TV Century 21
TV Century 21, also known as TV21, was an English publication printing articles and tie-in comic strips to popular children's adventure series. It was published from 1965 through 1971.
Each issue of TV21 was formatted so as to pass itself off as a news magazine printed exactly one hundred years in the future. Although some stories taking place in the 20th century were presented in the magazine, they were printed in black and white, and presented as "archival documents" or footage from a time machine.
Background
In accordance with its format, TV21 was written with the intent that all the stories and articles printed within describe a single fictional future history of the solar system. Although it mainly featured comic strip stories based on the puppet television creations of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, the first 104 TV21 issues also subsumed several elements of the Doctor Who universe into this "merged canon", licensed not from the BBC but from individual rightsholders Terry Nation and David Whitaker.
The most famous consequence of this was The Daleks (later reprinted as The Dalek Chronicles), a comic serial written by David Whitaker. It constituted one of the earliest licensed Doctor Who spin-offs, as the Doctor did not appear in these stories.
Concurrent with the publishing of The Daleks, the rights to the character of Dr. Who were with Polystyle Publications, Ltd., the makers of TV Comic. Polystyle created new recurring antagonists, the Trods, to replace the Daleks, who would ultimately be shown being exterminated by the actual Daleks in The Trodos Ambush when TV21's license expired and the Daleks were once again allowed to face Dr. Who in comics as on television.
Taking its own path from the source material, TV21's The Daleks revealed the early history of the Dalek Empire, starting with an origin story for the species and continuing through the Golden Emperor's first wars of conquest on the universe until the start of Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.[1]
In addition to Terry Nation's Daleks and Mechanoids, another licensed DWU concept was introduced to TV21 fiction: the planet Astra, which had been created by David Whitaker in TV: The Rescue as part of the background of new companion Vicki Pallister. Astra was referenced in The Daleks and became central to further crossovers with other Anderson-based TV21 strips.
Two further unique interactions occurred between TV21 and the Doctor Who universe. The first came when Issue 28 of the magazine tied in with the release of Dr. Who and the Daleks, the first Peter Cushing feature film, by presenting a cover story and a special Lady Penelope short story which both referenced the film as existing in-universe; The Story of the Film, a short prose adaptation of the movie itself; and a parody, Film Star Wins Oscar—Misses Premier!, featuring "Doctor Da and the Humanies".
Secondly, TV21 released a special record containing the audio story The Daleks, which was based on an episode of the TV serial The Chase with new narration by frequent Dalek voice actor David Graham.
After the end of The Daleks in January 1967, TV21 underwent several mergers with other comic publications. It subsumed TV Tornado in 1968 and became known as TV21 and Tornado; it also absorbed Joe 90 magazine in 1969, following which it was known as TV21 and Joe 90 for 37 issues. The end of the TV21 and Joe 90 run coincided with the end of Gerry Anderson-based content in the magazine.[2] Finally, in 1971, after 347 total issues, TV21 was itself merged into Valiant magazine, which was temporarily known as TV21 and Valiant as a result. Valiant joined Battle Picture Weekly in 1976, which in 1988 was merged into Eagle. Eagle ultimately ended in 1994.
DWU contents
Cover stories
Due to its "newspaper from the future" framing device, instead of a conventional magazine cover, the cover of the publication contained prose fiction in the shape of a newspaper front-page article. These prose stories usually tied into the narratives of the ongoing comic serials; as such, many of them featured the Daleks alongside content from the Stingray and Fireball XL5 strips, essentially serving as early crossovers between the DWU and the Gerry Anderson universe.
