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December 15th, 2021 24 comments

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Press Release: Coming March 2022 – The Unofficial Dr Who Annual 1988

Coming March 2022 – The Dr Who Unofficial Annual 1988, the sixth release from Terraqueous Distributors.

As many fans will notice, the cover artwork is a homage to the 1969 Dr Who annual that was released in 1968 by World Distributors. The cover is beautifully illustrated by artist Daryl Joyce.

The unofficial Dr Who annual 1988 is another great mix of stories, features, puzzles and artwork. And, thanks to the kindness of Bill Baggs and James Hornby, the Cyberons officially make an appearance in the annual. Although these Cyberons may not be the ones you’re expecting, redesigned by James Lee, their intergalactic menace proves to be a mighty force to be reckoned with.

But it’s not just the Cyberons the Doctor and Mel have to look out for. Within the pages of the 1988 annual, the great vampire Dracula is looking for blood – Time Lord blood!

As many will be aware, Bram Stoker created the original Dracula, and thanks to Dacre Stoker and Chris McAuley, we have been given permission to use the original Stoker Dracula in not one but three original blood curdling tales. The 1988 annual is certainly not a safe place for the Doctor and Mel.

And the Doctor makes a return to Kandalinga, where his first incarnation met the Fishmen. ‘The Coral Eaters’ is an epic sequel to ‘the Fishmen of Kandalinga’, written by Andrew McDonald, and illustrated by Faiz Rehman. The Fishmen of Kandalinga was a story from the pages of the very first Dr Who annual. And what better way to celebrate the annuals of the past, than by visiting some old friends, well maybe not friends…

The 1988 annual includes contributions from well-known names such as John Freeman, Alister Pearson, Bonnie Langford, Smuzz, Andy Walker, Paul McCaffrey, Shannon Gallant, and many more. And this time we have the sixth Doctor himself joining the list of contributors. “we are extremely humbled and grateful to the kindness of Colin Baker, who has written a very special foreword for the readers of the 1988 annual”.

Terraqueous Distributors also invite you to make a £5 minimum donation to the charity ‘Lullaby Trust’, and all those who do, will have their name (or the name of a loved one) printed in the annual on the page of heroes. Proof of donation is required. Further details can be found on the TERRAQUEOUS DISTRIBUTORS facebook page .

This annual also marks the end of an era – the 80’s era. World Distributors ended their run of classic Doctor Who annuals with the 1986 annual. With the release of the 1988 annual, Terraqueous have completed the 80’s run of the classic annuals, having previously released the 1987 and 1989 annuals.

Also later in 2022, Terraqueous Distributors will be releasing the unofficial Dr Who annual 1997. This will be the only annual dedicated to the eighth Doctor.

The Unofficial Dr Who Annual 1988, is a not-for-profit publication. Please visit the TERRAQUEOUS DISTRIBUTORS facebook page for further details and updates.

The price of the annual will be determined nearer the time of its release, when the precise date of publication and details of how it can be purchased will also be announced.


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24 comments

  • JamieD

    December 21st, 2021 - 4:41pm

    Thank you for posting this booboo.

    Always good to know when these annuals are coming out.

    Wil you be doing a press release for the re releases on the 1972 and the Master annuals?

    Reply
    • booboo

      December 21st, 2021 - 6:27pm

      If they send it to us yes

  • Rex Farrel

    December 15th, 2021 - 3:31pm

    I do love seeing art that doesn’t look like slavish copies of publicity photos. Or digital cut and paste of different publicity photos (with apologies to the people who do the Blu-ray art, which I know a lot of people love).

    Can anyone match the names with the different art in the promo picture please?

    Reply
    • 1robby

      December 15th, 2021 - 7:20pm

      I can’t place the art, but Paul McCaffrey and Shannkn Gallant are fairly well known professional comic artists, as is smuzz (2000ad).

      Andy Walker illustrated some stories in the official 2006 annual. And Faiz Rehman is another comic artist too.
      So some very good names there.

    • 1robby

      December 15th, 2021 - 7:30pm

      Oh and of course Daryl Joyce is very well known too.

    • Rex Farrel

      December 15th, 2021 - 10:37pm

      Thanks for that – I think I’ll Google them all later on, find out a bit more. Smuzz did make me think 2000ad momentarily, so it must have been there somewhere in the back of my mind!

    • Pull to Open

      December 16th, 2021 - 10:15am

      Smuzz was in 2000ad under the name SMS.
      In the picture Paul McCaffery’s is the sepia/pink second right.

    • Dalek bumper car

      December 18th, 2021 - 11:46am

      Made my donation, to this very worthy cause.

      Do we know if the Alister Pearson version of the cover been revealed yet?

