With the Yuletide season well and truly upon us and 2009 almost a distant memory, I’d like to say a big thank you on behalf of the Editorial Board to everyone who’s read and/or contributed to Whotopia over the last year.

We’ve seen a gamut of interviews and articles, columns and critiques over the past few issues, and with #18 in the works I can’t wait to start work on #19 and its focus on Doctor Who spin-offs.

Whotopia wouldn’t be where it is today without its contributors and readers and I really can’t thank everyone enough. Here’s to 2010 and another exciting year. Jez

Have you ever wondered what makes the man behind the Davrosian mask tick? If so, Whotopia 15 gets under the latex to discover a little more about Terry Molloy, the actor who portrayed the fiendish creator of the Daleks throughout the 1980s.

Dalek-making aside, Molloy is perhaps best known for playing the part of Mike Tucker in the popular BBC Radio 4 series The Archers. But it doesn’t there. His work with Big Finish Productions has seen him once again take up the mantle of Dalek-builder par excellence. More, for fans of scarifying detective stories, Molloy’s portrayal of Professor Dunning in the simply superb audio series The Scarifyers finds him up against all manner of ghouls and ghosts, not to mention the odd trans-dimensional monster.

So, how did he become an actor? What led to him playing the part of Davros? Does playing a wind instrument help with voice-only parts? And did he always follow his mother’s advice? If you’re after the answers to these questions and lots more, find out only in Whotopia 15, coming late November 2008.

And don’t forget, you can learn more about Terry Molloy’s latest projects if you visit his website at www.terrymolloy.co.uk.

It always amazes me when fans think publishing a fanzine is easy work.  I wish.  Despite what many think, it really can be a full time job if you let it.  Publishing a zine is a job that you have to juggle with other committments like friends, family, work and other projects that one might be involved in.  There are times where you have to specifically set aside time to spend on the zine. It can be quite easy not to work on it, but when you’ve made a committment to publish a fanzine, you try and devote as much of your free time to working on the current issue at hand.  It can be a tough job juggling all these priorities but somehow each issue does get put together and published.

Each issue begins as a germ of an idea.  And then there’s a bundle of questions that are commonly asked.  What sort of material do you want to include?  Will there be artwork?  Are there any interviews, or specially commissioned featured articles?  Do you need reviews?  Who’s available to write material and who isn’t.  How many pages do you have to fill?  Who can design your cover for that issue?  Do you have any readers letters to publish?  Will this issue feature fiction and/or another installment of your comic?  All sorts of things you ask yourself.

Once you have some sort of idea what you want to include in this issue, you start soliciting articles from your team of writers.  Who’s good at writing themed articles?  Which of your columns will be featured this issue?  Which of your reviewers have purchased the latest Doctor Who merchandise so it can be reviewed?

Email’s go out asking for material.  Contribution deadlines are set.  Your writers get busy penning the material you need.

Next you ask yourself if you have time to pen something for that issue.  Yes. No.  Maybe.  It all depends on how much free time you have and if you can slot it in with everything else you have to do.

A few weeks past and the articles you’ve asked your writers to write start coming in.  Each one of these have to be read over and edited for spelling, grammar, punctuation, making sure what the writer has written makes sense.  Is it a good article?  Will the readers like?  Do you need to trim it down because its 500 words too long?

Then the merchandise reviews come in.  These need to be edited.

Often more emails have to go out because your short of material, or you need some artwork to go with that special feature.

A few more weeks go by, dozens of emails have been bouncing back and forth across the internet highways.  Your editing is done and now comes the fun part.  Its time to layout that particular issue.  What pictures need to be found to go with that interview?  Are there any recent pictures of your celebrity guest interview that you can use with that interview?  What sort of title fonts do you want to use.  How many columns,  What size of fonts.  How many pages can you allot to that interview?  Five, six?  Oh no!  Only three.

Adverts have to be arranged and set up.  A rough draft is printed of the issue.  Is there any space still left open in the issue?  Does any of the layout look weird?  No?  Yes?

Now its time to get that cover designed.  Which of your artists are free to create the cover for you?  How long do you have before you need that cover back before the issue is sent to the printers?  Ah great.  Everyone’s busy with other projects, but Fred can squeeze you in between other committments.

