Ray Richmond and Antonia Coffman, The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family
**
This was one of my most desired books around the time it appeared in shops, but was always slightly out of my budget or usurped by more bloody Star Trek. It's so cheap on eBay now that I picked it up for family viewing in the future, but while I appreciate its arbitrarily correct golden-age cut-off point, its bland, official gloss is less interesting than a tatty and opinionated programme guide would be. Or, you know, a blog.
1994 / Paperback / 95 pages / UK
****
I didn't really know about this nicely specific tie-in to the most nostalgic era of my favourite TV series until I was living outside of British eBay range, so it was a treat to finally get around to it. The daily fly-on-the-wall approach is nicely intimate, and while something more definitively exhaustive would have been preferable, padding out the page count with exclusive photos is a fair exchange.
Paul Alexander, Red Dwarf Space Corps Survival Manual
**
I was in the market for Red Dwarf books when this was still in shops, but even as a less discerning primary school pupil, a quick flick through was enough to decide that my limited funds would be better spent elsewhere (and I was mainly looking at the flip book). The psychotic guidance could be funny on its own ("just think of it as biting your nails taken to its logical conclusion"), but having the Red Dwarf characters provide one-dimensional commentary isn't any funnier than the previous Christmas' lazy stocking stuffer.
1996 / Ebook / 128 pages / UK
***
I was never going to be as immersed and obsessive about this series watched as an adult over a few months as if I'd tuned in for five years as a junior Trekkie, but I'm giving it my best shot. This bogstandard behind-the-scenes guide can stand in for the monthly magazine my mum was spared from buying.
Jane Killick, Babylon 5: Signs and Portents
***
Combining illuminating interviews with the opinionated commentary of an astute fan blog, these season-by-season, episode-by-episode guides could have been the perfect companions to watching the series for the first time, if only they'd been published in real time without the irresistible hindsight of four years' worth of spoilers. Maybe I'll save up the others to reminisce with some Jovian sunspots when it's all over.
