MythMakers 47 Doctor Who Magazine's 20th Birthday

• A Review by Jack Zarin-Rosenfeld

A Review by Jack Zarin-Rosenfeld 27/4/00

The fourty-seventh release out of the mostly high-quality Myth Makers series is a sort of convention diary of DWM's 20th Birthday Bash, which was in October of 1999. (Way back in that old 20th century). There were two main parts of the video:

The DWM Panel: This takes up I'd say a good 20 minutes of this 50 minute video. I quite enjoyed all of the panelists. Gary Gillatt, the current DWM editor, hosts the panel containing these 4 DWM-related people. The charming and hilarious Dez Skinn, the founder of the magazine. The equally funny J. Jeremy Bentham, the first reference consultant. The current archivist for the magazine who somehow continually pops up in every issue with a fascinating story on all the episode we love, Andrew Pixley. And the editor right before Mr. Gillatt, the author and Doctor Who producer Gary Russell. The panel revealed to me the origins of the magazine, how Dez Skinn got the BBC to immediately accept the idea of a Doctor Who Magazine, the trouble Jeremy Bentham had to get Hartnell pictures, and the discovery of the telesnaps which still show up in the magazine from time to time. Having an entire video dedicated to DWM, there was bound to be some history of the magazine, and this section of the video turned out to be much more informative, exciting, thrilling, and funny then one would expect it to be.

The Garys: This section focuses on an interview with current editor Gary Gillatt, and some out takes of an interview with Gary Russell, concerning how Gary G. got the job and such things like that. I've met Gary G. and Gary R. before and am great fans of both of them, I think they both have a great sense of what the majority of fans like about Doctor Who, which is why both of their current Who projects are successful with most fans. The including of the interview with Gary G. is a contrast (although a successful contrast) with the first section. Because in the first section, we get a history of the magazine, while in this section, it's more focused on the current status of the magazine and what kind of things Gary G. has done with DWM so far. Very nice!

Other: A thing that, after thinking about it, I'm glad about, is that, unlike most video convention diaries, the video does not focus on the Doctor Who stars. But, you can't not show them at all. So, there are a couple of out takes with Colin Baker, Mark Strickson, Nicola Bryant, and Sophie Aldred, including a short interview with Sophie about her one issue she guest edited. I also enjoyed some of the interviews with the fans.

Highlight: No question, Gary Gillatt getting the birthday bumps!

Overall: I really, really enjoyed this video. It's exactly what it is supposed to be, a celebration of Doctor Who Magazine!

10/10