Fanzines Reviewing Fanzines - TSV #75

Another review of TSV from the pages of RTP!:

TSV #75 (December 2007)

Seventy-five issue, twenty years, and a full-colour, wrap-around cover to boot. TSV clocks in for issue 75 with three main articles: a review of Series Three, a look back at the PDAs of the Fourth and Fifth Doctors, and a dig into the broadcast of Doctor Who in Singapore. Beyond this the issue is dotted with some smaller items, yet nothing from all of this leapt out as an immediate must read.
The best part of the issue was the follow up to the ‘Drabble Who’ challenge with some amusing entries and Amy Mebberson’s art additions to the fanzine. I feel that TSV still needs more art to help break up the pages of text that can sometimes be a little daunting to look at. Jon Preddle’s ‘Singapore Who’ took a little getting into, but proved interesting in the end. Will there be follow ups or are there no other screening histories that Preddle has access to?
The rest of the issue was something I came back to a little while later, Chris Skerrow’s review of the PDAs of interest to me primarily because I’ve only ever read about a half dozen of them. Unfortunately as a result of this lack or merchandise, Edwin Patterson’s guide to purchasing the stuff was of little interest, but I presume it to be a fairly accurate and comprehensive guide to spending your hard earned dosh.
I’m still not sure what I’m waiting for in TSV, but I keep feeling like some ‘zing’ is needed.

— Alexander Ballingall

Read other reviews of the same issue here and here.

Fanzines Reviewing Fanzines - TSV #74

From the latest issue, a review of the recent issue of TSV ...

TSV #74 (April 2007)

A new issue of TSV, hooray! The last issue clocked in almost a year ago and much has changed since then. The issue marks the first time that the fanzine has gone without a news section, meaning that it jumps straight in with the main stuff. In the process though the letters page seems to have gone missing and I have to ponder if that is another sign of the apathy that is creeping into fandom.

If you ignore the Series 2 review section then the reviews part of the fanzine seems much more restrained which is great (although rather hypocritically the latest issue of RTP! (#24) has probably the biggest review section ever to date!) This should leave space for other things, but for whatever reason the issue feels a tad on the empty side. I’ve no idea what gives me that feeling, nor how it could be remedied but it is there.

Of the material that does fill out the issue, David Lawrence’s herculean effort with the EDAs stands out as a very readable slog through books I’ve never read (except for Father Time). The article works and remains interesting and informative despite no real knowledge of the books and that is a testament to David’s writing.

Jamas Enright’s ‘Drabble Challenge’ is hugely amusing and he easily sums up each era, hitting the right quirks in order to sell each piece effectively. A very amusing romp through a series of never-quite-happened adventures. New regular artist Amy Mebberson livens up the issue with her chumblie pic and the interview with Jon Older (a slightly more obscure member of the Doctor Who production team) proves to have some interesting nuggets in it.

All in all it does feel like Adam has really begun to get a grip on the fanzine and make it his own. Issue 74 feels far smoother and refined as the previous couple of issues have done, and bodes well for the future of the fanzine. With the new series in a third season already and TSV back in its stride once more, we can look forward to great things from future issues under Adam’s tenure as editor.

Now all it needs is to deal with that perennial bugbear of all fanzines—more contributors to help give each issue a little more variety. Still, let’s hope that TSV continues to hang around to serve NZ fandom as well as it has always done.

- Alexander Ballingall

Read another review of the same issue here.