FANDOMS corner to corner 1 to 7
FANZINES CORNER TO CORNER number one:
I want to examine the fanzines from one corner of the room,
shelf to shelf, thus the name. I might also include the annuals and yearbooks
from various fandoms, too but we shall see. There’s a lot to cover.
This time: COMPADRES number 13
Straight Through the Heart vol 1
A multi media buddy and team zine-Science Fiction issue
Year of publication: 1998
The stories features are LOST IN SPACE-POT SHOT, PLANET OF
THE APES/STARSKY AND HUTCH: EXACTLY LIKE YOU, WAR OF THE WORLDS: MOMENT OF TRUTH, WALKER TEXAS RANGER: IN THE SHADOW OF
EVIL, STARGATE: NO BUTT’S ABOUT IT, and THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS: COLD SPIRITS.
I’m guessing I bought this zine ONLY for the LOST IN SPACE
story. Not that I don’t like the other shows but there was an overfill of zines
for them, mostly. The stories here are long and the zine is over 184 pages.
LOST IN SPACE: POT SHOT is a Don and Smith buddy story. It’s
difficult to find but this story takes place, most likely AFTER the last
episode of the series. The basic plot is that Don and Smith, in the Chariot,
crash and it falls prey to a cave in. This leads them to abandon it and walk
through the darkened cave with walls of ice while finally coming to blows in an
all out fist fight, roll on the ground battle. At one point, Don thinks maybe
he should have killed Smith. With snow on the way and the cold getting worse,
they have to find a way out of the cave. The story starts on page 13 and ends
on page 45. Don mentions a luminescence that might provide heat as it did on
Orpheus II in a past adventure on another planet. Don discovered that. Smith
was in the ship. Ropy vines from mounds attack them. There are many of them
with silver fronds that attack them. Something large with wings came out of the
darkness. This makes Smith, entirely by mistake, shoot Don in the chest with
his laser. Another mound thing tries to get Don but Smith blasts it.
In an interesting sequence, Smith, as he’s trying to save
Don’s life, remembers his home: “In the deep recesses of his mind, he wished up
a comfortable lounge chair beneath a cerulean blue sky, warm sunlight
reflecting off the clear water of his in ground swimming pool; the same pool
that stood beside an older colonial style home, images of that home flitted
through his mind, with its supple leather sofa and chairs, beautiful oil
paintings---some done by his own hand, adding life and colorto the earth tone
walls. He could picture the solarium with its riotous growth of flowering
greenery, as warmth flooded inside to heat up the highly polished oak floors.
An enormous and costly Persian rug sat before a huge stone fireplace, also
absorbing the sun’s golden rays. Lord, how he missed that home with its rare
treasures prominently displayed---treasures collected during his many trips
aboard.”
He knew it was gone now. His family, what remained of them,
probably declared him dead. He’d left everything to his sister, who he adored
like no one else. He wondered if she derived as much pleasure from his home as
he had. Smith, apparently has a young nephew he used to read to and read LEFT
RIGHT LEFT FOOT, RIGHT some 50 times. He was an auburn three year old who
snuggled up to him, pointing out the pictures. They’d share a hot cup of cocoa
and he’s tuck the boy into bed amid a stream of hugs and wet kisses on the
cheek. He could almost smell the bubble bath his sister poured into the tub and
the scent of Sesame Street bubblegum flavored toothpaste. The boy called him
Uncle Zach.
Don’s thoughts: scuttlebutt as Alpha Control said that Smith
designed the robot. Smith manages to get a call through and John, at the last
minute, finds them, using the flying jet pack, strapped to his back is a lot of
equipment.
A well written story that examines the friendship and
animosity between Don and Smith. It appears the Chariot would be left behind
for good?
Just for completion, issue 21 has another LOST IN SPACE
story: No Way to Spend a Vacation (by Lori Schultz) Lost in Space (TV series).
The crew of the Jupiter 2 think they're in for some rest and relaxation, but
they end up enslaved by a dog-like race of beings. Escape is the only option,
but it won't be easy, or safe. (48)
I have almost zero interest in the rest of the zine, though
Starsky and Hutch on the planet of the apes is an interesting idea but I tend
to think it would be very like the PLANET OF THE APES TV show.
Compadres 13 was published in July 1998 and has 184 pages. A
special theme issue – "Straight Through the Heart" – with partners
shooting partners, partners thinking they've shot their partners, partners
wishing they could shoot their partners.
Pot Shot (by Lorie Schultz) Lost in Space. Partners shooting
partners. West and Smith are out scouting a trail when they're trapped. Forced
to navigate though a series of deadly caves, it's only a matter of time before
tempers flare and danger strikes. Now West is wounded, his life in Dr. Smith's
hands. Does he stand a chance of survival? (33)
Exactly Like You (by PJDR Ford) Planet of the Apes and
Starsky and Hutch. People shooting at partners. The two detectives are part of
a rescue mission sent to look for Virdon and Burke. But Starsky and Hutch are
in for more than they expected when they crashland on the planet of the apes.
Together the four men and Galen struggle to return to the Arianne before Urko
and his troopers ensure that they all remain stranded forever. (59)
Moment of Truth (by Gillian Holt) War of the Worlds.
