April 8th, 2018
62 comments
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Doctor Who Magazine Issue 524
RUSSELL T DAVIES, STEVEN MOFFAT, PAUL CORNELL AND JENNY T COLGAN DISCUSS THEIR NEW TARGET BOOKS IN THE LATEST ISSUE OF DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE
Steven Moffat tells DWM: “I asked [Russell] why he was doing a novelisation, and he said, ‘Because when we’re very old, this will matter more to us than the show.’ Well, fair enough. But also, The Day of the Doctor was such a monster of a show to do, and almost certainly the biggest success I’ll ever have – so I wasn’t letting someone else do the final lap!”
Also in this issue…
RUSSELL T DAVIES
The former showrunner returns to write this issue’s Production Notes column.
GALLIFREY ONE
Inside the Los Angeles convention that’s renowned as one of the greatest Doctor Who events in the world.
DOCTOR WHO INFINITY
An exclusive preview of the ambitious new game starring Michelle Gomez as Missy and Ingrid Oliver as Osgood.
OUT OF THE TARDIS
Impressionist and Doctor Who fan Jon Culshaw answers randomly selected questions from the TARDIS tin.
PETER MILES
The life and career of the actor who played Nyder in the classic 1975 story Genesis of the Daleks.
BBC RECORDS & TAPES
All the Doctor Who releases from the record company run by the BBC from the late 1960s to the early 1990s.
DOCTOR WHO LOGOS
The untold story behind the creation of Doctor Who’s 2010-17 logo.
KLAUS JOYNSON
The DJ and drummer is interviewed about his remarkable Doctor Who-themed album New Adventures in Time & Space.
COSPLAY
Christel Dee’s guide to cosplaying the Doctor’s distinctive orange spacesuit.
THE FACT OF FICTION
Exploring the hidden depths to the 2015 story Sleep No More.
THE CLOCKWISE WAR
Part one of a new comic strip adventure written by Scott Gray and illustrated by John Ross.
PLUS…
News, previews, book and audio reviews, competitions, The Blogs of Doom and much more!
Doctor Who Magazine 524 is on sale now, price £5.99.
You can keep up to date with Doctor Who magazine, see larger images of this and other covers on their Facebook Page Here Or you can now follow them on twitter.
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Stevennn
April 10th, 2018 - 7:57amI’ve got ever Doctor Who Magazine since December 1999; I’ve subscribed since 2013 and I usually sit for hours reading it once it’s through the door. I flicked through this on Thursday and I haven’t picked it up since. I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks it’s getting a bit stale under the new editor.
Derek Hicks
April 7th, 2018 - 7:07am6 pages on a convention! 4 on jon culshaw another 4 on cosplay, and an article on music that was covered in a special edition last year. Come on! And the Fact of Fiction is incoherent. I think I`ll stick to the Complete History.
Anonymous
April 8th, 2018 - 10:44amIt is a shame that UK conventions and comic cons don’t get featured at all when it is a British show.
Anonymous
April 8th, 2018 - 10:55amYes this use to be a very good mag, but now I’d only read a couple of articles, the mag gets more desperate with things to fill it with, wouldnt waste money on it any more.
Demdike@CultLabs
April 8th, 2018 - 3:44pmIt’s the worst issue in memory as far as i’m concerned.
Even the Fact of Fiction is Sleep No More.
No chance i would have bought it had i not been a subscriber. That’s the first time i’ve ever said that in all the years the mag has been going.
Derek Hicks
April 8th, 2018 - 11:01pmPlease put `Fact of Fiction` back as it was.
100,000 BC
April 12th, 2018 - 12:38pmEh, I think that anything that’s run as long as DWM has will have dips in quality, and right now, when the old era seems long gone and we don’t really have any information about the new era, seems like the time for that.
I do think it’s a mistake not having any regular columns, as they can provide something to talk about whatever the state of the show is, like Jac Rayner in Relative Dimensions – and whatever happened to the Time Team?? I mean, we have Christel’s cosplay column, but that only applies to a very specific sort of fan, rather than being something that everybody can read with interest.
Perhaps they could do a second “Production Notes” column, which alternates between people from Titan, Big Finish etc.
