March 7th 1993 fell on an important weekend in Digitiser history - and now we have it documented. It was the day Digitiser first got into trouble with our bosses, the day I opened the newspaper (note: while having a poo) to see the headline "Teletext Rapped Over Sick Video Game Joke". I knew immediately that a storm was about to kick off.
For those who aren't aware of all this, we'd received an angry call on the Friday from the British Epilepsy Association over a Street Fighter II review, which had contained the phrase "Now you too can develop epilepsy". Though Mr Hairs had apparently placated the individual, this person felt the need to take his issues to that bastion of journalistic integrity, The Sun (yes, I read The Sun for some reason - I'm not proud).
News International, it should be stated, had a vested interest in taking down Teletext, as it was owned by The Daily Mail.
Sure enough, shortly after calling Hairs to warn him of what was brewing, I heard from Teletext's then-features editor, and spent some time going through the pages with her, justifying every last word. Thus, Digitiser's reputation for causing trouble - up until that point we'd been described as Teletext's one major success story - was cemented.
This newly-recovered edition would seem to be post-editorial trawl, as some elements of it appear to have been added to cover our backsides (such as stating needlessly that The Man's obviously made-up stories are "untrue").
Nevertheless, this very, very early Digitiser features plenty that's historically important, but nevertheless is something of a cringe-inducing read from a personal perspective. We were still finding our feet, hadn't quite established what to do with The Man - who had suddenly seen a surge of interest from the readers - and it all very much reads like a magazine (and young writer) still in the process of finding its voice.
Thanks, as always, to the genius that is Jason Robertson for letting us have this, and to Martin Smith for donating the tape. If you've got old VHS tapes you can share with Jason (he'll give them back), please get in touch.
For those who aren't aware of all this, we'd received an angry call on the Friday from the British Epilepsy Association over a Street Fighter II review, which had contained the phrase "Now you too can develop epilepsy". Though Mr Hairs had apparently placated the individual, this person felt the need to take his issues to that bastion of journalistic integrity, The Sun (yes, I read The Sun for some reason - I'm not proud).
News International, it should be stated, had a vested interest in taking down Teletext, as it was owned by The Daily Mail.
Sure enough, shortly after calling Hairs to warn him of what was brewing, I heard from Teletext's then-features editor, and spent some time going through the pages with her, justifying every last word. Thus, Digitiser's reputation for causing trouble - up until that point we'd been described as Teletext's one major success story - was cemented.
This newly-recovered edition would seem to be post-editorial trawl, as some elements of it appear to have been added to cover our backsides (such as stating needlessly that The Man's obviously made-up stories are "untrue").
Nevertheless, this very, very early Digitiser features plenty that's historically important, but nevertheless is something of a cringe-inducing read from a personal perspective. We were still finding our feet, hadn't quite established what to do with The Man - who had suddenly seen a surge of interest from the readers - and it all very much reads like a magazine (and young writer) still in the process of finding its voice.
Thanks, as always, to the genius that is Jason Robertson for letting us have this, and to Martin Smith for donating the tape. If you've got old VHS tapes you can share with Jason (he'll give them back), please get in touch.
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