Partners shooting partners. Harrison thinks Ironhorse is an alien, so he forces
himself to do what he promised the colonel he would do – he shoots him. Now,
can he live with himself? (30)
In the Shadow of Evil (by Londa Pfeffer) Walker, Texas
Ranger. Partners thinking they've shot their partners. An old enemy targets
Walker for death, but the wily Cherokee sorcerer doesn't bargain on Walker's
spiritual strength, or his head-strong partner. (23)
No Butts About It (by Valerie DeVries) Stargate SG-1.
Partners shooting partners. Jack's decided that Daniel is going to learn how to
handle a H&K MP5, or else. Well, it turns out to be "or else" –
Ouch! (6)
Cold Spirits (by Sheila Paulson) The Real Ghostbusters.
Partners shooting partners. Egon spends Halloween alone at the firehouse,
working on an upgrade to the proton packs, but a persistent ghost sets him up
for a fall that might just cost he and Peter their lives. (19)
This time:
VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA zine
SIR, MORE
THAN KISSES by the Captain and Lindar
From PP
Press
Time: June
1994 for the letters and COMING HOME.
Time: 1995
for ATHTAR
Let’s
preface this with this: no matter what my past animosities with a majority of
the female VOYAGE fans, I think most of them, the females anyway, have written
mostly excellent fan fics that have a wonderful way with words, including and
especially the nasty Kathy Agel. But almost all of them have great prose. Not
so much the male writers but I’ve yet to sample many of them. I collect Irwin
stuff. Fan fic especially because it adds to the universe(s) and much of it is
marvelous. All of that written, it IS true that I find much of the VOYAGE
fiction boring as can be, mostly the female authored ones.
Why? Well,
for me VOYAGE is an adventure. I don’t particularly see the men there are sex
symbols, though I acknowledge almost all of them are handsome and the opposite
sex must find them attractive, even the same sex might. However, while I find
it comforting to know that these authors have a goal to correct the imbalance
that the TV show had: that of having NO personal life for any of the characters
(okay, the very end of season one and the start of season two DID try to begin
to give Lee and Nelson and a few others a personal life and later on we did get
a friend from Sharkey’s past, a brother for Ski, and a deceased father for
Patterson but ALMOST NEVER any girlfriends and even when the opportunity
presented itself with Katie and others, this never happened more than a few
scant times and never was developed).
I’m glad to
find some personal life for the men of the Seaview in these fan fictions.
However, and it’s a huge however, I don’t really want to read about the décor
of their home in great detail, down to the flowers on the dresser in the
bedroom of Crane or the windows in the kitchen of Admiral Nelson. By and large
these fics have either females from the FILM and/or the books and/or one or two
episodes and if not, then there are original characters injected into the lives
of the men, mostly as girlfriends, wives, and others. Which is fine. If that’s
not happening the original characters come off as Mary Sues, which is fine. I
have nothing against Mary Sues and/or Gary Sues, though much of fandom seems
to. I like them and they have their place in much of fan fic and even into the
actual, more modern TV shows. Again, though this comes off as the women wanting
to bed down the men, marry the men, and …other stuff. All of which is okay. BUT
amid hundreds of pages, we get a totally domestic story about…well, the
domestic. It’s boring. I don’t care if an OC wife is giving Nelson his tea
while he’s recovering from a wound (hurt/comfort seems to fill a lot of these
fics, too and that’s fine, too). I don’t want endless descriptions of the
houses Nelson and Crane live in or the cars they drive or the living room they
have, uhm, relations in with their female partners. I just care but not that
much to read 100s of pages of this without ANY adventure and action.
VOYAGE is
about action, period. I do appreciate backgrounds for the characters that Irwin
Allen is blamed for not having or giving but his shows worked the way they
were. I do like the personal lives being a part of the fics but if the fics are
ONLY about that, well, NO. I don’t want to read about Crane’s wife’s mother
have a fatal disease or Ski’s past girlfriend unless it’s part of an overall
adventure of excitement and missions. Sure, short stories, fine. BUT a full on
zine of just relationship stuff, even well written, is just not for me. Even
soap operas on TV don’t get bottled down as much as some of these overlong,
overdrawn and thinly plotted fics. Now, some people like that. They like
reading about the neighborhood Crane lives in, and who he dates and all that.
That’s fine. If it is combined with actual adventure and not 100 pages of
romance and descriptions of their day to day lives (sometimes with one page of
actual adventure), I don’t want any part of it.
Now, onto
this fic. Another thing that is disturbing about the nasty VOYAGE fans which I
have, fortunately, NEVER encountered (besides their nasty and awful, lie driven
politics on both sides of the parties) is homophobia. I’ve been told by injured
parties who love slash, that VOYAGE fans (male and female I’m guessing but
mostly female) that they were kicked out of groups, insulted, and basically
told, “gay is wrong”. Slash was not allowed and thought of as disgusting. I’m
not sure why that should surprise me. One female in the LOST IN SPACE fandom on
FACEBOOK (who is still a prominent admin on some groups) thought it was
disgusting that Judy was African American and that it was all right that she
was but that she should not be mingling with white family folk! Wtf? Really? In
this day and age?
I digress.
