Fan Scene CT Apr- Jun 1984

 

APRIL

What’s this? Gordon Roxburgh has regenerated into Dominic May as the CT editorship changes hands amidst a flurry of gold light and reported on salmon coloured paper. An immediate hint of Dom’s cheeky approach to the news zine comes with the headline The End of CT.  The story is actually that the final episode of `The Celestial Toymaker` has been found in the vaults of ABC Television in Australia. This find, which takes the number of missing episodes down to 130, was announced by JNT at the Interface event in February (see the time lag again). The producer also said he will be visiting Australia to check if there are any more such treasures lurking in ABC’s store rooms. Elsewhere it is reported that Eric Saward is staying on as script editor though unlikely to be writing any stories while Season 21’s ratings have hovered around the 7.5 to 8 million mark.

Over time Dominic will expand CT with more content though this is a fairly standard edition. One thing which does make a return is Fanzines in Focus, which used to be a regular feature a while back. This issue Alec Charles offers his top ten which places `Shada` at the top followed by `Cygnus Alpha` in second place, Skaro` third and `Eye of Horus` and `Dynatrope` joint fourth. The issue also lists what we can expect in the latest DWM and has a full page ad for AggieCon 2, an event run by the aforementioned ubiquitous Alec and to be held at St Andrew’s Church Hall in Ealing on 21July. I expect there’s a blue plaque on the wall nowadays.

One aspect of fandom very much of its time is printed reference material- synopses, lists etc- that were produced by the Reference department before the Internet made them unnecessary. This month for example David Howe, who ran the Ref Dept at the time, talks about the William Hartnell Cast Listing, a complete roll call of everyone who appeared in the first Doctor’s era. There are Plotlines, “scene by scene breakdowns of a story with many rare photographs” plus full cast and production listings. This month we have releases for `The Krotons` (40p) and `Curse of Peladon’ (60p). While this printed matter may seem quaint or irrelevant over forty years later, at the time even the most ardent fan would not know everything about the show so these were key publications. Fandom was just like that; nothing is too trivial. As if to underline that point, amongst the Swaps at the end someone wants the Brigadier Sugar Smacks badge!

 

MAY

Big news appears on the cover under the heading `Whether you like it or not`. Season 22 will be broadcast in forty-five minute episodes, a decision attributed to BBC1 Controller Alan Hart. He feels that twenty-five minute episodes don’t do the show justice. However maths tells us that this halves the length of time the show is on tv. I guess this is the moment when the fate of the show began to look less certain. Also, the third planned story will be a three parter, the first in five years. The first story of the season is announced as `Attack of the Cybermen` penned by Paula Moore (and others!).

More big news is the second missing episode find of the year. `The Wheel in Space episode three is back, back, BACK!. This leaves 129 episodes to be found, a list of these is inside this issue. Dominic May describes this episode as being more representative of the story as a whole though amusingly refers to “Jamie being more intelligent than he should be.” A news packed front page is completed with the information that the DWAS now has a bank account. It’s surprising that until this point, individuals used their own accounts to deal with society finances. To help this transition, a professional accountant has been appointed.

Inside is more news including `Space Whale which is to be the second story of the next season written by Patrick Mills. There are also features on some of the recent publicity undertaken on behalf of the show, including a smartly attired Peter Davison and Colin Baker appearing on the chat show Harty. If you ever get a chance to look at these issues, you’ll notice Dominic May’s cheeky comments all over the place. For example he describes DWM’s Archive feature thus; “This month sees The Time Meddler written less childishly.”

Elsewhere this issue includes two Fanzines in Focus columns and also Bill Baggs’ account of a Hampshire Local Group convention with guests Nicholas Courtney and Peter Moffatt. Amongst the adverts is one for the final issue of the venerable `Frontier Worlds`, issue 2 of `Mondas`, issue 10 of `Arkensword` which interviews Deborah Watling, Terrance Dicks and Alan Moore. At least that’s what the advert claims.  `Zero Room` audio zine issue 6 has a Nicholas Courtney interview plus there’s an intimidating full page DWB advert telling us the magazines is “a platform of UNCENSORED opinions”. What can he mean?

 JUNE

A Doctor Dies is the slightly inappropriate headline informing us of the passing of Richard Hurndell on 13 April. Zines of the Eighties never really bothered themselves too much with an actor’s non Doctor Who career so the ensuing piece only talks about `The Five Doctors`. At least they printed a copy of a newspaper obituary which conversely and probably more appropriately doesn’t mention Doctor Who at all! UNIT Movie is a headline that may have misled some but its actually referring to a project initiated by fans led by Keith Barnfather to create a fifty minute video film set just after the end of `The Android Invasion` The piece is odds to stress this will be a professional production and the old UNIT crew plus Lis Sladen and Jon Pertwee (though not to play the Doctor) have been approached and for which DWAS founder Jan Vincent-Rudkzi is going to write the script.  However in a Kickstarter style they want fans to shell out £25 towards the project. There is also news of a UNIT play being penned by Richard Franklin.

Inside we find a photo of the very last mailing session for CT which happened at the end of April in a church hall. I was there- see evidence below. From this point, CT was mailed out by a professional company, well they called themselves professional but things didn't always go to plan. Other photos in the issue are from the Doctor Who at Camden Lock event which I was also at, though understandably the photos are of Nicola Bryant, Nick Courtney and John Levene. Why was everyone at Camden Lock that day? It was a Capital Radio `Help a London Child` appeal. Patrick Troughton very nearly attended as well but was needed at TV Centre which was a big clue about `The Two Doctors` I suppose, had we known about it yet.

Above- A photo of that last CT mailing: (l-r) looking behind - Gordon Roxburgh, Dominic May. Round the table looking professional-  Tony Clark, David Howe, Rosemary Fowler, Chris Dunk, Gary Russell, Richard Marson, Alec Charles, Ian Bresman, Me, Bill Baggs, David Saunders. Last 30 issues also received a free chair!

This issue seems to be where the People column, later a well -known feature in DWM, was first born albeit in a more modest format. Less welcome news is that a concession for DWAS members at the Blackpool exhibition has been cancelled by BBC Enterprises. CT advertising costs are going up too; if you want a half page ad it will set you back by £20. Amongst those who’ve sneaked in under the old prices are `The Animus` issue 4 which leads its content list with a discussion of the planet Inter Minor though the next article about heated criticism of the BBC sounds much more fun. Only 45 pence.

`Destiny` has also reached issue four and is one of those zines which strays into other shows and fiction as well. Another fourth issue is `Prydonian` which has a JNT interview and what are described as “some rather interesting pictures of Katy Manning with a Dalek”. £1.25 to ogle. `Unearthly Child` makes the cardinal mistake of having a well-spaced, noticeable ad with absolutely no details of what your 75p and an SAE will get you. `Eye of Horus` issue 6 has part two of the Pennant Roberts interview and also a feature on the often overlooked Brian Hayles. 60p plus SAE, I’d buy it. I was amused by the ad for issue 3 of `Deva Loka` which says “the worst zine around turns to the worst producer- Graham Williams.” I’m sure, Anthony Brown, neither of those things are true.

 Next time- Mind your language!