Dimension Four
| Zine | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Dimension Four |
| Publisher: | NADWAS (North American Doctor Who Appreciation Society) based in Catooosa, OK |
| Editor(s): | |
| Date(s): | 1982-1984 |
| Series?: | yes |
| Medium: | |
| Genre: | gen |
| Fandom: | Doctor Who |
| Language: | English |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Dimension Four is a gen Doctor Who anthology. It contains stories, profuse illustrations, cartoons, filks, and poems. It was the Official Fan Fiction Magazine for The North American Doctor Who Appreciation Society.
Regarding the Title
The zine's front cover uses "Dimension 4" as the title, but the interior of the zine uses "Dimension Four."
From the first issue:
This zine was named by Don Gerhart, winner of the NAME-THE-ZINE contest held by NADWAS in 1981. Regarding that title, I've had a few fans write wondering whether the title will be changed to Dimension Five now that Peter has taken over the title role in DOCTOR WHO. No, the name will remain Dimension Four, as it refers not to Baker's Doctor, but to the "fourth dimension" which is theoretically that of space and time. Right, Don? If ever you've been there and know for certain, drop us a line...
Issue 1
Dimension Four 1 was published in 1982 and contains 60 pages. The art is by Don Gerhart, Cheryl Luckenbill, Ray Murtaugh, Joy Riddle, Ginger Sheffield, Ann Shelby, Will Valentino, and Val Verse.
From the editorial:
We advertised this zine as spanning 19 years of DOCTOR WHO. Well, if you count the illustration of Jon Pertwee's Doctor on p. 33 and Peter Davison on the cover, then we do — heh heh. Our next issue, almost full, will prove more to do so. I am hoping too, that someone will submit a Doctor #5 story before long.
[snipped]
If you desire to become a contributor, please send us an SASE at the Dimension Four editorial address and we will ship the 50 page guideline book to you (just kidding, it's only a page). We won't have a regular printing schedule; they are too easy to miss. When we receive enough suitable material for the next edition, we'll print one.
[snipped]
One word of warning—what we Americans believe to be misspellings of certain words in Martin Wiggins' DOCTOR WHO ON are actually the British spellings. These things are entirely relative, you know. I thank Simon & Frank Danes, editors of FENDAHL, as well as Martin Wiggins for permission to reprint a portion of these thought-provoking essays.
Finally, I want to thank a few more special people who have helped me: Jackie Bielowicz, who gave me my first experience in zine production on SOL PLUS (she was recently honored by the local SF club STARbase Tulsa, for all her work in fandom as well as the founding of the club). Donna Campbell, my proofreader and good friend as well as fellow PAC*MAN freak, to Bobbie Pallone who provided a PW photo on which the front cover illo of Peter D. is based, and to all the contributors of this zine—thank you so much for sharing your literary and artistic excitement for DOCTOR WHO with us. And, last by not least, I thank a wonderful lady who had done more for DOCTOR WHO fandom, in my opinion, than any other fan here in the United States: Barbara Elder, Director of NADWAS. This zine is dedicated to her.
- Apology to a Companion, poem by Kat Nickell (inside front cover)
- Doctor Who and the Baby by Christy Reynolds, illoed by Ann Shelby. (A battle of the will with Davos himself cannot prepare the Doctor for an afternoon with two-year old Robbie.) (2)
- Doctor Who and the Dragonquest, fiction by Steve Crow, illos by Luckenbill. (The tale of another one one of Gallifrey's failures. Doctor #2 goes on a Dragon-Quest with Jamie and Zoe in tow.) (7)
- Doctor Who and the Light of Sassendar, fiction by Melody Whitney (12)
- Doctor Who on the Individual, article by Martin Wiggins (25)
- The Man from Gallifrey, filk by Randy Farran (26)
- Doctor Who on Capital Punishment, article by Martin Wiggins (27)
- Doctor Who and the Dutchman, fiction by Dan Lussier and Steve Crow (28)
- Doctor Who and the Sejanus Variable, fiction by Melody Whitney, art by Val Verse. (A rogue planet mystifies the Doctor and Leela.) (34)
- Brigadier, filk by Tim Frayser (43)
- A Sure Cure for the Time Travel Blues by William Valentino (A fantasy in which we discover how the Doc deals with the mystery of an abandoned and sinister starship in The Dutchman.) (44)
- Regeneration, filk by Ann Shelby (47)
- Doctor Who On Feminism, essay by Martin Wiggins (48)
- To a Princess, poem by Kat Nickell (50)
from issue #1, Ann Shelby
from issue #1, Cheryl Luckinbill
from issue #1, Joy Riddle and Ann Shelby
from issue #1, Ginger Sheffield
from issue #1, Val Verse, Doctor Who On Feminism
