Tuesday 22 March 2011

Issue 2

Firstly let me say a big thank you for everybody who took the time to look at issue one. The response has far exceeded our expectations and we received a very impressive 4500 hits in the first month of the first issue being released and received some wonderful feedback via the Gallifrey Base and Big Finish forums. We enjoyed ourselves immensely putting the first issue together and it is fantastic to see that so many of you enjoyed it too.
Enough with the Oscar victory speech and on with issue two!
Lurking on the site this month we have the following exciting material…

The latest merchandise has been reviewed. From Big Finish we have The Feast of Axos, The Perpetual Bond and Andy has tackled both The Mutants and The Ark on DVD. Note – we were going to include the latest eighth Doctor audio Lucie Miller but we have decided to review the two-part storyline as a whole.

This months Matter of Perspective sees Steve Lyons popular New Adventure, Conundrum come under the limelight. Reversing our roles from last month, Andy has been reading away and has a good grilling by yours truly.

The Evelyn Escapades seems to have been one of the most popular elements on the site with the most hits (the reviews excepted) and this month we have completed and have posted our responses on The Spectre of Lanyon Moor.

Charlotte and Simon, our non-fan cohorts have been watching the William Hartnell classic, Planet of Giants.

This month’s debate is contemporary topic – Amy Pond, heavenly or whore? Andy stands in defence of the Doctor’s latest companion whilst I try and convince you that she doesn’t quite work.

Exciting interviews with two of Big Finish’s most exciting current writers, Jacqueline Rayner (Wolfsbane, Dr Who & the Pirates) and Simon Guerrier (The Perpetual Bond). They share their thoughts on their latest work.

Who Online this month praises the Big Finish review and voting site, The Time Scales.

I look back at Nicholas Courtney's contributions to Doctor Who and include my top five favourite Brigadier stories.

All this plus part two of our exciting three part fiction piece, The Shadows Makers written by Joe Ford and an essay looking at the delightful Big Finish spin off The Companion Chronicles Seasons 1-3

Any comments can be posted on the site or sent to thethirdzone@hotmail.co.uk and we will once again post some in the next issue.

Issue three will be released April 15th – happy reading!

Joe Ford (co editor)

This month's splendid cover image is courtesy of the very talented Dandy cartoonist Andy Fanton, and more of his work is available to view here. Also you can purchase a rather grand Who related T-shirt designed by Mr Fanton if you follow this link.

If you would like to read Issue One - it is now archived at the following address: http://the-third-zone-archive.blogspot.com/

Feedback from Issue One:

Max Marble on Gallifrey Base: Doc Oho--I love The Third Zone. Just took a look around there, and I think it's fab. User-friendly, looks great, and very well-written reviews, articles, etc. And to think you've just started!

I am especially interested in the Non-Fan perspectives. I'm looking forward to seeing what they think of the Classic (capital C intentional) stories like Talons, Caves, Inferno, stuff like that. That debate is really good too. (I'm pretty much on the pro-McCoy side, as long as I'm not thinking about Silver Nemesis. If I get a chance I'll elaborate my thoughts on it for you.)

Keep up the great work!

On the contrary, I think that really enlivens the experience to have different perspectives bouncing off one another. Well done, you guys, and I'll be looking forward to further issues!

Rcarni on Gallifrey Base: Seconded. It's superb. I thought the interviews with Lisa Bowerman and David Richardson were particularly fascinating, but I enjoyed the whole thing. Definitely agree with the user-friendliness.

Fadladder from the BF forum: I really enjoyed the Time Team piece on Evelyn, nice work!

Dana C on the BF forum: I particularly enjoyed the non-fan reviews. Really nice angle, very original.
Timata 1705 on the BF forum: Just reading the reviews section and one tiny thing, it would be handy if there were links to the individual reviews on the page from the top :) Possibly, also, now I think about it, a summary of the ratings and a single sentence at the top, so spoilers can easily be avoided...(its true I mostly read reviews after I've listened, but I did wonder what your take on Quinnis was, as I haven't heard that yet, and I skipped past it so I could avoid spoilers)
Dan Tessier on Facebook: Loving the fanzine Joe!

Paul Quinn via email: Well done on the much-needed Hartnell essay but I wonder about the inclusion of The Time Meddler. All historicals are in a sense 'pseudo-historical' (whoever coined that phrase has much to answer for) because of the role of the Tardis crew but the The Time Meddler, like sections of The Chase, introduces a further alien or/and anachronistic element.  The historicals of the first three years - as Wood and Miles rightly point out in About Time 2 - gave way to obvious quasi-literary adaptions before being dropped all together.  What is under acknowledged is the extent to which the version of the historical that survives was established by Lambert and Spooner in season two.I wonder too whether something should have been included regarding The Myth Makers staging legend as fact. Great work.

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