Some more 60s Doctor Who Toys

During the early part of the second lockdown, I put together a few more silly 60s Doctor Who toys. All of them are based on actual products. 

I love the packaging designs from that period. Not constrained by the ideals of a brand bible, they had free-reign to do what they liked. 

Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn't. Sometimes it was a cheap generic design. Other times it was a work of art. Nothing was ever the same. 

Here's a few of the ones I did. If you know your merchandise, you'll probably be able to spot the source material...

Textless cover image

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"A Doctor Who Special" from Target Books!

There were two 'special' Target books published in the late 70s. Edited by the late Terrance Dicks, "The Adventures of K9 and other Mechanical Creatures' and 'Terry Nation's (sic) Dalek Special' were large paperbacks fully illustrated with facts, stories and puzzles from your favourite TV sci-fi show. I couldn't tell you whether they actually sold shed-loads but they were the only two. There were no more... 

Until now...

Here a selections of further 'specials' that could've been but weren't... probably for good reason. 

And if you didn't like them, you can get stuffed... with the amazing Doctor Who Taxidermy Book !

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More Spin-off Annuals For Dr Who...

With my own convention season over, I can now get back to updating the blog.

Here's a further selection of spin-off annuals for Doctor Who - companions, villains and monsters this time! One or two familiar designs along with original period ones. 

Hope you like them. Let me know on the Twitter - @andydrewz - any further suggestions from the classic series - the odder, the better! 

 

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60s Spin-off Annuals For Dr Who Companions

The 2020 annuals are about to filter their way onto the shelves of WHSmith so now seems as good a time as any to do a few more covers for annuals that could've been.

Here's a selection of spin-off annuals for some of Dr Who's companions from the 1960s - done in a period style. 

Hope you like. 

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TV Series Too Obscure For Big Finish To Produce Audio Adventures For...

Well, the title says it all really... 

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You Too Can Own Original Bits of Power of the Daleks!!!

Some of the late BBC designer Derek Dodd's original colour photos from Power of the Daleks recently went under the hammer at auction. The price estimate put the very rare (and largely unseen) stills way out of most fans price bracket and they had to make do with the artistically arranged lo-res photo of the collection on the auction house's website to get a basic feel of their awesome-ness. 

But fear not! There are plans to make the stills available to everyone (at a reasonable price). 

You TOO can own a genuine piece of Doctor Who history... just like the BIG fans do!













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A Few Random Things...

Sorry I haven't updated the blog for the past month. Had a very difficult few weeks and been very busy with personal stuff.

Here's a few random pieces what I've done recently to get the ball rolling with some much needed additions to the blog...



The "Escape from the Forsyte Saga" game is just an updated version of something I did in the very early days of the blog. I've recently been trying to come up with some more TV-based board games but to no avail... 

The Quark sweet cigarettes were apparently suggested as a real thing back in the 60s. Richard Bignell recently uncovered BBC paperwork that revealed a company enquired after the licence to produce these. But the falling out between Mervyn Haisman & Henry Lincoln over the rights to the Quarks meant that didn't get much further than a memo.




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Some more Star Trek Pike stuffs...

Apparently my earlier faux Star Trek novel cover - based on the original James Blish novelisation - featuring Anson Mount and Ethan Peck as Captain Pike and Lt. Spock was quite popular. So popular that I'm sure that Anson Mount is getting a little fed up with his Twitter feed being cluttered with retweets of it from his adoring fans. Thank you for that.

Here's a few more early Star Trek variants featuring the new old cast of the spin-off that whilst it's so obvious that it should be produced, won't be knowing the complicated legalities of the Star Trek franchise at CBS. 

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A Star Trek Discovery book cover...

What the third season of Star Trek Discovery should be in a nutshell...


















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Four Alternative Covers For The Daleks' Master Plan LP

I make no excuse that one of my favourite ancient Doctor Who serials is the epic 'The Daleks Master Plan'. The soundtrack is being released on vinyl shortly - yes, all thirteen episodes of it (including the 'Mission to the Unknown' prologue episode). The cover is lovely. Don't get me wrong. Very stylish and atmospheric.

I've done a few alternative versions of my own - including one that harkens back to the 1979 LP of 'Genesis of the Daleks'. 

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DVD covers for cult TV stuff not released on DVD yet...

Here's a couple of full covers for cult TV stuff not yet released on DVD for various reasons...  

Counterstrike was a short-lived science fiction thriller series produced in the late sixties by the BBC. It starred Jon Finch as Simon King - a man from another galaxy who attempted to thwart an invasion of Earth by his own people. Only four episodes (the first four) exist. One episode of the original run was never shown and is amongst the missing ones. 

The first series of ITV's Freewheelers does exist in its entirety but is very poor quality. Only the sixth series has been released officially. It's also been rerun on Talking Pictures TV. The later colour series - although available in fan circles - only exist as VHS dupes. 

If you have any suggestions for other rarieties that 'need' liberating with DVD covers (whether the episodes exist or not), let me know on the Twitter feed.

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Dr Who LPs for Worlds Records Shop Day 2019!

I see they are releasing two classic Doctor Who soundtracks on vinyl for Record Store Day this year. Well, they seem to do something like this every year now. The covers for Galaxy Four and Destiny of the Daleks are online now and look very nice and artistic... if a little bit TOO modern for my tastes. Naturally I like harkening back to the past and that rebellious, pseudo-punk cover that was produced to accompany the original release of Genesis of the Daleks by BBC Records back in 1979. 


Here's two designs what I have done that keep to the style of that original design classic...

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Soapmania in the 60s and 70s

People forget how huge the soaps were back in the 60s and 70s. You couldn't look anywhere without seeing adverts for Corrie ice lollies and Crossroads sweet cigarettes. Kids couldn't get enough of the escapades of their favourite characters like Elsie Tanner and Amy Turtle. 

Manufacturers couldn't keep up with the demand for the official ATV Crossroads motel playset so Susan Stranks off of Magpie showed everyone how to make their own from old egg shells and potato peelings. 

It was fab. You had to be there. 

Here's some evidence that I haven't just knocked up over the weekend.

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