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Issue 12 - DOWNLOAD NOW!

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Seeing as its (nearly) Christmas, here is a long-overdue gift from us to you. Sadly for you it isn't our resignation from being vendors of nearly-libellous tat, so you'll have to make do with a brand-new Issue instead! In Issue 12 we have the following: Reviews of Series 7.1 (or whatever you call it) Mary Tamm - The Key To The Key To Time The Doctor and The Ripper - what links The Doctor with Whitechapel's mysterious   murderer? Cyberman No3 - A brand new comic from the pen of the marvellous Mike Pearse To Those We Never Had - A (somewhat vindictive) look at companions who should have been Interview with Whostrology author Michael M. Gilroy-Sinclair Plus much, much more! You can read online , download or subscribe by RSS . We also have some discounted 2013 subscriptions (with free gifts!) on sale in our shop . They'll make a great Christmas present for any Doctor Who fan/nutcase! If you enjoy our fanzine, please consider making a small donation to our

Happy 49th Birthday Doctor Who!

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Rubbish presenting, tedious clichés and an audience that look too alarming to be allowed out in public, it can only be 80's telly.  Here we present (someone else's) clip, interviews with fans and The Doctor(s) and his companion, celebrating the show's 25th Anniversary in 1988. And as you can see, nothing much has really changed.  Some of the comments will make you smile, knowing what we know today and the video is just a great example of how Doctor Who of 25 years ago, really isn't that much different 24 years on.  25. 50. 75. Doctor Who will be around forever.

Issue 12 - OUT NOW!!!

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PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS ISSUE IS NOW SOLD OUT After such a short run of Doctor Who this year, you'd think we won't have much to badger on about? Well, sadly, you'll be wrong, as here we present the biggest issue of the fanzine yet, weighing in at an unprecedented 56 pages !  It's so big, we've had offers from Celebrity Fit Club (lets face it - we're probably more famous than half of those people in the jungle with Colin Baker at the moment. And fatter)  If you're a fan of reading actual words, then this is the issue for you!  Due to the cost of producing these novels, we've only got a very limited run, so any support we get (i.e. if you buy one) will be greatly appreciated . Here is a list of the following stuff you will find in the latest issue: Reviews of Series 7.1 (or whatever you call it) Mary Tamm - The Key To The Key To Time The Doctor and The Ripper - what links The Doctor with Whitechapel's mysterious murderer? Cyberman No3 - A b

Issue 12 - Deadline and Info!

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We're coming to the end of this half of Series 7, so we feel it's safe to pop our heads out again and bring you a brand-new Issue!  For Issue 12, we're mainly looking for reviews of the series as an whole. We'd like to receive contributions from some of our past contributors and especially, those who haven't done it before! If you fancy putting your 'series so far' thoughts down after The Angels Take Manhattan , please e-mail us at fishcustardfanzine@googlemail.com please make your reviews no more than 700 words and no less than 1 ! (Obviously, any amount of words between the two would also suffice!) If reviewing isn't your bag, we're open to any contribution you can come up with. If you need any ideas, feel free to check out our previous issues. We're generally look for essays and opinion pieces on anything vaguely-related to Doctor Who!  We're always on the lookout for more art, spoofs and poems too! Please note that we don't accep

In The UK? Pre-Order Issue 12 For JUST £1!

Here at Fish Fingers and Custard, we're always dreaming up ways to flog as many paper copies as we can. Despite unsold copies clogging up wardrobes and causing ankle injuries, we're more than happy to keep producing them.  For many, there's nothing like holding something in your hand and it not having the potential to explode in your face.  So with this in mind, we're offering UK residents the chance to pre-order Issue 12 (out in October) for just ONE POUND (and that includes P+P!).  So if you're a regular reader, or someone who just reads the download or online, please consider taking up this great offer.  We're no great salesmen, we're not some big company who wants your money (we actually lose money on every issue!) but we do it for the love of it. For the love of Doctor Who! So please support us and get a great bargain at the same time! If you would like to order a copy (which has the potential to be our biggest yet, due to the many reviews of the new

Issue 11 - DOWNLOAD NOW!!!