The same reservations I have about straight romantic fics for VOYAGE applies to
SLASH and / or gay romance fics. Frankly, while I can see say Adam and Megabyte
in the 1990s TOMORROW PEOPLE “hooking up” and Stephen with anybody, probably
Peter from the original THE TOMORROW PEOPLE, and maybe even Blake and Avon from
BLAKE’S 7 in a pinch, and quite a few others (Lindar her or himself once wrote
an excellently written two story romance for Steve and Dan from LAND OF THE
GIANTS while both had, together, two fantastic adventures and it worked) but
honestly, I just can’t see Lee Crane and Admiral Nelson in a romance, let alone
having sex!
For one,
they are undoubtedly hetero sexual on the show. For two, they have a
teacher/student type relationship. For three, they seem almost father/son. It
just doesn’t work for me. Not that I mind it much but it just never felt right.
If someone ever wrote a Patterson/Ski slash, I’d totally accept that 100
percent. A Sky/Riley one? Yep. Maybe, and a big maybe, Chip and well, anyone
but mostly a Chip/Lee? Kind of. For one thing I can see most of the other men
as gay or bi but I just can’t get a real read on Lee and/or Nelson being
anything other than straight.
Okay, that
out of the way, this is, because it’s by Lindar, a cleverly written, well
written fan fic. It’s in the form of letters back and forth between Crane and
Nelson. It seems to go from FEB 12th to MARCH 1. The year is not
given.
Harriman
Nelson is called Harri throughout (it is odd to have Nelson written as Harry
and/or Harri and/or Harriman and yes, I know that is his name on the show but
it’s used comparatively so little over the 110 episodes that it feels wrong to
have others call him Harry so often in the fics).
It seems to
be 1980 and the third season of VOYAGE. The months (Feb to March) just about
work out right as it is stated to be OCTOBER 3, 1980 in DEATH FROM THE PAST and
the episode of Seaview sinking is DEADLY WATERS. Since Stan is mentioned, I’m
ruling out that this is SUBMARINE SUNK HERE which is another episode that needs
Seaview to be recovered.
http://www.vttbots.com/irwin_allen_universe_mento.htm
Okay, hang
on, it’s going to be a long ride. Chip is mentioned and Harri (?!) Nelson seems
to believe that “the poor guy is besotted” with Crane and Nelson tells Crane
“to keep him at arms length” so I’m guessing he believes Chip is gay, too. Chip
knows about Nelson and Crane being lovers.
Stan
Kowalski, O’Brien, and Nelson’s old school chum Jiggs Starke are all mentioned
(Nelson does not want Jiggs repeating stories of their Academy exploits;
further Crane suspects that Jiggs has guessed about Crane and Nelson being
lovers, though I got that from COMING HOME).
Nelson is
spending his time in Hawaii after a short time in Washington. His trip to
Washington DC was after a diversion to Norfolk. Two stationary planes on the
ground were hit by an incoming plane. Crane though Nelson was on one of the
planes. Nelson’s attending a science conference at the Darien Institute of
Oceanography that is top secret and a senator is to accompany him. He and Crane
have a secret beach house. Crane doesn’t mind Greg and Owen, a gay couple,
younger, know about it. Greg and Owen seem to be known by Nelson for a long
time. They used to go to or do still go to gay bars. Owen seemed to play
stripper for a brief moment during one such excursion.
During the
recovery of Seaview, which is being raised, Lee was trapped in the flooded
Flying Sub berth when the starboard ballast tank ruptured. JD pulled him out.
JD (Joe Don
Granger, aka Little Joe) is appointed by Crane to head up the recovery team. He
was in charge or raising the Phoenix two years ago and her captain recommended
him. He is 6’4. Although there was that bit, the whole Little Joe name makes me
think Michael Landon AS Joe Don. Alternately, I’m thinking of Joe Don Baker.
Angie, the secretary, is also mentioned.
Again, these
letters are well written and in the context of this plot, which I consider an
alternate universe due to the nature of Lee and Crane’s love relationship, work
well. However, what jars are the sexual references, almost all of them
presented in a classy style and only one or two graphically so. Still, for me,
as stated earlier, they jar. I just don’t see their relationship that way from
the show, which is why I consider this an alternate universe. If any of it was
badly written, I would just consider it a bad fic but it’s not that at all. It
all works in the idea of that premise but not for the VOYAGE from our universe,
IMO.
In this zine
are two other stories, sequels or additions to the main one. The next presented
is called COMING HOME by Lindar. This is part of the same “universe” as the
other fic and is more a traditional text fic than letters between Crane and
Nelson. This very long fic, well written (of course it is as this is Lindar,
who ALWAYS writes well), is about Nelson’s return home, a brief reprise of the
letters, and the sex between Nelson and Crane as well as their romantic
feelings. Crane calls Nelson the last Renaissance man, “The adventurer, the
scientist, the romantic and the poet, all rolled into one.” Which is as clear a
description of Nelson as any I’ve ever read and heard. Nelson mentions a Chad,
which might be Owen’s first name?
