FANDOMS and FANZINES CORNER TO CORNER 9 and 10

 

FANDOMS CORNER TO CORNER 9 and 10

 

SEVENCYCLOPAEDIA is a zine from (no year given so fuck it). It is everything in BLAKE’S SEVEN in an encyclopedia format. Now, I know there are such things on line but this is spectacular. There’s also a ton of advertised zines on the last two pages of the book and one that sounds generic is THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN where we find out what happens when Paul Darrow goes onto the Liberator while Avon comes to Earth. This idea has been around since Star Trek had a fandom and they have the fic to prove it. Not much to say about this. It is a staggering 150 pages.

 

The next zine is a SEAQUEST fic called NEW ATLANTIS. It is from 1996 and by Jane Woods.

 

TRENCHCOAT are cleverly plotted out continuation stories of DOCTOR WHO set up in virtual seasons and all written out fully. They are hundreds of pages of fiction with set “casts” and terrific artwork at a time when DOCTOR WHO seemed as if it would NEVER return to our screens. One story stands out about a Daemon in the Mid-East that was slowly going insane. Picture Jim Carrey crazy mixed with the Joker from the 1966 BATMAN crazy. Books three (March 1993) and four (June 24, 1994) are here but there is a PDF file with all of them and also a DISCONTINUITY GUIDE which is small enough to post on FB but tells everything. A startlingly good fictional universe and most of it is better than what we got from 2009 to now.

 

 

SCIENCE FRICTION is a STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATON SLASH MAGAZINE and this is no. 2. It is from May 1993 and has some incredible artwork. It’s also annoying because it seems to be two zines in one and the other side is on the back and upside-down. It’s also very X rated.

 

The next zine is BLAKE’S SEVEN: STRATEGIES by Jodara Morgan West. It is from 1986. These are slash stories set during and around certain episodes of the series.

 

THE CHOIR BOYS is a 21 JUMPSTREET zine with a stained glass church window cover, a brilliant piece of artwork with the characters faces from all the seasons, the men. This is slash. This seems to be before March 1992 as the second book/fic is announced with a cutoff date for potential entries being March 1992. The artwork is nice. This seems to be X rated.

 

The next is a copy of a story from TIME WINDS 18 called THE HAUNTING with a piece of art that is Adric in the dark. It is well written but ultimately sad and depressing and brings forth this Doctor’s (Five) ineffectiveness at saving his companions and his coldness, I’m afraid.

 

S 18 is here too. This is from September 1987 and as ever, a full color cover: Peri, Jamie, and the Doctors from the Two Doctors. Meh. LOST FRIENDS is  poem about how Gallifrey has “stolen” or taken all his friends from him in one way or another.

 

The zine also has THE MASTER AND THE ROSE by Rachel Wood. This is about Rose who is the Master’s daughter and no, not Rose Tyler. As far as I can tell there are two of these stories, both from TIME WINDS and they are about a good girl named Rose who is the Master’s daughter. She and Adric become friends.

 

FANDOMS CORNER TO CORNER 10

 

A MOUTH ON LEGS, Jersey Jagaroth newsletter, detailed an April Fool’s story of season 25 and appearances of all the Doctors, enemies and more including most special to me, the death of Ace, who at the time, I loathed. I posted these pages quite often so I won’t waste time on them and I’ve detailed the entire story, a far superior idea than what we did get: Silver Nemesis. Next!

 

Well not next: a comic has a scarecrow menacing the Sixth Doctor who says it is Retam, Master backward.

 

The Prydonian Renegade of Jan 93 features Happy Birthday to Blake! The 15th anniversary interview with Terry Nation. I’ve featured this a lot, too and the main thing about this is Nation’s ideas on how to continue the series: it would be Avon and Vila being used to hunt down Blake.

 

THE CAT WHO WALKED THROUGH TIME is one of those fanzines from the late 1990s and early 2000s that, quite frankly, had gimmicks and themes running through them, not unlike the audio and anthology books that were published professionally. The format is not for me but whatever. I found almost all of them very, very boring, focusing on the same old pair off of Doctor and companions that we’ve seen time and time again. The conceited Paul Cornell is in here, the wonderful Kate Orman, and other names you will know if you ever collected DW written material or the audios. Frankly, I’m a bit of a DW downer right now so I’m not enthused. It has a lot to do with 13 years of inconsistent DW stories on the New Series and now consistently bad DW on the RTD Second Coming Disney show, which is horrid right now.

 

The DOCTOR WHO PROJECT is the season 30 omnibus of a continuation of the series. I thought this was TRENCHCOAT but I don’t think it is. Not much to get excited about but stories include THE THINGS THAT MATTER part 2, the Rani of Chennai, Death of a Brigadier, Tomb of Shadows, Nadir, Tears of Rassilon, and Leaving the Red. This series used to be on line and for all I know it still is. I wish I cared. I don’t. In any case, Bob Furnell seems to be on FB a lot.

