Dreambotch

Word reaches us via Outpost Gallifrey that Dreamwatch – formerly Dreamwatch Bulletin, and originally the fanzine Doctor Who Bulletin before that – has ended its print run. For those who don’t know it from its original incarnation (a term that seems somehow appropriate), DWB was a Doctor Who fanzine that seemed to specialize in hyperbole. Someone once wrote in to their letters page something along the lines of “What are you going to say next, ‘[then-producer John Nathan-Turner] ate my hamster!’?” And that wasn’t much of an exaggeration. The editor at the time, you see, had it in for JN-T. Well, almost everyone did at the time, but DWB excelled at the art of dropping the issue and making the attack personal, at one point even accusing JN-T of celebrity stunt casting for the sake of then trying to get those guest performers to show up in the Christmas pantomimes he produced in the off-season. (Uh…hello? Celebrity stunt casting is a time-honored tradition intended to draw viewers in to sample your show who might not otherwise be watching faithfully, whether it’s Doctor Who or not.) “JN-T must go!” and “Saward must go!” and “Sylvester McCoy must go!” were frequent flyer headlines on the front page of DWB in the late 80s.
Many readers remember them for getting scoops on the show ahead of the other ‘zines (and keep in mind, news about the show still traveled at the speed of print, these being the 2400 baud modem days), but I remember them for being an object lesson in everything that a fanzine should strive not to be. It’s no exaggeration to say that, in the latter days of Star Trek: Enterprise, when fans were crying out for Berman and Braga to be axed (or worse), DWB definitely came to mind. (I wasn’t fond of Berman or Braga from a creative standpoint, but I wouldn’t wish either of them actual harm or complete professional ruin. There’s just no call for the former, and they’re quite capable of seeing to the latter under their own steam.)
I subscribed for one year, running from mid-1986 through mid-87. I didn’t feel compelled to re-up my subscription after that, because the ‘zine was less about the show as it was about the editors’ vendetta. At the opposite end of the spectrum, when the show was canned in 1986 (something which was later retconned into an “18 month hiatus”), DWB threatened to sue the BBC to get this show that was now in ruins back on the air. Holy TrekUnited, Batman.
I know that passion is at the heart of fandom, so sometimes a cool head is too much to ask. But as fondly as some remember it, I recall DWB as a lesson – a lesson of what fandom should try never to become: vindictive and obsessive.