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To celebrate the airing of the first episode of the new series of Doctor Who, we're delighted to be able to present the latest Issue of Fish Fingers and Custard for you to download for FREE! This has got nothing to do whatsoever with us being late in producing this. In this Issue we have the following: Tributes to Caroline John and Mary Tamm The Boy Who Kicked Pigs: LIVE! - a review of Tom Baker's book, performed on stage Meet The Fanziners - we chat to a couple of fanzine editors about the state of fanzines and fandom in general The Krotons - Is it as bad as it looks? Is the TV Movie better than the RTD era? Plus, much, much more You can download the PDF from here ('right-click and save', or 'left-click and save', if you're a witch. Or whatever you do if you're on a phone/iPad etc. You Show-off. Cheers and be sure to check out our back issues by clicking 'Issues' on the left of this page - they should keep you suitably amused u

The Matt Smith Review: Part 20 - Closing Time

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What We First Thought: I love this just for the dig at Britain’s Got Talent. Fantastic! You know what? I’d never thought I’ll be using the words ‘ I quite fancy another helping of James Corden’ whilst doing these reviews.  I’m fiercely opposed to watching him in anything else, but the domestic life which has been fit around his character, Craig Owens, is like a nice pair of slippers – comfy to slip into from time-to-time.  I like how Gareth Roberts mirrors The Lodger , what with Craig repeating himself out loud when he opens the door to The Doctor and Sophie forgetting her keys, again! Even The Doctor gets in on the act, resurrecting the ‘baby talk’ gag that was first seen in A Good Man Goes To War .  And I do think it’s a gag on The Doctor’s part, some online fans do seem to get their knickers in a twist over the slightest thing these days!  They’re the exact type of people that would be ssshed by The Doctor’s sssshing!  Sometimes it’s nice to have these little things (or

The Matt Smith Review: Part 19 - The God Complex

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What We First Thought: Is it next week yet? For some bizarre reason, Series 6 didn’t go down that well with most fans. What they produced, in my opinion, was a decent solid run of episodes that didn’t really contain the same highs and lows as any other new series to date.  I said in the fanzine at the time, that I didn’t think that the break worked as hoped – on paper, it seemed to be a good idea - the dramatic affect after A Good Man Goes To War was achieved as planned, but at times you can only build up something so much that the viewing public will create unrealistic expectations for themselves, so Let’s Kill Hitler and the rest of the series would never come up to scratch. This series is typified by The God Complex – a solid episode, with a spooky story that makes you think about, well, everything that you believe in.  It’s far better written than most of the stuff that the RTD era produced, but yet it doesn’t quite jump out at you, like the Minotaur the story contain

The Matt Smith Review: Part 18 - The Girl Who Waited

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What We First Thought: A MILF Amy. Really? One aspect I wanted to explore whilst watching all these episodes again was ‘ would I like them after enough time has passed' .   I generally watch an episode twice – once live and again later in the week.   If I REALLY enjoy the episode, I might watch it again. But then I leave it, perhaps for a couple of years or so.   I just don’t see the benefit of watching an episode 5 times in a short space of time, because in life you may be in a certain mood at the time or in a certain situation which may affect your enjoyment of a particular episode.   I didn’t really think The Girl Who Waited was brilliant, but now I think it’s easily one of the better episodes of the series. The Amy/Rory relationship actually makes sense in this episode.   It’s such a simple (or perhaps, not so simple) idea to have the dilemma of 'which Amy' to choose, but it works brilliantly as it opens up that window for us, to let us have a cheeky peep int

The Matt Smith Review: Part 17 - Night Terrors

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What We First Thought: A David Tennant Fangirl is 100,000 times scarier. Especially if they’ve been on the tart fuel. NIGHT TERRORS IS THE SCARIEST EPISODE EVER! screamed the Doctor Who hype machine, which at times can give North Korea a run for its money. I don’t know why people just can’t sit down and watch an episode without any tags attached it.   It’s not the first time this has happened and it certainly won’t be the last.   The overwhelming feeling I’ve gauged from this episode is that ‘it’s Fear Her, done properly’.   True, the budget for this probably wasn’t as vast for other episodes in the series, but it certainly had a lot more pumped into it than Fear Her AND Mark Gatiss didn’t have 20 minutes to write it!   Night Terrors is just another decent watch and an episode that’s great to watch with your kids. Saying that, I firmly believe that there’s a message in this for parents and children alike – the kid being an alien was a nice twist (a nice nod to adoption, perha

