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I've recently acquired some Doctor Who fanzines from the mid-1970s, and thought that some people might like to see how things were done over thirty years ago, long before internet fandom. In the mid-1970s Doctor Who fandom was moving away from a small-scale enterprise, where one fan ran a newsletter-based fan club with the support of the production office, to one where there were several fanzines and a larger club, the Doctor Who Appreciation Society (DWAS) publishing the main fanzines, running conventions, and acting as the main noticeboard for other fanzines and local group meetings with the blessing of the production office.
TARDIS began in spring 1975, published by Andrew Johnson who already had a comics and Sf/fantasy film zine called Starzine underway. Response to the first issue of TARDIS - whose contents were a tribute to William Hartnell, an interview with Terry Nation and an article on The Six Million Dollar Man - seems to have taken Andrew by surprise, and he reported in the second issue - published November - that he hadn't been able to include everything sent to him, was becoming disillusioned with the new "stereotyped and cliche-ridden" series ("the current Dr Who adventure is the one concerning Mummys and Pyramids (I can't for the life of me remember the title)" ), and was handing over to enthusiastic contributor Gordon Blows. I've reproduced both Andrew's cover and Gordon's interview with Malcolm Hulke from the second issue.
Gordon threw himself into publishing TARDIS as regularly as possible and from May 1976 the zine became the fanzine of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society. I've included the cover of the July issue here, plus what was being reported as news that month - Target's book schedule, the departure of Elisabeth Sladen, and the political state of Who fandom that summer - plus the start of an article on Sontaran anatomy. The contributors list includes a lot of people who remain prominent in Doctor Who fandom to this day.
I've included these as a form of online museum only, and if any of the originators would like them taken down, let me know.
TARDIS began in spring 1975, published by Andrew Johnson who already had a comics and Sf/fantasy film zine called Starzine underway. Response to the first issue of TARDIS - whose contents were a tribute to William Hartnell, an interview with Terry Nation and an article on The Six Million Dollar Man - seems to have taken Andrew by surprise, and he reported in the second issue - published November - that he hadn't been able to include everything sent to him, was becoming disillusioned with the new "stereotyped and cliche-ridden" series ("the current Dr Who adventure is the one concerning Mummys and Pyramids (I can't for the life of me remember the title)" ), and was handing over to enthusiastic contributor Gordon Blows. I've reproduced both Andrew's cover and Gordon's interview with Malcolm Hulke from the second issue.
Gordon threw himself into publishing TARDIS as regularly as possible and from May 1976 the zine became the fanzine of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society. I've included the cover of the July issue here, plus what was being reported as news that month - Target's book schedule, the departure of Elisabeth Sladen, and the political state of Who fandom that summer - plus the start of an article on Sontaran anatomy. The contributors list includes a lot of people who remain prominent in Doctor Who fandom to this day.
I've included these as a form of online museum only, and if any of the originators would like them taken down, let me know.
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