1995: DOWNTIME STRAIGHT-TO-TAPE DOCTOR WHO DRAMA VHS, SIGNED BY THE CAST.

From 1995: The recent death of Deborah Watling reminded me of this... DOWNTIME: a straight-to-tape (via a convention) DOCTOR WHO fan film which reunited some of the show's cast (reprising their characters from the show in a copyright-dodging manauver made possible by the BBC's bonkers contracts) to take on the Yeti.

It's OK... and it is good to see so many of the cast in the same production... but it ain't great! A lot of these 1990s fan-made films just demonstrated that making decent TV drama is harder than it looks (despite having some pros in front - and behind - the camera).

Reeltime, stepping outside their comfort zone of walk-and-talk interviews, were canny enough to make this look like a legit BBC Video release by apping the sleave design as much as possible.  This comes with a bonus... it is signed by all the principle players.  Most of whom are sadly no longer with us.

There was also a novelisation published by Virgin as part of their DOCTOR WHO MISSING ADVENTURES line (in fact, in keeping with its unofficial origins, the Doctor is all but missing from his own Missing Adventure) and a soundtrack CD.

I'm pretty sure I would have bought this VHS from FORBIDDEN PLANET on New Oxford Street when it was first released.  I don't remember if copies were sold more widely than the specialist market.  

UPDATE: Whilst hunting through a stack of DVDs last night I discovered I have a copy of this!  I'd forgotten i had bought a copy.  The reissue comes with a 'making of' which might prove to be more interesting than the main attraction...

2001: THE DOCTOR WHO LONDON LOCATIONS GUIDE

From 2001:  More fan-produced location spotting goodness... THE DOCTOR WHO LONDON LOCATIONS GUIDE, published by the DOCTOR WHO APPRECIATION SOCIETY.

Vintage WHO was, of course, based on BBC TELEVISION CENTRE in West London (although the production offices were down Wood Lane in Union House on Shepherd's Bush Green) so ost location filming needed to be as close to the Centre as possible.  The new series is all about making Wales look like anywhere... the original series was all about bringing alien threats to West London.

1998: DOCTOR WHO'S CELESTIAL TOYROOM PLAYS 'MINDGAMES'

From 1998: An issue of DOCTOR WHO APPRECIATION SOCIETY newsletter CELESTIAL TOYROOM with coverage of the straight-to-tape (and now DVD) spin-off drama MINDGAME.

1994: THERMAL LANCE ISSUE 20

From August 1994: the 20th issue of British DOCTOR WHO & TELEFANTASY fanzine THERMAL LANCE.

1994: THERMAL LANCE FANZINE ISSUE 19 AND THE 1990'S DOCTOR WHO DRAMA BOOM

From July 1994: British DOCTOR WHO fanzine THERMAL LANCE looks at the ongoing series of straight-to-tape fan-made (although using professional at-a-loose-end actors) dramas.

THE STRANGER series, starring Colin Baker and Bryant (initially all but reprising their roles from a certain well-known BBC TV drama series), started off as a straight DOCTOR WHO clone... complete with choppy direction, gravel pit locations and special effects that would have passed muster in a TV Centre edit suite a decade earlier but were starting to look a little weather-worn by the start of the 1990s.

The fan dramas found their profile unexpectedly raised when they were re-released and sold in high street outlets.  I was certainly surprised to find them whilst browsing my local Woolworths entertainment section on new release Monday.

After the third adventure (a railway station in the SAPPHIRE AND STEEL tradition), the Stranger tapes swung off in a different direction.  Possibly because the producers started to suspect the lawyers were bound to complain sooner or later.  Or possibly because they fancied bolstering their showreels with a bit of sub-par crime drama.

The 1990s were a brilliant time for rough-around-the-edges fan-made drama once the producers spotted there was a market AND they could circumvent the BBC's official copyright by simply paying off the original writer to let them revive classic monsters.  Chucking in a few jobbing actors from the show certainly helped as well.

Other entries in the sub-genre included the X-FILES-baiting P.R.O.B.E (which probably came the closest to something that could have been shown on proper telly), Dreamwatch spin-off (they gave it the hard sell in the first few issues of the magazine); SHAKEDOWN (the behind-the-scenes documentary is a great watch... the cast and crew did NOT appear to be having a great time below decks on HMS Belfast); DOWNTIME (skanky Yeti alert); THE AIRZONE SOLUTION (A Doctors reunion pulled together for the 30th anniversary); the AUTON stories (no guesses); sundry other dramas and a host of not-always-very-good documentaries (LUST IN SPACE anyone?).

