Doctor Who and Rivers of London artist Lee Sullivan came across The Quark Invasion of Earth, a wonderful homage to 1960s Doctor Who, and I thought I’d gave it a shout out here.
The film is the work of author Andrew Orton, creator of several Doctor Who fan films, who describes it as “a little tribute to 1960s Doctor Who, and possibly the silliest thing I’ve ever done.”
The Quark gather their allies…
In the film, which features an elite force of the galaxy’s cheapest aliens, the Quarks head to Earth, but their invasion doesn’t go exactly as they had planned. The short film is packed with gags at the expense of both 1960’s Doctor Who monsters (those poor Zarbi!) and gentle sight gags at the expense of the BBC Visual Effects department and the way the show was recorded, complete with visible ‘strings’ and inshot boom microphones.
A Quark saucer descends on London, intent on destruction…
Zarbi infest the Underground… but their attack doesn’t go as planned…
An an artist and animator, Durham-based Andrew Orton’s writing credits include the Doctor Who book Auton: Shock and Awe, a collection of material from the highly irreverent Auton fanzine and the Blake’s 7 book Maximum Power: An Auton Guide to Blake’s 7. More recently, he wrote Hooded Man: Robin of Loxley and Hooded Man: Robert of Huntingdon, two unofficial guides to Robin of Sherwood, published last year by MIWK, and you can watch an interview with him talking about that project below. He’s also designed Big Finish’s Sapphire & Steel audio series amongst other things.
• You can follow him on Twitter @andreworton
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
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John,
Thank you so much for the plug! Everyone should share the hell out of this, of course. 🙂
– Andrew