Fan Scene- CT 1979 Apr- Jun

 

April

`Monsters` declares the lead story in the rather thin April issue declaring “the prolonged absence of monsters from Doctor Who will soon come to an end.” This comes from the mouth of new script editor Douglas Adams who is quoted as saying “I think we’ve shied away from the monsters for long enough so I hope to bring them back.” This story suggests that Adams approached the script editor job with considerable energy at first. Meanwhile its revealed that the first story of the season will be titled `Destiny of the Daleks`. John Leeson’s departure from voicing K9 is also confirmed though the rumour is a new actor will be taking on the tin dog’s distinctive vocals next year. It is also time once again to vote in the Season Poll with Season 16’s stories comprising the Key to Time Season up for you votes. Last year’s winner was `Invasion of Time`.

So what is Jan Vincent-Rudzki’s President’s column about this month? Well it has a familiar ring for anyone who has been a member for a while as he bemoans the fact that people don’t seem to listen to what he says in this column. I mean he said last issue there would be a delay in photo offer orders yet members have still been writing in to ask where their photos were! I mean, really. “Some had not read the form correctly.” He’s not done yet either. Next he mentions some examples of members `weird behaviour`. It’s all stuff about postal orders and addresses and it reminds you just how much things have changed and how reliant the DWAS was on the postal service back then. One interesting part of this month’s column is him explaining what the original ending to `The Armageddon Factor` was to have been.

One leap forward which will probably cause more postal woes to fill future issues is that CT is now accepting adverts in various sizes. For half a column you pay £3 and if you want a whole page it’s £16. As the notice points out CT at this time was seen by more than 900 people so for any eager fanzine editor that was a potentially big market.

May

A thicker six- page issue is heralded by the infamous headline `DWAPATHY hits season poll`. The ever campaigning Gordon Blows pens this story about what he describes as “a sad and unpleasant illness” which he has dubbed DWApathy. Apparently only 20% of the membership has voted in the season poll and putting it in political terms Blows suggests that this amounts to 80% of people going on strike. He goes on to outline other issues such as the requirement for at least 300 people to register for the upcoming convention and a lack of response to a call for fanzine editors to contribute to a special supplement. The concluding sentence reads: “if its members do not require it, the Society need no longer be.” This story would be quoted for years to come in fan circles but as we’ll see appeared against a backdrop of unease in the Society over a number of things.

Meanwhile fanzine adverts have started appearing in the newsletter including `Moonbase` issue 1 (editor Phillip Chant) and they seem to be taking an investigative approach looking at how Doctor Who is seen overseas and looking at Gallifrey. They also have an interview with Chris Boucher. `Oracle` Vol 2 No 8 (editor David Howe) has lots of reviews it seems. `Wheel In Space` (editors Martin J Wiggins and Chris Marton) is announced as the fanzine of the Patrick Troughton Preservation Society and looks at `The Space Pirates`, the 1969 Annual and includes an interview with Peter Ling. `Fendahl` (editor Simon Danes) interviews Graham Williams, reports on the Longleat Exhibition and has a comic strip adaptation of `Brain of Morbius`

The Writer’s Pool was always something of an enigmatic part of the DWAS that a lot of members ignored but once in a while surfaced with some CT content and this issue they are running a competition where you have to decide who the next Doctor would be and write their introductory scene. It sounds like a lot of work for which the prize is a £10 book token. I wonder how many people entered? If DWApathy reigned then not many I suspect. Perhaps some members would rather do the new Doctor Who jigsaws that are announced this month including `Zygons emerging from Loch Ness`, `Sontarans, the war obsessed space travellers` and `The evil Krolls planning to conquer Earth` which rather diversifies from their story. Still they retail at 99p each!

June

Smoother paper and easier to read type are marshalled for the June issue whose front page is given over entirely to `Reaction` to last month’s DWApathy story. So what points do people make- well they don’t necessarily have enough money to purchase all of the Society’s wares or attend events. Jeremy Bentham’s Ref Dept stuff is “expensive and occasionally inaccurate”, the definition of the photos on offer is “mediocre at best”. On the other hand those members who don’t contribute much “don’t deserve to be called a fan of Doctor Who”. And also this; “the apathy you talk about was present in the cast of the show”. They’re a feisty lot these DWAS members that’s for sure.

Someone wishing to be more practical has some ideas for more DWAS merchandise including DWAS Ties, DWAS Diaries, Doctor Who Xmas Cards and that Ref Dept stuff printed in `Tardis` rather than sold separately. Anyway it seems DWApathy doesn’t exist when it comes to the Convention for which there are under 100 places left available.

All this means news snippets have been moved to the President’s Column and we learn that for the first time ever overseas filming has taken place. The second story of the upcoming season is called `The Gamble with Time` and set in present day Paris where it was also filmed. One of the guest actors for the story `Creature from the Pit` will be Geoffrey Bayldon which Jan suggests could be a try out for him as a potential next Doctor. Even Jon Pertwee thinks so apparently.

Fanzines advertised this month include `Spotlight on Who?` which interviews Terrance Dicks. `Cosmic Masque` issue 3 which is the Writers Pool zine has fiction and some photos for 40p. `Oracle` asks a lot of questions in it’s advert such as `Why were the Silurians so popular? and How did Morbius escape certain death at the hands of the Time Lords? If you had to know the answers to these things it would set you back 36p.