The Christchurch Chapter

The above illustration from Garry Jackson (published in RTP! #2, December 1997) depicts the recently reborn Christchurch Chapter as it was at that point in time. Starting clockwise from the top right are; Garry Jackson (at that point living in Queenstown and thus not-quite-yet a member of the Chapter, although within a year or so he would be), Alexander Ballingall (current editor of RTP!), Jonathan Park (editor of the defunct Telos fanzine and co-editor of the fanzine/blog Zeus Plug/Zeus Blog), Hayden Edwards, James Gibbons, Wade Campbell (co-founder of RTP!), Matt Kamstra (co-founder of RTP!), Philip J Gray, and Graham Muir (creator of the TARDIS Tales).

The start of the newly regenerated Chapter is described here, the local Chapter seemingly dying away around 1993/94 and the mini-con CyberCon. Thus the new Chapter officially turned ten last year in May! Since then people have come and gone, the Chapter remaining roughly at the same number of people this entire decade of time (hovering as it does at meetings between six to fifteen people attending). And the format had remained equally the same as well, following the usual pattern of:

Junk food & carbonated drinks
DVDs are put on that nobody watches (unless there is something to laugh at!)
Long and loud conversations about anything and everything
An outing to a local shopping mall

In the end the meetings of the Christchurch Chapter are more a social occasion than anything else, although the advent of the new series has meant that things may change a little due to the arrival of new, younger fans (the average of the Chapter today, excluding new, younger fans fans is around 27 years of age) who are more interested in simply watching the new episodes than gas-bagging.

A Bit of Ego Stroking

Yup, photos. These graced the pages of issue 2 as what Matt Kamstra would later describe in issue 3 as 'filler', and come from a Christchurch Chapter meeting (described here). One of the last at Hayden Edward's place. The top photo is a young me (ten years ago now!), the copy of issue 1 in my hands open to my review of The Five Doctors Special Edition. The photo below it is of Graham Muir (with half of Phillip J Gray off to the left), posing with his cover art for that first issue.

Just though I'd post these so that people could see them in all their colour glory.

Birdy—The Fattest Bird in the Universe!

Bugger All to do with Doctor Who!

TARDIS Tales had come to an end in April 1997 and Graham Muir prior to that had slightly branched out by contributing a couple of pieces based around Saucer Smith to the defunct Telos fanzine. But still had stories to tell (and the editors had ganged up on him at a Christchurch Chapter meeting!).

The result was Birdy—The Fattest Bird in the Universe which was based around the adventures of Saucer's nephew Birdy, a very fat canary from Canario. Graham's biting wit from his earlier cartoon is very much in evidence and the first four stories set about taking the mickey out of adventures from the series.

After a long break (some of it caused by the hiatus) the cartoon made two more appearances, this time featuring the return of Saucer (the strip being retitled Saucer + Birdy).

And the adventures were:

• #2: in 'Revenge of a Handful of Cybermen!'
• #3: in 'Birdy's Inferno!'
• #4: in 'A Touch of Enlightenment!'
• #7: in 'A Slightly Green Death'
• #11: meet the DJ from Hell!
  
• #12: in 'The Power of a Dalek or Two'
  

Flashback - You Will Come with Usss ... (RTP! #2)

And so we come to issue 2 (December 1997). Issue 1 had been published and was avaliable at the Christchurch Chapter meeting that followed its publication. Matt Kamstra and Wade Campbell had wasted no time in beginning to work on the follow up, no doubt to demonstrate that the fanzine wasn't a flash-in-the-pan one-issue-wonder, but also because of the pressure of losing access to the computers and software of Shirley Boys' High School that had helped with the creation of the first issue.

In comparison with the first issue there were a number of changes. The page count had increased by 12 pages (and I've often wondered if that was because of the 14 page monstrosity that was Part One of Pulp Who—The Doris Situation), there were far less spelling/grammer errors and in-jokes, and in blessed relief there were also pages numbers!

Birdy—The Fattest Bird in the Universe! makes its debut (some eight months after TARDIS Tales had come to an end in TSV), Graham Muir's new strip as every bit funny and cynical as Saucer's adventures had been.

And finally, there was a list of things to expect from upcoming issues:

More installments of the immensely popular Pulp Who

An amusing suggestion given that at the time of writing such a line only the editors had read the comic!