The Daleks
- Main article: The Daleks (series)
Fireball XL5
- Main article: Fireball XL5 (series)
Thunderbirds
- Main article: Thunderbirds (series)
Stingray
- Main article: Stingray (series)
Burke's Law
| Title | Issue | Released |
|---|---|---|
| Who Killed Elias Hoodreim? | 14 | 24 April 1965 |
| Who Killed Lord Nelson? | 28-29 | 31 July - 7 August 1965 |
| Who Killed Death? | 36-37 | 31 July - 7 August 1965 |
21
Comics
| Title | Issue | Released |
|---|---|---|
| Down With The Director | TV21 42-51 | 6 November 1965 - 8 January 1966 |
| Andromeda Or Die | TV21 58-66 | 26 February - 23 April 1966 |
| The Bitter Cold Dish | TV21 67-75 | 30 April - 25 June 1966 |
| The Long Road Back | TV21 76-80 | 2 - 30 July 1966 |
| Blood Over Unity City | Summer Extra 1966 | 1966 |
| Deadly Fly | TV21 90-93 | 8 - 29 October 1966 |
| An Eye For An Eye | TV21 94-104 | 5 November 1966 - 14 January 1967 |
| Revolution | TV21 125-131 | 10 June - 22 July 1967 |
| Tough At The Top | TV21 132-135 | 29 July - 19 August 1967 |
| The Assassin | TV21 141-145 | 30 September - 28 October 1967 |
| Sharper Than the Serpent's Tooth | TV21 175-180 | 25 May - 29 June 1968 |
Prose
| Title | Issue | Released |
|---|---|---|
| Graham Page | TBA | TBA |
| From Howard Whitehead | TBA | TBA |
| From Special Agent Peter Ayliffe | TBA | TBA |
| From D. Connell of Essex | TBA | TBA |
| From D. Corley | TBA | TBA |
| From R. Miles | TBA | TBA |
| From Philip Bevan | TBA | TBA |
| J. Gray | TBA | TBA |
| E. Oglesby | TBA | TBA |
| From Agent 671107 | TBA | TBA |
| This is 2065 | TBA | TBA |
| Agent Inventor | TBA | TBA |
| Password Report on Red Dalek | TBA | TBA |
| Biography — 21 | TBA | TBA |
| Spy Bait | TBA | TBA |
| Information Service | TBA | TBA |
| Attempt to Assassinate World President! | TBA | TBA |
| Contact 21 | TBA | TBA |
| Letters Special | TBA | TBA |
| Mark Sydney, Exeter | TBA | TBA |
Dateline
- Main article: [[Dateline (series)|]]
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
| Title | Issue | Released |
|---|---|---|
| We Will Destroy Unity City | TV21 141-149 | 30 September - 25 November 1967 |
| We Will Destroy Earth's Communications | TV21 155-157 | 6 - 20 January 1968 |
| Martian Menace | TV21 164-166 | 9 - 23 March 1968 |
| Indestructible Army! | TV21 172-173 | 4 - 11 May 1968 |
| Traitor Black Gives In! | TV21 196-198 | 19 October - 2 November 1968 |
Supercar
- Main article: Supercar (series)
No Supercar stories crossover with the DWU. The only reference to the Supercar series in the DWU is in Graham Page, a 21 short story.
Front Page
| Title | Issue | Released |
|---|---|---|
| The Premonitions | TV21 132-138 | 29 July - 9 September 1967 |
| SPECTRUM | TV21 139-140 | 16 - 23 September 1967 |
| The Giant Seed | TV21 148-152 | 18 November - 16 December 1967 |
TV21 Stop Press
| Title | Issue | Released |
|---|---|---|
| Stingray Downs W.A.F. Bomber | TV21 155 | 6 January 1968 |
| Thunderbird One - Vanish Mystery | TBA | TBA |
| Invasion Threat? | TBA | TBA |
| Rescue Search for International Rescue | TBA | TBA |
| Brains Dies in New York | TBA | TBA |
| Fireflash Mk II Bound for New York | TBA | TBA |
| XL5 Crew Detained on Astra! | TBA | TBA |
| Stalemate! | TBA | TBA |
| Thunderbirds Film for Sale! | TBA | TBA |
Cosmic Capers
| Title | Issue | Released |
|---|---|---|
| Film Star Wins Oscar—Misses Premiere! | TV21 28 | 31 July 1965 |
| Untitled | TV Century 21 Summer Extra 1965 | 1965 |
| Untitled | TV21 48 | 18 December 1965 |
| Untitled | TV21 58 | 26 February 1966 |
Other stories
| Title | Issue | Released |
|---|---|---|
| The Story of the Film | TV21 28 | 31 July 1965 |
| Lady Penelope Investigates the stars of the Sensational new film Dr. Who and the Daleks! | ||
| Marineville Blackout | TV Century 21 Summer Extra | 1965 |
| The Astran Affair | TV21 Annual 1970 | 1969 |
Footnotes
- ↑ "Daleks in the 21st Century - An introduction to The Dalek Chronicles", DW50Y 1
- ↑ The Knowledge Emporium: The Rise and Fall of TV 21
