CT 494 - Alan Stevens
Peoples of the universe, please attend carefully.
When we read, another person thinks for us: we merely repeat his or her mental process.
In learning to write, the pupil goes over with his pen what the teacher has outlined in pencil. So it is with reading; the greater part of the work of thought is already done for us. In consequence, if anyone spends almost the whole day reading, and by way of relaxation devotes the intervals to some thoughtless publication, s/he gradually loses the capacity for thinking; just as the person who always rides, at last forgets how to walk. This is the case with many learned persons: they have read themselves stupid.
Celestial Toyroom issue 494 attempts to reverse this mechanism, challenging certain aspects of our shared grand narrative that makes up Doctor Who as a way to inspire thought, not depress it.
To help us on this journey we have Professor Fiona Moore exposing the underlying connections between Resurrection of the Daleks and The Web of Fear, Michael Seely going behind the scenes of the latter story, to demonstrate what makes it a stone cold classic, Jez Strickley examining the soft and hard power influence of the Time Lords, and Paul Driscoll exposing the hidden agenda that governed the portrayal of the Fifth Doctor.
Last, but by no means least, I’d like to thank Andy Lambert for his super wrap-around cover, featuring the Second Doctor confronting Davros and the Daleks on the London Underground, as the Fifth Doctor takes on the Yeti at Docklands; and JL Fletcher for his terrific artwork of the Golden Emperor of the Daleks for this issue’s give-away colour postcard.
Kindest regards,
Alan Stevens (with thanks to Arthur Schopenhauer)