Fan Scene CT 1980 Oct- Dec

 

October

“The latest Doctor Who news supplied by the production office and society members” it says under an Update headline. I wonder if there was some issue with news in CT or perhaps the notoriously finnicky JNT just wanted credit. Anyway, the subsequent story does have a whiff of press release about it with the plucked from thin air suggestion that the new season “looks like being the biggest success for some time”. “The brilliant, imaginative Leisure Hive,” it continues and later on we’re told “we are being treated to one of Emrys James’ performances.” Why you can almost hear John Nathan Turner’s voice! Romana is going – “but K9 will go on.”  You can buy the theme music too with a b side called `Astronauts` though it’ll never match the legendary b side `Reg`.  Chris Dunk rather cheekily prints a picture of a press review of `Leisure Hive` underneath all this sunny promotional banter and its not a favourable one referring to “very cheap camera effects” and concluding “no-one seems to have any faith in this geriatric juvenilia”. Hardly “brilliant, imaginative.” Other news includes a Madame Tussaud’s display and a Doctor Who war game called `The Key of Kronos` in which players take on the character of one of the Doctors to search for a key that is in six segments. Sounds familiar. It doesn’t say if they have to dangle from the ceiling dressed as Kronos though.

There are also some “severe announcements” from Chris Dunk so remember to include your membership number in all requests for society merchandise, you can only be a local group if you’re in the UK because “we have no way of controlling overseas groups” (this is Brexit 34 years early!) and there’s also a warning. It comes from the person perhaps least qualified to issue warnings, the head of DWASfilms Mark Sinclair and it’s a puzzler. He says the BBC merchandise department now look to DWASfilms for information concerning copyright infringement. Why? DWASfilms are surely more likely to be infringing copyright than anyone else! Anyway “the law is absolute in this” and if you infringe copyright Mark will tell on you. At the very end of this litany of notices, Chris asks if there’s anyone who’d like to help out with CT mailings! That’s the way to get them on board!

The announcements are not over. Instead of a President the DWAS now has a co-ordinator in the form of David Saunders and he takes most of the inside page to rattle through yet more do’s and don’t’s with a number of underlined words many of which tell people not to contact Steve or Jan who appear to have been comprehensively expunged. Yikes. DWASfilms, when not working undercover to find copyright infringement around the UK (but not overseas), promises 1980 will be “a year of surprises”. They’ve re-organised themselves and seem to have a whole set of departments of their own. What happened though to Silent Force (formerly Criark) you may be wondering? It’s not mentioned even though there were T shirts and everything.

Failing to brighten up what must be the most boring issue of CT ever are some fanzine ads that would not make me buy any of them. `Frontier Worlds` issue 5 tells you how to play the Trilogic Game as well as reviewing `The Celestial Toymaker` while issue 12 of `Fendahl` can offer fab art and super photos. `Crystal of Kronos` issue one has “cuttings, reviews, fiction, photos” but of what? `Views, News and Reviews` looks at Tom Baker, The Master and Douglas Adams. `Analytic` is a leaflet looking at something different each, erm, leaflet. This month it’s Roger Delgado. Only `Invasion1 issue 4 makes an effort with something of an exclusive interview with Andrew Smith.

November

One of those four page issues that had to be produced every so often to balance the books, November seems to be a quiet month though as the December issue will show it was anything but. That’s the trouble with old fashioned printed material, it was often four to six weeks out of date. So in a slow news issue `DWAS Hits Fish Show` ends up on the front page. This curiously titled story is about the DWAS having a stall at a fish show at Alexandra Palace. Presumably this was the selling of fish rather than performing ones! They were invited there by Dick Mills, “a keen fish expert”. It doesn’t say if the Sea Devils were in attendance! Meanwhile there are to be some new K9 books penned by David Martin. Society wise Chris Dunk is leaving CT at the end of the year “due to exams and other DWAS commitments” so a replacement is required. “Don’t be put off if you have absolutely no experience in the field,” he advises. There’s still fiction lurking seemingly gone astray from `Cosmic Masque` and always written by David Auger while the dearth of news is further illustrated when Ref Dept’s David Howe starts going on about his own fanzine `Oracle`.

We’re left with adverts, the most stylish of which is for `Mentor`, a `Galaxy Four` autumn special by Paul Trainer. Issue 4 of `Web Planet` includes a feature on how CSO works while a new zine called `Peladon` is announced though this is not the better known zine of the same name of a few years later. Issue 12 of `Gallifrey` includes a lot of analysis which may not look as cool as interviewing stars but was actually a good read for those who liked to think a little more. At this point I think I’m right in saying that, alongside `Oracle`, `Gallifrey` was the most popular fanzine. Finally there’s an ad for Gary Russell’s `Shada` which has unfortunately printed so small you can hardly work out what’s in the issue!

December

The unfortunate result of the production schedule of CT means that the biggest news about the series in years has already been in the press before the December issue comes out. So everyone knows already that Tom Baker is leaving and Peter Davison is his replacement. Thus begins Tom’s rehabilitation after years of criticism in DWAS publications (this will accelerate in the coming years) with a tribute from Chris Dunk calling him “remarkable” and reminding us “many of the all- time Doctor Who classics have been… with him as the star.” Its all so exciting that Chris is withholding the name of his own successor as CT editor.

DWASfilms’ columns are starting to amuse me greatly. Last time you remember they were charged with looking out for copyright infringement. This month they’ve been called in twice “in emergency” . However, they haven’t purchased a fire engine but they did rescue `A Convention for 80`. Remember that grandiose advert with a list of guests? Turns out most of them were not going to turn up at all but a large audience had been expecting them. Like superheroes “with 48 hours notice” the executive, led by Mark Sinclair (probably in a silver cape) “pulled together to salvage something from this mess.” Apparently the organiser was not even allowed on the premises! Then at an event called ScotDoc2 in Blackpool (not in Scotland?) “we had to put up with non members of the society…causing a good deal of trouble.” “We were forced to wield a somewhat heavy stick”. He concludes “It had been decided that no non-member of the Society can attend a Society event at the exclusion of a member.” Yikes. They really should have filmed all this! Anyway, Sincs, never mind all that,  what about your notice this very issue that says DWASfilms is able to copy videos? Isn’t that copyright infringement mate?

People used to think the DWAS was too rule orientated and this issue sort of shows why. Of course there always have to be some rules but it’s the way these are put across that make the Exec seem authoritarian. As well as Mark Sinclair’s dramas we have Uncle David Saunders whittling on about the fact that the exec only do this in their spare time and endless stuff about postage and who to make things payable to. Why not just put this in a column called How to Contact Us or something and not in everyone’s own column. I know it’s 41 years ago but reading it now still makes me irritated!

Perhaps to persuade members that actually things are really friendly, the first ever DWAS Social is advertised to take place in 28 February 1981. There’s a buffet and bar and “several people from the present production team are being invited on a purely informal basis”. Now that sounds soothing doesn’t it? Non members attempting to enter will of course be vapourised.

Adverts this month include `Fendahl` `13 (Louise Jameson and Chris Bidmead interviews), `Cygnus Alpha` 3 (Dave Martin interview), `The Doctor Who Review` Vol 2 No 2 (an impressive Bill Strutton interview plus Terrance Dicks as well), `Crystal of Kronos` 2, `Oracle` Vol 3 No 8, `Shada` 3 and the first 2 issues of `Meglos` by future professional magazine editor Andrew Harrison. Which one would you buy?

And that was 1980.