The Flying Shark
April 5th, 2018 - 6:50pmReally like this issue, the redesign is a bit blocky in places but it’s the most satisfied I’ve been with one of Marcus Hearn’s issues.
The Gallifreyan Whovian
April 5th, 2018 - 4:45pmSomething which everyone’s overlooked here (cover wise) is that they’ve used a nice new high-res unreleased image of 11 from the ‘Cold War’ photoshoot. Nice touch DWM, you guys should do that more often!
Pip’s Plinth
April 5th, 2018 - 5:40pm10 from The Waters of Mars is unreleased too
Doctor Mysterio
April 4th, 2018 - 5:06amI still enjoy the magazine and get it each month tbh. However, I have also noticed that whenever I show it to non-Who fans they are usually completely surprised about how much content there is and how much merchandise is available each month. The only feature almost everyone questions as to why it is in there is the comic strip, which I have to say I have been skipping over for some time myself. Perhaps more standalone stories would appeal to me more but I’m not sure.
As for the cosplay tips, they also feel out of place in the magazine where most of the content is more mature. Maybe an occasional box out on the letters page would have sufficed, if they must, but it certainly shouldn’t be on the cover as a selling point.
Anonymous
April 4th, 2018 - 4:52amIf there has to be any cosplay tips, why mention it on the cover – it just sounds tacky, and the feature itself seems too linked to the ironically named ‘fan show’ that no one is really a fan of. Is there a better sounding name for ‘cosplay’ that doesn’t make people dressing up as their favourite characters sound infantile?
John Baker
April 4th, 2018 - 11:13amCostume
Dress-Up
Wearing
Anonymous
April 6th, 2018 - 9:31pmIt’s EXTREMELY tacky… and the fan show, god what dribble they come up with, I’ve seen better online presence from a hard boiled egg…
Eoghan D
April 3rd, 2018 - 5:57pmPeople are complaining about the cosplay, not a fan of it myself but what’s really bothering me after last month was that terrible tardis tin interview feature; useless questions! The magazine is brilliant but even better if they reduced the amount of padding in each issue!
Mr DVD
April 4th, 2018 - 12:03pmThe Tardis tin was something the magazine did years ago. The new editor must have liked it so brought it back.
whovian
April 3rd, 2018 - 5:48pmI’m sorry, but someone’s got to say it. If Christopher Eccelston wants to distance himself from Doctor Who, why is he even on the cover? After what I’ve heard and read over the last few days, it’s surprising to me that he allows th BBC to still use his image even though “they blacklisted” him.
booboo
April 3rd, 2018 - 5:53pmprobably part of his contract from day one, if he approved that image (and all other seen images) at the time the BBC and licence holders can use it indefinitely
same reason character can keep releasing his already approved figure, if they were to do a completely new sculpt he could refuse it
Demdike@CultLabs
April 3rd, 2018 - 1:53pmI quite like that cover to be honest.
Demdike@CultLabs
April 3rd, 2018 - 2:00pmIt’s also interesting that the most popular two Doctors – David and Matt – are slightly in front of the other two.
Big Bang Two
April 3rd, 2018 - 3:17pmNot really, it just makes for a better composition.
Doctor Stu
April 3rd, 2018 - 7:01pmTenant should be front and center
G
April 3rd, 2018 - 8:55pmNot particularly. All they have done is order the Doctors chronologically (9, 10, 11, 12).
Anonymous
April 3rd, 2018 - 12:03pmGreat to finally see a good cover art for the first time in ages. Would be better if the logo weren’t gold though. I guess they have no choice there..
The Legend Doctor
April 3rd, 2018 - 11:04amGuys, You’ve got to realise that Series 11 has been kept under wraps by Chris Chibnall and Doctor Who Magazine is BBC Studios’ Official Doctor Who Magazine, so obviously they wont spoil anything for Series 11 if Chris Chibnall has said no leaks just yet, the covers will probably get massively better when the series starts or even a few months before when we get a TARDIS Interior reveal and Jodie’s Sonic, I’m sure we’ll see her on the front cover pointing it! So don’t feel sad that your not seeing in your opinion “rubbish covers” It’s actually not that bad in my opinion,
Anonymous
April 3rd, 2018 - 12:32pmI think the covers have been 10/10 since the relaunch. Much better than the plain ones.