The next fic
is ATHTAR, which is in this zine as well. If I have this right, this is a poem
written by a 19 year old Nelson that he uses in his letters to Crane. This is
basically a sequel, added scene to COMING HOME where Lee, in a wrap around
scene, reads Nelson’s VERY long poem. There is also a piece of artwork with
Crane’s face (well done) and a mullet (uhm, no, just no, it doesn’t look good).
All in all,
an entertaining, seemingly professional fan fiction that really works in the
context of this premise. If you accept the premise, then it’s even greater as a
ten out of ten fic. I kind of do and don’t. I mean it’s a really great WHAT IF
story but the sex between Nelson and Crane just jars as I never saw them that
way and fail to see them that way now, even though this is top notch writing.
I’m going to skip the next five things on the shelf for now as they are all VOYAGE slash again and there are maybe about ten more after that on another shelf. I don’t want to just review SLASH but will return to that after a few other zines are reviewed.
INSIDE THE OLD HOUSE number 41
A Dark Shadows zine
1993
I love DS fandom. It’s so creative artistically and
textually. The fan fic is almost always well written, even if it explores
corners of the DS universe and history I’m not totally interested in. For
example the first story in this professional looking zine (I love INSIDE THE
OLD HOUSE and THE WORLD OF DARK SHADOWS, which is in my mind, its sister zine,
far from competing with each other they shared a lot of fic and articles and
ads), is about a séance that Vicki had some time before she came to Collinwood.
She has 5 other girls that all seem more outgoing than she is. At first, I
thought this was skippable but as I actually read it, I found an enjoyable
exploration of the séance, the friends (the title, which I almost forgot to
write is SLUMBER PARTY), and at least one ghost that appears. SLUMER PARTY is
by the fantastic Marcy Robin, who was huge in DS fandom (and I think also
SPACE: 1999?).
THE LAMB is written by another huge DS landmark fan, Terry
Cogliano. Again, well written, but for me, having Willie slaughter a lamb
forces me to think of the more unromantic and disgusting aspects of DARK
SHADOWS. The dialog is spot on, though and the characterizations of Willie and
Barnabas fantastic. The DS fans who write fic tend to really get into the
thoughts of the characters and Terry, here, gets well into Willie’s thoughts
and mind set.
Indeed, Susan Ramskill, in JULIA’S JOURNAL, presents…well,
Julia’s Journal, and likewise Terry, gets inside a character’s thoughts,
feelings, and mind set. This is another well written fic. It seems to run from
January 4 to January 16 and probably is 1967’s timeline. Here, and it’s right
in character, Barnabas injects Julia with her own serum after her serum failed,
I believe. Again, very well done and plotted and presented but not an area of
DS I care to explore much. I prefer Barnabas and Julia friends and heroes.
The wonderful FAN PAGE is a page that explores, though non
fiction, elements of DS that frankly, most of us never think about but which
are highly fascinating. Here, Diane Oswald discusses “How Julia Escapes the
Curse” since she loved or loves Barnabas in the series and does NOT die. It’s
on page 44 and 45 and seems cut off somehow in mid thoughts but maybe it was
not? I feel this could have been explored even more but it does its job and it
is very thoughtfully written and though provoking.
The few pages in the back detail the large assortment of DS
fan fic that was available on paper: THE BEST OF INSIDE THE OLD HOUSE (with
stories such as Friends, A Love Remembered,
A Unique Vintage, The Debt, and Lonely Spirit), the DARK SHADOWS BOOK OF
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS (a series also by INSIDE THE OLD HOUSE publisher Dale
Clark), SHADOWS OF THE NIGHT fanzines, WYNDCLIFF WATCH zine (a great one, too),
and Dale’s continuing finish series of how DARK SHADOWS could have continued
(here, only the first two seem to have been finished; there were 7 or 8---see
REUNION and RETRIBUTION elsewhere on the blog).
As ever an excellent issue of INSIDE THE OLD HOUSE, this
time with a photo cover of Quentin in front of the portrait of Barnabas.
FANZINES CORNER TO CORNER 4
THE KOLCHAK CHRONICLE issue 7 (Summer 1999) and 8 (Winter
1999)
Issue 7 has a full color cover advertising Kolchak and the
Renegade (Together Again!). Apparently this was a comic book featuring a super
hero and Jeff Rice allowed Kolchak to appear in ONE issue, the first one.
This zine is the Gaby Santos run one and it’s a good one,
though it has far too fan fics and more informational articles than I would
have liked. There’s an exploration of the X FILES and the Darren McGavin
episodes and then an interview with Sterling Clark who is the artist for the
cover and the Renegade.
The interview with Sterling Clark has him explaining the
plot, briefly. “In the comic book, The Renegade! #1, Carl helps a modern day
crime fighter in his pursuit of a killer who’s killing his victims in a vampire
like manner.”
The interviewer (Gaby) felt that the story could have played
out without any superhero input at all. Clark explains that. This is before all
the KOLCHAK comics started and thus, Carl had not officially had his own comic
book yet. Clark was a fan…was being the operative word as he now, calls it
lackluster, which I find disappointing.
A review of the comic explains that the Renegade is a Marvel
universe inspired super hero in the Spider Man vein and with those type of
problems: making ends meet, girlfriend issues and superheroing on the side).
