representation, newsreels, film studios, exhibition etc.) which are very useful, especially for students looking for research topics in British cinema. The major figures are well (and generally accurately) covered, with British filmographies(complete for major figures) and selected filmographies for the rest (but extra details readily available on the www on the Internet Movie Database). And some articles, such as those on Herbert Wilcox and Eric Portman stand as models of their kind. There are numerous articles on hundreds of lesser figures not covered in any other reference work. And a comparison of the articles on major British figures in this book with those on the same actors/directors in other encyclopedias by Leslie Halliwell, Ephrahim Katz, and David Thompson, reveals much greater depth and insight in the this Brian McFarlane book. A phenomenal amount of work has gone into this, which probably explains why such a work has never been attempted before. Book also features 150 excellently reproduced B/W illustrations,a detailed bibliography, many suggestions for further reading, a British Film Awards appendix and more....Highly recommended!

A book for the video shelf, 01 Oct 2003
A very useful book, and a good first point of call for anybody interested in British cinema, past and present. Melbourne based editor Brian McFarlane and his expert contributors(over a hundred) have rolled aside the stone guarding the entrance to a long-sealed cave containing much of the treasure house of British cinema, and have shone their torches into the darkness to illuminate, following their own enthusiasms. The book benefits greatly from not being written by one author, as each contributor shares their enthusiasms with the reader - some of the essays are far from bland, and contributors are not afraid to give an opinion, or vent their prejudices (see the Jean Carson article for an example). Approximately a quarter of the book has thematic essays on film genres as well as other topics (child actors, black and gay representation, newreels, film studios, exhibition etc. etc.) which are very useful, especially for students looking for research topics in British cinema. The major figures are well (and generally accurately)covered, with filmographies, complete for major figures only, and selected filmographies for the rest, but details readily available on the IMDB). Ssome articles, such as those on Herbert Wilcox and Eric Portman stand as models of their kind. But the main problem with this booklies in the numerous articles of hundreds of lesser figures (which, although it is claimed all have benn read by several vetters) still manage to contain quite a few errors (Cilla Black featured in 'Alfie', Anton Walbrook starring with Ethel Merman in 'Call Me Madam'- he niether did this with Merman on stage or film), and several biographies of actors are missing from their BIBLIOG entries ((Sid James, Joan Sims, Kay Kendall, Anthony Newley...). My recommendation would be to wait for a second edition ! And where is Rolf Harris ?

Great fun, 07 Dec 2007
Though this is called an encyclopaedia, the way the authors write about the subject of Saturday night tv is far from dry and dull. They are brimming over with enthusiasm recalling some of the shows that are deservedly remembered or forgotten. There's just enough detail and background information while also covering an impressive list of shows - with some little gems of information along the way. Recommended.

Useful, Entertaining, Insightful... need I go on?, 05 Jul 2008
Given this as a Christmas present, I was not immediately inspired, however I did dip into it and found myself rather hooked!
As a reference book it is wonderful- all those little things that you weren't sure about... all those things you were wondering...
How does that work?
Who was he?
How did he do that?
Which episode did that happen?
What does a Compact Laser Deluxe do? Who had one, and, you know... Where?!
Get all your questions answered and more in this neat, beautifully illustrated guide to the world that is uniquely Doctor Who!
The entire book it dedicated to every useful, and er, not so useful fact that is Doctor who. Who knows what happened in 1336 with the doctor, Rose and Captain Jack? What was the doctor planning for the year 5006 on a Tuesday in October at 6pm? What are the co-ordinates 761390 for?
It's all in this marvelous book! *****

FILLS IN THOSE MISSING BITS, 15 May 2008
A well produced hardback with excellent photographs, visually arresting layout and eminently readable text, THE DOCTOR WHO ENCYLOPEDIA is a worthy addition to any fan's collection. GARY RUSSELL has clearly done his research and the finished result is perfect for the Target Audience which, in theory, must reach into the millions.

Pretty much everything to do with the last three seasons is covered from major characters to major events with direct and indirect references and links, but there's still no avoiding the plot holes, contradictions and contrivances found in most DOCTOR WHO episodes - that sort of thing simply goes with the territory, especially shaky science, which has been elevated to almost art-form status since the show's rebirth. What this encyclopedia attempts to do, however, is fill in some of the more "Eh...?" gaps with solidly thought-out explanations which weren't always made clear in the original broadcasts, the result of (presumably) lazy or fuzzy scriptwriting. As you no doubt already know, Exec Producer RUSSELL T DAVIS is no stranger to this particular phenomenon.

But, hey, now we can all understand the Master's plan for the Toclafane in UTOPIA or the effects of The Paradox Machine from THE LAST OF THE TIME LORDS; the method by which the