 

HAILING FREQUENCIES issue 1, April 1990, revised edition is here. I used to be into NEXT GENERATION. Having just rewatched HAVEN I don’t understand why. It’s sallow, boring, and empty headed and stupid. JUSTICE was a lot better. Frankly, with that first season of stories and stories like Riker becoming a Q in HIDE AND Q and those horridly acted and written scenes on the bridge, I wonder how this show ever made it to a second season. It’s awful.

 

CULTURE SHOCK by Douglas M Giffin III is a nice fan fic with Wesley front and center and so it’s  a nice change for once. The artwork is also good. The story seems to be quite favorable to Wesley, who I always liked, too. There are also ads for a NEXT GEN zine MINDSET where Trio falls in love with a young King. There are also ads for a THE HIVE and A JOY PROPOSED. In HIVE, Riker has to choose between his allegiance to his ship or his passion for a lovely alien woman. Sigh. A JOY is about an alien who forces the crew to act out their fantasies in a terrifying drama of…sigh. A nice zine here HAILING FREQUENCIES can be enjoyed by fans of NEXT GEN, something I no longer count myself as one of.

 

AIRWAVES is a SAPPHIRE AND STEEL SPECIAL from 1993. The stories were compiled from other AIRWAVES issues, a multimedia zine. The stories include SAPPHIRE parts one to three, THE FOREVER PEOPLE, THE DAY TRIPPERS, THE HOLLOW MEN PICTURE POST and ARCADIA. Phillips Irving wrote the first three. The last five were written by Avril A Brown.

 

Sapphire and Steel zines feel more mature than most zines, more staid, and longer, better written often and sometimes, a bit too long. This mostly works but it has been a long time since I even saw this zine, let alone read it. It looks like a reread will be in order.

 

HELLHOUND is a Blake’s Seven zine. NO date is given but the many ads in the back all say 1987. This is book two of the FROM THE LOG OF THE HELLHOUND series. The series is set after Gauda Prime and Avon was taken by Servalan and tortured and drugged. He was rescued by a time traveler. Avon is hunting for Blake. It’s not very exciting to be honest. To me, shows like BLAKE and DOCTOR WHO have to be seen on TV to be exciting. If you are doing a fan fic, you have to have some hook that makes your story better for being a story or different enough to be worth indulging in. Most of these aren’t.

 

TRENCHCOAT is the story of the 8^th Doctor and onward. I’ve written about these before. Issue 3 is from 1993. It is over 192 pages and ads include a zine just for Ace. Oh, Ace! Issue 4 is from 1994. The series acts as if the show were never cancelled. It has about 195 pages.

 

SOUTHERN SEVEN 3 seems to be about an alternate Avon, a Blake’s zine then. From 1988. It is over 320 pages! Not sure but it looks like different stories. Sadly, I have no interest in checking any of them out. They may not all be about an alternate Avon.

 

The next folder is a bunch of related and unrelated STARMAN FANDOM stuff. Gosh, I loved that show and still do. Notes, letters, reviews, and other stuff I can’t make head or tail out of now.

 

Gosh, I once loved STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. I so do not now. A JOY PROPOSED has a great cover and is by Roberta Debono. With terrific art it is from 1988. It looks slashy but tasteful. The art is nice.

 

Another show that had a thriving fandom, which I was into and currently am NOT, is BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, not the CW remake, which had its merits but mostly is inferior. The fandom’s zines always were well mounted, well presented and well edited. SAFE PLACES is from March 1988. It has 205 pages. The second issue is from November 1988. It has 195 pages. I wish I had some desire to read these stories. I don’t. Each issue has individual stories.

 

WARM GALLIFREYAN NIGHTS is a DW zine from March 1999. It is an erotic zine featuring a young First Doctor, and then only Doctors four to eight. I guess no one wants the Third and Second Doctor and/or doesn’t want an older First Doctor. Uhm…Oddly, slash zines are usually well written…until they get to the Doctor having sex, which doesn’t feel like the Doctor at all. I think there is a way to write the Doctor having sex but this isn’t it. IMO.

 

 

RETURN OF THE 7 is another BLAKE zine. It is from 1985 and was reprinted in 1986. It has individual stories. They all seem to be post season four’s last episode. The print is very small.

 

Another BLAKE zine is THE FLOTSAM CHRONICLES. The inside calls this BLAKE’S DOUBLES number one. The zine if flipped over has a story cover on the back and a story starts the other way.  I hate that. The other story is OUT OF THE NIGHT. These stories are both post last episode stories about the show continuing.

