15

Issue 15 was RTP! on something of a roll. Issue 14 was only just history and issue 16 would arrive only a couple of months later. 2003 was a year when I had a lot of free time between coming back from Japan and before starting my teacher training. Bob the Suicidal Dalek arrived and is probably the best of the three comic series I've inflicted on readers over the years. Former Doctor Who fanzine editor Jonathan Park got his say in the interview and Pulp Who came to a final end, the entire movie having been adapted in the process.

Editorial:

Milestones

"2003.
As the series celebrates another anniversary in November it seems like a good time to look back at the other milestones that the series has reached in its time:
1963.
BBC management try to can the series before it has even screened.
1969.
The series is kicked of UK television screens and is replaced with the American export Star Trek.
1970.
The BBC have another go at axing the series.
1972.
The BBC decide to start purging their archive of Doctor Who material (see also 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976 & 1977).
1981.
The BBC decide to play around with the scheduling of the series to see how much damage they can do. Sticking it in a time slot where people can actually find it just won't do.
1983.
Producer John Nathan-Turner asks to move onto a different programme and his request is denied (see also 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988 & 1989).
1985.
BBC 1 Controller Michael Grade decides to axe the series because he doesn't like science fiction (see also The Tripods).
1986.
In a huge vote of confidence by the BBC, the series is scheduled against Coronation Street and reduced to fourteen half-hour episodes a season.
1989.
The series is axed with a promise that it will be back in 1991 ... or maybe 1992. How about 1993? No? 1994 ...?
1996.
The BBC try and fob the series off on an unsuspecting US TV network. When this doesn't work they claim that the TV Movie was a failure, despite high audience figures, and don't make any more of the series.
2001.
An non-anniversary year, of all things, and the BBC refuse to doing anything about bringing the series back to screens around the world. The bastards!!"

- Alexander Ballingall

Schrödinger's Guff

Published: August 2003
A Doctor Who Fanzine launched by Matt Kamstra & Wade Campbell in October 1997
Editor: Alexander Ballingall
RTP! Logo Design: Peter & Bridget Adamson
Front Cover: Peter Adamson
Back Cover: Garry Jackson
Internal Artwork: Peter Adamson, Alexander Ballingall, Garry Jackson, David Ronayne
Letters: Peter Adamson, Jamas Enright, Jon Preddle, David Ronayne, Sal Yardley [AKA David Ronayne]
Page Count: 52
Print Run: 25
Price: NZ$3.50

~ Contents ~

• [01] COVER
• [02] CONTENTS
• [03] The FIRST LAW of TIME
• [04] The TARDIS Manual
• [05] The BOOTCUPBOARD [Letters]
• [09] COMIC: Pulp Who - "The Master and Saucer Smith's Wife" [part 3 of 3]
• [17] ARTICLE: Doctor Who and the Cannibals
• [21] /full page advert/
• [22] ARTICLE: Cannibalism in Doctor Who
• [23] FICTION: "The Masters of Luxor" [part 1 of 6]
• [26] Doctor Joseff Zaroff's Ultimate Challenge
• [27] FICTION: "The Blue Shift"
• [28] INTERVIEW: The Right of Reply
• [33] REVIEWS: James' Corner
• [34] CARTOON: Bob the Suicidal Dalek - "Goes Online"
• [36] Doctor Who Drunken Games
• [37] ARTICLE: The Doctor on the Enterprise
• [44] FICTION: "Return to the Horror"
• [47] REVIEWS: A Big Finish
• [49] 30 Second Theory
• [52] COVER