Fish Fingers and Custard - A Doctor Who Fanzine - FFAC2

What We First Thought:   That was great. We think. So after 11 weeks (or for these reviews - roughly a month) it’s come to this.  Will The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang fall into that trap of being a disappointing ‘finale’ like the majority of its processors? As that ancient saying goes – “ Does it bollocks! ”  What we get is a slick but yet, satisfying ending that still leaves threads over to be picked up for the next series.  It all looks cosier than a Teddy sat with his paws up on a leather chair, wearing a dressing gown and drinking a glass of port. What these episodes do, is encapsulate everything that we’ve seen in the series so far.  I’ve commentated in the fanzine that Steven Moffat isn’t a writer who just throws in lines and scenes in for effect – he has uses for everything.  Lines such as ‘ There was a goblin. Or a trickster, or a warrior. A nameless, terrible thing, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in ...

What We First Though t: Is that really James Corden playing that likeable bloke? I sometimes feel a bit sorry for James Corden. By rights, he should be feeling sorry for me, what with his huge bank account, job offers and endless celebrity friends.  But there seemed to be a collective groan when he was cast in Doctor Who - for some reason, James Corden the man, comes across as a figure of fun to some people (not for his size may I add, but more for his personality).  His infamous ‘spat’ with Patrick Stewart at an awards ceremony is a good example (as is 80% of his acting output).  For me his horrible World Cup show, a very poor imitation of Baddiel and Skinner’s Fantasy Football, where he would gather all his celeb ‘buddies’ in a studio and have a chat, coupled with awful humour and a lack of knowledge about the game, was the final straw for me. I wasn’t going to hear a good word said for him. But why do people feel this way about him? Maybe it’s just the fact tha...

Just a note to say that the deadline for contributions for the next issue is 31st July . As ever, we'll accept anything that vaguely relates to Doctor Who!  However with the new series back on the screens soon, if you'd like to write a short piece (1000 words max) on your thoughts of the last series, or the Moffat/Smith era so far (positive and/or negative!) those would be very welcome.  Please e-mail us at fishcustardfanzine@googlemail.com with anything you'd like to contribute! If you haven't read it yet, you can now read our latest Issue here Cheers

What We First Thought: Oh, is that it? The Daleks eh? I’ve never been as fascinated with them as other people seem to be.   You’ll always hear “ Well, Doctor Who isn’t Doctor Who without The Daleks ”, but that’s not really true, is it? Despite being The Doctor for 7 years, Tom Baker only had two stories with them and his era was arguably the best ever.   Fair enough, this may have something to do with Terry Nation hoarding the rights, but it still points to the fact that Doctor Who doesn’t need Daleks to be successful. The 2005 series though is an altogether different animal.  Like a Tiger with pink and blue stripes. We’ve had at least a Dalek cameo every single year since it returned.  Now the cynic in me believes that the fact that they appear every year, is due to a deal with the estate of Terry Nation, but that’s just idle gossip and probably not true.  What IS true, is that The Daleks are a huge moneymaking factory for BBC Worldwide – so there’s y...

In the run-up to the new series, we’re going to do a Cher. No, we’re not going to have a facelift that makes us look frightening to young children and animals, we’re going to turn back time and find a way to review every episode of the Matt Smith Era so far. We’re going to re-watch every episode and see if our original reactions to them differ from now.  First up is The Eleventh Hour , which obviously provided the title for this fanzine! What we first thought: This is the best thing since discovering that the off-licence up the road doesn’t ask you for ID. I’ll preface this by saying that I gushed like a Teenager at a Justin Bieber concert when I first watched this.  The general ‘even though I’ve never seen him in a episode yet…’ negativity towards Matt Smith from supposed fans, made me want this first episode to succeed so much that they would crawl back into their holes and never hear from their miserable gobs again.  More importantly, it needed to be good t...

  I've seen amazing things out there in space, but strange things can happen wherever you are. I have learned that life on Earth can be an adventure too. In all the universe, I never expected to find a family. I’ve become somewhat obsessed with the word ‘project’ in recent years. I’ve mainly heard the words said from a minority of people in television circles, who are actually interested in being creative, rather than just going all out to make a short-term profit. I think we’re missing something in life these days – what has happened to working on something and developing it? People in television (as well as life in general) these days are very impatient and expect instant success. Causal viewers, fans & bosses of television just don’t seem to want to watch/work on something which could potentially do well. Is it the age in which we live in, where we can get information in a matter of seconds? Elsewhere in this fanzine, you’ll read an article about how the BBC have go...

Issue 2 of Fish Fingers and Custard is available to download now! In this Issue: "Series 5 Reviews" "Proms Report" "Fives" "Where Should Classic Doctor Who Have Ended?" "Memories of PBS Plegde Drives" "The Latest Tabloid Newspaper Rumours" And Much More! You can download the 40-page PDF here Please help support the fanzine by buying a paper copy of the Issue here (and very nice it is too!)