 

ANGLO FILE is multimedia zine. It is from 1985. In one of the stories in this, the Fifth Doctor visits Sarah Jane and sort of makes her cry. It is called Resolutions. There is also, uniquely, a story about Gareth Jenkins from IN A FIX WITH SONTARANS, the Jim Will Fix It. The story is called Jim Will Truly Fix It story. Gosh.

 

There is also an Emma Peel Avengers story crossover with other shows. I’m not into any of them.

 

The zine has typewriter lettering and it is hard to read.

 

STARLINES number 4 is from Feb 1984. It has many fandoms in it but 1999, UFO, Doctor Who, Blake’s, Buck Rogers, and others interested me. 1999 has the CARETAKERS OF CANTRA, A MID-WINTERS NIGHTMARE, and THE PLAYERS AND THE GAME.

 

STARSHIP BRITANNICA 3 is also a zine. Travelers’ Return is a Fourth Doctor WHO crossover with the Time Tunnel. The Doctor returns Doug and Tony, shuts down the tunnel. Doug takes a job for UNIT as its scientific advisor. This required him to move to England in 1976. He held this job until UNIT’s near demise in 1978. Doug had a heart attack in 1980 and was still hospitalized when he should have met Tony to meet their younger selves.

 

TOMORROW PEOPLE in A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVES. John, Liz, and Stephen go to C1139B-119 for a picnic? They are captured so TIM sends Chris to help them.

 

TOMORROW’S MEMORIES John is acting odd and dangerous. He and Liz start a romance.

 

SPLINTERS OF LIGHT is a KUNG FU: THE LEGEND CONTINUES zine. It is from May 1993.

 

DOCTOR WHO SEASON 31 is from April 2003.

 

MISSING PIECES is another of those boring zines that looks professional. I think it is for charity and has a bunch of writers writing traditional Doctor and companion pairings in boring stories. This is 378 pages.

 

HAILING FREQUENCIES issue 3 is August 1991. A stand out story is BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD by Douglas M. Giffin III who is favorable to Wesley who is a main character here, too. He also writes, exactly how I feel, about Wesley’s departure(s) in DISAPPOINTMENT…a review of season four.

 

HAILING FREQUENCIES issue 4 is the final issue and for Spring 1993. A SUITABLE PARTNER is about Wesley finding a girlfriend. It is very well written. THE PRICE OF MATURITY is also a Wesley story. Douglas also writes how I felt about NEXT GEN in MEDIOCRITY ABOUNDS  review of the tepid season five.

 

 

TIME LOG number 2 is a zine with a full cover color. ALZARIUS EXPRESS is Romana who has saved Adric, meeting the second Doctor and Jamie.

 

There’s a JNT Doll Ad. No, I’m not joking.

 

The Movellans destroy Earth in a story with the Fifth Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa.

 

TIMELOG 12 has SLAYER OF MONSTERS, a Fourth Doctor and Adric story. They meet a Ronin of the Mitarians but one is stuck on Earth. They both encounter Native American children.

 

TIMELOG 13 has UNFINISHED BUSINESS which is a Peri and Fifth Doctor story. And it has Adric’s ghost?

 

THE UNPAID SCENTIFIC ADVISOR ART GALLERY vol 1 is a badly photocopied zine of artwork, some of it very good.

 

SAHAJ COLLECTED is a Star Trek zine about Spock’s son’s youth. This is from December 1977. It is over 203 pages. The art work is outstanding.

 

DAMNED BE THOSE WHO FOLLOW: A BLAKE’S SEVEN ZINE: May 1992; Feb 1994 reprint: another 90 page AFTER the finale of BLAKE’S SEVEN story. This one is quite good.

 

THE NEXT thing I found was rare:  A FREE Giant Lob tribute TO LAND OF THE GIANTS. It’s 11 pages with terrific art and details what Jeanette was trying to do with the zine and the club.

 

The next is DW club zine of stories MYTHMAKERS ESSETENTIALS. It is mostly boring stories by familiar names. It is dated Fall/Winter 2003 and is Special Number Five.

 

Next is ABODE OF STRIFE WHO with a gorgeous color cover of Tom surrounded by all of his companions, the best one, Adric to the top left. This is dated March 1990. Page 2 has Tom as Tarzan with Leela, “Me, Time Lord, you companion.” Leela does not look amused. A comic has the Fourth Doctor meet Lucy from Charlie Brown/Peanuts. Some truly stunning artwork of all six Doctors.

 

DANCE AROUND THE RINGS OF TIME is a fan fic with apparently the Fourth Doctor (the art has the Fourth Doctor) but featuring Adric, Nyssa, and Tegan traveling with the Fourth Doctor which NEVER happened on screen anywhere. Has time changed? Did the writer mean to have the Fifth Doctor in this? It concerns a book in the TARDIS that came with it: the Rings of Time.