'You WILL Obey Me!' - The Master as an Anti-Hero
'Where's My Toast?' - War and the military in the reign of the Third Doctor

A couple of articles that never materialised and it is not like Matt and Wade had the excuse that they somehow got lost in the post either ...

We're organising an interview with a Doctor Who author as we speak!

Really? Go on, pull the other leg. That one's got bells on it!

A super-competition involving you and some cool prizes!

A super-competition? And that is different from a competition, how? Not that any competition, super or otherwise, would be seen in the following issues (unless you count the Cybermat cartoon one, or the Who Farted? one ...)

None of it nearly as witty as the observation in issue 1 that 'Coming Up Next Issue' was 'Corey French's Lunch!'

In comparison to the first issue, I don't recall the Christchurch Chapter as being quite so involved in the ongoing development of the issue. However I do recall turning up at Wade's place quite late in the afternoon one day to hand over the completed first part of Pulp Who and apologising for not only being late with my delivery, but also in the fact that it was six pages longer than promised.

What I found really interesting was Matt and Wade's assertion in the Editorial that I would be stepping in as an editor while Matt ventured off to Japan. In reality I would have little to do with the editing of issue 3, but it did foreshadow the coming year ...

Pulp Who - Quick Fix Hits from the Blockbuster Media Machine

PULP (pulp) n. 1. A soft, moist, shapeless
mass of matter.

2. A magazine or book containing lurid
subject matter and being characteristically
printed on rough, unfinished paper

American Heritage Dictionary: New College Edition

WHO (hoo) n. A universe filled with
very strange people and aliens (who are
people too).

2. Something about to be turned upside
down and put through a blender

In going back over issue 2 of RTP! one can not simply go past the item that swallows a whole fourteen pages of the issue. And I'm not writing about Matt or Wade's egos either! Although I am possibly talking about my own ...

Pulp Who was not something I though as particularly radical (for want of a better word) when I offered it up to editors Matt Kamstra and Wade Campbell for consideration as part of their fanzine. It was something that I had begun purely to amuse myself during mental 'downtime' at University and to help deal with my need to draw (still an incureable affliction!) and the comic was well underway in terms of drawing by the time RTP! #1 was published, Wade making reference to it in the Christchurch Chapter update:

There was also a sneak glimpse of Pulp Who. This will no doubt shake the foundations of Serious Who.

A mammoth 50+ pages later I finished the adapation of one part of the film and didn't feel up to the task of taking on the rest of it. Luckily others were quite willing to step into the breach and adapt the rest (take a bow Peter Adamson, David Ronayne, and James Peterson).

The adapation didn't follow the time-hopping (pun intended) narrative of the film, each part instead telling one of the three stories and were published thusly:

• The Doris Situation (#2~5)
• The Gold Star (#8~11)
• The Master and Saucer Smith's Wife (#13~15)

Ten years later and the whole thing will get a polish. In additional there will be a more indepth look at how the comic came about, along with various notes and other sketches.

Cyber Guy

If anything was a surprise for myself in those early issues of RTP!, it would have to be Brendon Bennetts' contribution of the cartoon Cyber Guy.

The fanzine was in the works in 1997, which was Co-Editor Matt Kamstra's final year at Shirley Boys High School in Christchurch, and the first issue surfaced in the October of that year. The first two issues of RTP! especially (issue 2 appearing in December 1997) are mainly the work of Matt and his Co-Editor Wade Campbell, and the pair obviously quickly saw the need for other contributors. Hence they had solicited for others to contribute material at the Christchurch Chapter meetings, which led to myself, Graham Muir, and James Gibbons eventually supplying material.

But Matt, being the sometime out-of-the-box thinker that he can be, also looked in other places for potential material for the fanzine. And a natural place to look was what surrounded him five days a week, at his schoolmates at Shirley Boys who could easily be creative and at the same time had plenty of free time that those holding down a full time job don't. I've no idea which others of his friends Matt also approached (maybe none), but he did at least talk to Brendon and from that conversation came Cyber Guy.

Brendon was quite willing to admit that he wasn't a huge fan of the series, Matt acting as something of an editor and Doctor Who expert for the cartoon, and this fact is readily demonstrated by the cartoon, which takes very few cues from the series itself for points of humour. Instead Cyber Guy simply uses the more publicly acknowledged 'flaws' of the series as the basis for events (Daleks and stairs, Cybermen and gold etc.)

