Fendahl

Zine
Title:	Fendahl
Publisher:
Editor(s):	Simon and Frank Danes, out of Worthing, West Sussex, UK
Date(s):	1979-81?
Medium:	print
Size:	A5 (with at least 1 episode 'foolscap" (folded)
Fandom:	Doctor Who
Language:	English
External Links:
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Fendahl is a Doctor Who non-fiction zine with eighteen issues.

The editors were twin brothers, aged about 13 years old.

About

Fendahl was a photocopied Doctor Who fanzine, published between, I think, 1978 and 1981. My brother Frank and I were the editors; we were (and still are!) identical twin brothers and were then in the upper years of secondary school and sixth form. Tom Baker was the Doctor, Louise Jameson had just departed, and the programme was produced by Graham Williams and John Nathan-Turner. The fanzine ran through Tom Baker’s later years and ceased publication soon after Peter Davison had been cast. It had a good reputation, even though its print run rarely got much higher than 120 copies or so. Niche but well liked, then.

[...]

Rather to our surprise, a lot of it’s very good. Inevitably, as it was written by people in their teens, the prose can sometimes grate a little, so we’ll edit a bit. But we’ve discussed things with Philip, editor of The Doctor Who Companion, and some of the better articles are probably worth now being set before a wider audience. We were lucky in being able to interview a number of the cast and crew of Who, either in person or via letter. Sometimes, the replies came recorded on cassette tape, as is the case here. There are also some contemporary opinion pieces and analysis from Tom Baker’s final three seasons, which give some insight into fan opinion at the time.

Fan Comments

'Fendahl' was one of the better known Zines of the late 70/early 80s era. I thought I had an issue at least, but just checking I found I have several! All my fanzines are boxed away, so I almost never look at them today unless I have a strong incentive to dig them out of the back of the cupboard. But on the rare occasions I do there is always that thrill... there is a wealth of material and important context of where Doctor Who was at at the time these were published, and as such I do hope one of the articles you will be publishing will be Frank's commentary on The Deadly Assassin (below).

I have a lot of Fanzines from around the late 70s and early 80s like this, and nearly all of them are produced on typewriter, with paste and cut, and very often poor (by later standards) reproduction. 'Fendahl' though sidesteps some of these limitations as either you had a fantastically efficient and sharp typewriter and copier to fall back on, or there's some professional type-setting going on maybe...?

One really surprising element to skimming through the issues I have was the realisation that you had some of the cream of the fandom and Fanzine scene working with you - most of what would become the 'Skaro' team by the end of the '80s is there in the credits - I had no idea Martin Wiggins was an artist, and a very good one too!

Another notable element was you made a point of printing you Print runs, something no one else ever did, it makes for an informative gauge for what A5 Fanzines sold like at the time.

Issue 3

Was published Autumn 1978 and sold for 30 pence. Edited by Simon Danes. Format: foolscap, folded.

Contents on the cover: Graham Williams interview inside

Issue 5

Was published June 1979 and was edited by Francis Danes. White cover with black ink drawing. Content unknown

Issue 6

Was published October 1979 and sold for 30 pence. Edited by Simon Danes. It contains a white cover with black and white photos of the Daleks,

Contents listed on the cover

• Doctor Who - USA Competition Book Review
• Letter Spot (letters from readers)
• Death and Doctor Who essay by Martin Wiggins
• "Ultimate Stories"
• Comic Strip
• Other unknown content

Issue 7

Was published in 1979, month unknown and sold for 30 pence. It contains a white cover with black and white photos of the 4th Doctor and Romana.

Contents listed on the cover:

• The complete fourth part of the story "The Brain of Morbius" in comic strip form
• Dr Who - USA
• "The Adventures of K9 and Other Mechanical Creatures" reviewed
• The introduction from the American "Dr. Who" books
• "Dr Who - Worthing" which features the Worthing Daleks
• Letter Spot
• Photos and artwork
• Other unknown content

Issue 8

Was published by January 1980 and edited by Simon Danes and Francis Danes and sold for 35 pence. White cover with black ink drawing of the 4th Doctor and black and white photos.

Contents listed on the cover

• Dr Who and God, essay by Martin Wiggins
• "Tom Baker Speaks"
• Review of "Nightmare of Eden," "Horns of Nimon" and "Dr Who Weekly"
• Letter Spot
• Artwork
• Photos
• Other unknown content

Issue 9

Fendahl 9 was published in April 1980 and contains 16 pages.

The essay by Wiggins is third in a series.

Contents listed on the cover

• The Tony Harding Interview. The history behind this interview is recounted at The Fendahl Files: K9’s Creator Speaks! An Exclusive Interview with Tony Harding; archive link (28 August 2023)
• The "Fendahl" Raffle
• Analysis of the Present
• Doctor Who on the Individual, essay by Martin Wiggins
• Letter Spot (letters from readers)
• Surprise Review
• art
• photos

• 

  front cover of issue #9

• 

  from issue #9

• 

  from issue #9

• 

  back cover of issue #9

Issue 10

Was published in June 1980 and edited by Simon Danes and Francis Danes. Green cover with black ink drawing of the 1st Doctor and 2 other characters, art by Jart

• Doctor Who on Racialism, essay by Martin Wiggins (fourth in a series)
• other unknown content

Issue 11

Was published August 1980 and sold for 35 pence. Contents unknown. Cover is light blue with a pen and ink drawing, artist unknown.