A few days later you get that cover from Fred.  You print out anohter draft copy, do a final check over everything and if everything’s a-okay, then the issue can be sent to the printers via FTP upload.  You zip the issue and then upload it to the printers and they do they magic.

Two days later the issue is couried to you.  Voila.  There you have the latest issue.  All hot off the presses and shiny and new.  Ah but you’re job’s not done yet.  You’ve still got to print up the mailing labels, put those on envelopes, stuff those envelopes with copies of the zine, check to include subscription renewal notices if there are any subs up for renewal, stuff those in the envelope, seal the envelopes and then finally, take dozens and dozens of copies to the local post office to be mailed out.

You buy the stamps, stick them on the envelopes and then give them all back to the lady at the postal counter.  Finally after two to three months of work your job is done.  Another issue of Whotopia has been published and sent out to its readers.  Ah but not quite.  In another two or three weeks, it begins all again on the next issue.

If there’s one thing about Doctor Who fandom that really catches my eye it’s the sheer variety of high-quality fan fiction that’s currently available. In fact, I’m so impressed by this phenomenon that I tend to take every opportunity I can to write about it.

The decade-old The Doctor Who Project (www.thedoctorwhoproject.com) is probably one of the best known collections currently doing the rounds on the fan circuit. Helmed by Whotopia’s Senior Editor, Bob Furnell, this series lays claim to an all-new timeline of Who events, stemming from the end of season twenty-six of the television series. Two regenerations and a cartload of companions later and The Doctor Who Project’s Ninth Doctor has just completed his second full season of exciting adventures. Available to download for free, I highly recommend checking out this series.

Of course it’s not all text-based stories. For starters, I can’t say enough good things about Whotopia’s splendid comic strip Blossom Core by Kyle Borcz and Jon Wesley Huff (check out the opening instalment in the free-to-download Whotopia Issue 5 at: www.whotopia.ca/downloads.php). As for Malcolm Orr’s brilliant diorama series Time Tales (www.drwho-online.co.uk/timetales) words almost escape me. Orr conjures up a magical mixture of words and model-based images, which are an absolute visual treat. More of Orr’s sterling efforts can be found at his site, Tales from the TARDIS (wwwtalesfromthetardis.co.uk).

All of which is to say nothing of the simply awesome puppet-based Genesis of the Moleks by Jay Tyson and the team at 99 Acre Woods (www.requiemoftheoutcast.com/99acrewoods/2008/10/13/genesis-of-the-moleks). Combining top-notch CGI with some first-rate puppetry – and a very cool re-working of the Doctor Who theme music to boot – and you have one of the most innovative slices of fan fiction around.

Moreover, let’s not forget that fanzines like Whotopia and DWAS’ Celestial Toyroom are always on the look out for new pieces of fan fiction. So, if you’re thinking about putting pen to paper why not take the plunge and give it a go. With no production budget to worry about, actors’ egos to massage or Michael Grade-inspired hiatuses to sidestep, only your imagination’s the limit!

So David Tennant has decided to leave Doctor Who.  “What!” I hear you say.  “Since when?”  Well, he announced it on the evening of October 29th while accepting his award for Best Drama Actor at the NFT awards.  Naturally this has come as a total shock to the fans and the general public, it doesn’t surprise me to see the announcement come at this time in the show’s history.  Sure I’ll miss him when he does finally turn the role over to a new actor but what the show in a climate of change – RTD and leaving, Stephen Moffat taking over - and having been in the role for close to four years now, in some ways I’m not surprised to see him decide to move on.

I’d be one of the first to admit that he has been brilliant as the tenth Doctor from the moment he first stepped out of the TARDIS, but like most actors, they like to be continually challenged by new projects, new roles and its obvious that David is in that same spot.  This isn’t saying he hasn’t enjoyed the part or wouldn’t want to stay, but he has stated that he wants to move on.  “I think its better to go when there’s a chance that people might miss you, rather than to hang around and outstay your welcome.”

While we as fans would like him to stay, I have to agree by what David has stated.  He quickly became the most popular Doctor of all time in the series and its always best to leave when you’re at the top.  People will want you to stay on, but you don’t.  You move on.  Its a smart move as people will more likely remember your time in the show with great fondness.

