Articles Everything Changes - Extended Editor's Note by Djak Forrest

 

Extended Editor’s Note 

One of the reasons I set up Project: Torchwood was that it gave me a platform to air my Torchwood stories, plus, it also gave me the opportunity of talking to the many people I’ve loved watching on the telly of both Who and Torchwood, and find out all about their characters, their roles in the past, and future projects, plus, learning all about the ‘behind the scenes’ roles that go into making a programme such as Torchwood and Doctor Who. 

Project: Torchwood began in 2013 and I’m still amazed that 8 years on we’re still here, but it’s harder now to produce a full magazine full of exciting articles, because with both Torchwood and Doctor Who somewhat absent from our screens, its left us with a bit of a quandary, what do we do now? 

Then out of the blue, in the early hours on 18^th June and a 90-minute ride in the back of a screaming ambulance all the way to the Acute Heart Hospital in East Kilbride, the decision was abundantly clear. I had to call time on our little Project. 

Eight years! We’ve interviewed a ton of people. People from Torchwood like Eve Myles, John & Carole Barrowman, Gareth David-Lloyd, Sharon Morgan, Justin Walters, Chris Wilson, Julie Barclay, Nathan Sussex, Daniele Favilli, Dillon Casey, Alex Harries, Kevin McCurdy, Gareth Potter, Ffion Wilkins, Scott Handcock, Maxine Evans, Mark Morris, Guy Adams, AK Benedict, Sarah Pinborough, David Llewellyn, Joseph Lidster, Anthony Lewis and let’s not forget Murray Melvin and the lovely Eve Pearce to name but a few. 

From Doctor Who there’s been Claire Pritchard-Jones, Nicholas Briggs, Barnaby Edwards, Nicholas Pegg, Connor Calland, Ian Reddington, Ian Hanmore, Simon Fisher-Becker, Ray Holman, George Mann, Ian Edginton, Dan Abnett, Cavan Scott, Colum Samson-Regan and Douglas Mackinnon, again to name but a few. 

I had hoped to have continued with the blogzine till maybe we’d reached our 100^th edition, but aside from a huge abundance of Big Finish reviews, which could see us busy till the sun explodes, I would probably need to retitle the website Project: Big Finish. 

“It’s been good though, hasn’t it? All of us. All of it. Everything we did.” to Tony “You were brilliant.” to Matt “And you were brilliant.” to Tiziana “And you were brilliant.

Blimey!” 

I didn’t think I had a problem with stress, if I’m honest. I had a good decent paying job, plenty of exercise, I ate fairly healthily, I didn’t eat a lot of take outs. I am a non-smoker and I don’t drink.  I felt I could handle pretty much everything I was working on, but having said that, my new baking project was keeping me busy on the two days I was off (weekends), which meant that I was working 7 days straight, and I was at the allotment before I was heading to work, and was up with the lark and in bed by 11pm and I was spinning more plates than I could physically keep up in the air, and as a good friend pointed out, not only was I burning the candle at both ends, I was also burning it right through the middle. 

The four days in hospital gave me time to reflect on the things that were causing the major stress issues, and aside from the life changing operations that were bearing heavily on my mind from the moment I got up to the time I went to bed, the website was also pushing my stress levels too. I had no time to write my stories. I was constantly thinking of the next article, what the title of the next cover would be, who we could interview for the next or following month and the questions that would need to be asked. I wouldn’t have minded if this was my actual proper job, because I think it would have been a great job to have, paid an’ all, but this was a hobby, but it was beginning to become more of a chore, and less fun…

Sometimes when things begin like that, it’s time to step away, and I’ve been feeling a need to do this for a while but never quite knew how to do it without breaking a few hearts, (mostly my own). 

After a few days of mourning these losses, and believe me, I hit a numbing low point, the stress involved, lifted, and I feel a lot better having accepted that things have to change. 

So this, boys and girls, is our Final Issue… 

It’s hard to let it go. It’s been my ‘baby’ for such a long time, and in much the same way as I’m going to feel in about six weeks’ time when I see my son off to pastures new, as he finally leaves the nest, as it were, I’m saying goodbye to Project: Torchwood. 

It’s been great though, hasn’t it?  We’ve forged great friendships. Made great connections. Great contacts. People we will never forget, nor would want to. I’ve extended my friends group. I succeeded in doing what I aimed to do with the Project, and not many can say that. Of course, there are still those who I wish I’d been able to chat with and share their stories on the site, but as Jason Arnopp said, after I replied to him on his Confessions Booth email,

   "Well, the good thing about a blogzine is it will remain in cyberspace forever, and you can pick it up again, as and when you like. :)” 

So as much as I say it’s the final Issue, who can say what may happen in the future. For now though, I want to concentrate on my sci fi stories, the ones I want to see published. The ones, that for some reason I put so many distractions in the way of them, that I couldn’t reach them for such a long time. 

