Categories Media studies Language English Country United Kingdom Category Media studies Editor Philip Purser-Hallard | Frequency Bimonthly Website www.blackarchive.co.uk Based in Edinburgh Company Obverse Books | |
The Black Archive is a series of critical monographs about selected individual Doctor Who stories, from the series' earliest history to the present day. Rather than focusing on behind-the-scenes production history as much Doctor Who fan scholarship has done, the series aims to analyse and explore the stories as broadcast. It has been described by Sci-Fi Bulletin as "a fascinating series of short books", and by Doctor Who Magazine as "a grandly ambitious thing to attempt with something as exhaustively detailed as Doctor Who. But they actually manage it."
Contents
The series is edited by Philip Purser-Hallard and published by Obverse Books. It showcases the criticism of prominent Doctor Who fan authors such as Simon Bucher-Jones, James Cooray Smith, Simon Guerrier, Kate Orman and Ian Potter, as well as of lesser-known writers. It is named after the museum of alien artifacts seen in the Doctor Who stories "The Day of the Doctor" and "The Zygon Inversion".
History
The series was launched in March 2016 with the release of the first four books (on "Rose" (2005), The Massacre (1966), The Ambassadors of Death (1970) and "Dark Water" / "Death in Heaven" (2014)), to generally positive reviews. James Cooray Smith's book on The Massacre was singled out for particular praise for its placing the serial in its historical context, both that of its 1570s setting and that of its writing and production in the 1960s.
Subsequent titles are published every two months and have continued to gain consistently positive reviews.
Commissioned titles due in 2017 were announced in May 2016, and those due in 2018 in February 2017.