  • Doctor Mysterio

    December 15th, 2021 - 2:13pm

    Have some of these, looks lovely. Just what I would have hoped for back when I was 11! In fact, these put the modern ‘official’ annuals to shame.

    Reply
  • Andy

    December 15th, 2021 - 11:50am

    What does Colin Baker have to do with 1988? Even Ultimate Adventure wasn’t on until 1989.

    Reply
    • Fin

      December 15th, 2021 - 11:53am

      He was the Doctor when this annual would have been compiled in early 87.

    • Gareth Pugh

      December 15th, 2021 - 12:12pm

      Andy, it’s because these annuals are affectionate tributes to the whole culture of Doctor Who annuals in the past – not just plugging a gap with a book (although absolutely that is part of what you get). And back in the 1970s and 1980s, World Distributors (the original licence holder to publish Doctor Who annuals) would release the new annual in August of any given year – these (along with tons of other annuals and year books for other magazines, comics and one-shots around football clubs and pop stars) would turn up in WHSmith without fail as the school summer holidays drew to a close. Now, World didn’t really get much advance access to the current TV series whilst it was being shot in Spring / Summer – and they would usually have to finalise and lock the content around March / April anyway, which would have been just before McCoy started shooting his first season as the Seventh Doctor. So has there been a real annual from World at the time, it would have been 1988 on the cover, gone on sale in August 1987 (before the Seventh Doctor’s first season aired), locked for printing from about March/April 1987 (just before his first season started filming), and having tontherefore use material and reference up to about Christmas 1986 – hence the Sixth Doctor. It’s why the 1975 annual was a Third Doctor bases book and tye 1982 annual mostly evolved around the Fourth Doctor. In other words, Terraqueous try to be faithful to the content-cycle of the original publishing eras, and what we would have got. A 1989 volume will have had access to the Seventh Doctor NY the time that was out to bed, as Season 24 would have gone out by then.

    • booboo

      December 15th, 2021 - 12:13pm

      Even today Annuals are put together in the 1st half of the previous year, in this case 1987, when Colin would still have been the Doctor ( not regenerating until Time and the Rani shown Sept 1987)

      you would have been able to buy or order a 1988 annual prior to September 1987

      So this annual is 100% accurate to the time frame even today, hope that makes it clear.

    • Popplewick

      December 15th, 2021 - 3:55pm

      I wish it was possible to get the Peter Cushing ‘fannuals’ at a respectable price.

  • Kaled101

    December 15th, 2021 - 11:10am

    Having got all of these so far. With exception to the 1972 annual, I missed outside that one. I have enjoyed all of these release so far.

    I will definitely be getting this one too.

    Reply
    • Doug Who

      December 15th, 2021 - 12:22pm

      They said they will occasionally organise reprints for all their annuals at some point to foil the Ebay resales at exorbitant prices so hopefully you should get a copy of the 1972 eventually!

  • December 15th, 2021 - 10:56am

    Don’t know if I like the sound of this one. The cyberons were just a huge ripoff so to get permission to use them is a kick in the teeth to kit pedler and Gerry Davis. It’s a shame but I might give this one a miss. Hope people who buy it enjoy it though. I’ll have to think about it a bit more.

    Reply
    • Fin

      December 15th, 2021 - 11:52am

      Ii think I see earthshock cybermen on that last page. So it will be nice to have them in there too.
      terraqueous always do a quality product. And this time its in aid of the lullaby trust
      Please take my money now.

    • Children of davros

      December 15th, 2021 - 3:47pm

      Earthshock cybermen won’t be featured as they are copyrighted, its whybthe Brigadier wasn’t in the 1972 annual

    • Rex Farrel

      December 15th, 2021 - 10:30pm

      So the BBC will turn a blind eye to a non-profit publication like this, but some of the estates for individual elements wouldn’t? Interesting. I suppose they have to be seen to be protecting their rights, which is more difficult for them than a big organisation like the Beeb.

    • Dach

      December 16th, 2021 - 9:54am

      @Rex. I don’t know the ins and outs, but Terraqueous Distributors have gained permission from individual rights owners, so that they can appear in their annuals.

      Off the top of my head, there’s been official appearances from Sil, and Mags, previously.

    • Book collector

      December 18th, 2021 - 1:40pm

      The daleks and cybermen, like the brigadier are more complicated to gain rights for. Silver and mags are owned purely by the authors whereas many characters are joint owned making it harder and more expensive.

    • Book collector

      December 19th, 2021 - 7:45pm

      Just noticed autocorrect has struck again. Sil not silver of course.

  • DWfan72

    December 15th, 2021 - 10:36am

    So we have Dracula in this one – and Colin Baker is involved too. I can’t wait!

    this looks like its going to be another great annual.

    Love the cover, and the inner artwork looks really good, and helping a good cause too.

    Reply

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