Doctor Who - Season Twelve on Target

I've done some more retro Target book covers. Actually, I've done quite a lot more retro Target book covers. 

As you can see from my earlier ones for Flux, I'm quite taken with the second redesign that debuted with Doctor Who and the Terror of the Autons. It features a cutdown version of the then series logo and a (usually) white border that the artwork occasionally bled out of - building on the pop art/Frank Bellamy style of the previous ones.

I did the 80s stories first but in the interests of some semblance of continuity, I'll begin with Tom Baker's first season which I only completed a month or so ago.

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Seventy-two Cut-out Figures of Classic Doctor Who Monsters, Villains and Aliens...

This has been fun! We all remember those Doctor Who Weetabix cards from the 70s. The previous post is my attempt to replicate the style of them... with varied success. 

I do feel that the figures are more interesting to create than the props and sets. So interesting that I've now gone and done seventy-two of them. Some are famous multi-appearance monsters whilst other are more obscure characters. The ones I am most pleased with are the Earth Trooper from 'Frontier in Space', the Seer robot from 'Underworld' (how's that for obscure) and the Foamasi (which was inspired by a memory of the one at Madame Tussauds back in 1980 which was so much better than the bag of spuds that appeared in 'The Leisure Hive'... and yes, the texturing on the creature's skin IS bubble wrap!). 

Will I do some more? Possibly, but for the moment I need a rest. I think I've proved to myself I can actually create half-decent original art as opposed to ice lolly ads and Target book covers.

These cut-outs are slightly larger than I would normally post and have no watermark. You can download the images by right-clicking on them and following the relevant instructions on your PC. If you do enjoy them, let me know or maybe tell me which monsters/villains/alien you'd like to see at a later date. You can really show you appreciation by purchasing a coffee for me via my Ko-fi account. The link is here.

A Collection of Classic Dr Who Cut-outs

The past few weeks I've been trying out some new techniques in Photoshop to create original art - specifically figures of various monsters and aliens from 20th century Doctor Who. I've done loads of them - probably around forty. They all need to re-formatted for the blog which I plan to do over the weekend. In the mean time, here are some cut-out sheets based on them. 

These are larger jpegs than I would normally post and don't contain watermarks. Feel free to download them and print them out - preferably onto either cartridge paper or card depending how strong your printer is feeling today! Although they are A4 sized, they should print at A3 size without too much loss of quality. Kids will probably enjoy them but I just did them for fun and in homage to the old Weetabix cards of the 70s. 

Someone suggested I print them as postcard packs. We'll see. 

And remember if you are using scissors, get a child to help you. 

1 - Dalek Cut-away Cut-out set

2. TARDIS Control Room 1963

3. The Cyberman Invasion of the Moon

4. A Bonus Selection of Monsters and Aliens

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Cheaper Doctor Who Theatrical Productions Over the Years

There's been three official Doctor Who plays - 'The Curse of the Daleks' (without the Doctor but with Daleks), 'Doctor Who and the Daleks in Seven Keys to Doomsday' (with both the Doctor and the Daleks) and 'Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure' (again with both the Doctor and the Daleks but also with the Cybermen and Margaret Thatcher!).

None of the them set the West End alight and were suspiciously absent at their year's respective Olivier Awards... but Doctor Who fans have a bit of a soft spot for them. 

Here's three cheaper versions of them... not that any of them really had a budget in the first place. Without a doubt, The Ultimate Adventure's budget would not have covered the cost of cat food for the cast of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Cats'.

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Doctor Who - Series Five on Target

Back to catching up with my faux Target covers. 

A few months ago, for some reason known only to my raddled subconscious, I ended up doing 70s style Target covers for the current run of Doctor Who series-by-series... but in reverse. This meant I started with series ten and worked my way back to series five. Thus if you accept the fact that one gets better and better, the more you perform a task, then these selections of Target book covers will get progressively worse as I'm post them in series order beginning with Matt Smith's debut series. 

I liked Matt's debut series but not as much as series seven and certainly more than series six. I hope this shows with this selection. 

Particularly pleased with the one for Amy's Choice. This really was a great example of Doctor Who doing a unique standalone tale which needs no introduction or follow-up. It's got a beginning, a middle and an end... And that's it. No necessity for a prequel or a sequel. No need for Toby Jones' Doctor to return as a villain in a Big Finish spin-off set in a dreamscape where he traps a different character from the Doctor's past every episode... The story is a nice enclosed little tale of its own. I'm surprised Simon Nye didn't write at least another script for the series but there you go. 

Anyway, here goes... 

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Beyond Vision Dalek Serials

Way back in the 'Before Times', there was a VHS label called 'Beyond Vision'. It was actually an encompassing brand name for Warner Home Video's Sci-fi titles. There was a trailer on each video extolling the virtues of the line. Titles included 'Blade Runner', 'Highlander', some of the Doug Mclure fantasy films of the 70s and a rather nice widescreen transfer of 'Forbidden Planet' with a stereo soundtrack. They also lumped in their episodic releases of 'Babylon 5' which actually ran longer that the label itself. 

In amongst these titles were the two Aaru 'Doctor Who' movies from the 60s. Both were nicely remastered in widescreen - unlike the previous VHS releases. 

I was quite taken at the time with the design of the artwork - grey metallic background, formal lettering and a typically 90s sci-fi logo of a glowy bald guy staring at a framework globe. It had a formal look but seemed to suggest it was taking the product range seriously for a change. 

I've recreated that branding for two new video covers that juxtapose the original movie design with ones for the original TV episodes. There's a few gags in there but I'm quite pleased with the authenticity of the designs. I even made an authentic 'Dalek Invasion of Earth' saucer in Photoshop. 

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More Monster Annuals

Yes, I might be a little late with the updates but I'm still knocking out the annuals. The next few blog additions will be mostly those. 

This is a selection of annuals based around Doctor Who monsters. I'd already done a Mandrel annual and have made it available via my RedBubble shop as a journal/notebook (see pic). That one and two of these newer ones are based on World Distributors' 70s Dalek annuals. The Cheetah people one has its roots in a 'Land of the Giants' annual. Not the one that briefly appears in the first episode of 'Survival' (next to a Gary Glitter annual on a table outside a junk shop!). 

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