It’s the end, but the moment has been prepared for

At the Oxford Doctor Who Society elections last night, Adam Povey laid down the editorship of The Tides of Time after seven years. John Salway was elected to take his place. More details of John’s plans will emerge soon, but they are believed to involve more engagement with online publication. I’d like to thank Adam for everything he has done in keeping the magazine going.

Meanwhile, another Oxford University society with a history of membership overlap with the Doctor Who Society now have a blog as part of the evolution of their magazine. This is Taruithorn, the Oxford Tolkien Society, and their magazine is Miruvor.

Tides of Time 36 now uploaded

We can finally share issue 36 of The Tides of Time with the rest of the world.

The file is here, and is a little over 5Mb in size.

Contents include a look at the historical, archaeological and linguistic background to The Stones of Blood, the Oxford student media career of Russell T Davies, the Cybermen of The Tenth Planet, Utilitarianism in Doctor Who, a look at the latest computer game, comparing covention experiences, and a crossword. More details can be found on this page.

Twenty years ago: Tides of Time, issue 8

Those of you visiting the page looking for the pdf of issue 36, please be patient; we hope to upload it within the next few weeks.

In the meantime, a voyage (without TARDIS) back in time to 1992, when we still weren’t sure that Doctor Who was off the air for good in its BBC form, when Virgin Publishing’s New Adventures were still a cautious experiment, when a generation raised on Target novelisations hung on the words of a visiting Terrance Dicks, and when Tides of Time lost its definite article and embraced the brave new world of desktop publishing. Goodbye Courier New and hand-drawn headings, hello whizzy computer graphics – and hello to the second editor, Julian Mander.

Here, then, is issue 8, published in Trinity Term 1992. There’s a contents listing back here. Thanks to those who have given permission and apologies to those I have not contacted. All opinions expressed are those of the authors in 1992, and they may not necessarily hold them now!

The Tides of Time, issue 36

I’m pleased to report that there is a new issue of The Tides of Time, issue 36, on its way to being distributed to Oxford-resident members of the Oxford Doctor Who Society shortly. It will appear in PDF form on this website at a date to be determined. It is cover dated Summer Vacation 2012, and Adam Povey remains editor, assisted by John Salway.

Within this issue:

• Aptly Named. Editorial musings on the regeneration of the student body by Adam Povey.
• The Cybermen of The Tenth Planet. A defence of the Mondasian Cybermen by Jonathan P. Martindale.
• The Gunpowder Plot. Adam Kendrick reviews the final Doctor Who Adventure Game for PC.
• Digging around The Stones of Blood. Katrin Thier considers some of the inspirations and themes of the 1978 Doctor Who story, partly recorded at the Rollright Stones in Oxfordshire.
• How I Met My Mother. Sara James reviews her first convention experiences and meets Sophie Aldred.
• Crossword by Thomas Keyton
• The Adventures of Jessica Chrome. Matthew Kilburn delves into Russell T Davies’s career in Oxford student media.
• Morality and Integrity: The Philosophy of the Last of the Time Lords. Jonathan P. Martindale examines the Doctor’s philosophical outlook.
• Bargains of Necessity: From the Cutting Room Floor. Some ideas on Doctor Who‘s treatment of historical settings, omitted from his essay in the book Time And Relative Dissertations In Space, by Matthew Kilburn.

The cover montage is by Matthew Kilburn.

This is a 40 page A5 issue, possibly rolling off laserprinters at a secret location even as I type.

 

Tides 36 update

It’s been a good while since I have posted anything new on this blog, as I have been busy with other projects. Profuse apologies to those waiting patiently for more archive material, or indeed a new issue of The Tides of Time. I’ve been out of the Oxford loop for a few weeks for personal reasons, but I know that an issue is in production and it will be again uploaded here a little after publication.

Back to the future: Tides of Time 28, October 2002

Although some articles from Tides of Time 28 have appeared on the site already, I thought it was time to extend the PDF archive further, and so here is the entire issue. It was the last to be edited by Matthew Peacock, and has some claim to be his magnum opus as editor. Behind the knife-wielding image of Ray Winstone as Will Scarlet from Robin of Sherwood, several articles express Mat’s own clear views on issues from the success or otherwise of the 1996 TV movie, the meaning of The Prisoner, and a world-weariness towards Doctor Who as a niche product perpetuated in novels and audio plays but not as mass-market television. Balancing these, Mat published several enthusiastic and inspired stories featuring characters and concepts from the BBC Doctor Who novels and Big Finish CDs (downloads were some years away) and entirely new characters, largely provided by Alex Cameron and William Ramsden.

This was the end of an era for Tides in more ways than just a change of editor. This was the last issue to date published at A4 size, and the last to be financed separately from the membership fee. When Tides returned it would be smaller, and contrary to Mat’s expectations that he would be succeeded by an undergraduate or at least someone close to undergraduate age, in the hands of someone who had been in the Oxford Doctor Who Society even longer than Mat.

Most importantly, though, the age of Doctor Who as a minority product, caught between nostalgia for childhood television and experimental adult fiction lines, was coming to an end. As Mat’s final article noted, there were strange noises from the BBC which could actually mean Doctor Who would return to mainstream television, and by the time Tides resurfaced in 2004, production was getting underway at BBC Wales. For October 2002, though, it was fitting that the magazine ended with pictures of Paul Cornell, Caroline Symcox, Terrance Dicks, and a miniature steam train.

The PDF is made from domestic scans of the original issue, made up of colour pages from Mat’s inkjet and photocopied black and white pages from inkjet masters. The size of the file might mean it is easier to download it than open it directly into a browser.

The Tides of Time issue 35

• Louise in Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150AD is Rose’s niece!
• Davros the deconstructivist!
• A dozen Nick Briggses!
• “As slow and uneventful as your average first Doctor serial” – but which computer game is this, and has Peppa Pig anything to do with it?
• Make sure hist’ry marches on/For Rassilon, Rassilon, Rassilon!

All this and more can be found in the latest issue of The Tides of Time, now online.

The Tides of Time issue 35 was published in September 2011. It was cover dated Summer 2011. It was edited by Adam Povey.

This issue can be downloaded as a PDF.

Contents

• The Silent Pulpit. Editorial by Adam Povey
• Silence in the Library. Adam Kendrick reviews Shadows of the Vashta Nerada and Evacuation Earth.
• “You can believe this subject is a part of the Doctor Who universe. But we don’t.”
  Sara James explores the possibility that Journey’s End gave fandom a way to canonise the Peter Cushing films.
• Season Seventeen – Douglas Adams and Doctor Who’s Lost Renaissance of 1979. The tale of Douglas Adams’ s tenure as script editor by Matthew Kilburn.
• Season Five – A Survival Guide. Jonathan Nash bullet points how to survive the first year of Moffat’s tenure.
• Moffat’s Revolution. Thoughts on the impact of the current Chief Whovian from Sara James.
• The Gallifrey Rag. Lyrics by Thomas Keyton.
• Burnt Orange. The good in Gridlock as seen by Matthew Kilburn.
• Experiences: The Cardiff Exhibit and the Doctor Who Experience. Adam Povey recalls the Society trip to Cardiff and the new Doctor Who Experience.

Front cover design by Matthew Kilburn, with apologies to Smash Hits, c.1988

Format: A4 folded to A5, lasercopied, 40pp