Kolchak is stalking a killer who has stepped through time and is slaying his
victims with a blade in a grisly manner. It is played out in real time with
date, a little background on the “to be” victim, and even what number she places
among the killing spree. Kolchak only appears in a cameo. There is a police
briefing with introduction to the staff in charge of the case, murders
happening over a stretch of time and certain location. The main story takes
place in the Bronx and has a cameo by Jeff Rich himself.
The next thing in this issue of note is GALLERY OF TERROR, a
fan fic by John Stell. It is VERY well written and concerns murders during
September (the 14th to the 16th) and a snake demon that
comes out of a picture in a museum. One Guiseppe Giancarlo was an Italian
painter who was to paint the Sistine Chapel but he was just under
consideration. The job went to Michaelangelo. Giancarlo denounced the Catholic
Church and the Pope and his work banned and he considered a heretic. He and his
art disappeared, somewhere in France. He won favor with the devil who wanted
him to immortalize a serpentine demon in a painting which would, in turn, house
the demon’s corrupt soul. Giancarlo would arrange for the portrait to be
presented to various holy men, and when darkness fell, the demon would be free
to slay the most religious of the Church. The artist was assured popularity and
reverence. If he allowed the demon to claim 13 virtuous souls, he would be
released from his obligation to satan. He was hunted down and burned by
religious zealots so he could not fulfill his obligation. His soul was damned
and the snake demon thing still in the portrait. Burning the portrait might
free the monster and let it loose on the Earth. It could only be burned if
first blessed by a priest. Emily, Vincenzo, and Captain Siska appear. Carl gets
most of the info from Dr. Janice Markensan of
a university’s art studies dept. There is a showdown between the monster
and Kolchak and Kolchak with a Father succeeds in stopping the monster.
As ad for RENEGADE 1 tells us there is a vampire in the
issue.
For the info about RENEGADE and the story GALLERY OF TERROR,
this issue is top notch.
THE KOLCHAK CHRONCILE issue 8
There is an interview with the writer of GRAVE SECRETS, a
novel I shall be covering in more depth soon, I hope. It concerns the Ankou
legend, Northern Ohio’s the Firelands aka the Sufferers’ Land, and the
Underground Railroad.
A magazine called VAMPIRES AND SLAYERS (not sure I still
have that) had a story called CANCELLATION by the same writer, Mark Dawidziak.
It was supposed to be a four part story. It is about Carl being courted by Ron
Richards, the creator and executive producer of a hit supernatural series
called THE FEAR FACTOR (again this is probably before FEAR FACTOR was a real TV
show). The series has been on the air for several seasons and is starting to
run out of ideas. Richards thinks Carl, still working at the LA Dispatch (aka
the Disgrace) would make the ideal technical advisor for the TV show. The story
was not yet finished. Carl, at first, refuses and tells Richards off. Later, a
special effects team are killed on the set by a mysterious creature. End of Act
One.
A very cute piece of art has Kolchak waking up in bed,
recovering from a dream that was the whole X FILES series. Then there is an
article about SLAYER OF THE NIGHT by me which compares KOLCHAK to FRIDAY THE 13TH:
THE SERIES, MILLENNIUM, POLTERGEIST THE LEGACY, and BUFFY.
The back page is art of Carl and Tony.
Another good issue.
FANZINES from CORNER TO CORNER 5
PORTALS Volume 3 Number 2
Overall Issue 6.
DOCTOR WHO, BLAKE’S 7, STAR TREK and other fan fic
No year is stated by the editor, the nice Maryann Johanson,
signs it with the year 1988 so I guess it is from 1988.
The cover is nice. Let me start by stating that all of the
stories here are well written. That written, most of them, probably all of
them, are just no longer my cup of tea and I’m not sure they ever really were.
I bought it because I loved and still love the character of Adric and there’s a
story here where Doctor 6 and Peri are drawn toward the Freighter that blew up
with Adric on it (supposedly, there are numerous stories, both fan made and
professionally released that dispute that; one an audio from Big Finish is
awful; the other from the FASA role playing game has a far better outcome). In
any case, the Sixth Doctor meets Adric but still lets him die anyway. That
story is AFTERSHOCK by Michael S. Lucart, who also writes RETURN OF THE
TRAVELER, another dark story but interesting in that it is a sequel to a story
that I am not sure ever had a sequel but deserved on, THE SAVAGES. Not only is
Steven still there on that planet, the planet was never named and more
importantly, one of the aliens there (the aliens there had the ability to track
the TARDIS! Anywhere!) named Jano absorbed a lot of the Doctor’s personality.
Not sure I like the actual experience of what happens in this but it’s a good
murder mystery…sort of.
I can say the same for all the other stories. One, in
particular, I loathe. That would be AQUARIA by Allen Rausch, which seems to be
an original story with original characters. Rausch, at least at this time of
his life, seems to be one of those people who don’t believe in God, in religion
(don’t blame him there), in spirituality, and in an afterlife. His writing is
nasty, if well written. His philosophy dark and IMO not steeped in truth. It
has, oddly, an RTD tone to it as the writer insists that when we die, we die
and that no amount of fantasy about God and an afterlife will do us any good.
