The Language of Doctor Who

From Shakespeare to Alien Tongues

Edited by Jason Barr and Camille D. G. Mustachio

In a richly developed fictional universe, Doctor Who, a wandering survivor of a once-powerful alien civilization, possesses powers beyond human comprehension. He can bend the fabric of time and space with his TARDIS, alter the destiny of worlds, and drive entire species into extinction. The good doctor’s eleven “regenerations” and fifty years’ worth of adventures make him the longest-lived hero in science-fiction television.

In The Language of Doctor Who: From Shakespeare to Alien Tongues, Jason Barr and Camille D. G. Mustachio present several essays that use language as an entry point into the character and his universe. Ranging from the original to the rebooted television series—through the adventures of the first eleven Doctors—these essays explore how written and spoken language have been used to define the Doctor’s ever-changing identities, shape his relationships with his many companions, and give him power over his enemies—even the implacable Daleks. Individual essays focus on fairy tales, myths, medical-travel narratives, nursery rhymes, and, of course, Shakespeare. Contributors consider how the Doctor’s companions speak with him through graffiti, how the Doctor himself uses postmodern linguistics to communicate with alien species, and how language both unites and divides fans of classic Who and new Who as they try to converse with each other.

Broad in scope, innovative in approach, and informed by a deep affection for the program, TheLanguage of Doctor Who will appeal to scholars of science fiction, television, and language, as well as to fans looking for a new perspective on their favorite Time Lord.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 298 • Trim: 6½ x 9¼

978-1-4422-3480-2 • Hardback • May 2014 • $105.00 • (£70.00)

978-1-4422-3481-9 • eBook • May 2014 • $99.50 • (£65.00)

Series: Science Fiction Television

Subjects: Performing Arts / Television / History & Criticism, Literary Criticism / Science Fiction & Fantasy, Social Science / Popular Culture

The Language of Doctor Who

From Shakespeare to Alien Tongues

Hardback

eBook

Summary

In a richly developed fictional universe, Doctor Who, a wandering survivor of a once-powerful alien civilization, possesses powers beyond human comprehension. He can bend the fabric of time and space with his TARDIS, alter the destiny of worlds, and drive entire species into extinction. The good doctor’s eleven “regenerations” and fifty years’ worth of adventures make him the longest-lived hero in science-fiction television.

In The Language of Doctor Who: From Shakespeare to Alien Tongues, Jason Barr and Camille D. G. Mustachio present several essays that use language as an entry point into the character and his universe. Ranging from the original to the rebooted television series—through the adventures of the first eleven Doctors—these essays explore how written and spoken language have been used to define the Doctor’s ever-changing identities, shape his relationships with his many companions, and give him power over his enemies—even the implacable Daleks. Individual essays focus on fairy tales, myths, medical-travel narratives, nursery rhymes, and, of course, Shakespeare. Contributors consider how the Doctor’s companions speak with him through graffiti, how the Doctor himself uses postmodern linguistics to communicate with alien species, and how language both unites and divides fans of classic Who and new Who as they try to converse with each other.

Broad in scope, innovative in approach, and informed by a deep affection for the program, TheLanguage of Doctor Who will appeal to scholars of science fiction, television, and language, as well as to fans looking for a new perspective on their favorite Time Lord.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 298 • Trim: 6½ x 9¼

978-1-4422-3480-2 • Hardback • May 2014 • $105.00 • (£70.00)

978-1-4422-3481-9 • eBook • May 2014 • $99.50 • (£65.00)

Series: Science Fiction Television

Subjects: Performing Arts / Television / History & Criticism, Literary Criticism / Science Fiction & Fantasy, Social Science / Popular Culture

Author

Jason Barr teaches English at Blue Ridge Community College in Virginia. His articles have appeared in the African American Review, The Explicator, and Inquiry.

Camille D. G. Mustachio is an English instructor at Germanna Community College. A specialist in medieval and Renaissance literature, she holds a BA and MA in English from George Mason University. She has published study guides for the American Shakespeare Center Resident Troupe on As You Like It, Macbeth, Othello, and The Tempest.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: “It Looks Like You Need a Doctor”

Part One: Classic Who

Chapter 1: Doctor who? What's he talking about?: Performativity and the First Doctor, Dene October
Chapter 2: A Contribution to Dialogue: Doctor Who and the (Un)Spoken Word, Andrew O’Day
Chapter 3: “The Moment Has Been Prepared For”: Regeneration and Language in “Logopolis” and “Castrovalva,” Rhonda Knight
Chapter 4: Sensation, Serialization, and Seven: Reading Doctor Who as a Mid-Victorian Text through “Ghost Light,” Sam Maggs
Chapter 5: The Sylvester McCoy Era of Target Books and the Literary Experience, Ramie Tateishi
Chapter 6: The Doctor’s Wondrous Wandering Dialectic Approach to the Universe, Sheila Sandapen

Part Two: New Who

Chapter 7: The Wolf, the Sparrow, and the River: Feminine Empowerment through Graffiti, Camille D. G. Mustachio
Chapter 8: Translation Failure: The TARDIS, Cross-Temporal Language Contact, and Medieval Travel Narrative, Jonathan Hsy
Chapter 9: Brave New Words: Theatre as Magic in "The Shakespeare Code," Buket Akgün
Chapter 10: A Utopia of Words: Doctor Who, Shakespeare, and the Gendering of Utopia, Delilah Bermudez Brataas
Chapter 11: Silence in the Archives: The Magic of Libraries, Valerie Estelle Frankel
Chapter 12: Destructive Texts and the Uncanny in “Human Nature”/”Family of Blood,” Dana Fore
Chapter 13: “All Your Little Tin Soldiers”: Doctor Who and the Language of the First World War, David Budgen
Chapter 14: Fairy Tales, Nursery Rhymes and Myths in Steven Moffat’s Doctor Who, Anne Malewski
Chapter 15: The Language of Myth: Violence and the Sacred in Doctor Who, Lori A. Davis Perry
Chapter 16: The Doctor and Amy Pond: A Bedtime Story, Michael Billings
Chapter 17: Language Games in the Whoniverse, Erica Moore
Chapter 18: The Discourse of Authenticity in the Doctor Who Fan Community, Katie Booth and Paul Booth

The Language of Doctor Who

From Shakespeare to Alien Tongues

Edited by Jason Barr and Camille D. G. Mustachio

The Language of Doctor Who

From Shakespeare to Alien Tongues

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