The Matt Smith Review: Part 16 - A Good Man Goes To War/Let's Kill Hitler

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What We First Thought: I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m loving it! I don’t really know how to review these episodes.   For a start, is really a two parter? It says it is, but it doesn’t feel like it is. It’s clear some time has passed since the events in the last episode, so it doesn’t really feel like a continuation. But it IS a continuation. Oh my head, I’ve confused myself now! I love A Good Man Goes To War .   I’ve been moaning for years for Doctor Who to have a proper adventure story, instead of the arc-heavy, character development, emotional mush we usually get.   Amazingly though, this episode achieved ALL of that AND a presented a great adventure tale, so it made me happy!   I liked seeing The Doctor recruit some of his ‘friends’ to rescue Amy.   The scenes which saw him pick them up were the highlights of the episode for me, with Strax the Sontaran being the standout in those.   It’s really funny to see how much effort they made to present a scene like that, wh

The Matt Smith Review: Part 15 - The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People

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What We First Thought: What a good last 2 minutes! If I feel that The Doctor’s Wife is a tad overrated, then The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People is slightly underrated. But it could have been so much more enjoyable if a few creases were ironed out.  Or obliterated, in some cases. I like Matthew Graham. Together with his writing team, they produced 5 great years of telly in the shape of Life on Mars and Ashes To Ashes .  True, the odd Bonekickers episode (okay, ALL of them) may have spoiled the party, but then there’s also Fear Her on his CV.  I’ll be honest and say that I don’t dislike that episode as much as some people seem to do.  It was by far the ‘cheap episode’ of the series and a late replacement for something else.  Graham probably didn’t have much room to lay down his own ideas and apart from a couple of good humour bits (yes, a couple – The Doctor’s answer to ‘ What’s your game? ’ and the ‘marmalade jar incident’) it was forgettable. So what will he be able to ac

Issue 11 - OUT NOW!!!

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We're back, with a very limited release (the printers have packed up) however this isn't the last Issue, but just in case, be sure to snap up your copy! (how's that for advertising?) Either way, you won't be able to avoid disappointment In this Issue we have the following Tributes to Caroline John and Mary Tamm The Boy Who Kicked Pigs: LIVE! - a review of Tom Baker's book, performed on stage Meet The Fanziners - we chat to a couple of fanzine editors about the state of fanzines and fandom in general The Krotons - Is it as bad as it looks? Is the TV Movie better than the RTD era? Plus, much, much more If you would like to purchase a copy, please send the payment that applies to you via PayPal (as a 'gift') to fishcustardfanzine@googlemail.com UK: £2 Europe: £3 Rest of the World: £4 Cheers

The Matt Smith Review: Part 14 - The Doctor's Wife

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What We First Thought: The internet is going to explode!!!!  When I first saw the reaction to The Doctor’s Wife , I honestly didn’t see what all the fuss was about.  Written by fantasy author Neil Gaiman, the story sees the TARDIS literally jumping into a human and talking to The Doctor!  On paper it sounds very bizarre, but somehow the episode makes it look as normal as, say Rory being killed, and the fact that it’s easy to understand, is the real strength of this episode.  Is it the best episode EVER though? No, not really. It isn’t even the best episode of series 6… I don’t know what it is with fans and hype.  I can guarantee you that if another writer had written this, it wouldn’t attract such praise from those who are so upstanding about it. I feel sorry for Gaiman in a way – his work will always be so overrated, just because his name attracts people who judge things on name only.  The Doctor’s Wife is actually a decent episode as it goes, but reactions like these put pe

