Back when Doctor Who fandom was less than half it's present size, us Doctor Who fiction starved fans had to make do with the Christmas tradition of the World Distributors Doctor Who Annuals. Every year they'd be full of rubbish art, trippy stories that made no sense and more facts about space than even Jason Thompson could tell you. They were rubbish, and yet every year they were highlight of Christmas Day...

Somewhere between Seasons 17 and 18, a very young Si Hart persuaded his Mum to buy him the 1979 and 1980 annuals from the school summer fete. It was raining and Mum wa shelpig to run a stall, but I sat rapt with all these visions of new Doctor Who in front of me! Obviously the previous owner of the 1980 annual had grown tired of its wonders very quickly, but even all these years later, I'm still terribly fond of it.

So here for your delight are some of the many wonders of The Doctor Who Annual 1980



The annual gets off to a strong start by choosing a picture of Tom Baker from The Ribos Operation when he's not actually wearing his proper, recognisable costume. However, considering some of the previous annuals where they hadn't even managed to capture Tom's distinctive features, this isn't actually a problem. It's rather a good photo though, and one not seen too often elsewhere.

The Frontispiece (to give it a technical term!) is brown.



A rather large spaceship is flying over the heads of what could be Doctor Who and his glam companion, who could well be Tamm, but it's difficult to tell. We're off to a great start then!

Our first text adventure is X-Rani and the Ugly Mutants. It apparently concerns a woman who has the power to disfigure men and make them ugly. Or something. She soon shuts Romana up.
Oh yes, we can now establish that this annual features Tamm's Romana, as there's an actually quite good for an annual painting of our two stars at the start of the story



Lovely!

Next up the Doctor and his companions are off to Planet UX80, previously known as Culturus, where a villain called Radik is up to something nasty. Probably. Anyway, the Doctor dispatches him quite easily by doing something with the sonic screwdriver. Howvere, Tamm has sadly lost her looks for this story.


The Doctor, Romana and K9 then confront the Terror on Xaboi. It's rocky there and cold too. The main thing of note in this story is it's prediction of future developments in TARDIS design, as Romana is clearly seen looking out of the Police Box windows to the outside world. Ed Thomas was obviously inspired by this strip.


After some more exciting facts about space, The Doctor becomes one of the Reluctant Warriors. References to the multi-loop stabiliser in this story fail to convince me that the author has ever actually watched Doctor Who though. The Doctor is turned into a fierce warrior by a magic ray and goes off to fight with swords, looking like this...


Oh my!
More worringly for me is that K9 has somehow lost his ears in this story, at least according to this picture. Poor Mary Tamm doesn't look well either.


After a crossword that mixes Doctor Who and Space questions, we're ready for another strip The Weapon.

The Tardis is heading for 20th century Earth, the land of Tea and Toast according to the Doctor. I wouldn't trust him though, as he's decided to dress up as Jon Pertwee for this strip.

But it all turns out ok in the end, when the Doctor stops medieval soldiers fighting with lasers. The Doctor sagely suspects that the same battels will be fought in the 20th century.

After some lovely facts about the moon(which has fascinated man sibce the beginnings of civilisation no less), the Doctor and his intrepid companions are facing The Return of the Electrids. The planet Zed has long been free of the dreaded Electrids but you know what, one light year after the Doctor's visit, they're back! Oh yes!
"Look out!" Cried Romana, "The Electrids"


OH MY!
No wonder the people of Zed fear the Electrids. Who'd want one of those creeping around in the dark?
Fortunately they can be killed by electricity. Hooray. The Doctor defeats the evil plans and destroys the Electrids and hopes that next time he comes to celebrations on the planet Zed that the Electrids are not invited. Hahahahaha!

There's nothing really to say about the final story, The Sleeping Guardians, so I'll leave you with the painting from the back cover of the 1980 annual, a lovely painting of Tom Baker's Doctor Who.



Or is it? IS IT?

Si xx