The True History of Planets The True History of Planets was a long and complicated multi - book fantasy story written by Reginald Tyler . It was an endless project which lasted almost 60 years until Tyler ' s supposed death in the early 1970s . It was adapted into a popular movie which was released in the 2000s . Much of the story was adapted from mid - Iceland ic mythology . The book contained fairies , magic , great battles , quests , necromancy , sorcery , troll s , lizard s , gnome s , dwarves , and pixie s . Locations in the story included the Diamond Mines of Marion and the Third Ring of the Netherscope . Chapter six of book two featured the singing trolls of Morscinnivir and the Plain of Scorched Earth . In one timeline , the footnotes to chapter eighty - six of book two had the coordinates of the dogworld space station . Tyler created fictional languages which were used in the book . ( PROSE : " Mad Dogs and Englishmen " ) History . Creation . Reginald Tyler began writing " The True History of Planets " while he was hospitalised in Whitby in 1917 . Starting in 1928 , Tyler began sharing his ever - expanding story with fellow writers and colleagues during weekly meetings so that they could give him advice . At first , only John Cleavis heard Tyler ' s weekly readings , but this soon expanded to include a larger group known as the Smudgelings . When Tyler retired to Bournemouth , he continued to work on " The True History of Planets " in the garage of his bungalow . Tyler was still working on the book at the time of his recorded death in either 1972 or 1974 . ( PROSE : " Mad Dogs and Englishmen " ) Publication . In the 1950s , two chapters of the book were published as baroque short stories in magazine s . After Reginald Tyler ' s death , Enid Tyler sold the manuscript for " The True History of Planets " . It became widely published and well - known . The Eighth Doctor once read the book . ( PROSE : " Mad Dogs and Englishmen " ) Adaptation . In 1978 , John Fuchas began working on a film adaptation of " The True History of Planets " which would take thirty years to make . Fuchas initially planned on using Ron Von Arnim ' s stop - motion model - work to create the film ' s monsters , but he later replaced it with CGI . The opening of the movie had a scrolling starscape . The film was released in either 2007 or 2008 . It was broadcast on BBC Three on 25 December 2010 . ( PROSE : " Mad Dogs and Englishmen " ) Attempted alteration . Princess Margaret of dogworld came up with a scheme to manipulate history so that the film adaptation of " The True History of Planets " could be used to jumpstart a rebellion that would lead to her taking the throne from the emperor of dogworld . She seduced William Freer and had him infiltrate the Smudgelings in 1942 to open up a direct psychic link between Reginald Tyler and dogworld . In the new timeline , Tyler ' s " True History of Planets " was actually a propagandised history of dogworld . When John Fuchas adapted the book into a film , it was similarly affected by the changes to time . Fuchas chose the Noël Coward song Martha - as sung by Brenda Soobie - to be the film ' s theme tune . When the Christmas 2010 television broadcast of " The True History of Planets " reached the dogworld space station in 2077 , it was recorded by Char and Fritter . Margaret attempted to get the tape onto dogworld , but Char and Fritter left the space station with the tape in the Eighth Doctor ' s TARDIS . The Eighth Doctor , Fitz Kreiner , Anji Kapoor , Char , Fritter , and Flossie split up and tried to return history to as it originally was . The Ministry for Alien Incursions and Ontological Wonders also conducted an investigation into the anomalies surrounding " The True History of Planets " . In 1942 , the Doctor and Char discouraged Reginald Tyler from writing about dogworld , while Anji and Fritter visited 1978 and accidentally encouraged Ron Von Arnim to murder John Fuchas . History was somewhat restored and " The True History of Planets " became like it was before . Even without Fuchas ' involvement , a film adaptation of the book was released in the 2000s . ( PROSE : " Mad Dogs and Englishmen " ) Other events . When the Eighth Doctor was pulled backwards along his personal timeline by the Clock people , he briefly returned to a point when he was reading " The True History of Planets " . ( PROSE : " Anachrophobia " )