The screen dramas, as well as the early and unofficial audio adventures which also appeared during the 'wilderness years', have recently been the long-overdue subject of the book DOWNTOWN: THE LOST YEARS OF DOCTOR WHO by Dylan Rees.  It's an excellent read.

1983: DOCTOR WHO'S JON PERTWEE INTERVIEWED IN EAGLE

From January 1983: Jon Pertwee talks WORZEL GUMMIDGE and DOCTOR WHO with the (new) EAGLE.

He doesn't mention it here, but he'd be back in the Tardis before the end of the year....

1997: DOCTOR WHO BEHIND-THE-SCENES TV CENTRE PIC ON THE COVER OF TARDIS

From 1997: British DOCTOR WHO fanzine TARDIS (volume 15, number 1).

I really love this behind-the-scenes-and-overhead shot of the (seventies?) Tardis console, presumably in situ in one of the TV Centre studios.  Idon't recall having seen this photo anywhere else.  I have no idea who is drapped over the set and what the original purpose of the picture was.  It looks like the sort of thing that might have been snapped for a behind-the-scenes (doh) book or - possibly - some sort of internal BBC publication or training materials.

1995: SARAH-JANE AND K9 ON THE COVER OF DOCTOR WHO'S CELESTIAL TOYROOM ISSUE 222

From September 1995: CELESTIAL TOYROOM, the magazine of THE DOCTOR WHO APPRECIATION SOCIETY, issue 222.

1993: CELESTIAL TOYROOM CELEBRATES 30 YEARS OF DOCTOR WHO

From 1993: Westminster Bridge in happier times... CELESTIAL TOYROOM 201 marks the 30th anniversary of DOCTOR WHO with this wraparound cover recreating the Dalek invasion of the capital... and Earth in general.  

From memory, I think this shoot was for the THIRTY YEARS IN THE TARDIS TV documentary (subsequently released on tape, in an alternate/ superior edit, as MORE THAN THIRTY YEARS IN THE TARDIS) although the images were widely circulated at the time (becoming the iconic image of the anniversary year) so I may be wrong.

CT was published by the DOCTOR WHO APPRECIATION SOCIETY.  I was never a member (DWM and DWB, along with the VHS releases, were sufficient to keep me WHO happy throughout the 1990s) but I did find a stack of old CTs, for 50p each, at a con years ago and made a point of snapping them all up.  Looking at them now, they are a fascinating reference point for when the show existed only thanks to fandom's ongoing commitment.  

1992: DOCTOR WHO FANZINE CYBERZONE ISSUE 1

From 1992: The first - and possibly only - issue of the DOCTOR WHO fanzine CYBERZONE, dedicated to all things Cybermen.

I *think* I found this one rummaging through the boxes of a now defunct secondhand bookshop in Birmingham's city centre.  It was a magical cave of paperbacks, comics, magazines and books of all subjects staffed by two chaps who never created the impression they really wanted to be there.  The prices weren't great and the stock was random but it was the sort of place you could happily browse for hours and spend a fortune.  Cash only.  Of course.  I miss it now...

Does anyone know anything more about the 'zine?

1994: THERMAL LANCE ISSUE 18

From June 1994: the 18th issue of photocopied DOCTOR WHO fanzine THERMAL LANCE.

1988: DOCTOR WHO SILVER NEMESIS VHS

From 1988: On air this month, to mark DOCTOR WHO's 25th year on the telly, was the flawed Cyber-romp SILVER NEMESIS.

This was the BBC VIDEO VHS release. The scan has reproduced quite darkly because it was printed on a special foil paper (contradiction?) that gave it a suitably metallic finish.

Tbe tape is notable for including a US documentary not subsequently included on the DVD.

1985: FANTASY EMPIRE ISSUE 16

From March 1985: the 16th issue of American fan magazine FANTASY EMPIRE.

1994: THERMAL LANCE ISSUE 16

From April 1994: the 16th issue of British DOCTOR WHO fanzine THERMAL LANCE.

1992: DOCTOR WHO YEARBOOK #2 (MARVEL UK)

From 1992: the second DOCTOR WHO YEARBOOK, published by Marvel UK and (as per tradition) dated for the year ahead.