Issue 12

Was published October 1980 and was edited by Simon Danes. It has an orange cover with a Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy theme, art by Jart.

Contents

• Another installment of the Martin Wiggins's comic strip 'The Deviant'
• Other unknown content

Issue 13

Was published December 1980, edited by Simon Danes and Frank Danes. White cover with a black and white photo of a character from Dr Who

Issue 14

Was published February 1981 and contains 16 pages with a yellow cover containing a pen and ink drawing of the 4th Dr Who by Ann Shelby. Print run was approximately 62 copies.

Contents listed on the cover

• Part 4 of Martin Wiggins's comic strip 'The Deviant'
• Review of the episode State of Decay by Simon Danes
• Review of the episode Warriors' Gate by Martin Wiggins
• Essay on 'Doctor Who and War' by Martin Wiggins
• Letters from the UK and North America
• Letter from John Kahane asking for contributors for the new Canadian fanzine The Time Meddler

Issue 15

Fendahl 15 was published in April 1981 and contains 20 pages. Light green cover with black pen and ink drawing of the 4th Doctor along with other characters, including the companion Adric. Cover by Jart.

Some of the content is recounted at The Fendahl Files: Behind the Scenes at the Original Doctor Who Experience (Madame Tussauds in 1981); archive link (18 February 2024)

Other contents

• Essay 'Doctor Who and feminism' by Martin Wiggins
• The fifth part of Martin Wiggin's comic strip The Deviant
• Review of the episode The Keeper of Traken by Frank Danes
• Review of the episode Logopolis by Martin Wiggins
• Other unknown content

Issue 16

Was published June 1981 and edited by Simon Danes and Frank Danes. Red cover with black and white photocopies photos from the TV series

Contents listed on the cover: Two star interviews inside: Andrew Smith and David Gooderson

Issue 17

Fendahl 17 was published July 1981.

cover of issue #17], Artist: Jart

• Letters Page
• Doctor Who on Patriotism, essay by Martin Wiggins
• Baker in Retrospect, article by Peter C. Jones
• Interview with Kathy Manning, conducted by Martin Wiggins
• Picture strip: Doctor Who - Smell Of Death written by Martin Wiggins, featuring the fourth Doctor and Romana illustrated by JART
• Cheer Out the Old - Grunge in the New by Simon Danes
• Cover by Jart

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 17

This issue kicked off with a letters page and amongst those writing in were one Gary Russell who in responce to a letter in a previous issue says:

"...though carrying a valid point, was in essence absolute rubblish...The fanzines that nowadays try to be 'pretentious to the nth degree' are ones like 'Gallifrey', who are usually backing up their articles with some justification; and the now hideous 'Oracle' which seemed to give up being interesting when it realised the 'ready to be influenced audience' would pay their 36p for any old junk."

DR WHO ON: Patriotism by Martin Wiggins

BAKER IN RETROSPECT by Peter C Jones starts his article with two simple rules:

"Rule 1: One can no longer just call oneself a 'Doctor Who' fan, one must declare oneself a Hartnellite, a Troughtonite, a Pertweeite or Bakerite. ( Is there such a thing as a Davisonite yet? ). Rule 2: If one is a so called 'serious' fan of the series, one must be sure of preferring any Doctor except the current one." before going on to discuss the role of the fourth Doctor and his adventures, proving that he fell into the Rule 1 catagorie.

The main feature is the KATY MANNING INTERVIEW, which basically takes up most of the fanzine. Excellently conducted by Martin Wiggins in April 1981:

"Talking to Katy Manning is not like interviewing a star," begins the article, "...it is like chatting with a fan. Ten years after her debut in 'Dr. Who', she still exudes a friendly enthusisam for the programme and its fans that she thanked me for taking the trouble to come and speak to her."

Picture strip: Doctor Who- Smell Of Death written by Martin Wiggins featuring the fourth Doctor and Romana illustrated by JART

CHEER OUT THE OLD - GRUNGE IN THE NEW by Simon Danes looks at the fan reaction to Baker's departure, the announcement of his replacement and the eventual arrival of Davison.

Issue 18

Was published October 1981 and was the last issue. It was edited by Simon and Frank Danes. It was 16 pages with an orange cover with black print of quotes and excerpts from Dr Who episodes and in the bottom right corner the question "Who this cover? See page 16"

Contents

• Letters from readers
• The essay 'Doctor Who on Law' by Martin Wiggins
• Part two of 'Baker in Retrospect' article by Peter C. Jones
• A report on the 2nd 'Sons of Earth' local group meeting
• Other unknown content