The Oranges of Zeus Plug

orangesPart Two: The Pitch

In our continuing look back on the life of our yearling predecessor, here’s Jono’s emailed pitch (dated 20 February 2006) to fan creators outlining what form Zeus Plug would likely take. For the most part the contents stayed the same, although there were some added – Jumping the Quark being a notable one, and of course Fast Return was yet to be born. On the other hand ‘Scenes We Love’ became ‘Classic!’ and ‘For And Against’ didn’t eventuate (I think I just didn’t want to talk about Jackie Tyler then. Love her now though) In all we stuck to our guns, but of course once the Blog was born – well, watch those principals vanish! Oh, and the self-addressed envelope thing as I recall came from the lack of Rotorua chapter for Dave, but there may have been a Palmerston North fan interested as well. hey, we weren’t monsters, you know!

Hi,

ZEUS PLUG, an NZ Doctor Who micro-zine, is due to be launched at the end of March. Pete and I have been developing this over the last six months, and would like to give you an idea of how this new ‘zine will have its own place in the NZ Who fanzine market.

WHAT WE ARE
Zeus Plug is not TSV, and it’s not RTP. To make a somewhat lame analogy, TSV is the solid meat and three veg, RTP is the crazy vegan platter, and Zeus Plug is the play lunch your Mum made you – fun, irreverent, clever, easily digestible and ultimately disposable. ZP is not meant to be a collector’s item – the last thing that we expect is that people will hold on to our issues for very long. In fact, the aim will be for them to be a solid 15 minute read. Nothing more.

WHO DOES WHAT
I’m going to be editing this puppy overall, with Pete looking after the visual layout of each issue, and involved editorially.

WHAT YOU WON’T SEE IN ZEUS PLUG
Story files
Review sections (although we might do the odd new TV story)
New / Missing Adventures
Big Finish
Fan fiction
Articles that are actually lists
Interviews, including with NZ fans

CONTRIBUTIONS
Zeus Plug will be made up from a core group of regular contributors, rather than from unsolicited material. There are two fanzines already for people to have their work published, so there’s no need for another. There is no minimum commitment to contribute, but on various occasions there will opportunities for involvement in a number of regular features, which include:

1) I’VE NEVER SEEN… Picking a DW story you have never seen, giving your impressions before, during and after.

2) SCENES WE LOVE – That moment you adore from a Doctor Who story – anything from a line of dialogue, to an FX shot or an entire scene. What and why!

3) FOR AND AGAINST – A one sentence statement (eg: Jackie Tyler is essential to the new series) is the subject of a mini-debate – one person stating why they agreed, the other person opposite.

There will also be regular spaces for opinion pieces, but we must stress the importance of conciseness in all articles – there is limited space, so opinions should be well thought out, and to the point.

We suggest 500 words maximum. If you can’t contain your argument in that many words, you’re probably saying too much.

SIZE
No 100 page epics – instead, Zeus Plus will be the equivalent 8 A5 pages long – hence the easily digestable tag. In a nutshell, it’s 2 A3 pages of content, folded into a handy pocket sized A6!

TIMING
Zeus Plug will be published monthly on the last day of each month, with deadline being the 15th of that month. The first issue will be out on March 31 .

DISTRIBUTION
Zeus Plug will be available free of charge to anyone who sends a stamped self-addressed envelope to the ZP address. It will also be sent to any current NZ chapters for distribution at meetings.

Hope that gives you an insight into what we’re doing. If you want to know any more, or would like to put your hand up to be involved, please email me.

Regards,

Jono

PA

2 Responses to “The Oranges of Zeus Plug”

  1. the_other_dave Says:

    I don’t think I ever actually sent any envelopes… should I bung off a book of then current 45 cent stamps?

  2. Foo Says:

    Ahhhh, Jackie Tyler…and to think, I thought at one stage that she and Mickey were going become more than friends!

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