Ming mong (n.) [miŋ mơŋ] - An obsessive Doctor Who fan (usually disparaging)

PLANET OF THE MING MONGS is a new and/or exciting online fanzine, celebrating Doctor Who fandom in all its weird and sometimes disturbing glory. Bravely poking its nose into the live nest of Who fans, PLANET OF THE MING MONGS is a cornucopia of comedy, parody, art and articles virtually guaranteed to bring tears to your eyes.

Special features to look out for within POTMM include an exclusive interview with Doctor Who Magazine illustrator Ben Morris, comic strips by Jonathan This, Doctor Who facts with Garr and Suthers, "Oi, Spaceman!"'s first convention, and growing up hating Doctor Who with Tommi ‘The Tomlette’ Grey. Also, Tom Bradford explores some of fandom's more baffling myths surrounding Who mythology, and primary school teacher Rebecca Foster talks to us about the effect Doctor Who has had on the children in her class.

Plus, in a scoop more scandalous than Wikileaks, we feature some juicy and 100% not-made-up (honest) unpublished extracts from Russell T Davies and Ben Cook's email opus, The Writer's Tale.

But perhaps best of all, it’s completely free - or your money back.

PLANET OF THE MING MONGS
Edited by Nicholas Blake and designed by Richard Kirby

The Chattath Factor
by Will Hadcroft

An inhuman creature is stalking the English countryside, leaving murder in its wake. The Doctor and Jenny arrive to investigate, but before long the Doctor is fighting for his life in the home of a dangerous scientific radical, whilst Jenny and the local vicar are besieged by creatures driven by the darkest passions.

» Production Notes
» Download Part One.

I watched the Reeltime Myth Makers videos interviewing Barry and Terrance to remind myself how they went about putting a story together. Something that stood out was their insistence on having a theme, a thread running through the adventure. It wasn’t that the writer should lecture the viewer/listener about a moral point or some political issue, but rather choose a theme that served as a foundation to the story and stick to it.

So I settled on the theme of man’s dual nature, the saint and the sinner, Number Six and Number One, in the same person. I also wove in as a secondary theme my preoccupation with the spirituality versus reason debate, and had the two opposing views represented by Pastor Daniel Jacobs and Doctor Joseph Winston.

Keen to make my Doctor Who story a good one, I pondered on what tended to work best in the TV series. Adventures set in the Middle Ages, the 19th century or the war years always hit the spot. The Talons of Weng-Chiang, Horror of Fang Rock, The Visitation, and The Curse of Fenric were all highly regarded. So I set my story in the 19th century.

Gareth and I treated the project the way Barry and Terrence used to handle the TV series: the writer does three rewrites, and then if it still isn’t up to scratch, the script editor tidies it up.

This is in part a homage to the Philip Hinchcliffe/Robert Holmes era of the programme, a period myself and Will are very fond of. Probably the biggest challenge production-wise was getting the sound of the monsters right. Hope you like them.

It was also marvellous to have John Ainsworth in the cast. Back in the eighties he had played recurring timelord villain Askran in the Audio Visuals, the fan audios which originally inspired me to create Fine Line. So I was delighted to have John and his cultured voice in one of my productions.

Thanks to all the actors and Will for their talents and patience with me getting around to sharing their efforts with the rest of the world.

COMING SOON

WHOTOPIA steps outside the TARDIS to take a look at some of the characters and concepts that have spun-off from the good Doctor's adventures

Including...

THE MICHAEL E. BRIANT INTERVIEW
Jez Strickley sits down and interviews the man who directed six classic adventures including The Sea Devils and Robots of Death.

FAN FILMS: WHOTOPIA INTERVIEWS THE PRODUCERS OF DOCTOR WHO: VICTIMSIGHT
Bob Furnell talks with Eldon Letkeman and Robert Westendorp, the producers of the Canadian Doctor Who fan film "Victimsight"

THE NEW-ISH ADVENTURES
A look back at the era of the Virgin New Adventures by A J Gulyas.

DREAMLAND AND BEYOND: DOCTOR WHO GETS ANIMATED
Nancy Gross takes a look at the specially made animated episodes of Doctor Who

DALEK'S ADVOCATE: K9 AND COMPANY
Grant Bull takes a serious in-depth look at this 1981 pilot starring Elisabeth Sladen and John Leeson

QUIT SLAMMING THE 1996 TV MOVIE
Bob Furnell asks fans to quit being so harsh in their assessments of the TV movie

THE DEATH OF FICTIONAL CHARACTERS IN DOCTOR WHO: JACK AND IANTO
Emily Jones delves into the complex relationship between two of Torchwood's most popular characters.

REASONS TO LOVE THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES
What makes the Sarah Jane Adventures so great? Grant Bull examines why.

TORCHWOOD OVERVIEW
Joe Ford takes and in-depth look at all three series of Torchwood

TORCHWOOD: IMPRESSIONS OF AN OUTSIDER
Bob Furnell discusses why Torchwood has failed to make an impression on him

K9'S NEW ADVENTURES
K9's back in his own series and Bob Furnell examines the very first episode

FICTION: THE MEMORY OF DARKNESS PART III
Original fiction by Julio Angel Ortiz

THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES: SERIES THREE EPISODE REVIEWS
Our panel of experts reviews each episode of series three

TORCHWOOD: CHILDREN OF EARTH REVIEWS
What did our reviewers think of the most recent season of Torchwood

THE WATERS OF MARS REVIEWS

PLUS OUR REGULAR COLUMNS - Screwdrivers, Scaries & Scarves/Target Trawl/Parallel Lines, FEATURES AND MORE