It’s a nasty theme that permeates science fiction and fantasy right from its
start it would seem and those that feel this are sad, miserable, and IMO quite
wrong. It seems to make those who believe it feel they are more intelligent
than those who do. That’s a wrong theory, too. The story, which is something we
do not need today (and RTD might realize that as his recent post about fear,
anxiety, and the dark future of Earth is something he seems about to put across,
contrary to Chris E’s Doctor in END OF THE WORLD; in fact RTD quotes that
positivity as naïve and wrong; could be he’s been negatively affected by the
death of his partner but he always did lean more toward the silly atheism of a
morally bereft, conceited crowd IMO). In it, people seem to go to sleep and
die. The main character has a friend, Mary, who is a person searching for
something in her life and going from one religion to another to find it. She’s
presented as silly and stupid for doing so and while I can empathize with Allen
(and Mary) for railing against false religions who seem to have some good and a
whole lot of lies and brainwashing going on, I feel his writing links that to
the idea that there is no God, no afterlife and no hope. It’s a flawed premise
IMO. It’s also not true.
More later.
Thomas Falco wrote THE ADVENTURE OF THE TEMPORAL TRAVELER.
Now, I get why people love Sherlock Holmes. While I love the ADVENURE OF THE
SPECKLED BAND and tried to read and love the other stories in chronological
order, I never really fell in love with Sherlock Holmes stories, movies, TV
shows, and / or audios (though BIG FINISH did an excellent version of SPECKLED
BAND). I didn’t even like YOUNG SHERLOCK though I seem to recall a fuzzy memory
about a kid version of Sherlock where he really was REALLY young, possibly from
the BBC that I did like. And I really do love the original story MURDERS IN THE
RUE MORGUE, which is the prototype for the detective story. Again, this story
is well written but I can’t find much intrigue in it to draw me to it.
I also find the scene where Holmes deduces the Doctor is
from another planet and about the TARDIS quite tedious. In a total info dump,
the Doctor also reveals he’s from Gallifrey AND can regenerate. Fans have been
crossing over Sherlock and the Doctor for years, though this might be the
earliest story to do so? There was also at least one book in the Virgin New
Adventure range and possibly another from the Missing Story range from Virgin,
too. I’m not sure Sherlock appears in the Doctor Who universe on audio. And
while I’m not a fan, I see the value in Sherlock Holmes.
THE CRYING OF LOT 42 is also tedious to me anyway. It
postulates that Cally is a Time Lord and the death scenes at the end of the
BLAKE’s SEVEN series was a joke. Okay.
Another reason I bought this issue was REFRAIN which has the
Fourth Doctor and Leela save Adric from the fiery freighter without knowing who
he is. The Doctor then sets him up with a fake life as Brendan, Sarah Jane’s
aunt’s ward. What? At first, I thought this was a neat idea and even put it
into my Adric timeline along with K9 and Company and the annual K9 stories. BUT
in hindsight, I find it contrived. He gave him some of the Elixir of Life from
the Sisterhood.
Now, I never want to hurt anyone’s feelings, especially fan
fic writers. Especially MaryAnn Johanson. There is a whole segment of fan fic
writing that gets a lot of flack sometimes, I think. I love it actually and am
glad all of it exists, even if some of it is not to my taste. The story I refer
to is CHILDREN AND ADULTS. It’s a Mary Sue story. MaryAnn seems to, in other
places, explain that this is a Mary Sue. It’s well written and long. The only
thing that doesn’t grab me is that MaryAnn has a whole different perspective on
DW than I do. I love DW because it travels to different times and places, tells
a lot of action adventure stories in those places, and moves fast and furious.
I also do not mind ---even before RTD made it fashionable---stories where the
Doctor falls in love with someone (male or female, I don’t care though I’m
partial to male/male stories). I like romance and even “those” scenes.
MaryAnn seemed to dislike or move away from the idea that
“children” traveled with the Doctor. The Fifth Doctor, who she seems to have
…no, she does have, a crush on. Nothing wrong with any of that. Nyssa and Adric
I guess could be viewed as children, though I separate children as being under
13 and teenagers as 13 on, though I guess a case could be made that 13 to 15 or
16 and 17 are still children but they are also teenagers. Adric is about 15 or
so and Nyssa about the same. Tegan’s hardly a teenager or a child, though at
least once The Fifth Doctor might have called her one of the children on screen
in an episode. Gosh. Sigh. MaryAnn wants the Fifth Doctor to have a mature,
level headed thinking woman with the Fifth Doctor. Nothing wrong with that and
it happened a few times on screen (KINDA comes to mind).
That said, her Mary Sue character Ayren doesn’t leap off the
page at me. Perhaps, it is just my point of view and I can’t really relate to
Ayren. I believe there is a series of stories about her in PORTALS and possibly
other places.
“I don’t do domestic.”
Apparently, the fifth Doctor DOES do domestic. Here, he
seems to have to care for children with Ayren and page after page goes on about
how their home life is in TARDIS. Okay, I can take a few pages of that stuff
and like the extensive VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA fan fictions, it fills
in voids the TV series didn’t (at least in the past in the classic show). What
I dislike is…that is all there is. I don’t really always care what they are
eating for breakfast, how they kiss or go to bed, or even how the Doctor
teaches this woman to fly the TARDIS.
