An Open Letter to the Makers of Doctor Who Insider
Dear Editorial Staff of Doctor Who Insider and Panini Publishing,
Doctor Who is becoming the hot thing in North America right now. There’s a screening of the premiere in New York and Chicago (please let Toronto be not too far behind). Karen Gillan is the third Doctor Who guest to appear on Craig Ferguson. It’s going to debut day and date with the UK in both Canada and the US.
Apparently we even have a magazine all our own. Doctor Who Insider. The first issue came out last week. A magazine for North American Doctor Who fans. But here’s the thing…
Where’s the North American fan voice?
OK, a little bit of a declaration of self interest here. For ten years, I edited a fanzine for DWIN called Enlightenment. Over the past two years, I’ve co-edited two volumes of Doctor Who fan writing called Time, Unincorporated by Mad Norwegian Press (it got a great review in DWM, by the way!) In both products, over the years I have edited some fantastic North American fan writers who have great things to say about Doctor Who, its characters, and the ongoing story.
Not that I see any of them them in Doctor Who Insider. Or anything from the articulate people behind the great North American podcasts, such as Radio Free Skaro and Podshock. Or the people who broadcast Doctor Who in North America: BBC America and Space (I know the people at Space. They’d be amazing contributors).
What I do see are the usual blokes from Panini House in Tunbridge Wells, who make Doctor Who Magazine.
Don’t get me wrong, great blokes, all of them—I love these writers. DWM is a brilliant magazine, and keeps getting better. But a Doctor Who magazine for the North American market deserves more than just a “fan zone” of piccies of lucky North American fans with Matt Smith and Karen Gillan
How about, I don’t know, the radical idea of approaching North American writers, North American fans, who frankly know as much about Doctor Who as any Brit and in some cases love the series even more, to write for it.
How about having a presence at Gallifrey One, North America’s, no, wait, the world’s largest Doctor Who convention. I was astonished that Doctor Who Insider missed a great opportunity last February: you could have done a mockup “zero” issue and given it to fans and gotten great buzz or even come to the con and spoken at panels. I thought maybe you’d be at Wondercon instead since it had a big Doctor Who presence this year (less than a week before launch) but, from all reports, you weren’t there either.
How about thinking about articles about Doctor Who’s North American heritage, about the Canadian who created it, the Canadian and American sources that enabled the Jon Pertwee stories to be recolourized or returned to the archive, about the love from Craig Ferguson, all sorts of stories that might be of interest. I’m not saying these are cover feature-worthy, but it might actually provide some breadth.
Any of these things would be good ideas. Instead we get the same old blokes from Tunbridge Wells we know and love from DWM. (The only difference is the sort of breathless tone that makes Doctor Who Adventures sound like a scholarly journal. Seriously, guys, you could tone it down a notch.)
I honestly wish Doctor Who Insider the best of luck. But, really, there’s a wide world of North American contributors, fans and ideas you’re not even trying to tap, and that leaves me both confused and a little cynical. You want to do a magazine on Doctor Who for the North American market, get out of Tunbridge Wells.
Best,
Graeme
Posted by Graeme on Sunday, April 10 at 6:00 am
25 Comments...
Well said, Graeme. It’s a fun magazine but it does lack a distinct North American presence. I’m writing that off as a “first issue” anomaly for now. Let’s hope future issues take your advice.
Posted by Brian on 04/10 at 10:02 AM
Well-put, Graeme. If I may add my own few cents to this. My first impression of DWI was not favorable because of its lack of content. Look at DWM and you see a ton of content there - lengthy, in-depth articles galore. Each issue is a small book. But DWI looks like it’s taken the viewpoint that American readers (because of course the magazine is made for American readers, with Canadians just a by-the-way) don’t have the attention span or the interest to read long articles. The entire contents of issue 1 of DWI (pictures notwithstanding) could have fit into the the first 10 pages of the last issue of DWM.
I was also disappointed by the lack of original fiction. DWM has comic strips, Torchwood magazine got to the point where it was running 20 pages or more of comic strips and short stories. Surely Panini could have made arrangements to at least reprint some of the Doctor Who Adventures strips if it didn’t want to commission its own.
A first issue of any magazine is a trial run, so I’m willing to give it slack. But right now I don’t see it as any sort of replacement, or even compliment, to DWM and I’ve my fingers crossed distributors here don’t decide to drop DWM in favor of Insider. Some of the ideas Graeme mentions would go a long way to making Insider more than a pale copy of DWM.
Posted by Alex on 04/10 at 10:04 AM
I can’t believe you missed your chance to sign this “Disgusted, of not Tunbridge Wells.”
Posted by Cameron on 04/10 at 10:13 AM
I wholeheartedly agree on everything you wrote. I was fairly disappointed from the first issue, it seemed like content that was cut out from DWM. There wasn’t anything nothing special or interesting about it. Also for some reason, Panini charges an extra dollar for Canadians, which is BS other magazine and comics publishers have stopped doing.
Posted by Rem on 04/10 at 11:28 AM
Thank you! My sentiments exactly. Where are the articles on the geeks, like myself who begged my parents to help save Doctor Who by donating to PBS. Or the sheer joy of actually seeing an episode that wasn’t staring Tom Baker (Don’t get me wrong, Tom is still my favorite). Or how many of us learned to knit, because no one else was going to make us a fourteen foot scarf! The American Doctor Who experience is a rich one, please explore it Insider, and I might actually consider a subscription.