They say, everything happens for a reason, and maybe the ‘heart attack’ was one of those. Obviously, I’d have preferred if that hadn’t have happened quite as severely but clearly all the other signs were oblivious to me. 

I’d like to take this opportunity now to thank my writing team, with whose contributions to this site have made PT all that more worthwhile. 

To Tony, who has been with us since 2014, and whose articles engage you from the first words he ever writes. He has you till the end of the article, and already you’re begging for more. Let’s not forget the four-part article about The Master in A Villain for all Seasons way back at the start of his time with us.   

Tony’s take on the Big Finish Reviews have made me yearn for a bigger bank account so I can purchase as many Torchwood and indeed Who audios, since I’ve now made space for an entire season of them. 

When he’s not writing for us though, you can find him on these exciting sites too. Do please keep following him, especially in a non stalkerish fashion over on Twitter @FylerWrites. 

Warped Factor http://www.warpedfactor.com/?m=1 

Mass Movement http://massmovement.co.uk/

Exciting Stuff https://exciting-stuff.co.uk/ 

Matthew Rabjohns joined us in 2019 and it was his love of Jodie Whittaker, that shone through when he talked about her in his episode reviews, and his sci fi Who stories were as powerful as his passion for the 13^th Doctor. Matt is a massive fan of the Classic Who when he’s not gushing over the 13^th, and his reviews of these episodes have been as welcoming as reading Tony’s Big Finish. 

Two massive geeks of Who, anything you need to know, I’m certain both could tell you, without having to do a massive hunt across the internet.   

Matt has many Who and Classic television fan pages on Facebook if you fancy checking these out and joining in with the banter. Here are just a few of those pages, with links beside his main popular ones to date. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/TARDISgirls

https://www.facebook.com/groups/TomBakerFourthDoctor

Kingdom of Silver: A Cyberman Fangroup https://www.facebook.com/groups/2087817284767307

https://www.facebook.com/groups/thesarahjanesmithappreciationsociety

I am the Master and You will Obey Me; A Master Fangroup https://www.facebook.com/groups/899701607169088

https://www.facebook.com/groups/exterminatethedalekfanbase

https://www.facebook.com/groups/JonPertweeThirdDoctor

https://www.facebook.com/groups/WarNineTenElevenDocfangroup

https://www.facebook.com/groups/thefirstdoctorappreciationsociety

https://www.facebook.com/groups/fortheloveofjodie

https://www.facebook.com/groups/PeterCapaldiTwelfthDocFans

https://www.facebook.com/groups/PeterColinSylvFans 

If there are any Who sites out there who would like another Who writer to join them, I’d definitely recommend Matthew – just check out his reviews on our site, if you don’t believe me. 

Over the years we’ve had quite a few people create wonderful covers for us, from Mickie Newton-Carline at the start of our little blog, to Andrew Creak who has moved on to bigger and better projects, namely as Locations Marshall for BBC’s His Dark Materials drama (2019) along with It’s My Shout Locations Runner in 2018. 

Sharon Seymour produced great covers for us before stepping down and handing over the baton to Andrew. Over the years a good many friends with knowledge of PaintShop apps and others have created wonderful designs for us, including SF Cambridge, Nikki Forrest, myself (although not as brilliant), and Christopher Fain. 

TizianaDF is a massive, and I mean this when I say it, MASSIVE fan of Torchwood and indeed of the stars themselves, and agreed, without much persuasion to create covers for us – and has proven to be a real asset to our blogzine. What I love about Tiziana, is I don’t really have to explain what I need, because as a fan of Torchwood, she knows exactly what I’m looking for. 

As well as designing pages for our blogzine, TizianaDF can be found on her Redbubble site creating images for her Page. You can find them here and already I’ve earmarked a few things I’d like in my room in due course. 

I mean, who doesn’t want a Torchwood face mask, even if restrictions will bring an end to wearing them in public soon???

https://www.redbubble.com/people/TizianaDF/shop 

You can also find Tiziana on Twitter, give her a follow. https://twitter.com/tizzyd2 

Andrew Allen writes our Sarah Jane Adventure Reviews over on the Beyond the TARDIS page, in between writing his own Who novel and working at his day job. You can find him over on Twitter under the name @my_grayne plus you can find more about this talented man over on his website https://andthisisandrewallen.weebly.com/

I wish him all the best of luck with his Who novels which will be available directly from the publisher Candy Jar Books, or you can find them in Waterstones or Amazon around October of this year. 

