The Basics - Issue 152, September 1989. The front cover has a photo of the Seventh Doctor and Daleks to tie in with the new comic strip, while the back cover pin up features Colin Baker and Jon Pertwee from The Ultimate Adventure.

News And Views - Coast To Coast have now bought all rights to produce a Doctor Who film and expect to go into production in November, with principle shooting for 3 months beginning in March 1990. Sophie Aldred was almost the victim of an accident during studio recording of Battlefield, when a pane of safety glass broke on a water-filled tank. David Saunders writes in to reply to comments about his Encyclopaedia by Gary Russell in recent editions of Off The Shelf.

Previews And Reviews - The Curse of Fenric is previewed. Off The Shelf reviews The Chase and The Daleks' Master Plan ("three excellent books; the best of the year so far"). Russell's Rateometer gives 4.5/5 for The Chase, 4/5 for Mission to the Unknown and 5/5 for The Mutation of Time.

Other Regulars - A new four part comic strip, Nemesis of the Daleks, begins, featuring the return of Abslom Daak.

Boxpops - Blackadder Goes Forth debuts on BBC1 on 28 September. Top of the pop charts in September 89 were the continuing Swing The Mood and Ride On Time by Black Box.

Critique - This was the most recent of the five issues waiting for me when I got back from my five months abroad, and although it's too long ago for me to remember clearly, I expect I would have been excited with the cover and the new epic comic strip, which was to be one of my favourite Seventh Doctor strips. Lee Sullivan draws the Daleks really well, although he couldn't quite get the Doctor right. I've always enjoyed the strips that draw on the history of the Marvel strips, and it was great to see Abslom finally come face to face with the Doctor. For once, there's no interview(s) at all in this issue, and the other highlight has to be the Barry Newberry on The Tribe of Gum piece, complete with plenty of rare photos (remember that this was still a few months before the video release too). Gary Russell was spot on with his reviews of the 3 John Peel Dalek novelisations - they were a real treat to come back to after my long time away.

The Back Page Pin Ups
You couldn't control a Nissan Micra with that console let alone a Tardis