from issue #1, Val Verse
from issue #1, Ray Murtaugh
Reactions and Reviews: Issue 1
Strictly a Doctor Who fanzine... The layout, artwork, and story quality is consistent and makes this zine very, very nice indeed. Through and through, this zine is above average in quality. The publication contains such stories as 'Doctor Who and the Baby.' This delightful short story tells what might occur if the doctor found himself babysitting. And he thought Daleks were hard to handle! Another story involves the Doctor and Sarah, 'The Lights of Sassendar.' On a supposed holiday, the time travelres arrive on a desolate world, where they come across another Gallifrian renagade and the vengeful one he serves. 'The Sejanes Varible' has the Doctor and Leela land on a planet which isn't supposed to be there. Leela almost immediately senses evil but what happens is far from what she expected. This story, along with many others, are illoed by Val Verse. Her art has much potential. 'A Sure Cure for the Time Travel Blues' is quite funny but of definately questionable taste (not as far as sex, as this is a G-rated zine). I really can't say more, but it does involve the Doctor, K-9, and game playing. All of the following have been stories about the Tom Baker Doctor, however there is a story which is with the first Doctor and a companion named Steven Taylor, a human astronaut, in a story called 'The Dutchman,' which is something of an updated version of the legend. 'Doctor Who and the Dragonquest,' a story which places the second incarnation of the Doctor along with Janice and Zak in medieval England in a royal court with a dragon problem. Besides all these stories, there are cartoons, filk songs, poems, and many other interesting pieces. In all, 60 pages of enjoyment is well worth the $4.75 (postage included). I was throughly impressed by this first publication and would recommend it highly to all Doctor Who fans and even to people who just want to read good fan lit. [1]
The work really impressed me; especially "The Baby", "Dragonquest," and of course your filksong. However, I hated "A Sure Cure for the Tim Travel Blues". The idea that the Doctor would wantonly destroy K-9 just to re lieve his own boredom does not sound in character to me, nor does his atti tude of "one K-9 is as good as another". In fact the whole story sounds like a reject from Season 17. Oh well, it probably will appeal to the K-9 haters in our midst (now if he'd blown up that insufferable twit, Romana II...). [2]
What one word can describe the overall quality of your "Premiere Issue"? Gee, that's a tough question to answer. I mean "dedication" comes to mind at first, when someone looks at the illus trations of Doctors #1-5 and his past companions. "Fun" passes through my lips, just as easily as the filksongs "Brigadier" and "Regeneration". The biographies make the magazine informa tive. Very close to scholarly; as you consider Martin Wiggins' essays, it is. The stories show members devotion most certainly... Count me in on getting each and every issue of one fantastic fanzine... DIMENSION FOUR.[3]
Congratulations on Dimension 4! I didn't really know what to expect since I've never seen COSMIC MASQUE, but I wasn't disappointed. The stories and art were all pretty good. Ray Murtaugh's drawings stand out in particular.[4]
...if you'd like a little feedback on issue #1... DR. WHO & THE BABY was great, your own filk-song VERY clever, the poetry excellent, the characatures [sic] terrific, (particularly back pg. & filk-song illos.) & several of the stories (SASSENDAR in particular) pretty good, as well as the other illos. But BABY, poetry, filk-song and accompanying illo were by far the best. Keep up the good work![5]
Dimension Four looks really good— packed fullof interesting things and with a very attractive cover. "Doc tor Who and the Baby" was a real gem I can relate to his feelings and I can't see him handling it any other way! I thought Melody Whitney's "Doc tor Who and the Light of Sassendar" particularly well-done—probably the stand-out of the 'zine. Her "DW and the Sejanus Variable" had quite a good characterization of Leela, thou gh I thought the Doctor was too easi ly influenced—remember how he fought against the influence of the nucleus in "The Invisible Enemy"? Also, in The Talons of Weng-Chianq Leela says something to the effect that "the dead can't walk," yet Whitney has her superstitous on just that point. Well-written, though—I don't mean to pick too much as I genuinely enjoyed the story.
It was nice to see other Doctors "Doctor Who and the Dutchman" was particularly good with the Hartnell characterization--that's no mean feat for an American fan whose know ledge of Hartnell is necessarily limited.
