I'm wondering:

[hmpf]

What's worse to get into, this, or this? Being the geek I am (and having been kind of starved for serious geekiness in my life, in recent years), the sheer MASSIVENESS of either kind of intrigues me... but attempting to tackle even one seems like an investment in life hours I'm not sure I'm ready to make.

Are there reliable "best of" lists? What do you do if you want to get conversant in the larger Whoniverse and the Star Wars EU without spending the next twenty years on it?

Comments

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

STAR WARS. OBVS.

Slightly more seriously, though, I haven't read most of the EU but I consider myself "conversant" in it. One of the things that I enjoy about it is the breadth of genre, character, story, etc., within it. It's not dependent on a single character or family, even though it has stars, of course.

I find the best way to approach the Star Wars EU is as an...explorer. Or a historian. Here is a fabulous, confusing, contradictory series of accounts of a fictional world: step inside and research the parts you want to. And if you ever feel you've missed something, theres Wookieepedia to catch you up before you jump onto the next thing. But frankly, the stories themselves are good at only "needing" you to have read whatever else is explicitly in their "series" and any hints or crossovers or references are there for those who've read the other book/comic/novel/game but not needed to enjoy it.

I imagine that a bigger Doctor Who fan would argue the same thing on their side, and indeed perhaps the less structured "we try to make sure everything stays real" attitude of the DW EU is of benefit to trying to suggest "just read the bits you're interested in!" as I am. But for me part of the unique appeal of the SW EU is that it's so broad, that it's grown beyond a focus on the Skywalkers (though I'm sure parts of the DW EU have grown broader than The Doctor, I still think he retains a focus far greater than any single character does in the SW EU), and that it does at least attempt to be a single coherent, explorable universe.

Anthropological science fiction. :p

Plus there's the practical "native guide" aspect. I can make recommendations for you in the SW EU, and I can also hook you up with just about anything you'd want from it, or warn you if you're going to be reading or listening to a poor adaptation if you wade into those audiobooks I gave you, but you'd need someone else to help you with DW.

Although I will ALWAYS be here to geek out with you over Eleventy and his fairytale fifth season. <3

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

...I should totally add in a more practical sense, I will personalise you a manageable best-of star wars list if you're interested and give me a sense of how long you would like it to be. I am confident I can do this! ;)

[dune-drd.livejournal.com]

Doctor Who has Timey-wimey and RetCon is canon, which makes it HARDER. Ahem. Wikis of any kind are usually a quite good idea to get into the timelines.

Timelines and wikis

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but see, I'm not really that interested in all the little facts and all the history. If that were what I was interested in, I'd just read the timeline and be done with it. What I'd like to know is which parts are worth spending a few hours of my life on. I can't possibly watch and listen to everything, so I need to choose wisely. Wikis are no help whatsoever with that, sadly.

I think you already did, I just need to find it again.

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

*g*

Re: I think you already did, I just need to find it again.

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Quite possibly, but honestly it might be bigger than you want or out of date. It was YEARS ago. ;) Either way, you know where I am if you want me. :P

[jinxed-wood.livejournal.com]

Never really got into Star Wars on a fandom level, but I ADORE Doctor Who, and have since I was a lot shorter:-P

The thing is the 'recommended' lists can differ wildly from one fan to the next. I have a great love for Four and Romana, and my all time favourite story (in four parts) is City of Death, which was written by Douglas Adams and even has a short John Cleese cameo. I also love the Big Finish audios, and my favourites would be the Eight and Charlie audios and story arc.

Other old school episodes that are a bit good:

Seven and Ace: The Curse of the Fenric

Five and Peri: The Caves of Androzani (the episode in which Five becomes Six)

Oh, I'm actually committed to watching all the eps.

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

I'm just undecided on how many hundreds of hours I want to spend on the audio stuff. *g*

Re: Oh, I'm actually committed to watching all the eps.

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

(That translates as: I'd like some kind of 'best of' list for the audio stuff. And possibly for the novels, too, come to think of it.)

[jinxed-wood.livejournal.com]

P.S. I also think the Big Finish audios would be interesting to you because of the stories set in Who universe without the Doctor involved- Gallifrey, The Berenice Summerfield Adventures, and The Dalek Wars spring to mind.

Re: Oh, I'm actually committed to watching all the eps.

[jinxed-wood.livejournal.com]

Ooh, the audios are fantastic, listen to them ALL!

Re: Oh, I'm actually committed to watching all the eps.

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

But there's like, a thousand of them! How could I listen to them all?!? I heard there are more DW audio productions than there are eps of the TV show - and since the TV show has well over 700 eps, that is a *seriously* daunting prospect!

I'm actually interested in the Doctor himself, too, btw.

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

In fact, I'd half resolved to stick to the immediately "relevant" stuff first, i.e. the parts of the Whoniverse centred on the Doctor, because that's quite difficult enough to get on top of! ;-)

Re: Oh, I'm actually committed to watching all the eps.

[jinxed-wood.livejournal.com]

Pick a Doctor and go for it! You'll be surprised how addictive they become - I have the first Eight & Charlie audio if you want to have a listen. (Actually, I think I have the first audio of all the Doctors, if you so wish, but I feel obliged to pimp my favurite audio Doctor first :-P)

Re: Oh, I'm actually committed to watching all the eps.

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

Yeah, checking out the audio material for Eight is actually firmly on my To Do list - what with him being the only Doctor who didn't get any TV eps at all... I'm just not sure how much of the audio stuff beyond Eight I "should" try. I suppose if I plan this as an endeavour for the next decade or two, the answer is "all"... but I think I'd prefer a slightly less time-consuming approach. ;-)

Also, I'm not sure I want to check out the Eight stuff before I actually reach the Eigth Doctor in my extended watchathon... I'm currently somewhere in the early years of Four. And, simultaneously, at the beginning of the last series of Ten. And, soon, hopefully, the second of Eleven, of course. *g*

Re: Oh, I'm actually committed to watching all the eps.

[jinxed-wood.livejournal.com]

[Grins] Well, all I can say is may the force be with you...

...oh wait, wrong fandom :-P

[beccadg.livejournal.com]

The thing is the 'recommended' lists can differ wildly from one fan to the next.

Word. My "all time favourite story (in four parts)" is The Pirate Planet a different Douglas Adams story. Romana One is one of my all time favorite Companions while Romana Two is one of my least. Seven is one of my least favorite Classic Doctors, but then I like Six and a lot of his TV serials were rubish. I haven't heard much of the Big Finish audios, but I have heard good things about Six in them and about Charlie.