Fan Scene- CT82 #2

The world of Doctor Who in 1982 as seen by the DWAS newsletter Celestial Toyroom (aka CT)
Something that made a comeback in 1982 was the coloured paper which used to be a regular feature of CT. Last issue had a pink cover but for March a sort of lime green was used which had Ref Dept Announcement -Page Two emblazoned across the top even though the actual announcement isn’t really very exciting. They’re going to stop doing detailed synposes as these are now being done in DWM and there is also the Programme Guide.  Elsewhere on the cover comes news of the 1983 Annual which will include some behind the scenes material (Annuals usually confined themselves to new fiction). Those Dalek films posters keep showing up; this time around the rather splendidly named Powerpulse Productions are selling them. There’s even a mention of a Human League concert recently where slides of the Doctor were included in the show; well they did have a song called `Tom Baker`. 

Inside this issue further Society news is that the Membership Secretary Chris Slatter has left but that his post won’t be continued; instead two Administrative Assistants will be appointed. It’s worth remembering that in these days most of the Society’s administrative work was manual using old fashioned typewriters and distributed in the post. There are reports of rumours of the cancellation of Doctor Who (don’t worry guys it’s eight years away!) and also that Tegan won’t be taking off with the Doctor at the end of `Time Flight`. As of course she was back the very next story this was as close to a spoiler as the DWAS got in those days. There’s even a rumour of a new male companion called Turlough.

You may recall in old CTs there were people selling specially designed cassette covers for all those audio recordings? Well now we’re just entering the age of the Video and the enterprising Stuart Glazebrook- whose excellent artwork often adorned DWAS publications in the Seventies- is offering VHS covers at just 15p a cover though the ad is microscopically tiny. Hopefully the visuals on the actual covers are larger. Fanzines advertised this issue include `Experiential Grid` no 5, `Frontier Worlds`12, issue 2 of `Axos` and volume three, number 2 of `Moonbase`. There’s also an advert for the final issue of `Oracle`.

 

With a grey cover and only four pages the April issue is rather thin compared to the first three of the year. No-one sent any Trivia in either! There is some tentative news of the twentieth season – the first story to be made will be penned by Christopher Bailey and directed by Fiona Cumming. Filming starts on 30 March apparently and will include overseas locations. Inside the issue there’s a cutting from the New Scientist magazine looking at the latest episodes in the context of the overall programme. It is not a very favourable account criticising “too many references to today’s technology to make the futuristic tone believable.” The reviewer- one Malcolm Peltu- quite likes Peter Davison’s portrayal but concludes “the series is a feeble parody of its once virile past.” Oh dear, he’s really going to like season 23 isn’t he?!

In case you wondered Swap Shop- the reason for CT’s existence in the early days- is still going and as always contains some intriguing offers. For example Nigel Batten is offloading such nuggets as the 1965 Annual, the Weetabix and Typhoo sets and the second Monster Book. Someone should really travel back in time and tell him to keep them all because in 2020 they’ll be worth a lot more. His disposal decisions are puzzling as he seems to want fanzines and books but also the Walls sweet card album and the Making of Doctor Who book so he’s obviously a discerning collector. Gareth Phillips is trying to get rid of the first 40 issues of Doctor Who Weekly and he doesn’t even want anything in return!  Don’t do it mate!!

 

In May, it’s the DWAS’ sixth birthday and there’s news of the video release of the second Amicus film Daleks- Invasion Earth 2150AD. These two films had an enduring cinematic existence since their initial release in the mid Sixties. I remember going to see them at our local cinema in the Seventies and I’ve seen cinemas screening them as lately as the Nineties. There’s reports in the issue about a schools programme in which Peter Howell demonstrated how he assembled his version of the theme and also about Peter Davison’s This Is Your Life. Plus we learn that the Doctor has been voted the favourite hero or heroine in Madame Tussauds. He beat the unlikely figure of Lord Carrington into second place. Liza Minnelli was third.  Meanwhile in the `Daily Express`, Doctor Who was voted fourth in a poll children’s programmes.

News of next season is now flowing with John Carson and Collette O’Neil added to the cast of the second story while location work for the opener will take place in Amsterdam and the story is penned by Johnny Byrne. Nobody knows about the Ergon yet….News too of the  next DWAS convention Panopticon 5 which will take place in Birmingham due to the high cost of London venues. The Grand Hotel is to be the location - and if you want to time travel and see how it went check out our Good Times feature on the event posted in 2016!

There’s a lengthy piece called Problems inside the issue which focusses on, erm, some problems penned by the usually elusive John McElroy of the Overseas Department whose function remained largely hidden. Here he is addressing what he sees members may view as a deterioration of services. Whether this was prompted by complaints or not it’s an article that doesn’t actually explain a lot except a reluctance to release advance information as some members would rather not know and confidences could be breached.

The back page of this issue carries several newspaper clippings from recent months including one highlighting the new companion `Byssa` and another about the state of the Tardis prop. Why would a tabloid be concerned over such a thing? Perhaps because the following week lots of people wrote in to complain about the story thus generating a news item that didn’t actually exist! Fanzines advertised this month include big hitters like `Cygnus Alpha`, `Skaro`, `Frontier Worlds` plus a newcomer called `Explorer` a prospective zine which will look at a particular year of the programme each issue and is calling for contributions. This zine would eventually emerge under the different name of `Aggedor`.