FANDOM corner to corner 11 and 12

 

FANDOM CORNER TO CORNER 11

 

The Agony Column, of which I believe there were four, was, I just realized, a probably “GET” zine of fiction from different fandoms.

 

THE AGONY COLUMN number 2 is an excellent, well written novel that fills the entire issue. It is 82 pages and from March 1994. Issue Two, it is A SEAQUEST DSV SPECIAL ISSUE. The fic is called MINDSHADOWS by Jan Harley with wonderful illustrations by Sandra Finch and Helen Leithead. Harley must be a professional writer because this is well written and holds together. It feels like a two part episode of the series SEAQUEST. Everyone acts like they should and there is action. The writer of the zine calls it a “Hurt-comfort and wallow zine.”

 

David McCallum played a villain called Cobb in an episode of season one. Here, he escapes prison and exacts a revenge on Hitchcock. The get part falls on Krieg, who is the one Cobb captures. And poisons with a drug that will slowly kill him. There’s some get as Lucas gets banged up falling through a shaft that he uses to escape.

 

Well, done and highly recommended. Jan gets into the heads of the characters and makes it feel like it is really the characters you see on the TV screen in the episodes while taking it further in an easy going manner. It feels like a two parter from the series. The writer should be a professional writer if he or she is not already one.

 

Sometimes when I see a zine like this and an author like this, I really miss paper zines and fandom the way it used to be. A lot less fighting went on before FB and the rest.

 

BTW, the presentation is fantastic. Large print, easily readable and not crammed together on a page. On first class paper.

 

The issue came with a separate two page flyer for more zines including FISHTAILS (Seaquest) and IT’S A SIN (adult multi media zine). Event One number one featured the Tomorrow People. Event One was a zine that had each issue focus on a different show and presented detailed episode guides and character analysis, articles and artwork.

 

ANOTHER PLACE BEYOND was advertised, a 1990s TP zine.

 

COMPADRES is a buddy zine that is listed.

 

A con called TOUCH WOOD III was advertised, years and years before the awful Torchwood series so no connection.

 

FANDOM CORNER TO CORNER 12

Next up is SPINDRIFT SUPERSONIC TRANSPORT BLUE PRINTS volume 1 (not sure a Volume 2 ever happened). This is from 1990 by Richard Kreegar (see photos).

 

Rare issues of Barry Blair comic book titles: SAMURAI: DEMON SWORD number 1, ELFORD: DRAGON’S EYE number 1, ELFHEIM number 4: DRAGON’S DREAMS, ELFLORD DRAGON’S EYE number 1, ELFLORD: DRAGON’S EYE number one, and back up strip STARDUSTERS.

 

The rarities here include a VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA zine called ANCHORS AWAY. Issue 1 is 177 pages. Issue 2 is 148 pages. Stories are all female written and mostly quite well written. Only…the ladies (there is a Limerick page by a Nik so not sure that is a female or a male?) seem to go on and on about every detail and sometimes that can detract. As much as I want to know about the personal lives of these characters, knowing what cup of coffee they have or where it kept does get a bit irritating after a while. Also: and I just realized this: I don’t really watch VOYAGE for the spy drama. If I want that it is James Bond and now mostly ALEX RIDER books and there are dozens of other better spy shows out there.

 

I mostly watch and read VOYAGE for the exploration of the ocean and …truth be told…the fantastic stories. I love sea monsters, underwater bases, and aliens from beneath the sea and above it. Like it or not, these stories are almost too real world. And while I appreciate the worlds these ladies open up to us, sometimes their interpretations of Lee or Chip or Nelson’s lives doesn’t really match up to the one I picture of theirs from the TV show. I guess we all have how we would picture it, mostly because Irwin left A LOT OUT. We never meet ANY relatives of Crane, Nelson (and no the spy in THE TRAITOR doesn’t count), Chip, Sharkey, or most of the others. And when we do, as in the excellent third season episode DEADLY WATERS, (Ski’s brother) they never appear again.

