Coach Gary and the Daleks

I instantly fell in love with the BBC TV series Doctor Who when I first saw it a few years ago. Despite being introduced to the show in the new millennium, I saw the classic series (which ran from 1963-89) before seeing the modern series (which started in 2005). I like both of them for different reasons, but I have a slight preference towards the classic series. I could go into further detail, but that's not what I want to tell you about.

A few weeks ago, my younger brother, Jim, was at a team dinner for his high school swimming team, which I used to be a member of. Apparently, he mentioned to the team coach, Gary, that I was a die hard Whovian. At practice the next day, Coach Gary gave Jim a box. It was heavy, and had been formerly used to store bulk underwear. He asked Jim to give it to me.

I was reluctant to open the box at first. I knew my former coach had a twisted sense of humor, and was befuddled as to why he was giving me an old box of women's undergarments. Nevertheless, I opened it. Inside were about a hundred Doctor Who novels.

These books were mostly novelizations of classic DW television stories. A lot of them were based on episodes from the '60s which no longer existed. This was back in the day when it was cheaper to record over used tapes instead of buying new ones.

While the windfall was quite large, it wasn't a complete collection. There are still about 30 or 40 books still out there. Apparently the books are very hard to find outside of Britain, but can be found on eBay from time to time.

I just finished reading "Invasion Of The Dinosaurs", the 45th book in my new collection. This book is about exactly what you think it's about. Next up is "Death To The Daleks", featuring the Doctor's most infamous enemy (pictured above). I'll have to write more about them in a later post.