The Forrester Papers

Zine
Title:	The Forrester Papers
Publisher:
Editor(s):	Elyse Dickenson
Type:	concordance
Date(s):	1989
Medium:	print
Size:	206 pages
Fandom:	War of the Worlds
Language:	English
External Links:	cover
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flyer for the first issue, published in The Blackwood Project #2

flyer for the proposed second issue

The Forrester Papers is subtitled, "A ‘War of the Worlds’ Concordance." It was compiled by Elyse Dickenson and contains 206 pages of non-fiction articles about the first season of the show.

It won a 1990 Fan Q.

A Second Issue?

There was a second issue, focusing on the second season, proposed in The Blackwood Project #7 (1990). In "The Blackwood Project 11" (1991), the editor writes: "Due to various unforeseen circumstances, publication of this guide is being pushed back. To what date, I'm honestly not quite sure, but I will get the zine out."

It is unknown if this second issue came to fruition, but it seems unlikely.

From a 1990 flyer:

Writing some fan fiction on "War of the Worlds" at two in the morning and you can't recall what common household substance aliens are allergic to? -- and you can't turn on the VCR to check it because you'll wake the entire family, or you just don't have the time to speed-search a six-hour tape? Or you can't remember which episodes Stavrakos was in? Then this guide is for you!... 'The Forrester Papers' also includes 20 8X10 photos and artwork by the talented John Altomari. This zine is GBC bound for ease of use, with a plastic cover to keep off alien fingerprints.

Reactions and Reviews

1991

Let's get right to the point. The Forrester Papers is a complete concordance to the first season of the TV version of War of the Worlds, and I can't recommend it highly enough. The contents include indexes for performers and characters; synopses of all episodes plus the 1953 movie on which the series is based, the 1938 radio show, H.G. Wells' original novel, and even Jeff Wayne's 1978 musical version of the story (my personal favorite, currently available on compact disc for your listening pleasure); biographies of the principal players and production people; and a massive lexicon a la Bjo Trimble's Star Trek Concordance, defining major and minor topics, characters, and odd stuff from Dr. Adams (furious research scientist) to Zeke (rancher of dead cattle). Obviously a tremendous amount of work and research went into this project; the thought of all the hours of note-taking from video alone boggles the mind, let alone tracking down relevant printed material, public statements, and God knows what else. Some of the biographical/background material seems to come more or less intact from the WOTW presskit and miscellaneous Starhg articles, and it would have been nice to have the various sources cited. On the other hand, Elyse is kind enough to indicate when it's been necessary to improvise spellings and characters' names, and to differentiate between contradictory and/or non-canonical sources of information (e.g. statements made by cast members at convention appearances, the WOTW novelization, etc.). This is very much appreciated, especially after a few recent concordances whose compilers have frustratingly made up information out of whole cloth and insisted that it was genuine. The information supplied in The Forrester Papers isn't just verbal, however. There are loads of photos, reproduced well. The artwork by John and Frank Altomari, while not necessarily pretty, is appropriate for this type of zine--it gives visual information instead of merely filling space, and is often clearer than a photograph of the same subject might have been, especially given the WOTW producers' penchant for filling their sets with green smoke. The zine is well laid out, the type very readable and easy on the eyes, even on two solid pages of text. Comb binding and plastic cover make for a durable package that stands up to repeated use. I can personally attest to how useful The Forrester Papers is. Are. Whatever. I carried mine constantly for most of the first half of this year as an aid to researching artwork for a WOTW convention—one vitally needed, since my knowledge of the series' first year was, at the time, superficial, to say the least. It's easy to find what you need, and fun to just browse. Bonus points for maintaining objectivity regarding first versus second season. There's the occasional typo, and some odd statements (The Grateful Dead is described as a heavy metal band, which would probably come as a surprise to them), but that's only to be expected in a project of this size. Should you pay real, American money for this zine? If you're a writer of WOTW fiction, you can't live without it. If you have any interest in television-related nonfiction (or are planning on producing any yourself for your own favorite series), you'll enjoy The Forrester Papers as a fine example of the genre, one that manages to outdo most of the professional TV nonfiction on the market today.

1993

It's everything that fan-generated reference ought to be but almost never is -- well-researched, easy to use, relatively error-free, concise, and speculation is not passed off as gospel. The product of a writer-editor willing to take the time to do her job right

Elyse manages to present the best of the series with accuracy, humor, forethought, intelligence—and I wish to God every fandom had one of these in print.

There are no original plots in this zine, just condensations of aired WOTW, and the hundreds of characters are presented in alphabetical order, which completely destroys any hope of suspense. On the other hand, this is also the only place I have ever seen a portrait of that unsung hero of WOTW, Gertrude the Wheelchair. But Seriously... Elyse has put a tremendous amount of work into the Forrester Papers, not to mention what looks like the entire collection of WOTW presskit photos and some wonderful incidental drawings by Frank and John Altomari. It also covers only the "real" universe -- first season -- so Ironhorse and Norton are in the present tense. Anything you Need to Know — from background on the original H.G. Wells novel to the name of the rancher whose cattle were killed (WJ) is in here somewhere. Discrepancies between the Dillard novel and the aired series are also presented (e.g., Norton -- orphan or child of a large and happy family?). The graphic quality is consistent with the Blackwood Project excellent. If you plan to write any WOTW fanfic, buy this concordance. It will save you hours of aggravation. It's also very handy for filling out the Favorite Scenes poll.

2016

Who'd think that a first season concordance for a television show would be as entertaining as it is informative?