 

So, yes, Irwin’s shows, mostly VOYAGE and TIME TUNNEL, lacked any personal depth to the characters in their home and personal lives. We never saw Chip date or show any interest in any female for that matter. It was all cut and dry and onto the action. I wouldn’t want VOYAGE to be all soap opera but something would have helped elevate the show. These fan fics go too far the other way.

 

Almost all of them start out intriguing and adventurous but for some reason, I lose interest quickly. For example, THE ANDERSON PAPERS is about someone setting up Crane and Chip to be shot as revenge against Nelson who turned in a former student for cheating. The whole thing becomes a story about how the two men recover from their wounds. Frankly, it starts out high energy and then quickly descends to a slow moving “hurt” “sorta comfort” story. I don’t hate this or any of these stories (and Kathy Agel’s BELOW THE SURFACE is much the same) but the sense of adventure that almost every VOYAGE (even the bad ones) had is missing.

 

There are also ways some of the characters speak that they never would. Since when did Nelson call Chip, “Son” or anything other than Chip or Mr. Morton? It doesn’t ring true.

 

The covers are magnificent and the print clear and large enough to read and the paper fine. The artwork is ranging from excellent to adequate, all great to look at.

 

The stories in issue one are: GREATEST AMERICAN SUB, ACT OF COMPASSION, BEGINNINGS, INFINITE POSSIBILITIES, HEART OF THE MATTER, MORE IN HEAVEN AND IN EARTH, TIME OUT, DEATH WISH, OPTIONS, THE HATCH, IF CHIP WERE CAPTAIN, and HERO’S SONG. All have very interesting POVs and differences. What’s really interesting are the articles as the start. One considers crossovers, the others are bios of the characters and discussion of canon. It appears Chip did like women (TURN BACK THE CLOCK? DEATH WATCH?).

 

Point is taken that the characters weren’t fully developed as far as background and personal lives, certainly not nearly as those in STAR TREK or even LAND OF THE GIANTS (Irwin’s most down to Earth show and that which had the best characters and development). This seems to hail from April 1993.

 

Issue two has THE ANDERSON PAPERS, AFTERMATH, SHADOWS PAST, A COMPACT IMAGE, THE LONG WEEKEND, 20, 000 LEAGUES UNDER PARAMOUNT, AGAINST THE WIND, A SPRAY OF STONES, and CULTURE CLASH as well as the Limericks. This is 1994. 

 

A call for issue 3 (November 1993) asks for crossovers with the Avengers, Seaquest, The X Files, the A Team, and MacGuyver.

 

The Doc (Richard Bull’s Doc?) is named Jamieson as in the original novel.

 

There are romances, follow up stories that continue on after episodes end, returns of villains, and more. I can’t say I’m particularly engrossed by any of these but I am very, very happy these ladies expand the universe of VOYAGE and Irwin Allen by doing these. I’m just not sure I can get into any of them all that much. Yet, I’m glad they and BELOW THE SURFACE and other VOYAGE fan fics exist.

 

Next up is what feels like a professional magazine: NOTHING AT THE END OF THE LANE. This issue has LOST IN THE DARK DIMENSION, WHO WAS THE ORIGINAL SARAH JANE SMITH, the 1960s RADIO TIMES series, and unproduced stories from Brian Hayles as well as new photos fro missing stories SMUGGLERS, EVIL OF THE DALEKS, ENEMY OF THE WORLD, and THE INVASION! It is issue 3 and from January 2012. It has 115 pages.

 

VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA-THE LIVING DEATH is a novelization of an episode that was never made. The PDF script is in both my public group and in the SEAVIEW CLUB group in the files.

 

 

The VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA DOSSIER is by Paul Mohamed and has a foreword supposedly from David Hedison. The only really good part of his book is the reproduced pages here of it  that detail four unproduced stories, all of which are in the files in the groups, too: KING’S GAMBIT, KING’S PEARLS, THE LIVING DEATH and THE SURFERS.

 

Phew!