G
April 3rd, 2018 - 8:57pmYou can tell that the DWM team are getting more creative with the covers. Since the relaunch, I think the new logo has made the cover more focused and has allowed for the cover designer to have the freedom to be more creative.
Alex
April 3rd, 2018 - 10:09amOk, seriously, this is a magazine for fans, and fans make a wide array of people. There’s always been stuff to skip in the magazine, and this is nothing new.
Doctor Stu
April 3rd, 2018 - 10:37amExactly, I don’t read any of the cosplay stuff because it’s not something that interests me at all but I’m not going to suddenly say oh let’s bin the whole magazine because there’s something in it I don’t want to read. Just like I didn’t completely write off Doctor Who when stupid parts like ‘permission to squee, his name is doctor who and the whole of in the forest of the night happened’
Judooning
April 3rd, 2018 - 9:30amI have seen no change in the way articles are written and presented from the last issue to the issues I bought in 2013 to 2017 (Bought my first issue when it was the 50th Anniversary special).
People are now judging the whole magazine based on a new feature of cosplay?
Alex
April 3rd, 2018 - 10:09amApparently.
Bern
April 3rd, 2018 - 9:14am100% agree with comments below. Cosplay & blogs of doom are both utter rubbish and filling in pages where we used to get interesting facts on the show – I’ve not read Time Team for last couple of years as that seemed pointless so now it’s getting to approx half the mag that I skip past… something needs to be done!
Shaun
April 3rd, 2018 - 10:32am…Hmmm – hyperbole is alive and well “…getting to approx. half the mag”. 7 pages out of 80+ … not even 10%! I find the tendency to moan in these comments a bit sad. I’ve read the magazine since it was Doctor Who Weekly and there have been many things over the years that have enamoured me and many things that I’ve been less bothered about. I’m not that keen on the cosplay articles and blogs of doom, but it doesn’t bother me – the rest of the content more than makes up for it in my opinion. All fans are different and I like the fact that the magazine celebrates many different angles, and always has done. What we could do with are more B&W photos of fish people with red-edged eyes!
Mr DVD
April 4th, 2018 - 12:12pmI don’t understand why the magazine didn’t see fit to bring back the original ‘Time Team’ to review and comment on ‘The Enemy of the World’ and ‘The Web of Fear’. It may have brought new and fresh analysis from there original viewing of audio and telesnaps.
Jack Snelling
April 3rd, 2018 - 8:56amSince Tom left as editor, something is happening to the mag. The content is varying in quality and this cover doesn’t look great. As well as this, the spines of the issues used to all have different colours for the issue number but now they just seem to be the same each issue. I hope the quality can get better
Alex
April 3rd, 2018 - 9:40amTo be fair, across the whole show there’s been dodgy covers, I’d hardly say this one bad cover is indicative of an endemic.
John Baker
April 3rd, 2018 - 8:15amIs it just me or I didn’t buy a single issue last year, apart from when series 10 was on and you got previews, but now has something happened to the mag, it seems off, I know they changed the editors but this seems wrong (it’s not the logo)
Derek Hicks
April 3rd, 2018 - 5:26amI fear the mag is turning into a fanzine. And all the `special editions` and `essentials` are becoming very repetitious. They`ve even ruined my favourite article ` Fact of Fiction`. Such a shame, I`ve been buying the mag since issue 1 and this is the most disappointed I`ve been with the content. Maybe it`s just age. Hey nonny.
Anonymous
April 3rd, 2018 - 7:00amIt’s just your age.
WhovianNews
April 3rd, 2018 - 7:17amNo, it’s not your age. I’m 14, and I completely agree. The covers and content has declined intensely with quality since the previous editor left.
John Baker
April 3rd, 2018 - 8:16amThe did change editior recently
Has this got something to do with it
Derek Hicks
April 3rd, 2018 - 1:09pmWhat are cosplay going to give us next? Adric`s pyjamas?
