DWM #508: The 70s

[Stuart Wallis]

I was there at the start. Where's my pipe and slippers...?

[Rob McCow]

Of course, DWM has got shinier, slicker and better looking as it's got older.

Just like it's readers!

[Stuart Wallis]

I've just got balder, fatter and dafter...

[SiHart]

I'm certainly taller.

Si xx

[Stephen Morgan]

Just wanted to say that any day now marks exactly 30 years since I started buying the then DWW! I know that my sister and I returned to the UK from Africa on 12/05/80 and I would imagine it was the following day I would have gone to the shops with our Nan and saw DWW#31 and snapped it up. Just a couple of days later, I then got #32 and have never missed an issue since!

I'm sure that for me it'll be around December 1980 that I started buying the mag. If I'm not mistaken it's issue 47 dated December 1980 and I would have bought it on the day that John Lennon was shot (Dec 8th). I remember being in a local market that day as Lennon's music was all over the radio, and I bought the mag in WH Smiths just around the corner from the market.

[Stuart Wallis]

I'm certainly taller.

Considerably!

[Pip Madeley]

New cover:

[Si Hunt]

Good cover. Hey, wouldn't it have saved money to have used the 'masks' on the new Silurians for a different monster race? They look so good!

Si.

[Stuart Wallis]

Full scale war...

I would just like it known that I am not DWM's new gag writer - even I'm not that bad (I hope!).

[Dave Tudor]

'OMG' has finally made it to the cover of Doctor Who Magazine! You watch, they'll be 'squeeing' next.

[Rob McCow]

OMG! DWM is ruined. As if 'That bloke what played the Demon Headmaster' wasn't bad enough. Spillsbury must go!

And surely 'We lift the lid...' should be 'We unearth...' or 'We unmask...'?

[SiHart]

Unless there's lots of lids coming this week of course....

Si xx

[P-Bal]

Quick quick Miss Waterfield is up your backpage.

Apparently.

[Rob McCow]

A DWM-shaped brown envelope has arrived for Mr Hart!

[SiHart]

Seems we're back to the set reports bulking out the magazine and the more interesting stuff has been put to one side again. hey ho.

Si xx

[Captain Tancredi]

And that's without even opening the envelope...

[Rob McCow]

Oh Noes! Doctor Whos and Amiee Pounds have turned into insecteroids!

It's a shame DWM can't get preview copies of the DVD's. They end up doing their reviews a month after it's released, rather than beforehand. And we get a preview of the forthcoming DVD as well. So if you're keeping up to date with the DVDs, you get told what's going to be in it, then you can watch it, then you get told what you watched by DWM. Perhaps it's time to pull the reviews? There's never much that's new to say about any of the stories, plus they've got longer and longer over the years. I'm sure Gary Russell used to say more in 400 words than the new reviews say in 1,000.

Anyway, was there anything good in this month's DWM?

They got a lot of hate-mail about the new Dalek designs. There are 20 new Big Finish CDs to review and preview. There's some great photos of Matt Smith playing football. I might read the article about The Dream Lord. And there's Steven Moffatt's production notes where he puts himself down a lot.

[SiHart]

Graham Kibble-White's reviews do seem to take a lot of words to say not very at all. I come away more often than not unsure if he's liked the episodes or not.

Si xx

[Si Hunt]

It would be good if someone else did a few of the reviews. I read reviews of three TV episodes, then a review of the latest DVD, all by him. It felt like Kibble-White Monthly, not DWM!

I disagree with Steve about the DVD reviews though. Not all readers know all the old stories as well as us (and would even have heard of Gary Russell) just as not everyone pre-orders the DVD's so they have watched them within a week of release. If nothing else they help to promote the old series to viewers who might have bought the mag to read about the latest series on television and might have their interest piqued by reading about an old story that sounds worth checking out.

That's why it sort-of annoys me when they slate a classic series DVD, even if it deserves it. It's helping no-one - old hands KNOW which stories are on the poor side, so it only puts off new viewers from shelling out. You might of course think DWM has a duty to warn unsuspecting purchasers off "Underworld", but let's be a bit tactical here and find the best in ALL the old stories. After all, WE all had find out for ourselves which stories were the best, and it's in everyone's interest for the DVD's to sell well.

Si.

[Rob McCow]

Not all readers know all the old stories as well as us (and would even have heard of Gary Russell)

Not having heard of Gary Russell isn't neccessarily a bad thing!

Yes, I agree that the old series DVDs should have coverage. But I think the previews are more than enough to promote them and they're overwhelmingly positive. Meanwhile the reviews go on and on and generally slag them off to some extent. They're too long and don't say very much.

Another problem is when the preview says 'This is an EXCITING adventure with these AMAZING special features!' then a month later the review says 'This is an AVERAGE adventure with LARGELY POINTLESS special features!'

Perhaps it would be more useful to have a kind of guide to the story. Give out facts such as what stories follow and preceed it, what season it's from, where it came in the last DWM poll, what are the high and low points, stuff like that. Then have a shorter review to go with it.

Or anything. All I know is that I don't enjoy the reviews one jot.

[Stuart Wallis]

Quick quick Miss Waterfield is up your backpage.

Apparently.

She's not the VIP on this month's backpage. You'll find him in there somewhere...

[Rob McCow]

Actually the Debbie interview was really lovely.

Is the book out yet?

[Si Hunt]

Yes, it's just out! It's really good too, she's had an interesting life. Order it here:

http://www.fantomfilms.co.uk/books/deborah_watling.htm

Si.

[SiHart]

I should have one on the way. I'm really looking forward to reading it.

Si xx

[Anthony Williams]

I haven't bought DWM in about a year. I've just found that the quality has just got worse and worse over time - and the fact that barely anyone seems to have anything positive to say about this issue says it all! I'm glad I'm not wasting my money anymore

Ant x