Jeffrey Zyra, who wrote a lot of the Who reviews as soon as they broadcast during the 11^th era, stepped away from writing for the blog, but always helps to promote the site and for that we owe a huge debt of thanks to. Jeff used to run the Gallifreyan Gazette from his website but now runs it from his Facebook Page of the same name,

https://www.facebook.com/GallifreyanGazette/ you can also still catch up with him on Twitter @TheCricketingDr 

Christopher Fain was our own Owen Harper for a good few years and produced many articles, reviews, and some thumping great stories which involved Jack and Ianto, Sherlock and Mycroft, and a host of other characters that worked within the story, and even now, reading them back, I find I’ve for whatever reason, forgotten some passages of the story – as you do when you rewatch a tv programme and discover something new that you hadn’t seen before, or had forgotten about, or that something made sense, that hadn’t before. That lightbulb moment! 

Blogs are hard things at times to put articles together on a full time basis, and as I’ve discovered, it’s not something everyone can do, and even I’ve fallen foul of this myself. Sometimes, all I’ve managed to complete is the editor’s note, quickly scribbled down at the end of the upload. 

When you write such great stories, as Chris does, it’s difficult sometimes to fully submerse yourself in them, when you know you’ve a ton of other things to write, such as a few reviews, or trying to juggle home life, work life and everything else that you’re doing, and so it was inevitable that eventually Chris would need to step back from writing for us to concentrate on his own stories for publication.

We hope that Iron and Brass becomes available for publication soon, as I really do miss reading his work. 

You can find Chris on Twitter using this title @christofain 

Aside from my unfinished Mitchell story (which might get a finish at some point in the not-too-distant future – or in the distant future – who can say), we had some great stories coming from a host of new writers to the site. 

S. Florence introduced us to a character that we’d last seen on Doctor Who Planet of the Dead, but created such a back story for her, that you’d be forgiven for thinking that it was indeed the same character. Lady Christina de Souza sounds very much like Lara Croft but with a barmy host of characters who live and work within her manor and the banter between her and any Doctor who happens along, create much laughter and merriment when you read them. I’ve totally enjoyed reading her Lady C stories, and you know, you can find them on Facebook by using this link, either copied and pasted, or clicked on here: https://www.facebook.com/The-Adventures-Of-Lady-C-The-Story-Continues-105323705136238 

I also wanted to share this note of thanks from S. Florence. “Thankyou for allowing us to publish our story to your website, we hope your readers will continue following us and the story as the new adventures unfold.” 

In another Doctor Who, story idea, Lady Mayhurst introduced us to Stories of the Nightmare Child, which I have to say, completely blew my socks off, and I was begging to read more and more of this. 

Lady Mayhurst posted this to my chat box the other evening as I gathered up my info for this rather hefty Editor’s Note this month. 

“I would like to thank Djak for publishing my Doctor Who story and if anyone would like to continue reading, the Facebook link is”

https://www.facebook.com/storiesofthenightmarechild   

I can’t end this here without thanking the two stalwarts of our early days, when we started a chat group discussing what we’d be setting up in the spring of 2013. Mickie Newton-Carline and John Bond began this Project with me. Mickie’s knowledge on how to set up a website, even on Blogger was a blessing because I hadn’t a clue. Her step by step guide was invaluable. Not only a graphic artist, Mickie also wrote articles, including the entire Gadgets & Gizmo’s page, which was her ‘baby’ completely, even her mum Pat joined us for some articles, when we covered the 1950s Torchwood story involving a plane that fell through the rift. 

Mickie has now moved on to pastures new, creating her own projects but looks in from time to time and occasionally posts up on Twitter.  

John was the perfect Ninth Doctor lookalike and he performed as this character throughout his time on our Locations Guide, until he too was unable to continue due to offline projects. 

So now it comes to you guys. You the readers, our supporters of our wonderful little Project. Thank you. Thank you for the contributions. The joining in with competitions, the banter on Twitter and Facebook. The sharing of projects of your own. Your Daleks and your other character builds. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You guys most definitely ROCK! 

This is our final Issue, but who can say what the future might hold. Maybe in a few years’ time we’ll come back with brand new stories and articles, but for now, it’s time to recover and plan a new destination. 

Take care, stay safe and look after each other.

 Bye for now

Djak