It’s all vaguely interesting but I think it would be
superior if something else….ANYTHING else was added to the story to actually
happen and put our characters into some kind of adventure. But then, I guess I
miss the point of the story. It’s wish fulfillment.
I mean there are Ogrons who have attacked a ship and
children that they have to save. They rescue the children and again, it’s all
well written. There seems to be a war going on from the planet the kids were on
and all is well in the end, I think. I really wasn’t paying much attention, I’m
afraid but MaryAnn’s writing does draw you into the story. Still, the page
count and what happens seem to be at odds, at least for me. I think others
might enjoy this even if the Fifth Doctor seems to out of his element thinking
about going to bed with a woman who clearly wants him. There are sections
written from each of the pair’s POV.
In the end, probably I am wrong. This looks to be a
fascinating character study of a woman in love with the Doctor and in this story,
he realizes he’s in love with her. He goes on about how it’s been a long time
that he had anyone to care for… and he brings up Susan but does that mean
family only? He didn’t care for Adric, Nyssa, Tegan, Peri, Leela, Romana and
all the rest? It sort of jars but again, the dialog is well written. I just
find 18 pages of their thoughts with just the rescue as “action” a bit slow.
I DO like that Ayren reveals (to me anyway) that her
ancestors destroyed her civilization a thousand years before she was born. She
and the Doctor also DO have a great relationship with the children Louisa
(who’s obnoxious) and Andew (who’s not). In one scene in the morning, the
children have invaded the Doctor’s bedroom and put on his underwear. Andrew
also asks why the Doctor isn’t sleeping with Ayren.
All in all, Ayren does feel real to me but her relationship
with the Doctor, especially this Doctor, doesn’t draw me in much and nor does
it feel real to me as something that can happen on the TV screen to THIS Doctor
(RTD Doctors yes and even Moffat Doctors yes; I often wonder what MaryAnn would
think of the MODERN DOCTOR WHO series with its string of young girls like 19
year old Rose and then Amy as they are probably in her mind children, too).
Almost every text of him being romantic feels forced, though not because of the
writing. Maybe because it’s what I bring to it. I don’t find Peter Davison a
bit sexual on screen and maybe it’s also because of him being Elmer in THE
TOMORROW PEOPLE-A MAN FOR EMILY parts one to three. I don’t know. Something
just doesn’t work for me about this story and yet…
…and yet some of it does.
PORTALS 6 has a professional feel to it in the writing and
stories. Ads include PORTALS 4 and 5. 4 has PAST IMPERFECT where the Doctor and
Ayren meet characters from ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL. Ayren’s last name is
Tabeth. TIME’S CHANGE features the 6th Doctor. 5 has THE ADVENTURES
OF THE PRETENDED PROPRIETOR where the Doctor and Ayren are in Victorian London.
There’s also something else from Rausch called ROSES, ironically but it seems
to be original fantasy. THE CRICKETEER is also advertised but more on that
another time. I also seem to remember a zine all about Tegan and …Turlough’s
romance. ADARA 4 issue 4 which asks if the Doctor ever comes back to a
companion he’s left behind, who was Susan, does the Doc ever get bored, and is
the Doc alive and well in Australia. It also asks if the Master is ever sorry
for the things he’s done and is there a dentist in the house? In TIME AND AGAIN
the Doctor helps Tegan celebrate a very important birthday. A BLAKE’S SEVEN
zine SHADOW advertises issue 4. And two of my favorite STARMAN zines (well,
possibly the only STARMAN zines) are advertised: SILVER SPHERES and ENDANGERED
SPECIES.
I hope to feature STARMAN zines in future installments but
also DOCTOR WHO-THE BELPHEGOR INHERITANCE, THE GALLIFREY CHRONCILES issue 5
from October 1980, Zerinza the Australasian Doctor Who Fanzine (23 from May
1982 and 21 from Feb 1981). Also issues 22 and 24 from 1982.
FANZINES
corner to corner 6
Zerinza the
Australasian Doctor Who Fanzine
ISSUE
21 FEB 1981
The opening
page 3 draws attention to the nastiness of fandom detailing a notice that
SCOPE, a DW fanzine of The Queensland Dr. Who Fan Club would cease production
with issue 12 due to allegations by other fans that the makers or club runners
embezzled money. This article will focus more on the fiction of each issue.
Some of the
best synopsis of episodes followed, namely the first episodes of the series (wholly
called AN UNEARTHLY CHILD but here presented with the individual episode
titles). Though, in hindsight, THE DOCTOR WHO CHRONICLES by Andrew Pixley and
David Brunt are far more detailed and exhaustive. Those are from the DOCTOR WHO
APPRECIATION SOCIETY and are HUGE books with telesnaps and other pictures.
The fiction
is THE YOUNG REBEL by Lynne Churchyard. Spoiled by today’s fiction on line
which can have its text enlarged, zoomed in and read at any size, I must say
that the drawback to these paper zines is that the size cannot be changed. I’d
have to read this very tiny print with a magnifying glass.