Martin Wiggins' articles were intelligent and enlightening, but I must reply to his article on feminism as it seems to me his perception is a bit distorted. The point that Sarah argues about being equal, while Leela just goes ahead and assumes she is, is well made—however, the background of the two women is quite different. Sarah was trying to compete in the career world of the present-day (more-or-less) Earth, where even if a woman comes in assuming equality she doesn't always find equal opportunities. And to a modern woman not yet used to time travelling not even sure quite what's going on, the separation of the sexes to the extent it occurred in medieval society would be shocking. Also I think neither Sarah, nor most of the women I know, no matter how strong they are on feminisim would consider Drahva a "feminist paradise". Of course, feminists often take things a few steps too far, or just assume that the road to true freedom is being able to do what men do—but a slight overreaction is certainly justified when you consider how long and to what extent women have been (yes!) oppressed. In an ideal world—and hopefully in our own future—we will all just assume equality, as Leela does. Enough lecture...
On the other hand, I found the Yeatsian comment on the Black and White Guardians in the article on the Individual, especially fascinating.
The filk on "Regeneration" and the accompanying cartoon were especially cute. I guess the only thing I really disliked was William Valentino's "A Sure Cure for the Time Travel Blues" just because I can't see the Doctor engaing in wanton destruction like that, by the time Romana came along the Doctor was protesting great fondness towards K-9, and even if K-9 was getting on his nerves, I think the Doctor'd be a lot more likely to just reprogram him than scrap him for a new one— I guess the story just seemed unnecessarily sadistic.
Coming back to a positive note—I really enjoyed the zine. It contained a good balance of different types of stories, features, humor, etc.
Keep up the good work. [6]
Hail to Thee, Ann, Donna, and Tim the Scapegoat: I have just finished reading the premiere issue of Dimension Four. Overall, it is perhaps the best zine devoted to the Doctor which I've seen. Ray Murtaugh's cartoons and the stor ies, "A Sure Cure for the Time Travel Blues" and "Doctor Who and the Baby" were real laughing howlers. Equally intriguing, but in a totally differ ent sense, was "Doctor Who and the Light of Sassendar," which featured good characterizations. But the most notable aspect of the zine had to be the varied styles of artwork, particularly the cover and the disgustingly good shadowing on page 19.[7]
..I think it came out fantastic! Give yourself a pat on the back... The switch to brown ink was a nice touch; it makes the zine stand out: There was a good mix of art and fiction; I was definitely pleased the way my sketches came out. I do think you could raise the price somewhat; even 25 cents extra would help ease costs. I know how high printing charges can be and unlike commercial publications, you have no ad revenues to offset them. (Adding some classified ads would be an al ternative to price raising on later issues, but it does somewhat lessen the "polish" of the finished product). Anyway, it's a thought.[8]
Just a quick note to tell you the fanzine has arrived safely... Its content was quite good, and the bios were the best idea incorported into it. On the critical side, I didn't care too much for the 2-tone scheme. For the cover it was fine, but I us ually will go for the plain-Jane/B/w. Otherwise it was a good effort which I hope will be improved upon.[9]
I really enjoyed my copy of Dimension Four. My favorite two stories were "Doctor Who and the Baby, and "DragonQuest". As a matter of fact, the latter of the two, almost made me homesick for my old babysitting job, heaven forbid! Please keep up your high standards. [10]
First off, some oaths: Rassilon's Eyes! Great Tarim! Hot cross buns and flying phone booths! Zounds, zooks, and gosh-a-roonie even! Just got my hands on D-4's premiere issue. The next sound you hear is my mind, quietly boggling to itself over in a corner. I am Inpressed (capital I, Impressed) and Enthralled (capital E, Enthralled). It's—and I say this quite aboveboard and honestly; in my opinion—GOOD. Some is gooder than the rest, but it's all got that "Cer tain air of savoir-faire" as they say in Oz... I especially liked "Dr. Who and the Light of Sassendar" and "Apo logy to a Companion"; "Dr. Who and the Baby" struck a chord, too—I know just how the Doc felt, I've been in the same situation![11]
Issue 2
Dimension Four 2 was published in 1982 and contains 54 pages, reduced offset.
All nineteen seasons of Doctor Who are represented in filks, poetry, art, and stories.
The art is by Stefanie Hawks, Patrick O'Neill, Elby Buttery, James Arnott (Jart), Don Gerhart, Rob St. John, Ann Shelby, Joy Riddle, Val Verse, and Ray Murtaugh.
[From the editorial]:This issue of Dimension Four is brought to you courtesy of Roberta Hinson and Jessie Gurner. Without them, I would not have attempted this second issue—they were the typists. We all owe a big "thank you" to these devoted fans!