After the promo in issue 1 (see the start of this post), Cyber Guy launched in issue 2 and rolled fairly regularly along for the next few issues:

• #2: Cyber Guy picks up fish n' chips for the 'Invasion of Fort Knox After Party'
  
• #3: Cyber Guy reports to the Cyber Controller the results of the invasion
• #4: Cyber Guy has a phone bill to pay and the Doctor makes an appearance
• #5: Cyber Guy is captured by the Doctor and the Daleks appear [2 pages]
• #6: The Daleks use the Doctor and Cyber Guy to attack Santa [4 pages]
• #8: Cyber Guy becomes the Doctor's companion [3 pages]
• #9: The Doctor decides to replace Cyber Guy with a new companion
• #10: Things get very strange [2 pages]

After issue 10 RTP! went into it's infamous hiatus, which sort of prevented further Cyber Guy adventures. When the fanzine returned in 2002 Brendon was offered the opportunity to bring the cartoon back for further adventures, but, perhaps wisely, turned the offer down to focus on other things. Still, the cartoon gave readers a different look at the universe of Doctor Who and will possibly be always remembered as one of the more enjoyable parts of the early years of the fanzine.

"Cyber Guy had me laughing out loud—that caricature of Ace was brilliant. Oh, how I've ached to see that fate befall her!"
- Alistair Hughes (Letters page, RTP! #6)

Fanzines Reviewing Fanzines - RTP! #1

RTP! hasn't been blessed with many reviews, mainly because of the tiny readership and the tiny number of printed fanzines that exist these days to even review it in the first place. But it has managed to garner a handful of reviews, one of which was for the very first issue. Published in TSV #52 was the following review:

REVERSE THE POLARITY #1

The Christchurch Chapter of the NZDWFC, under the guiding influence of Matt Kamstra and Wade Campbell, has launched its own quarterly publication to replace Telos as New Zealand's only South Island Doctor Who fanzine. Like TSV, this 32 page fanzine is A5 with a colour card cover. The artwork is by TSV regulars Garry Jackson and Graham Muir, and the content is the usual mix of reviews and short articles, for the most part written Matt and Wade. The computer printed pages are nicely laid out, although it would have benefited from proof-reading to catch some of the typos. The informal humour, aimed at members of the Christchurch Chapter which is prevalent throughout most of the issue might leave readers outside that social group feeling a little left out.

- Paul Scoones

Looking back ten years later I have to admit that Paul was extremely easy going on the first issue. 'typos'? The issue didn't even remember to number the pages and he was worried about typos! 'informal humour?' Well, the majority of the issue was written by two seventeen-year-old fans, one of whom (Matt) has repeatedly described himself as akin to fan-lite due to his lack of in-depth knowledge of the series, who relied on what they did know well—the Christchurch Chapter. But, Paul's comment does aim true nethertheless and was taken heed of for the second issue.

At this point all that can be said is a big thank you to Paul for taking the time to even review the fledgling fanzine and for all the support and guidance that he has lent it these past ten years.

So, thank you, Paul Scoones. Take a bow!

Flashback - How I Got Where I Am Today (RTP! #1)

In many ways, RTP! was something that sort of snuck up on me ...

I have memories of the 1983 screening of Black Orchid, but became a fan with the 1985 'repeat' run. I'd joined the NZDWFC in December 1989 (getting my first issue of TSV (#17) the following January) after my not-quite-yet Step-father spotted a flyer for the club at the Christchurch Central Library, and attended a few Christchurch Chapter meetings till they came to a halt with the fall out from WhoCon 1990. I can still vividly recall the meeting that was advertised in TSV #18. After that there were a few sporradic events (such as the two-day CyberCon 1993) and then the Chapter seemed to fade away as more time passed without the series making a comeback and many fans having new priorities in life (I on the other hand would have been at least ten years younger than most attendees and the organisers).