Posted by Grant on 04/10 at 01:10 PM
@Rem - the shop where you bought it might be ripping you off. I just checked my copy and the US and CDN cover prices are printed the same: $6.99. If you’re being charged an extra buck I don’t think it’s the publisher doing it.
Posted by Alex on 04/10 at 04:09 PM
Wow. Now I’m glad I didn’t ask my parents to get me a subscription. There was a description of the contents of the first issue on the Doctor Who News Page last week and I think I spotted some of those issues just by reading that list.
Posted by Nicole on 04/10 at 04:57 PM
Question for Graeme: do you have any plans to send a copy of this letter to the DWI editorial team? Open letters are great, but I think your concerns are worth sending to them directly.
Posted by Alex on 04/11 at 06:25 AM
Honestly, I think cynicism is the only conceivable response. I think Panini launched the magazine more so they could have a second Doctor Who magazine license than to actually produce it for North American audiences. The UK subscriber info is very prominent (and Canada isn’t even listed!). I bet you anything it even gets sold at UK newsagents.
Posted by Tom on 04/11 at 12:46 PM
Thanks. Money saved.
Let me know when it’s not shyte.
-Rod
Posted by Rod on 04/11 at 08:37 PM
http://amultiverse.com/2011/04/01/doctor-whoa-gets-lucky/
Posted by Jimmy on 04/12 at 12:13 PM
One of the other big problems with Doctor Who Insider thus far is that even if one wanted to purchase a copy, it doesn’t seem readily avalaible in Canada. I can’t find a copy anywhere in stores and the ad in DWM only provided ordering information for US and UK residents (despite the ad reiterating the alleged “North American” aspect of the target readership).
Posted by Luca on 04/12 at 02:25 PM
Got it in Toronto at Great Canadian News at Yonge and Front. However, like most I am not overly thrilled. I feel like I’m reading something that’s been ‘dumbed down’.
Let’s hope that things improve.
Posted by Julie on 04/13 at 06:21 AM
@Luca My understanding was it was only available at comic book shops last week, with newsstand distribution (Chapters, etc) happening later (which appears to be supported by Julie mentioning finding it at a newsstand). That’s the usual pattern with DWM - the comic shops get it first, and then it shows up in Chapters/Indigo and such places weeks later. That “Seeing red?” Daleks issue of DWM just started showing up at Indigo but I bought it weeks ago at a comic shop.
It can’t be a case of Panini not having distribution since we do see not only DWM but the specials as well over here. In fact the specials in my experience often bypass the comic shops.
Posted by Alex on 04/13 at 06:54 AM
This magazine looks rubbish I prefer the Dr who UK magazine; what do the americans know about the doctor?! Nothing!
Anyway I’ve been trying to find articles and stuff to see what’s going to happen in the new episodes but can’t really find much apart from some six cover special of Time Out. It goes to sale on Tuesday 19th April I think and there’s stuff like interviews and secrets about the new episodes in it. They’re only selling two covers in the shops and to get all six you have to order the set from the internet . id rather get all six covers than get a copy of doctor who insider- more worth it, especially for the free poster lol! I found the link where you can buy the set from if anyone’s interested http://shop.timeout.com/new-doctor-who-collector-s-set-time-out-magazine.html
does anyone know any other better magazines and websites where you can read about the new doctor who series? i’m too excited! i can’t believe it’s coming back in like a week
Posted by Daleksforever on 04/13 at 08:23 AM
@Daleksforever. To be fair, as Graeme points out, the magazine isn’t written by Americans, but by the same editorial team that does Doctor Who Magazine, so they know plenty about the show. The point is they’re not (so far) doing anything different from what we can read, in far more detail, in Doctor Who Magazine. And in answer to your question, that’s really the only game in town in terms of newsstand magazines (of course don’t forget DWIN’s excellent Enlightenment magazine!). The only problem is DWM, unless you subscribe to it, is released in North America on a delay. The issue that just came out in the UK last week won’t become available in Canada at comic book shops until mid-May sometime, and likely not on the newsstands until sometime after that. The “new” issue over here, with the Dalek on the cover, was published in the UK more than a month ago. We got the Christmas Special issue in February.
So if you want up-to-the-minute information you pretty much need the websites such as this one and The Doctor Who News Page (there are many others, but these two are the ones I usually check first, and I was checking out DWIN even before I became a contributor).
Posted by Alex on 04/13 at 08:29 AM
This is coming from the same guy who had his own “clique” of writers during most of his run as editor of Enlightenment…sort of the pot calling the kettle black…just sayin’
Posted by Sorvad on 05/09 at 06:29 AM
Nice potshot, except there’s a biiiiig difference between a fanzine where one relies on volunteers to submit materials and a magazine with a monetary budget to pay anyone, anywhere to work for it.
Posted by Graeme on 05/09 at 06:38 AM
Ha, nicely put! This is one of the most real blogs I have ever read. Nothing overcomes well first hand encounters on letters. Thanks for being true about the Makers of Doctor Who Insider. Keep it up though!
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