TV Century 21

TV Century 21
Otherwise called:	TV21, TV21 and Tornado, TV21 and Joe 90, TV21 and Valiant
Publisher:	City Magazines
Type:	Magazine
Release date:	23 January 1965

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.

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. 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

Main article: TV Century 21 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