Freeze

"They travel around the universe and freeze planets!"

Writer: Jason Lobarik 

Format: Comic Strip

Released: September 2014

Printed in: Doctor Who Annual 2015

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Clara

Synopsis 

Clara is late for work so calls for the Doctor and the TARDIS but a little detour sends them to Eden 2 where a species intent on freezing the planet is at work

Verdict 

Freeze was a pretty decent comic strip and followed on nicely from the 2015 annual's previous story of The Monsters of Coal Hill School. I liked the overlapping references to Clara being at work and it was nice to see how much she values her job! Although, people being late for work isn't an isolated event it does happen on times and coincidentally even occurred to me today! My A2 Law teacher turned up at 9.25 with the lesson starting some twenty-five minutes earlier, not that I was complaining. Granted she was stuck on the motorway thanks to a violent crash, what I'm trying to say is that being late for work shouldn't require the TARDIS! I must say I did like that the Doctor abided by his companion's wish and soon arrived to pick up his beloved Clara. After the events of The Name of the Doctor, The Day of the Doctor and The Time of the Doctor followed by regeneration I think the Doctor knows he really needs Clara by his side after all the help she's given him by defeating the Great Intelligence, changing the course of the Time War and giving the Doctor an unprecedented new regeneration cycle. The least he could do is drop her off to work an hour ago! But first they'd have a little adventure on a nearly referenced planet of paradise which goes along nicely with the loose series arc surrounding Missy. The setting of Eden 2 looked tremendous with a nice little homage to Nightmare of Eden, the mythical Fourth Doctor serial. The concept surrounding the Vladlack was unique to say the least! They just go around the cosmos freezing planets over and live in the frozen habitat until they're bored. Well, that's a different lifestyle to anything I've ever heard or seen in this programme before! The little plot was pretty good and did its job very sufficiently for an Annual comic strip. The way the Vladlack were stopped were pretty humorous in an entertaining climax! Again with the Annuals, too short but still did an excellent job!

Rating: 8/10