home

one
two
three
four
five
107

index
more eyes
personal

issue one - autumn 1987

This is where it all began, with a home computer, some headlines done on a plotter (remember those? no, you probably don't) and a traced Silurian.

• Editorial
• Spearhead from Space a review by Ian Levy
• The Causal Nexus the truth behind Logopolitan computing
• The Silurians a review by Ian Levy
• Travels with the Tardis Richard Gibbs boldly goes where BBC film crews have gone before
• Death to the Daleks a review by David Gibbs, which started out as a one page video review and sort of grew and grew
• Longleat 87 or how one postcard gave hope for the future
• The Ambassadors of Death a review by Ian Levy
• The Survivors an analysis of Dalek morality in their first story
• Inferno a review by Ian Levy
• Write your own Terrance Dicks book
• Doctor Oho I never claimed it was funny ...

Editorial - issue one

This fanzine has been a long time coming, and although you won't realise it, it is actually several months late. This bodes well for the future ... But why are we here? Existential philosophy aside, it goes like this ...

To begin at the beginning, my name is David Gibbs. I'm in the third year of an MA in something-obscure (I won't say what - you'll only laugh) at St Andrews University, I'm twenty years old (so please take anything I say on Sixties 'Who with a pinch of salt - chances are I don't know what I'm talking about) and I like Doctor Who.

There are times when I wonder if liking Doctor Who is considered necessary in fandom, judging by the destructive criticism all around. I have to confess that I'm not exactly thrilled by the direction the programme seems to be taking at the moment but I'll try to keep off that subject. Above all, this is a magazine of Doctor Who appreciation - in other words, the writers will be talking about what they like in Doctor Who, not what they dislike. In this way, I hope that Five Hundred Eyes may be a more optimistic, more enjoyable read than some other merchants of doom. The danger here is that the articles may become bland and uncritical, and certainly I don't think that any story is perfect, but on the whole I hope that the enthusiasm of the writers for their favourite aspects of the programme will shine through.

I have to confess that, with the exception of Warriors of the Deep, The Twin Dilemma and The Ultimate Foe, I have never disliked a Doctor Who story when broadcast. I may not think they're much good, but at least I enjoy them. This is the secret of the magic of Doctor Who - to receive it in a child-like state of innocence. By all means analyse and dissect later, but watch the programme with an open mind. You may be pleasantly surprised.

But that's enough of that. We've got a fanzine to get underway.