Happy New Year from the whole Doctor Who Companion team to all our readers!
2019 is destined to be another funny year for Doctor Who: the fandom remains pretty divided (no, I mean, more so than usual), and we’ve only got one new episode to indulge in – Resolution which airs later today. But there’s plenty of good things to look forward to: we have a new animation of The Macra Terror; plenty of goodies from Big Finish, Obverse, and the Lethbridge-Stewart range; and Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 18. And we’ve, of course, got more than half a decade of Doctor Who history still to enjoy.
That’s one thing the DWC hopes to celebrate over the next 12 months. We’ve got a project planned that’ll make sure there’s something here for everybody. It was due to start imminently, but we’ve hit some delays; to be honest, it’s probably for the best, as it gives us time to sort out some other behind-the-scenes problems. The project might not go smoothly either, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
And there have been changes behind-the-scenes. I’m sad to say that the DWC’s co-founder, Andy Reynolds has left the site; I’d like to take this opportunity to thank him for all he’s done, for his friendship, and also to assure readers that the DWC will carry on as best as possible. We’ve still got an incredible team of contributors who I’m hugely grateful for and proud of; they’ve helped keep this ship afloat, and without them, I wouldn’t be writing this.
We’ve got some technical issues to iron out. For instance, you’ll notice that this site has no SSL certificate; this is a level of encryption employed in order to combat man-in-the-middle attacks (typically, for the sake of arguments, at least). Before now, we haven’t really needed one as we don’t engage in eCommerce. However, now, Google penalises any site which doesn’t have one. It limits our audience, our reach. But Google’s the Internet giant here, so we’re polishing things up. Until now, our host has asked for big bucks for an SSL certificate, but we’re trying to find a way around this. We might have found one too, but readers may experience some downtime (not the BBV production) sometime over the coming months. We’ll keep disruption to a minimum anyway.
I’d like to thank Christian Cawley, co-founder of Kasterborous, the DWC’s predecessor, as he’s helping me on the techie side of things, and offering support and guidance otherwise too.
2018 has been an odd year as well. Doctor Who hasn’t flown as high as some expected, and it’s an unsettling time for fans. Personally speaking, 2018 has been tough – one of the toughest of my life – and actually, I can’t see 2019 being better. The previous 12 months have shown me that life can be unfair, cruel, and unrelenting. I’ve learnt that with every punch, you get up, not because you want to, or because it’s easy, or because there’s any real incentive; you get up because there’s no alternative.
It is, however, lovely to know there’s a community here. Of course, there’s pressure too, and heated arguments, and misunderstandings. We’re all just trying our best; we all have a universe of our own terrors to face. Sometimes, we can’t see the wood for the trees, but we still have miles to go before we sleep.
With that in mind, I wish everyone a healthy and prosperous 2019. Let’s make the DWC a good place.