FANTASY EMPIRE COLLECTOR'S SPECIAL 6

From the random scans folder: FANTASY EMPIRE COLLECTOR'S SPECIAL issue 6, published in the States but devoted to British fantasy telly.

1994: THERMAL LANCE ISSUE 14

From February 1994: THERMAL LANCE issue 14.

Published by Alan Connor and Gary Finney (the 'Cybercontrollers') out of an editorial address in Derby, this was a British DOCTOR WHO/ all-things-SF zine (which - inevitably - meant they did THE X-FILES as well) that I purchased regularly through the mail for several years.

This was the first issue I purchased. Unlike many of the other zines I bought during this period, I've hung onto my Thermal Lance (matron!), so I can add them to the online STARLOGGED archive.

This issue (A5, coloured paper cover, black & white interior, photocopied) has several articles on WHO ("A load of old codswallop, if you ask me": A review of The Green Death) and RED DWARF (In every dream home a hard-light: After series 6, does Red Dwarf deserve a fandom?). Other bobbins include a look at the current state of WHO ("Perhaps Who-fandom will go the way of Prisoner-fandom, destined to briefly flare up again every ten years or so whenever the series is repeated"), the 1993 Whotopia Derby fan poll results (Favourite latex extra: Cybermen... with a whopping 10 votes compared with 4 for the second-place Daleks) and assorted news stories (Amblin still negotiating with the BBC, the much derided CHILDREN IN NEED/ EASTENDERS sketch nabbing 14 million viewers.... and DOCTOR WHO CLASSIC COMICS in danger of going under).

TL became more ambitious over time: shifting to DTP production and - eventually - a more glossy A4 format.

1992: DOCTOR WHO YEARBOOK (MARVEL UK)

From 1992: the first (of four) DOCTOR WHO YEARBOOKS published by MARVEL UK in the 1990s.

These hardbacks, containing a mixture of features, prose and comic strips, marked a triumphant - and somewhat surprising - return of a publishing tradition that had petered out the previous decade. The last of the often unloved (by fans and the show's productiin team) World Distributors annuals had hit the shelves back in 1986. World pulled the plug on the long-running series because of falling sales, declining interest in the show and doubts over its very survival.

Marvel aggressively expanded their WHO offering - despite the TV show having closed at the very end of the previous decade - by adding the ongoing CLASSIC COMICS and POSTER MAGAZINES, continuing with the periodic specials and adding BLAKE'S SEVEN and HAMMER HORROR titles intended to tap into a similar nostalgia market.

The move was even more surprising because the annuals market had itself entered a slump. In previous decades, publishers were able to rely on the annual income from a myriad of books based on current or past media brands, comics, magazines, toys, movies, pop stars and anything else that might catch the buyer's eye on those big
table displays in WH Smith, Martins, Menzies, book and department stores (indeed, department stores often seemed to carry more obscure titles overlooked by the mainstream multiples... which made them an essential destination when making the traditional gift list for the Christmas season) but by the turn of the decade this market had all but collapsed. Which may have actually strengthened Marvel's hand by making them a bigger player in a diminished market.

Compiled by the editorial team behind the regular magazine, these were certainly a considerable improvemenI over the efforts of the previous decade. The line, along with all the spin-offs from the core mag, eventually floundered when Panini took over the Marvel UK operation and streamlined by closing the 'non-core' magazine line (including the about to launch PLAYBACK and BIZARRE) with the exception of last-man-standing DWM itself.

1995: DOCTOR WHO POSTER MAGAZINE ISSUE 7 (MARVEL UK)

From December 1995: the penultimate issue of MARVEL UK's DOCTOR WHO POSTER MAGAZINE.

This issue abandoned the original monster-of-the-month format in favour of a new formula that shone the spotlight on one particular story. The Pryramids of Mars followed in the 8th and final issue... but that one is missing from the collection I purchased a while ago.

The change was probably prompted by soft sales in the context of internal changes within the British Bullpen prompted by the financial crisis at the parent company and restructuring within the expanded European operation.

Maybe Marvel might have had more joy if they had devoted issues to members of the supporting cast (in particular the more attractive ones) rather than the diminishing number of memorable rubber monsters.

It's unlikely that the sales figures for the reboot would have come in before the title was canned.

1995: DOCTOR WHO POSTER MAGAZINE ISSUE 6 (MARVEL UK)

From September 1995: The Sontarans are the pin-up of the month in the sixth issue of MARVEL UK's DOCTOR WHO POSTER MAGAZINE.