"Dreamwatch" Ceases Publication

[Si Hunt]

"Dreamwatch" the magazine, as many of you will know, has Doctor Who connections going back almost 25 years, as it started out as a photocopied letra-setted Doctor Who fanzine in the eighties as "DWB" (Doctor Who Bulletin), before becoming a controversial and popular hit. Editor Gary Leigh continually incurred the wrath of JNT when DWB would spread rumours through its pages, campaign for his sacking (the infamous "JNT MUST GO!" issue) and spoil exclusives the show had with newspapers by taking photos of filming.

However, it was a haven for fans wanting more than the official "won't even mention it unless it's sanctioned and approved by the BBC" news in the early nineties, and is possibly the only fan-produced Doctor Who publication ever to end up as a major high-street magazine - though you wouldn't recognise the magazine today from its origins.

Subscribers have this week got a letter informing them that the magazine is ending - despite advertising a major rebrand with their next issue.

So does anyone have any DWB/Dreamwatch memories? Sorry to see it go? Or glad? It gave us the JNT backlash, "Shakedown" and photonovels. Adios!

Si.

[Rob McCow]

Hmm, I think it's a shame overall, though I've only ever bought one copy myself!

In it's heyday it was far better than DWM in some ways. Having read a few of Si's old copies, they're very entertaining and in-depth. Best of all is the rampant handbag-fighting however, the vicious storm of vitriol that used to fill its pages. Levine and Saward were obviously desperately unhappy about Who-related things at the time, fuelling the anti-John Nathan Turner brigade something rotten.

In it's later years it was a bit rubbish.

I'm surprised its folding now, as Doctor Who is back on the screens. I suppose SFX and DWM have finally torn the last shreds out of its market.

[Paul Monk]

I only have a a couple of Blakes 7 specials from the early 90's bought from the Who Shop in Salford (sadly deceased), so DWB was never a big thing for me.

[SiHart]

The problem with Dreamwatch was that once it went to the newstands it didn't really do anything very well. It was always well regarded for it's Doctor Who news and coverage, but it lost that specialism, and it;s covergae of everything else became very surface- it said alot while saying not very much at all. Rather than the lovely in depth articles it provided when it was a fanzine. Ever seen it's review section? Each review is very, very small and barely tells you anything about the product.

I remember DWB with much affection. Looking back it was always over the top- it's anti- JNT stance was rather nasty and it's no wonder he set his lawyers against it on a couple of occasions. It's coverage of the show though was brilliant- there were so many great articles that looked at the production of the series, at the archives and that covered the show in ways that other magazines at the time didn't. The interviews were always nice and in-depth, but eventually, of course, DWM took all that on board and made itself into what DWB had been- without the anti-JNT stuff! Even the telesnap archives were pioneered by DWB!

So its sad, but over the last couple of years it's always been only a matter of time.

Si xx

[Lord President]

I used to buy 'Dreamwatch Bulletin' and subsequently Dreamwatch on a semi-regular basis (mainly Who heavy issues) many years ago and always found it well-written, informative and entertaining. It will be a shame to lose one of the more fun magazines dedicated to our favourite genre.

I hope this is not the shape of things to come for similar magazines!

[Dave Tudor]

Its passing means little to me, I'm afraid. I only read a couple of issues of 'Dreamwatch' years ago, and it just seemed yet another US-obssessed cult TV magazine, which were ten-a-penny at one time, and not a very good one at that. TV Zone (incidentally, is this still going?) and SFX have done it so much better.

[Milky Tears]

This is good news for me as I'm still daft enough to buy it every month. Only missed three issues going right back to when it was still DWB in 1988.

It's the only way I'll stop buying it.

[Andrew Curnow]

I got it regularly for a couple of years in 1990 & 1991, plus got hold of some back issues during that time. I genuinely wouldn't ever say I preferred it to DWM, but it was an interesting additional read each month - it clearly had a very anti-JNT bias, and the reason I didn't continue with it into 1992 was that it genuinely started to get me down, since even after the series had ended it still seemed to like playing the "It's all JNT's fault" card very strongly.

