The DOCTOR WHO Merchandise Museum

I've loved Doctor Who and its associated merchandise for many, many years. In the 80s my dream was to get a guide published to all the amazing things which had been released ... that failed, and so in the 90s I did it myself along with a brilliant pal and designer called Arnold T Blumberg ... And for as long as I can remember I've loved displaying my collection, in my bedroom, or in the spare room, and latterly in the 'collection room' at home!  But as the collection grew and grew I needed more and more space ...

So two years ago, we moved house, mainly to try and acheive the space we needed, and now own a lovely home, and also a business unit in which I can finally host the Doctor Who collection ... so that it's all available to see and appreciate, and we can also allow others to come and see it too and not have people stomping through our house to do so!

But there's an issue ... as explained in more detail in the fundraiser, in part because of a heart attack I suffered in 2016, we don't now have the money to complete the works, and so are running a fundraiser to try and get this, to make this museum a reality!!


There are some smashing perks for those who donate, and more perks are due to come online soon ... So please have a look and see what we're trying to do :)

Standing in the Unit with all the boxed up merchandise waiting
for the Unit works to be completed.

Any and all help is appreciated ... so please share the fundraiser, tell your friends, try and get word out to as many people as you can ... It's all really appreciated.

The fundraiser page is here:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-doctor-who-merchandise-museum

And there's some lovely pieces about it all here:

http://www.markwho42.net/2016/11/06/lets-indiegogo-to-the-doctor-who-merchandise-museum/

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2016/11/the-doctor-who-merchandise-museum.html

http://thedoctorwhocompanion.com/2016/11/03/doctor-who-in-an-exciting-adventure-with-merchandise-new-doctor-who-museum-needs-your-help/

http://www.starburstmagazine.com/tv-news/16709-dr-who-merch-museum-news

https://scifibulletin.com/2016/11/02/help-support-a-doctor-who-memorabilia-museum/

http://merchandise.thedoctorwhosite.co.uk/david-j-howe-merchandise-museum-project/

http://news.drwho-online.co.uk/Help-Fund-The-Doctor-Who-Merchandise-Museum!.aspx

Review: The Andrew Skilleter Target Art Calendar 2017

Ah that Target Doctor Who art ... so evocative, and so impressionable on young minds!  Those of a certain age will also remember Who Dares, a publishing company set up by artist Andrew Skilleter to sell and promote his own Doctor Who artwork ... It sort of died away some years ago, but now it's back! And their first release is a 2017 Calendar, featuring 12 of Andrew Skilleter's Target paintings.

Calendars are strange beasts. For them to work, you really have to try and increase the production values. Unless of course you're deliberately going for a cheap and cheerful version. For years now we have had annual offerings from Danilo, which have been the same basic shape calendar that they do for all manner of properties, and the imagery hasn't been that inspiring, so it's a pleasure to see that this new offering from Who Dares is all printed on a lovely heavy paper stock. It's nominally A3 sized, though is in actuality slightly larger, and is spiral bound on the top. Each sheet is printed on just one side (with a calendar bound in this way, you could halve the number of pages and print on both sides of the paper with no loss of quality) and so you have 15 sheets (cover, back cover and 12 internal pages) bound together.

The art is all taken from Skilleter's Target covers, and it's a nice selection of some of the best examples of the work that he did for the range. We have 'Warriors of the Deep', 'The Invasion', 'The Twin Dilemma' unused version, 'The Mind of Evil', 'Frontios', 'Nightmare of Eden', 'The Gunfighters', 'The Two Doctors', 'Logopolis', 'The Daemons', 'An Unearthly Child', ' and The Abominable Snowmen'.  The print quality is good, and the paintings are shown to their best effect.

The back of the calendar has a set of capsule notes from the artist on each piece, which is nice to see.

Overall this is a heavyweight piece of merchandise, and a step up in quality from what we have been used to in Calendars over recent years. Of course this means it is more expensive at £19.99, that and the fact that it's not been produced in mass market quantities ...

If you're looking for some Doctor Who nostalgia for your wall in 2017, then this calendar is a good bet.