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That was the DWM that was
Doctor Who Magazine by Jonno Simmons

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The Basics - Issue 200, 9 June 1993. The gatefold cover is artwork of the seven Doctors and the TARDIS by Alister Pearson, which is reproduced inside as a free poster. From this issue, Marcus Hearn is credited as the Assistant Editor. Every page (bar 2 pages of advertising) is in colour, including the comic strip, at no extra cost.

News And Views - The planned one-off video adventure from BBC Enterprises for the 30th anniversary has been officially cancelled. The new radio production however is due to be recorded this month, with a working title of The Paradise of Death, and is due to be transmitted on Radio 5 during August and September. Timelines is dominated by a lengthy letter from Peter Darvill-Evans defending The New Adventures from various criticisms.

Notables - The Indicia takes a break from this issue. With regular features Matrix Data Bank, Off The Shelf and Prelude absent this issue, all the features relate to David Whitaker.

Boxpops - Top of the pop charts in June 93 were the continuing Ace of Bass, (I Can't Help) Falling In Love With You by UB40 and Dreams by Gabrielle.

Skaro Says - Si Hunt recognises that this was a very special issue at an exciting time and the poster adorned his walls for many years afterwards. However, he can recall finding the historical articles on David Whitaker very tedious and uninteresting. He never liked Hearn's articles digging up dusty documents and paperwork, finding it very remote from the series itself. According to Si Hart, the cover/poster was magnificent and highlights his all time favourite picture of Tom Baker in the middle, grinning his largest, happiest most toothy grin ever! He too had that on his wall for a long time afterwards. He finds the issue itself however mostly dull, with the Whitaker stuff being worthy but a bit dreary and the story they found wasn't really very inspiring at all, sadly. The "interview" with Whitaker also says very little about anything! He likes the controversial letter from Peter Darvill-Evans. Andrew Curnow has lost his copy and can't remember anything about it!

Critique - I'm finding it much more difficult to comment on this special issue than I'd expected and that's because looking through it again it all looks like a brand new issue! At this time, I was commuting to work into London from Essex and just didn't have so much spare time to read the magazine. As a result, I'm not sure I've ever read the majority of this issue! The first thing to note is how striking the gatefold cover is, and there's a nice selection of comments from each of the Editors (two of whom hope for another two hundred issues, so they weren't to be disappointed!).

 

Looking at this issue, and glancing ahead over the next handful, there's a clear change of direction now. Gallifrey Guardian is greatly reduced in length and basically serves as a guide to what merchandise is being released. It looks like the official cancellation of The Dark Dimension made them think that the show would never come back, and they had to concentrate on the past - in greater detail than ever. Personally, I've always been interested in reading about the making of the show and "historical documents" so for my money that makes this a very valuable issue - oh, and even the comic strip is in full colour, which was a first and several years ahead of being a regular occurrence. All I have to do now is sit down and read the issue properly!

Paying the Bills


editor's note - I had this Dalek special - it was stolen when
someone pinched father's midlife crisis sports car