A last-minute addition to this issue is on p. 19. It is Barbara O'Quinn's "Companions' Reply" in response to Kat Nickell's "Apology to a Companion" in the first issue. If you did not see the first issue and would like the opportunity to experience Kat's original poem, send me a self-addressed stamped envelope and I'll run off a xerox for you. It would be such a shame for you to not see the pieces together.
One of the most notable features of this issue is the result of the 1st Annual NADWAS Filksong Awards Contest; and what a marvelous selection we have for you. First Prize was awarded to Mark Silver- stein for his ONE TARDIS FOR SALE appear ing on p. 15. Second Place was to Melissa Myles for ON THE COVER OF DIMENSION FOUR on p. 24 (no, the editor was NOT one of the judges) and Third Place went to Karen Mitchell for SAGA OF THE DOCTOR'S COMPANIONS on p. 25. William Valentino's THE DOCTOR'S LAMENT: MEMORY OF A THIRD REGENERATION was awarded an Honorable Mention and appears on p. 39 along with Melissa Myles' POLICE BOX song. If you like this feature let me know; perhaps more space should be devoted to filksongs in any future issues?
I am, of course, delighted to have once again the honor of reprinting Martin Wiggins' DOCTOR WHO ON...series of essays. Also squeezed in is an article by Frank Danes on the Longleat Exhibition of 1980. All of these are being reprinted from FENDAHL Fanzine by Simon & Frank Danes of Worthing, West Sussex. Yes, that is Simon & Frank pictured in the accompanying illo. Nice, eh?
[snipped]
Anyone desiring a copy of the Dimension Four submission guidelines should send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the Catoosa address; but PLEASE tell me what it's for—you would n't believe the number of SASEs I get in for other reasons.
If you bought Issue #1 and notice a difference in layout and spacing between the paragraphs, the reason for this is, more material was printed per page. Even so, not all the features I had planned appear in this issue (although it is six pages larger). If you liked it the other way, I apologize; but I felt it was more important to give you, the reader, more for your investment at the small expense of looks. If I am wrong and you prefer it the other way, please write and tell me so.
- Chronicles of the Multiuniverse: Another Kind of Doctoring by Barbara O'Quinn (2)
- One Tardis for Sale, filk by Mark Silverstein (15)
- Longleat Exhibition Report by Frank Danes (reprinted from an issue of Fendahl) (16)
- Doctor Who on War, an essay by Martin Wiggins (reprinted from an issue of Fendahl) (18)
- Companion's Reply, poem by Barbara O'Quinn (19)
- Brainstorm, fiction by Steve Crow (20)
- In Defense of Earth, poem by Sheirla J. Nasea (23)
- On the Cover of Dimension Four, filk by Melissa Myles (24)
- Saga of the Doctor's Companions, filk by Karen Mitchell (25)
- Doctor Who and the Count, fiction by Christy Reynolds (26)
- The Doctor's Lament, filk by William Valentino and Melissa Myles (39)
- Police Box, filk by William Valentino and Melissa Myles (39)
- The Silent Plea by M.G. Whitney (40)
- Doctor Who on Law, essay by Martin Wiggins (reprinted from an issue of Fendahl)(45)
- And Now for a Limited Engagement Only, fiction by Sheirla J. Nasea (46)
- The Evil Undying, fiction by Steve Crow (50)
- Doctor Who on Ecology, essay by Martin Wiggins (reprinted from an issue of Fendahl) (56)
- Scanner Readings, Letters from the Readers (57)
inside page from issue #4, Patrick O'Neill
inside page from issue #4, James Arnott (Jart)
inside page from issue #4, Rob St. John
inside page from issue #4, Ann Shelby
inside page from issue #4, Ann Shelby
inside page from issue #4, Stefanie Hawks
inside page from issue #4, Joy Riddle
inside page from issue #4, Val Verse
Issue 3
Dimension Four 3 was published in 1984 and contains 57 pages.
References
- ^ from Datazine #20
- ^ from a letter of comment in "Dimension Four" #2
- ^ from a letter of comment in "Dimension Four" #2
- ^ from a letter of comment in "Dimension Four" #2
- ^ from a letter of comment in "Dimension Four" #2
- ^ from a letter of comment in "Dimension Four" #2
- ^ from a letter of comment in "Dimension Four" #2
- ^ from a letter of comment in "Dimension Four" #2
- ^ from a letter of comment in "Dimension Four" #2
- ^ from a letter of comment in "Dimension Four" #2
- ^ from a letter of comment in "Dimension Four" #2