User blog:Eighth doctor 14/Game Of Rassilon: Storybook

Hi,

I've decided to do a competition like Game Of Rassilon!!! It is based on the now defunt Storybook series. If you don't now what it was, read on: First, I was thinking we could do a 11/Amy to continue after it was canelled! Sign Up In The Comments!

Doctor Who Storybooks were annual, hardbound  Panini books that began publication in  2007. They were the brainchild of  Clayton Hickman, who created the line as a response to  BBC Worldwide's revocation of Panini's right to release a book branded "the  Doctor Who annual". Panini had proven with their  Doctor Who Annual 2006 there was a market for  Doctor Who annuals about the  BBC Wales version of the show. Soon after the successful relaunch of the Doctor Who annual, Worldwide pulled Panini's rights to use the title "Doctor Who Annual", giving the "Annual" brand to  BBC Books. Nevertheless, they allowed Panini to create an "annual-like" publication.

Thus, from 2007-2010 there were two annually-published  Doctor Who books in the United Kingdom. The "Official Annual" series was printed by  BBC Books and tended to be aimed at a young audience, much like the old  World Distributors annuals. These books had a greater emphasis on "activities", much like their predecessors from the 20th century.

<span style="color:rgb(31,30,56);font-family:'RobotoSlab';font-size:17px;line-height:25.0559978485107px;">The  Storybooks<span style="color:rgb(31,30,56);font-family:'RobotoSlab';font-size:17px;line-height:25.0559978485107px;"> built on the formula seen in Panini's  Doctor Who Annual 2006<span style="color:rgb(31,30,56);font-family:'RobotoSlab';font-size:17px;line-height:25.0559978485107px;">. Aimed at a slightly older crowd, each volume was mostly comprised of short narratives and comic strips — or, as the title implied,  stories<span style="color:rgb(31,30,56);font-family:'RobotoSlab';font-size:17px;line-height:25.0559978485107px;">. These stories were written by people who had written for the television series or other licensed ranges arising from the BBC Wales series. Writers like  Russell T Davies<span style="color:rgb(31,30,56);font-family:'RobotoSlab';font-size:17px;line-height:25.0559978485107px;">,  Robert Shearman<span style="color:rgb(31,30,56);font-family:'RobotoSlab';font-size:17px;line-height:25.0559978485107px;">, Gareth Roberts<span style="color:rgb(31,30,56);font-family:'RobotoSlab';font-size:17px;line-height:25.0559978485107px;">,  Mark Gatiss<span style="color:rgb(31,30,56);font-family:'RobotoSlab';font-size:17px;line-height:25.0559978485107px;">,  Tom MacRae<span style="color:rgb(31,30,56);font-family:'RobotoSlab';font-size:17px;line-height:25.0559978485107px;"> and  Steven Moffat<span style="color:rgb(31,30,56);font-family:'RobotoSlab';font-size:17px;line-height:25.0559978485107px;"> all contributed to the Storybooks<span style="color:rgb(31,30,56);font-family:'RobotoSlab';font-size:17px;line-height:25.0559978485107px;">.

<span style="color:rgb(31,30,56);font-family:'RobotoSlab';font-size:17px;line-height:25.0559978485107px;">The future of the publication was thrown in doubt when  DWM 426<span style="color:rgb(31,30,56);font-family:'RobotoSlab';font-size:17px;line-height:25.0559978485107px;"> announced that the planned 2011 edition was cancelled due to "licensing issues". As of late 2011, it appeared there would be no 2012 edition either, meaning that the  Storybook<span style="color:rgb(31,30,56);font-family:'RobotoSlab';font-size:17px;line-height:25.0559978485107px;"> may ultimately become a phenomenon unique to the  Tenth Doctor<span style="color:rgb(31,30,56);font-family:'RobotoSlab';font-size:17px;line-height:25.0559978485107px;">'s era. The series was replaced by a new annual series entitled  The Brilliant Book<span style="color:rgb(31,30,56);font-family:'RobotoSlab';font-size:17px;line-height:25.0559978485107px;">, which started in 2011 and was published by  BBC Books<span style="color:rgb(31,30,56);font-family:'RobotoSlab';font-size:17px;line-height:25.0559978485107px;">.