Even Time Lords Love Fairy Tales by Theresa Gauthier

 Doctor Who: The Time Lords Fairy Tales Slipcase edition by Various Authors

A bit more than ten years ago, when Doctor Who fans were celebrating the 50^th Anniversary of the show, there was a huge influx of Doctor Who merchandise. Often making me think of wha the early days of Beatlemania must have been like, there were books, games, toys, light sets, holiday ornaments, t-shirts, jewelry, blankets, sheets, pillows, costumes, cookie jars, alarm clocks, graphic novels, board games (Doctor Who Monopoly, Clue, Yahtzee, and more.)

For someone like me, a fan of the show back in the day when very few people in this country knew it or liked it, this was astonishing. I couldn’t get everything, but I could most often justify buying the books. There were some clever additions to the Whovian Library back then. There was a series of one book for each (at the time) Doctor—so eleven all together. I bought them. There were volumes celebrating the Monsters, the Tardis, and a book called Eleven Doctors, Eleven Stories, that eventually became Twelve Doctors, Twelve Stories, and later Thirteen Doctors, Thirteen Stories.

Time Lord Fairy Tales is a collection with various authors. It’s a thoughtful, imaginative set of books in a handsome slipcase. Each hardcover book is a different color, and each puts a Time Lord spin on children’s literature.

Sixteen tales in sixteen small, hardcover volumes:

Snow White and the Seven Keys to Doomsday (Love this title!)

The Emperor Dalek’s New Clothes 

Little Rose Riding Hood (Rose!)

Cinderella and the Magic Box 

Helena and the Beast

The Gingerbread Trap

Andiba and the Four Slitheen

Sirgwain and the Green Knight

The Garden of Statues

Frozen Beauty

The Three Little Sontarans (Okay, this title made me laugh out loud!)

The Three Brothers Gruff

The Grief Collector (This title seems the most sinister to me.)

The Scruffy Piper

The Twins in the Wood

Jak and the Wormhole

The tales combine the premises of familiar children’s stories but with a fun Whovian twist. Slither, Daleks, Sontarans, and Zygons are among some of the Whovian characters who grace these pages, but they’re not the only ones.

Each small, hardcover book holds a few illustrations, has end papers reminiscent of Gallifreyan script, and enriches the world of Gallifrey with the stories it contains. Some of the stories are general, vague—short vignettes with allusions of the details any Whovian will recognize. Others are more detailed with recognizable characters, Doctors, and companions, rather than merely a generic member of a well-known species. 

It’s great fun to imagine Time Lord children being read such books as they grow up, wondering if they were written for fun, as teaching tools, or as prophecy—although some of the Doctors have claimed there’s no such thing as prophecy. Regardless, these stories will indeed be a fun addition to any Whovian library.