TSV 75
One might think with the somewhat subdued and narrowly-focussed response to TSV‘s 75th issue and its 20th year of existence that this issue’s success is mainly down to the masterly artwork on its wraparound cover and little lese. This is an oversight – to be sure, Alistair Hughes’ cover is a striking and vivid piece, reliably faithful to its sources and composed pleasingly on the eye, and easily the best cover in recent years; inside however, there’s more going on than just the status quo.
TSV 75 is less a look back than some – ZeusBlog among them, may have predicted. Of course there’s an article by current and former editor Paul Scoones on its creation, but there’s also much of the new in the mix, and the recent – Amy Mebberson provides the highly appealing artwork accompanying the new series round-table reviews (one of the zine’s main features) and Lorna Fleming and Jez Strickley provide their own articles, respectively on the DW canon and the symboloism of the series’ traditional top-tier monsters that, while they would certainly benefit from a firmer editorial hand, are evidence of new blood. Elsewhere Chris Skerrow continues his very enjoyable voyage through the BBC Past Doctor adventures (with only one instalment remaining the series itself has been a mainstay for some issues), and Jon Preddle researches the original series’ screenings in Singapore – reading the Straits Times so we don’t have to. It’s scholarly stuff, but this sort of thing needn’t always feature in The Disused Yeti, and when it’s put together as well as this, even no news of old footage being unearthed is worth publishing. Oh, and a special mention to the continued Drabble Who Challenge section, particularly the rather fun entry by Tim Beverstock. We didn’t know you had it in you, lad!
So it’s a decent mixture of old and new, with solid long-term contributors like Jon and Neil Lambess boosting the page count while newcomers are bedded in and Ms Mebberson’s artwork gives the zine some well-needed breathing space from all those lines and lines and lines of text. There’s even some extremely fannish fun to be had with the Vote Hi Fi article linking (and I use that term very loosely) The Chase with Series Three. As an anniversary issue there’s nothing ‘special’ here (the dropped ball that is no Sylvester McCoy interview after his second visit to NZ in three years is puzzling and warrants explanation), but there’s enough for a few sessions’ read rather than a hurried cover to cover dash. And why not – after twenty years of Her Majesty’s Fanzine and with the series back on air there’s every opportunity for a leisurely leaf through the pages, right?
PA
January 19th, 2008 at 11:47 am
TSV 75′s colour cover has in my view really raised the bar for future TSV covers, and all credit to Al for creating such a great piece of work.
A couple of minor points of correction: Neil Lambess is mentioned above as one of the contributors, but other than asking a Doctor’s Dilemma question, Neil doesn’t have any items in TSV 75. Also, the article about TSV’s creation was not co-authored with Adam; that was entirely written by me.
About that ‘dropped ball’… Whilst it would have been wonderful to have had a Sylvester McCoy interview in the anniversary issue – especially considering that his Doctor Who debut coincides with TSV’s creation – sadly I never got the chance to interview him. The best I could manage was to grab an opportunity for a brief informal chat over coffee. McCoy’s schedule during his NZ visit had left him exhausted and he clearly wasn’t up to answering a set of questions ‘on the record’. This was particularly disappointing for me as it was the second time I’d missed out on getting to interview him for TSV (I’d previously tried to arrange this without success during his previous NZ visit). There are tentative plans for McCoy’s Q&A session from the event to appear on DVD, though.
best wishes
Paul
January 19th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Editor bit fixed, though I’ve left Neil in as a contributor. We’re not quibbling over amount now, are we? The man’s been with the ‘zine for a very long time, let him have the recognition of a review mention!
Back luck about Syl though – third time lucky maybe, one day?
January 20th, 2008 at 1:17 am
Oh don’t get me wrong – I’m the last to deny Neil recognition where it is due (in fact I’ve gone out of my way in the past to make sure he got a well-deserved credit where one was lacking). It just seems rather odd to me to mention his name in the context of a comment about “boosting the page count” since his sum total of four lines on one page hardly does this at all. In this respect, Edwin Patterson does a heck of a lot more to up the page count, with his seven-page “Collecting Who” article!
January 20th, 2008 at 6:33 am
Fair point, and a very good article – well done, Edwin!
January 21st, 2008 at 8:14 am
Just a query:
Which Douglas was being invoked in the LotTL cartoon? While I’ve rather enjoyed Ms Mebberson’s work, I’m afraid I can’t make the link with this one.
January 25th, 2008 at 6:59 am
It’s Douglas Adams. You can take it two ways: as the Doctor becomes Jesus at the end of episode 13, he prays for salvation from Douglas Adams, the saviour of SF who art in heaven, etc. Alternatively, he’s praying to dear old Douglas to come back to Earth and save us from bad season finales.
January 26th, 2008 at 9:04 am
Thanks for the clarification Adam, and welcome to the blog!