TV Action

TV Action
Publisher:	Polystyle Publications, Ltd.
Type:	Magazine
Release date:	1971 - 1973

You may be looking for another thing named "countdown".

TV Action was the final name of a weekly Polystyle comics magazine that began its run under the name, Countdown. Published in Britain from 1971 to 1973, the magazine contained comic adaptations of television programmes, but targeted a slightly older audience than its sister publication, TV Comic.

Overview

In the late 1960s, Polystyle was eager to start a magazine that appealed to a slightly older audience than its de facto television adaptation flagship, TV Comic. Whereas that publication had debuted with "funny animal" comics and adaptations of young children's shows like Muffin the Mule, they wanted something to compete with TV Century 21, which had been replete with comics based on Gerry Anderson properties. When that magazine folded, the license to print Gerry Anderson comics became available. Polystyle seized on it, buying not just the right to do new comics, but to reprint what had come before in TV21. Since shows like Stingray, Thunderbirds, UFO and Fireball XL5 all had a kind of space-age theme, a natural title was Countdown. To reinforce the theme, Polystyle unusually numbered the pages backward, so that readers were "counting down" to 1 as they read.

Unfortunately for Polystyle, public enthusiasm for Anderson properties was drying up. All these shows, except for UFO, had been cancelled by the time Countdown debuted. Dwindling sales figures quickly reflected the market's lack of appetite for a comic based mostly on programming that was no longer on the air. The publisher had to move to re-orient the publication. Polystyle sought licenses to produce wholly original comics based on popular action shows still in production. As the Gerry Anderson material gradually faded, so too did the Countdown name. At issue 59, they started numbering the pages in normal order. By the time the magazine became TV Action it had little to do with science fiction and much more to do with shows like Hawaii 5-0, Tightrope, Mission: Impossible and The Protectors. Unfortunately, the changes never put the magazine on solid financial footing and it folded after only a little more than two years.

In the end, Doctor Who proved the longest-running strip of the magazine, having been left out of about five issues along the way. Although it failed to make the final issue of TV Action, it survived by returning to the pages of TV Comic.

Title

The oft-changing title of this publication has created confusion amongst fans of Doctor Who, who are generally uninterested in the broader contents of the magazine. Some have mistakenly believed that TV Action and Countdown were two separate magazines. In fact, the change was too gradual to produce a bright dividing line between what was Countdown and what was TV Action. The plurality of issues were actually published under both names. Moreover, the numbering system was preserved throughout the transformation.

Cover titles

Although the title on the cover changed every few months, it was stylistically similar throughout the first hundred issues. While the word Countdown appeared on the cover, the title was always placed in a red banner across the top sixth of the page. After the title became just TV Action, this practice was abandoned. On the final thirty-two issues, TV Action became merely a logo at the top of a full page of art..

• 1-18 Countdown
• 19-45 Countdown The Space-age Comic!
• 46-56 Countdown for TV Action!
• 57-58 TV Action in Countdown
• 59-100 TV Action + Countdown
• 101-132 TV Action

Indicia titles

The situation is even more confusing if one looks at the indicia, or legal, title:

• 1-45 Countdown
• 46-56 Countdown to TV Action
• 57-58 TV Action incorporating Countdown
• 59-100 TV Action & Countdown
• 101-132 TV Action

Stories by issue

Title	Featuring	Printed in	Released
Gemini Plan		1-5	20 February - 20 March 1971
Timebenders		6-13	27 March - 15 May 1971
The Vogan Slaves		15-22	29 May - 17 July 1971
The Celluloid Midas		23-32	24 July - 25 September 1971
The Plant Master	Dave Lester	Annual 1972	1 September 1971
Backtime	Charlie Fisher	33-39	2 October - 13 November 1971
The Eternal Present	Theophilus Tolliver	40-46	20 November 1971 - 1 January 1972
*Sub Zero	Daleks	47-54, *Sub Zero	8 January - 26 February 1972
The Planet of the Daleks	Finney, Daleks	55-62	4 March - 22 April 1972
A Stitch in Time	Brod	63-70	29 April - 17 June 1972
The Enemy from Nowhere	Davie Jenkins	71-78	24 June - 12 August 1972
The Ugrakks	Lammers	79-88	19 August - 21 October 1972
Ride to Nowhere		Annual 1973	1 September 1972
Steelfist		89-93	28 October - 25 November 1972
Zeron Invasion	Nick Willard	94-100	2 December 1972 - 13 January 1973
Deadly Choice		101-103	20 January - 3 February 1973
Who is the Stranger		104	10 February 1973
The Glen of Sleeping	The Master	107-111	3 March - 31 March 1973
The Threat from Beneath	Daleks	112	7 April 1973
Back to the Sun		116-119	5 May - 26 May 1973
The Labyrinth		120	2 June 1973
The Spoilers		123	23 June 1973
The Vortex		125-129	7 July - 4 August 1973
The Unheard Voice		131	18 August 1973
The Hungry Planet		Annual 1974	1 September 1973

Special issues

Holiday specials

• Countdown Holiday Special 1971
  • PROSE: The Thing from Outer Space
• TV Action + Countdown Holiday Special 1972
  • PROSE: And for My Next Trick...
• TV Action Holiday Special 1973
  • PROSE: The One Second Hour

Annuals

• Countdown Annual 1972
  • COMIC: The Plant Master
• Countdown for TV Action Annual 1973
  • COMIC: Ride to Nowhere
• TV Action Annual 1974
  • COMIC: The Hungry Planet

External links

• Countdown/TV Action - Comic Strips at the Doctor Who Reference Guide