 

There’s a poem called ANDROZANI ENDING about the Doctor’s regeneration from Four to Five.

 

 

Q WHO has Leela spelled Leila? It seems to be a Q from STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION story crossover with DOCTOR WHO. A semi boring zine.

 

GAME, SET, AND MATCH is another post Blake zine; this time a trilogy: DOUBLE TAKE, TURNAROUT’S FAIR PLAY, and FOOLS RUSH IN. Good thing Big Finish never did a post Blake series (they should have): there’s enough fanfic about it (and I seem to have bought all of them). Maybe someday I’ll even get interested enough again to read these. One thing I will say: the print is nice and big, the pages nicely set up.

 

Another one is THE LAST, BEST HOPE. This is from 1988. A stunning cover, this is a Blake’s 7 zine. I have no idea what this is about and when it takes place but I suspect Post Series. Blake seems to be President of the Earth?

 

 

 THE SOUTH CROYDON LISTEN 2 is the newsletter of the Liz Sladen Information Network.

 

TRENCHCOAT number one is listed. It is a special revised reprint edition and from Nov 1994 and it contains issues 1 and 2 at 240 pages. This is a virtual series of Doctor Who beyond season 26. Some of the stories feel quite familiar, perhaps adaptations of stories that were never made: RETURN TO TRAKEN, THE MIROCONS and NOTTINGHAM. See the posted Discontinuity Guide. The actual stories would not post because the file is too big.

 

ENLIGHTENMENT issue 130 from Oct/Nov 2005 is  DOCTOR WHO AND DOCTOR WHO FANDOM FOR NEWBIES issue, an easy to use glossary for fan terminology and this is the newsletter of the DWIN.

 

The same newsletter issue 120 was all about Scream of the Shalka, that POS. It is from Feb/March 2004.

 

Lance Parkin in his “McGann to Return! Or not) writes about how Paul went to a person who didn’t want to do a commentary lest he be identified for the role to someone who crosses the Atlantic regularly to do conventions. Frankly, I’ve met him and love him to pieces. He’s very friendly kind and warm and he loves Tom Baker as the Doctor.

 

TRENCHCOAT NINTH ASPECT 1 is from June 1996. Confusingly, it says it is issue 5. WTF? It is 230 pages or more. It has the best DW fan fic ever (apart from my own): CRESCENT, CROSS, STAR AND PENTAGRAM about a Daemon that went insane, think of the Joker and Daemon combined with a sort of Jim Carrey Riddler! And it’s well written. It also takes place in the Mid-East and has a Mid-Eastern companion join. If you can find it, find it.

 

 

ENLIGHTENMENT 114 at Feb/March 2003 has an article QUEER AS WHO, otherwise I might have tossed this one. It also asked, “Are DW books doomed?”  How to create a WHO fan (as if we’re recruiting). Lance Parkin’s Miranda comic (failed) is out around this time and while colorful, quite boring. He also wrote the article about DW books being doomed? The Queer As Who article is short enough that I’m going to post it in its entirety.

 

The writer, Scott Clarke, writes, “With the exception of the Fox TV movie, there is nary a hint of which way the Doctor swung through the series’ history (and no, I do not accept the “he has a granddaughter defense). Watching Star Trek or Buck Rogers, there was no question that Kirk, Picard, or Buck were explicit examples of hetero sexual virility (despite Buck’s propensity for spandex). Jane had her share of dalliances as well. Twas never a worry with the good Doctor. For me he could easily be a gay man: I could claim him for the team if I so desired. As it was, the good Time Lord’s asexuality just made it a non-issue. For a queer kid, I could relax, go for the ride and identify with the hero without any troublesome subliminal conditioning.”

 

Not sure I agree with any of that. Never mind. We now have Chris, David, Matt, and Capaldi’s very het Doctors to contend with.

 

Robert Smith? Writes about the companions during the Hartnell Era.

 

At a zine con I must have picked up the Equalizer zine INVICTUS because such a zine is so rare. The Equalizer got me through a rough time, college, volunteering, working, all at the same time. The zine is from November 1991 and is 285 pages. It has different stories in it. The artwork is wonderful.

 

 

The Finished Product was a rough small digest size zine about BIG FINISH’s output. Issue 12 of April 2013 was about Hex, one of my favorite companions of all time, audio or not. I wonder what I did with the rest of these great zines from FINISHED PRODUCT? Truth is no one really covers the audios that well not even Big Finish itself. Oh, they put out two great books detailing a lot of their output and also a book about Benny Summerfield but those were YEARS AGO. So many releases have happened since then and no one is cataloging them except maybe TARDIS wikia. DOCTOR WHO REFERENCE GUIDE site used to but the caretaker there lost interest in DOCTOR WHO during Matt Smith and Capaldi’s time and who could blame him. What a shit era Moffat’s was.