The Boy Who Kicked Pigs (Live!) - Review

I was amazed that someone wanted to do it on stage. When I wrote the piece it was obvious to me I could not write about a good boy. Who wants to read about a good boy? So I piled on the awfulness and everybody laughed – Tom Baker A s soon as I heard about this adaptation coming to the stage, I snapped up tickets as soon as I could.   Written by Tom Baker (knowing Tom, presumably after many drinks. Then again, knowing Tom, he probably doesn’t need to drink to think this story up!) it tells the tale of a boy, Robert, who ‘likes to kick pigs’ and generally wreak havoc for people. I’m sure we’ve met children like him!   The story is very cartoonish but does show what impact misbehaving can achieve.   The theatre company Kill The Beast seem to revel in bringing this cartoonish violence to life and you can see that, just by watching this performance.   It’s something that’ll be difficult to put together if its cast and crew ‘didn’t get it’ but this one does. Taking place in one of

The Matt Smith Review: Part 13 - The Curse of The Black Spot

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What We First Thought: That was okay… You know what? I was going to buck the trend once again here by saying that I enjoyed The Curse of The Black Spot , but after watching this again, I can see more holes in it than Mitt Romney’s brain.   I want to like this, I really do, but the many errors are just screaming out and I can’t help but listen.   After a promising start, we have Amy coming over all Pirate. What’s that all about then? I can understand that some leeway was needed in order to inject a bit of fun, but come on!   She handled that sword like she had been taking lessons on a regular basis (which Karen had been doing actually – WHY?) At least insert a bit of nervousness on Amy’s part, with her trying to handle the sword. To be fair though - that scene was almost done to perfection, with the Pirates staying out of her way because a cut would be it for them. That child! Honestly, I reckon he is the most annoying character in Doctor Who history, based wholly on his

The Matt Smith Review: Part 12 - The Impossible Astronaut/Day of The Moon

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What We First Thought: Arghhhhhhhhhh! What's going on? Doctor Who is going to get cancelled because people don't understand! Arghhhhhhhhhh! BOOM! Doctor Who is back and starts with The Doctor hiding under the skirt of a pretty lady artist (to be honest, I think only Matt’s Doctor would be able to pull this off so innocently!)  The other little scenes are like ‘little adventures’ and we’re only seeing a glimpse of them, much like when we hear about The Doctor and River’s adventures with ‘Jim The Fish’, much later on!  I think this is a brilliant way of introducing us to what’s going on, as we’re likely to be wondering what is going on , when the story reaches its half-way point! It’s clear that some time has passed since A Christmas Carol , as Amy and Rory are now living together and The Doctor is elsewhere, having these adventures to attract their attention, for some reason.  Although I reckon he just did it for the sake of it – he just needs to turn up at their front

RIP Mary Tamm

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It’s proved to be a difficult 12 months or so for the Doctor Who world, even more so recently, as we have lost Mary Tamm, just over a week after Caroline John.  Known by fans for playing Romana during the Key To Time series, Mary brought a touch of class, which only reinforced her character as an equal to The Doctor.  I particularly enjoy her teasing of The Doctor throughout that series and the dynamic, which makes The Doctor look a bit uncomfy in his own TARDIS, was played out brilliantly. Mary left before filming of the next series, which saw Lalla Ward take over as her next regeneration.  Despite willing to come back and film a regeneration scene, she was never invited to do so, which makes the scene at the start of Destiny of The Dalek s, all the more baffling.  Mary’s reason for leaving in the first place, was because she felt that her character wouldn’t have been developed. To be honest, I think that reason has to be admired.  I much prefer someone to be so caring about th

The Matt Smith Review: Part 11 - A Christmas Carol

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What We First Thought : That was ok.   Going to switch over now, before Eastenders comes on. I don’t want to be depressed at Christmas. I feared the worst when I heard that Steven Moffat was using a story written by a former Doctor Who star as ‘inspiration’.   Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is re-imagined on stage, TV and film every single year, so there must be something in it that makes it appealing to generations of audiences.   But this is Doctor Who and when Doctor Who tries to ‘do’ popular culture, it can sometimes fall into farce.   Thankfully the episode, shockingly called ‘ A Christmas Carol ’, is pretty decent as it’s The Doctor that uses Dickens’ story as inspiration, not Moffat completely ripping it off! Set on a planet whose skies are controlled by the Scrooge-like figure of Kazran Sardick (played by Michael Gambon), The Doctor appears and appeals for him to clear the clouds to let a crashing spaceship land safely.   It so happens that Amy and Rory are ‘busy