Space Precinct #5

16 Jan 1996. Cover price £1.25.
36 pages. Full colour.
Manga Publishing Ltd.

Edited by Cefn Ridout.

Cover by Tony Luke.

Contents:

 2 Fanderson - the Official Gerry Anderson Appreciation Society (half page) advertisement. / Telephone Collector Phonecards (half page) advertisement for P & J Promotions.

 3 Gerry Anderson's Space Precinct 2040 introduction by Cefn Ridout. / Contents / Indicia

 4 Double the Pages! Double the Action! in-house advertisement for Mortal Kombat Tournament Edition.

 5 True Believers, part one, w: Simon Jowett; a: Graham Manley, lettering by Annie Parkhouse.

17 Roll Call Officer Aurelia Took fact file by Lee Brimmicombe Wood; photographs (uncredited).

18 Space Hopper [Specifications for a VW118-GB] cutaway by Graham Bleathman.

20 Mind Over Matter Mary Woodvine interview by Jim Swallow; photographs (uncredited)

22 Soundbite Simone Bendix interview by Ralph Titterton; photographs (uncredited).

r: FAB Magazine (Official Gerry Anderson Appreciation Society) #19 ().

23 In the Next Issue of Space Precinct

24 Crimewatch readers mail.

25 Limited Edition Space Precinct Phone Cards to be Won! competition; photographs (uncredited).

26 Timebomb w: Cory MacRae; p: Andrew Currie, i: Graham Higgins, lettering by Peter Nichols, colouring by Nigel Parkinson.

32 Blast from the Past, part one, Twizzle to Supercar text feature by Chris Bentley; photographs (uncredited).

34 Episode Guide The Snake recap by Peter J. Evans; photographs (uncredited).

35 It Found it's Voice... Now it Needs a Body - Ghost in the Shell in-house advertisement for cinematic release.

36 From the Hidden Files of the FBI in-house advertisement for The X-Files: Firebird and The X-Files Special Edition.

The penultimate issue, featuring a somewhat Tarantino-esque cover courtesy of Tony Luke, has a breath of life injected into the issue which makes it stand out, even among the stellar work published so far. True Believers, the first strip of the issue, opens with a dramatic image of a derelict spaceship , and opens out the world of the characters with an idea which would later form a central part of Babylon 5's spin-off series, Crusade.

Deep space archaeology.

Long range scanners and space suits have replaced ancient maps and shovels, but the same questions occupy the minds of every member of the team:

What is it? Where does it come from? When was it built?...

Writing found aboard the ship contains vague similarities to ancient Tarn and Classical Creon scripts, but remain untranslated.

Brogan and Haldane stop a hooded figure assaulting a Creon, and discover that it is Professor Sondra Conway, head anthropologist from the expedition. Taken to talk to Captain Podly, she informs the officers that the explosion which destroyed the vessel, and which killed all but one of her friends and colleagues, was no accident. Her actions that night were in order to receive information about a sole shipment of artifacts from the vessel, stolen before it reached Pan-Simter Museum. The young Creon claimed he could lead Sondra to stolen relics, for a price, but had been frightened into reneging on their deal.

There are a lot of elements in play in the first installment which hint at the scope of worlds away from that seen in the series, and it is a shame we don't get to spend more time on the archaeological site. A peace rally is a little too mundane following the initial pages, though gives a good indication of variety within Demeter city, allowing tension to be ratcheted up a few notches.

Bleathman's Space Hopper cutaway calls to mind Red Dwarf's Bug shuttle, a pleasingly aware colour scheme (Thunderbird 2 not far from thought), though is slightly too clean and showroom-fresh to convince as a day-to-day vehicle. It is a problem with much of televisual SF, and attendant spin-offs, so it isn't a critical problem.

Mary Woodvine comes across as someone thrown into the deep end, and left to sink or swim, in Mind Over Matter. Despite the extensive make-up and appliances constraining her ability to perform with nuances, she seems remarkably chilled out about her experiences. Simone Bendix's interview, pulled from FAB, doesn't reveal nearly as much of her personality. It would have been nice for someone to quiz the cast on how they saw their characters progressing, especially as a darker second season had (to whatever degree) been considered.

Timebomb is a quick little story which contains a solidly alien threat, allows Romek and Took to shine in the limelight, and has a twist ending which feels satisfying. It isn't, unfortunately, a startlingly original tale, but it is fun - for a series which veers inconsistently from dark and tormented to light and breezy it makes a nice pause between more dramatic material. Introducing temporal mechanics to the equipment already seen is, perhaps, not the most original notion, but raises plenty of time-travel options for writers to play with.

Delightfully, and bizarrely, The Adventures of Twizzle and Torchy the Battery Boy are featured in Blast from the Past, which looks at the early days of Anderson's career. Unfortunately, due to space limitations, the piece moves on quickly to Four Feather Falls, then Supercar, without spending enough time to really delve deeper into the series than the most basic overview. While these series have had retrospectives elsewhere, it would have been greatly appreciated to receive more than "this thing exists, so... yeah," which is pretty much the approach taken.

#4

Space Precinct

#6