Nevertheless, it had some excellent articles, was the place that I saw many of the telesnaps for the first time, and was perhaps that bit more 'fan-ny' than DWM at the time. I even got published in it, defending the forgotten classic of season 24...

[Captain Tancredi]

A few random recollections:

-The Power of the Daleks photonovel, which I think I'm right in saying was the first serious use of telesnaps
-A series of articles printing the ratings for Who from 1963-1989 over several issues
-A good series of previews of the major American series of the time (Next Gen, X-Files etc) in the early to mid 1990s
-John Pettigrew of Fife, a regular correspondent who seemed to have a letter in every issue.
-One of the first serious articles on 'Out of the Unknown' I ever read, shortly after it went newsstand.

[Fatso the wombat]

First one I got was DWB #99 with the "Tomb of the Cybermen" found front cover. My first reaction was that I didn't even know it was missing; first I'd ever heard about the whole malarkey.

I loved the zine, eventually managing to get a near complete (complete if you included the couple of scanned in issues) run of the 130 DWBs.

DreamWatch, well, I stopped getting it three or four years into its run as it had diverged too much from the fanzine it was; it changed into a completely different beast. But then around that time I stopped buying most zines regularly...

[Lissa]

There were two DWB books published in the mid-90s which re-print many of the classic articles and interviews from the good old days. Galaxy Four's website has them for 2.99 each.

[Dave Tudor]

I've just remembered that I do actually have those two books, and very good they are, too...

[Pip Madeley]

I remember those too - I never bought them though as they were too much for me at the time, my pocket money wouldn't stretch. I only wanted them for the telesnaps, anyway.

[Si Hunt]

Those books are superb. They've been as cheap as a fruit salad for years now, and no-one ever seems bothered about getting them! There's great articles on the missing episodes, lost stories and bits and some ace interviews with JNT, Sydney Newman etc. in the,.

Si.

[Jonno]

It was 20 years ago this month that I decided to order a block of back issues of DWB that were going for a decent price from John Fitton - covering issues 24-42 and the period from summer 1985 to winter 1986/7. They had announced a 5 month break from publishing, so having really enjoyed what I was reading, I subscribed from their return issue 43 in May 87, which had the news of the return of Evil 2 and Faceless Ones 3 on the front cover - something DWM mentioned a couple of months later.

I really loved it at this time - partly because their anti-JNT stance mirrored mine at that particular time - they savaged S24 and had been unhappy about S23, so I was in tune with thier tone (sorry Andrew!). They switched to start covering other telefantasy shows at the beginning of 1989, but not to too much detail initially and Who still dominated, which suited me.

Into the 90s and with no new Who to cover, the other shows started to take other, but their coverage of shows like Quantum Leap and ST:TNG was of interest to me anyway as I enjoyed watching them on TV.

I think it peaked from around its 100th issue up to late 1994, when Anthony Brown was the editor (I knew him at the time as we were both in the South Essex Local Group and I even proofread the articles that were in their 30th anniversary overview issue in 1993!).

Sadly, once it went newstand in late 94, the quality dropped noticeably - out went the long, indepth analytical articles and reviews and in came glossy interviews and photos (to be honest, this kind of mirrors modern DWM IMO but not quite as badly). I stuck with it till just after their 100th issue (they rebooted with issue 1 when they went newstand) in early 2003 and finally gave up with it.

So I can't say I'm sad to see it go - IMO it died a good decade ago.

[Si Hunt]

I'd forgotton all about John Fitton Jonno!

Si.

[Jonno]

Yes, they were useful for me back then because I lived in fairly remote places with no easy access to big shops, e.g. the likes of Peterborough was a good 20 miles away, and it was before I'd started to drive.

I bought the Pyramids video with them in March 87 - for the princely sum of 25, and with it edited too! But I didn't care so much back then - I was just thrilled at owning my only vintage Who to watch and watch again! I enjoyed reading their catalogues which I received regularly.

I believe that John Fitton passed away not too long ago.