In any case
THE YOUNG REBEL is a wonderfully written story with the Morestran Empire and
Benita Campbell. The Doctor thinks the Morestran colony ship has traveled back
in time some 4000 years back in time. Benita is called Ben for short and she is
apparently 11 years old. Her father is Phillip Campbell and they are from the
year 2246, some 82 years after David Campbell fought the Daleks on Earth. There
is some dissention among the human ranks as they try to repel the Morestran
invaders on Delton 5. David and Susan are Ben’s great grandparents. There’s
also a black hole that the Morestrans went through.
While I do
think the prose is well written a couple of thinigs about this fiction bothered
me. For one, the time and place are not clearly delineated. Is it the Morestran
time of 6397 when they invade or did they go back in time and then invade? The
second is more likely.
Second, the
name of the Doctor’s great great great (?) granddaughter: Benita is fine but in
the text she is called Ben. WHY BEN? Browsing this fic, I thought it was a
First Doctor story with Ben from Hartnell’s time. Any other name would work. Is
Ben actually eleven years old in this story or was that just the set up
framing?
Third or
actually fourth, the next complaint has to do with the description of the
Doctor. All we get is that he has a shock of white hair. Is this Hartnell’s
Doctor or more likely Pertwee’s? The Doc is traveling alone and the Dalek
Invasion of Earth seems to have happened for him so it is likely this is the
Pertwee Doctor.
Other than
that, the adventure is fine.
There are
also reviews of TIN TIN books (BROKEN EAR LAKE OF SHARKS, IN AMERICA, AND THE
PICAROS).
Much of the
rest if information stuff.
FANDOMS corner to corner 7
I wanted to
catalog and read and review every fanzine and/or spinoff material from all the
show I like or liked but it’s nearly impossible at this point so I’ll try to
list them and write briefly about them.
SIR, MORE
THAN KISSES: a VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA zine (I’ll mention this show and
from now on call it VOYAGE): by the Captain and Lindar so I’m sure it’s slash.
The “stories” are all letters from Crane to Nelson and Nelson to Crane.
COMPADRES
13: STRAIGHT THROUGH THE HEART Vol. 1: A multi media zine I’m only interested in
LOST IN SPACE here: a buddy issue the story POT SHOT has to do with Don and
Smith. It is written by Lorie Schultz and well written. In the Chariot, the two
have an accident and then get into a physical fight.
THE LION AND
THE LAMB: A VOYAGE LOVE STORY: by Alexis Rogers: a huge 178 page love story
between Nelson and Crane. Frankly, I could never see it but there you go. There’s
a lot of Nelson/Crane slash. If you can get past that, it’s well written and
there is a preview of part two, which I’m not sure I have.
MEN WHO DARE
by Lindar: A multi media zine, I have info on this on the LAND OF THE GIANTS FB
group. Thumbnail Sketch and Small Prey are VERY well written and someone
somewhere did a non slash version of each. These two GIANTS stories are by
Lindar and both well written and a Steve/Dan slash but it really fits in with
the show well to be honest.
The same
zine has A TIME TO EVERY PURPOSE: A TIME
TUNNEL slash between Tony and Doug. The boys are in ancient Atlantis. Doug
tells Tony they have been through this a hundred times.
MY KISSES
SHALL TEACH THEY LIPS by Lindar is another VOYAGE zine. One story is IN DEEP.
Another is ENCOUNTERS ON AN ALIEN SHORE. The third is EYE OF THE STORM. Another
slash.
NOR THE
DEMONS DOWN UNDER THE SEA by Lindar is another slash Nelson/Crane epic.
Another
VOYAGE slash is THE HELL OF WATERS by Lindar. Like the others the page count is
huge.
I must make
mention of a print out I found detailing DOCTOR WHO-THE MISSING INTERNET
ADVENTURES. Featuring different Doctor and their companions these stories were
CASCADE, PROMISE OF THE DALEKS (6 and Peri attend Susan’s funeral?), RED DAWN
(a second Doctor story this seems to have Ice Warriors just like the BIG FINISH
AUDIO!), THE TERRIBLE ZODIN and THE HORROR OF ANGELS (YEARS before the revival
series, entities calling themselves angels are the enemies). This last one bears the slogan, “Beware the
angels.” These may still be on line and
come from 1996.
The feeling
these give me is that DOCTOR WHO, whether Big Finish or the current modern
version, is run by a cult/coven of fan boys who use the same stories over and
over again. Nothing wrong with that unless those stories suck or change so
drastically we get shit like STAR BEAST on TV.
There are a
ton more of these adventures: THE PANDA AND THE LEOPARD (revisiting Steven),
DOPPELGANG WARFARE, REVENGE OF THE ALLIANCE (with Chang Lee, the land of
fiction, Sutek, Rangnorak, Fenric, and a Daemon who are trapped there---these
could be role playing games?), DEATH RACE! (Grace, the Toymaker, the Monk, the
Rani, Cybermen, Daleks, Davros (in a wheel chair), and gosh there are pages and
pages of these including new companions Wil and old companions as well. Wil is
a runaway jester who might be gay.
Next up is a
bunch of THE KOLCHAK CHRONICLE. Issue 8 is Winter 1999. Issue 7 is summer 1999.
A comic book is featured: THE RENEGADE 1 which has Carl help a modern day crime
fighter in pursuit of a killer who kills in a vampire like manner.
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