The Basics - Issue 160, May 1990. The front cover is artwork of the Third Doctor and the Ice Warriors by Alister Pearson, a giant poster of which is included inside.

News And Views - No official announcement on the future of the programme will be made until late Spring, although no new stories will go into production this year. A future series could see some recording in Canada. BSB have started to show DW from the start on their Galaxy channel, starting on cable on 25th March, with satellite to follow from 29th April. A series of McCoy repeats on the BBC is under consideration for the Autumn, when Star Trek : The Next Generation is expected to begin transmission. W H Allen has sold the Target imprint to an un-named multinational company.

Notables - The 26th Season Survey Results are published, with the winners as follows :-

Best Story - Curse of Fenric, Survival, Ghost Light, Battlefield

Best Episode - Curse of Fenric 4

Best Actor - Nicholas Courtney

Best Actress - Jean Marsh

Best Villain - The Master

Best Monster - The Destroyer

Best Writer - Ian Briggs

Best Music - Mark Ayres

Best Director - Alan Wareing

Best Visual FX - Survival

Best Costume Design - Curse of Fenric/Ken Trew

S26 Hall Of Fame - Sylvester McCoy

Favourite Doctor - Sylvester McCoy

Reviews - Off The Shelf reviews the novelisation of An Unearthly Child ("one of those totally unimpressive Terrance Dicks efforts"), the video of the same story ("terrific quality and well presented"), the video of The War Games ("ten vintage episodes; an epic feel") and the novelisation of Remembrance of the Daleks ("simply the best Target book of the last ten years, if not the best of all").

Boxpops - Children's sci-fi comedy series Kappatoo debuts on ITV on 23rd May. Top of the pop charts in May 1990 were the continuing Vogue and Killer by Adamski.

Skaro Says - Paul Clement never liked the poster that came with this issue, but Alister Pearson was never his favourite artist. He always liked reading the poll results, as it was his only way of knowing fandom's opinions, and is surprised that McCoy got the Favourite Doctor vote. Sidesk felt at the time that it was inevitable as McCoy had almost won it the year before. Both Si Hunt and Ant Cox had the poster on their respective walls for some years. Si thought it was nice that McCoy was the favourite Doctor, and wasn't surprised given that he was the contemporary one. He was surprised though at how well Survival did.

Critique - I've always loved Pearson's artwork, so this makes for a great cover (and poster) for me. It's intriguing now to note that news item about recording in Canada - did they know something that long ago?! I think I was surprised at the time to see McCoy get the favourite Doctor vote, though I think it was a reflection of the high regard fandom had (and still has) for S26. Rather amusingly, at the end of the round up of Survey results, the author signs off saying "I look forward to hearing from you all after Season Twenty-Seven."! It's interesting to see that DWM relented, and included small reviews of the four S26 stories by different reviewers, as they had been slightly criticized for not having reviewed the stories at the time of transmission. There's a lovely moment in Episode Two of Train-Flight between the Doctor and Sarah where he explains that he had no choice about bundling her out of the TARDIS, and that he later changed the rules about outsiders when he became President - a great continuity touch. With the conclusion of the S26 Guide including a Ratings Analysis, this makes for another excellent issue.
Paying the Bills