As I’ve said earlier, I will miss him when he does finally go.  But, it will be with fond memories of an actor who brought something to a role and embued it with a liveliness that hadn’t been given to the part in quite sometime.  He was brilliant.  Thank you Mr. Tennant for playing the part.

We’re looking for contributors who are interested in writing articles, reviews (merchandise/episode), columns, opinion pieces etc for the magazine; as well as artists who are able to design graphics, logo’s, banners, original art etc.

WHOTOPIA began publication in October 2003 and to date we have published 15 issues and 1 special.

Each issue delves into the past, present and future of Doctor Who – the world’s longest running science-fiction series – through articles, reviews, interviews, opinion pieces, columns, features, original fiction, comics and more.  Plus, in addition to covering Doctor Who, Whotopia covers the Doctor Who spin-off’s Torchwood and the Sarah Jane Adventures.

Contributors will get a chance to have their work published and read by a readership in Canada, USA, Britain, Australia and Europe.  You’ll get to work with a team of editors who will offer you constructive and useful criticism – editors who want to help you perfect your craft. In addition, all contributors receive a free copy of the issue that contains their work. 

Contributors will also get a chance to participate in our online message forum where you’ll be able to freely discuss requirements for each upcoming issue.

If you’re a Doctor Who fan who is enthusiastic about writing and/or art, and interested in contributing material on a regular/semi-regular basis, we’d definitely like to hear from you!

Following is a more detailed listing of some of things we’re looking for: 

• Written reviews of Doctor Who, Torchwood & Sarah Jane Adventure merchandise (books, audios, DVD)
• Written articles on any aspect of Doctor Who, Torchwood or the Sarah Jane Adventures that are thought-provoking, entertaining, original, and coherent.  We’re looking for material that ranges between the serious to the lighthearted.
• Reviews of Big Finish Doctor Who audios (1 person wanted)
• Reviews of Doctor Who novelizations from BBC Books (1 or 2 persons wanted)
• Reviews of Torchwood and Sarah Jane Adventures novelizations (1-3 persons wanted)
• Original fiction based on Doctor Who, Torchwood or the Sarah Jane Adventures
• Artists who can draw original artwork to accompany articles and feature on the magazine cover
• Artists who are able to design graphics and graphic artwork for logos, column banners/headers, etc
• Artist(s) who are interested in drawing an original comic based on an original script
• Magazine layout – one or two persons who would be interested in working with us designing the layout for each issue

If you’re interested in joining our team, we’d like to hear from you. Please send a sample of your written work (in Word, PDF or Rich Text format) and/or art/graphics work (in either JPG or GIF format) as an email attachment and e-mail it to: jigsawpublications@yahoo.ca.

A few weeks back I was really excited to announce that we’ll be making select out of print back issues available to download for free on the website.  Many of these issues have long since sold out and went out of print and haven’t seen the light of day since their original publication.  Well if you drop by the DOWNLOADS section of the Whotopia site, (www.whotopia.ca), you’ll find select issues available to read online or save to your hard drive in PDF format.  We went all the way back to the beginning and made available the first five Whotopia issues including the very first, long out of print, first issue not available since 2003.  From here, every couple of weeks, we’ll be adding a new back issues to those already available for your download pleasure.  So drop by and check us out online.  Enjoy!

My name’s Jez Strickley and I’m the new editor of Whotopia, and I’m Bob Furnell Publisher and Senior Editor. Together we’ll be steering Canada’s premier Doctor Who fan magazine into uncharted waters, the world of internet blogs.

It’s said that a change is as good as a rest, which is as good a way as any to describe Whotopia as it celebrates its fifth anniversary. The past few months have been hectic. Exciting ideas have been buzzing around the all-new editorial team, and as such we’re planning to make sure that the upcoming issue, Issue 15, is jam-packed with all sorts of goodies.

As well as a raft of new articles and reviews, Issue 15 contains an exclusive interview with Terry Molloy – the actor who, amongst other things, brought his own distinctive portrayal to the dastardly Davros throughout the 1980s.

And if you’re reading this blog, then you’ll already know that Whotopia’s editorial is now online. So, whether it’s conventions or canon, fanzines or fan fiction, as long as its Doctor Who related, Bob and I will be talking about it. So join in; enjoy.