Anonymous
April 3rd, 2018 - 1:18pmWhoviannews its your age too
Anonymous
April 3rd, 2018 - 2:31amI must say, The more things I see it on the more I love the new 2018 logo…
ed
April 2nd, 2018 - 9:09pmCosplay is attract the real young readers who just look at the pix. Didn’t DOCT RHWO ADVENTURES mag close-down?
BTW Love the TARGET new books’ covers. Great retro. Who is the artist?
Anonymous
April 2nd, 2018 - 11:03pmI know. It’s like YouTube never happened… Do we really need this in the magazine? Something seems to have gone wrong after many years of getting things right. Is this a new direction for the entire brand I wonder?
Tom Baker Plush
April 2nd, 2018 - 11:54pmI don’t think it’s a bad thing tbh. It’s there for the people who want to read it and would get something out of it, those who don’t wanna read it don’t have to. It’s opening the magazine up to a wider audience and that can’t be a bad thing
Anonymous
April 2nd, 2018 - 6:53pmThis cover looks very badly cobbled together
Thommo
April 2nd, 2018 - 5:57pmWish they would ditch the Cosplay article. Utterly pointless, cheap filler.
Mr DVD
April 2nd, 2018 - 6:16pmAlso my least favourite thing in the magazine.
Luke
April 2nd, 2018 - 6:53pmSome of us who do cosplay are very appreciative of it and find it a welcome addition – there’s plenty more in the magazine for you if you don’t like it, it’s meant to cater to all fans.
MJS
April 2nd, 2018 - 10:37pmSorry. In almost 40 years of this mag, cosplay tips is one of the worst additions ever. As is the Blog of Doom. Some changes are not for the best
Doctor Mysterio
April 2nd, 2018 - 11:00pmI agree – there seems to be an attempt to dumb down the magazine lately, I assume to attract younger readers. Not sure why they think younger readers would ignore mature, interesting and intelligent content and only go for art galleries and cosplay tips. Perhaps they should give them a bit more credit.
Pip’s Plinth
April 2nd, 2018 - 11:32pmDefinitely agree. Cosplay articles belong in Doctor Who Adventures (yes, I know it is no longer published, but I’m certain a magazine for younger readers will be launched at some point in the Jodie Whittaker era). I think the problem is that since DWA was dropped, DWM feel the need to cater to both younger and older readers in the one magazine, which personally I’m not overly fond of.
THE ERGON
April 2nd, 2018 - 11:42pmIf the time team feature isn,t in again or a decent interview i shall not be purchasing again.
Anonymous
April 3rd, 2018 - 12:38amYall need to remember that doctor who is a show aimed at everyone. Kids and adults.
Anonymous
April 3rd, 2018 - 2:38amThe weird thing is that younger readers won’t even understand/appreciate the references in the Blogs of Doom. Maybe they’ll like the cosplay stuff but it’s too basic to really interest anyone who is already an experienced cosplayer
John Baker
April 3rd, 2018 - 9:33pmHere’s the problem
Doctor who magizine is for a grown up audience but welcomes kids (like an Scottish pub restaurant). Kids can read if they want, but the core audience is 18-49. keep it that way, there is reason doctor who adventures stopped
Anonymous
April 6th, 2018 - 9:40pmThe magazine got stale when they fired Nick Pegg (a man who I funnily happen to agree with on his last “Wotcha” article) and if people are offended by my choice I dare them to look me in the eye and end my life…
The Impossible Boy
April 2nd, 2018 - 5:03pmI find it funny (and this isn’t a dig this is just a coincidental thing I find funny) how since the logo has changed on the magazine, Jodie Whittaker herself hasn’t been on the cover, you’d think she would be on the cover of this one or last month’s. Haha.
Anonymous
April 3rd, 2018 - 2:27amThe only images of jodie in costume available have already been used, before the new logo was revealed, shes not on this cover as none of the target books released feaure her doctor (not including a small section at the end of TUAT) which is hardly noteworthy, Im sure when we get closer to the series it’ll be hard keeping her, the companions and new, series 11 monsters off the covers…
bryan
April 2nd, 2018 - 4:31pmooh that cover is nice. very Quadrophenia. Really looking forward to this. hope there are more novelizations to come. Will be an interesting read.