When is an alien monster not an alien monster? Or a spaceship not a spaceship? Or a bleak planet in the outer galaxy not a bleak planet in the outer galaxy at all? Answer: When it's a special effect. In this book, Mat Irvine, who has worked on Doctor Who for many years, takes you behind the scenes of this most famous of all science fiction series. There you can discover how the flying TARDIS and fighting Daleks came into being. You can find out how spectacular battles and exploding planets are filmed — and how a scriptwriter's idea for a "mobile computer, shaped something like a dog" became K9. In short, you can enter the extraordinary world of Doctor Who Special Effects.