Take it from somebody who knows, getting really into Doctor ho can be prohibitively expensive. It seems like such a cheap hobby when you're first going through the new series on Netflix and there are 80+ episodes ahead of you all for practically free, but once you burn through that and want to delve into old DVDs, books, comics, and audio stories it starts adding up quick.
No, problem, right? You can just head on to Amazon where there's a bottomless pit of used media for dirt cheap. Well, yes and no. Virtually anything you could want from Doctor Who is indeed on Amazon, but there are a few items that will honestly set you back more than a good used car.
Flashback Doctor Who: Breaking Up With the Daleks and the Cybermen
Return to Devil's End VHS Price: $235.99
In the 1990s Doctor Who was being kept alive mostly by dedicated fans and die-hard contributors who continued to turn out prose, comics, and articles about the cancelled show. That doesn't mean that film and television stories stopped completely, though. Several companies managed to produce spin-offs, documentaries, and productions that were Doctor Who in all but name and used various legal dodges to not annoy the BBC.
Return to Devil's End was a reunion documentary featuring Jon Pertwee and the rest of the cast reminiscing about filming "The Dæmons". Just one the of the many faint pulses of life that Doctor Who showed in the dark years. Two bills seems very high for a small documentary. Especially when it's available for free on YouTube.
Doctor Who Short Trips: The Ghost of Christmas Price: $1,213.37
Another group that was instrumental in keeping Doctor Who active while off television was Big Finish. Though they're mostly known for their excellent audio plays (Just finished "Solitare" myself. Do yourself a favor and go get it), they were also responsible for a really great series of short story collections called Short Trips.
Once the new show started, BBC took back all the publishing rights and that was the end of that, unfortunately. This has left books in the series extremely pricey, with volumes rarely going for less than $30. The Christmas editions are easily the most absurdly priced, though, and no one more so than this one where the theme is holiday ghosts. Of all the things it would be really nice for the BBC to make available once more nothing tops this one volume that is full of tremendous stories and is out of range for all but the wealthiest collectors.
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