A new Doctor Who and cult TV website has launched, featuring the work of Doctor Who Companion contributors. Indeed, its editor is Christian Cawley, who co-created Kasterborous, the forerunner to the DWC. Sol3, however, is a very different sort of site, a satirical magazine not afraid to tackle any subject (or use occasional bad language).

We interviewed Christian in our usual thorough, inimitable, exhaustive way about Sol3…

What?

Sol3 is a monster. It’s conceived as a sort of Daily Mash/Babylon Bee take on the UK sci-fi/cult pantheon, a satire through that lens of a shared cultural reference.

There might be scope for the occasional “bigger” thing like Game of Thrones or Star Wars but I want to keep it in that sort of ITC, BBC, ITV, and classic fantastical fiction. So for example there might be a touch of Westworld, but not The Walking Dead. Life on Mars might get in via Bowie, but that’s a stretch.

Sol3 is inspired by a minor (but funny) segment of the old Black Scrolls fanzines. Gareth Kavanagh has dispatched his blessing for this project.

Why?

The urge to make people laugh or even just introduce a wry half-smile in these “dark times” was probably the main driving force.

So much of our lives these days can be reflected in fiction, directly and indirectly.

When?

I’m aiming for multiple daily posts, currently for morning, lunch, and evening. Early on, these are simply headlines and images, with an obligatory “more to follow” or a contextual witticism. Every other day there is space in my schedule for a longer post, but until I have established a team of contributors it’s very short, sharp, silliness.

How?

How do I intend to make it different from all the other Doctor Who sites out there? Good question; glad you asked.

As mentioned, it’s not just Doctor Who that appears here, although that is currently the denominator. The presence of the Doctor, the Avengers (Steed and Mrs Peel, not the lycra fetishists), the Tracey Island people… they should all be enough to push Sol3 beyond those other sites.

Plus we get the opportunity to build a sort of secondary layer of reality, an internal text that gives us PM Monoid (inspired by Boris Johnson’s ridiculous hair), Joe Biden as a Hartnell-esque dodderer, and Servalan as Supreme Commander of the European Union.

Where?

Look past your feet. Otherwise, Sol3 is hosted courtesy of Kasterborous.co.uk. You’ll find it at sol.kasterborous.co.uk

Well, what’re you waiting for? Off you pop. But do come back to the DWC for our top-quality reporting, won’t you?