The Folding Text : Doctor Who, Adaptation and Fan Fiction

Abstract

The history of Doctor Who is a history of adaptation. This is most obviously true of the programme’s content, which regularly adapts to different scenarios, different companions and even different Doctors. But the process of cross-media adaptation is also central to Doctor Who at a metatextual level, and this became especially important during the fifteen years between the cancellation of the programme in 1990 and its rebirth in 2005. During that time, Doctor Who survived through a vast number of different adaptations, including a plethora of original fan fiction, published fiction, and audio drama. By examining the major plots, themes and assumptions of these adaptations, this chapter will show how they were themselves adapted by the programme upon its eventual return. With reference to Derridean conceptions of the folding and refolding of textual space, I will examine the adaptation of published work to televised episodes, and the powerful influence of fan fiction (including ‘slash’ and ‘het’) on the post-2005 series, particularly its new interest in sexuality. Doctor Who provides a unique example of a fandom in which canonical material was absorbed into a pseudo-canon only to be reintegrated back into the canon, and as such it poses questions of originality and authenticity that address our understanding of postmodern culture as a whole.

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