1996 and the series returned with the US TV Movie with the Pertwee Logo. There were two Christchurch meetings set up to screen the movie in June, one organised by Andrew Poulsen (co-founder of the NZDWFC and one-time editor of TSV, and the other by Wade Campbell. While Andrew's screening was made up of mostly the older crowd of Christchurch fans, Wade's was of the younger generation that I belonged to. However I unable to attend Wade's meeting due to a prior commitment, although Wade did later recount a little of the day in his column Wade's World in Telos #15 (April 1997):

Our first meeting was primarily to screen the abomination that was the TV Movie, but I hadn't planned on Mr 'Vanished Without a Trace' Andrew Poulsen having a screening as well. It was virtually too late to cancel ours and I had put too much effort into it to help Andrew. Andrew's was the day before ours so attendance was small at 7, but most of us came back, except Gavin who we think we see now and again, but never at the Chapter event. That day, the food from Hayden [Edwards'] kitchen was drawn to at least one person's stomach who no less tried to cover up his tracks at later meetings by handing out free TARDIS Tales ... whoops! We talked, enjoyed ourselves and traded a little (does the Editor [Jonathan Park] remember the Dalek foil incident?) and even got into discussions about White Darkness, the culprit being James. The day ended with Graham clutching his video collection shouting 'NO! They're mine!'

Although I missed out on this first meeting, I was able to attend the next (dragging my friend Josh along - one of the bad guys along with Corey in the infamous video adventure we recorded). This was still 1996 and as Jonathan had yet to throw the towel in over Telos, the fanzine that became RTP! was not yet a gleam in Matt and Wade's eyes. In the same column and issue Wade recounts:

The second meeting was at Hayden's again and attendance peaked at ten [we've since managed to reach about fifteen]. This time we actually interacted with each other. Somehow Resurrection Of The Daleks over-ran by three episodes. Ask James [Gibbons] what happened - we weren't watching! I volunteered to go and get the fish and chips when Phillip J Gray brought out an episode of The Tomorrow People, allowing enought time for it finish before I got back.

My memories of that Saturday afternoon, the one at which I met Matt and Wade for the first time (I had already met Graham at other meetings in the past like CyberCon 1993), is of it raining heavily and of the dark wood of Hayden's home giving everything a slightly dark and oppressive air. Still, despite none of us knowing each other very well (apart from Graham and Phillip) we were able to settle quickly into the mayhem that is now the Christchurch Chapter. Meeting cliches, such as putting on a Doctor Who video in order to watch one episode of a story, only to get talking and suddenly find it is 90 minutes later and James has sat inches from the TV and watched the entire story while the rest of us have talked (see Resurrection Of The Daleks, Planet Of Fire, The Invasion Of Time), were quickly set.

Matt and Wade might just have had some idea that Telos was coming to an abrupt end with the issue published in April 1997, because as early as April 19th, they already had a flyer advertising the publication of issue 1 of The Scrolls of Rassilon in May of that same year. Described as being 'For Cantabrians, by Cantabrians' and 'Featuring the cream of Canterbury writers: Phillip J Gray, Graham Muir, Julian Vance', this was Matt and Wade's attempt to fill the emerging gap caused by Telos folding. That Phillip never wrote for issue 1 (or any issue for that matter!) may or may not have been a contributing factor in delaying the issue till October 1997.

That April meeting, one of the last that Jonathan attended - there is a photo of the eight of us (Graham, Phillip, Matt, Wade, James, Hayden, Jonathan, myself) standing together somewhere, was the one where Matt and Wade pitched the coming fanzine to the rest of us. I promised a couple of pieces of fiction (written back when I was in Fourth Form at High School!) and a review for the issue. Others were less comitted to contibuting. The most obvious reason for the five month delay is easily spotted when you open issue 1 and see who contributed. Beyond artwork from Graham and Queenstown resident Garry Jackson, only the Magic Eye from Jamie Campbell and my own material were not done by Matt and Wade themselves.

I do recall the creation of the distinctive cover from Graham. It was at another Chapter meeting at Hayden's and after getting the rest of us to watch episodes 1 and 2 of The Space Museum, Graham was marched to the dining room table and watched like a hawk till he'd drawn the cover art and the picture of Saucer from page 17.

Issue 1 first went on sale (a snap at $2!) at the October Chapter meeting, possibly the last meeting we ever had at Hayden's place of residence, and a couple of photos from that meeting appeared in Issue 2, page 14 (myself in the top photo, Graham in bottom one). I purchased a copy, partly to help support the fanzine (something I'd possibly come too late to help with for Telos), partly to sooth my ego and have a copy of my published material, and partly because I'd been working on something for the next issue and the fanzine had to survive for it to ever see print (I'd never considered submitting it to TSV as I didn't think it would pass the censors) ...