DWM 174

The 174th issue of Doctor Who Magazine was released on 16 May 1991 and was removed from British newsstands on 12 June 1991. Unusually for the magazine, it was an issue themed around a single topic. Although this gimmick was used with special issues, it hasn't often been done with DWM "proper". This time out, the theme was the TARDIS, which was covered in great detail in almost every article.

DWM #174 is also one of the few issues of the magazine published after the 1980s to be collectible by non-Doctor Who fans. Multi--winning writer, Warren Ellis' lone contribution to the DWU appears in this issue's short story, Under Reykjavik — which makes the issue noteworthy to general comics collectors and fans of modern British authors.

Articles

 * 'Journies' A 20 page comprehensive guide to all the TARDIS' on screen travels including console designs
 * 'TARDIS Design' David Richardson talks to Barry Newbery amd charts the TARDIS' interior designs.
 * 'The TARDIS in Fiction' - In addition to its many television appearances, the TARDIS remains a staple ingredient of Doctor Who on the printed page as Gary Russell discovers...
 * Controversy Corner Richard Landen attempts to define the TARDIS' 'Time Rota'.

Comic content

 * The Chameleon Factor

Fiction

 * Brief Encounter - Under Reykjavik by Warren Ellis (with thanks to Matt Ginn)

Archives

 * Archive Feature: TV: The Edge of Destruction Factfile by Andrew Pixley co-editor of Time Screen with thanks to David J. Howe.Illustrations provided by Martin Proctor.
 * Nostalgia Feature: The Three Doctors Vanishing people, three Doctors and blobs of anti-matter...Gary Russell takes us back to Doctor Who's Tenth Anniversary story, the first on-screen meeting of some of the mysterious Time Lord's different personae.

Page Pin-ups

 * None this issue but a free poster is included.

Also featuring

 * Matrix Data Bank (Questions and Answers)
 * Gallifrey Guardian (News)
 * You on Who (Letters)
 * Data Coils (now incorporating pen-pals and events listing)
 * Doctor Who? by Tim Quinn and Dicky Howett
 * 'Nick's View' by Nick Miller (cartoon)
 * Collector's Corner (Merchandise) (David Howe looks at various model releases of the iconic police box / TARDIS)
 * Into The Vortex / 'That Was the Who That Was' (Times Past)

Random quote
“Renewed? Have I? That's it, I've been renewed! It's part of the TARDIS - without it I couldn't survive!"
 * The Second Doctor, The Power of the Daleks

Credits

 * Senior Editor: John Freeman
 * Design Gary Gilbert
 * Copy Editor: Sophie Health
 * Promotion: Jane Sumner
 * Production: Mark Irvine
 * Advertising: Jane Smale
 * Adviser: John Nathan-Turner
 * Excelsior: Stan Lee
 * Managing Director: Vincent Conran

Additional details

 * This special TARDIS Themed issue saw a price increase to £2.25 (UK) but featured 52 pages and a free foldout poster from artist Alister Pearson of the Fifth Doctor with Sea Devils and Silurians.
 * This issue saw the first of three tokens and question for a merchandise competition with over £1,000 worth of Doctor Who and TV science fiction prizes.
 * On the copyright page of the magazine (usually page 3), is a box of very small text, the end of this text reads “Conceptual Geometer courtesy of Nimon Engineering. (A lie, sorry).”
 * Alister Pearson also provided this issues cover artwork.
 * Additional Details (from DWM 176)
 * TARDIS Journeys - one or two journeys in Inferno (TV story)? over to Controversy Corner
 * Inside the Spaceship Archive - the sets used for men and women's quarters were different and not one set re-used as stated
 * TARDIS Design - The Tom Baker control room seen in Planet of Evil was designed by Christine Ruscoe. Malcolm Thornton designed The Five Doctors but the console unit was re-designed by Visual Effects. The console room was set up in a large tent for recording of The Greatest Show in the Galaxy in Eistree Car Park.
 * Special Equipment - Time Scanner in The Moonbase
 * Chameleon Circuit - it is indicated in An Unearthly Child that prior to 100,000 BC and the TARDIS departure from 1963, the circuit was working.
 * Defence Mechanisms: the TARDIS' back door is used in Logopolis


 * Additional Details (from DWM 178)
 * TARDIS journeys: implied in Nightmare of Eden when the Doctor is returning bits' held within the CET machine are the planets Zil, Vij, Darp, Lven, Brus, Gidi, Ranx, and Eden.