Stairway to Heaven

"Time for me to employ one of my own art forms... escaping!"

Writers: Paul Cornell & John Freeman
Format: Comic Strip
Released: January 1990
Printed in: DWM 156

Featuring: Seventh Doctor

Synopsis

Hoping for the Chardaz Museum of Modern Art, the Seventh Doctor finds himself within a domed park-like area and stumbles upon a being who makes introductions very difficult indeed. Flustered, the Doctor follows him to an elaborate stairway, where once climbing somebody will not impress him at all...

Verdict

Stairway to Heaven was a pretty decent comic strip adventure that sadly just tried to do too much in its limited page allocation. The story continued my reading of the Nemesis of the Daleks graphic novel which I started a couple of months ago before moving back to university and after coming home for the weekend, I decided now would be a good time to continue it. I have a busy sport-filled weekend ahead but with how busy I have been lately with university and relationship stuff, I am glad to find some free time to be able to blog! I have been extremely sporadic lately which is a great shame and I can only see it continuing for the foreseeable future but fitting in a couple of blogs a month is now going to be the more realistic shame whilst I'm finishing up my third year of university. Busy times! But here I was reunited with the Seventh Doctor for seven pages and despite what is, by my marking standards, a pretty poor rating I did very much enjoy what I read. I just felt that the idea was way too much for seven pages and could definitely have worked much better had it been used for say a television or audio formatted story. Of course, 1990 was a time where Doctor Who was in limbo and there was no new television stories and the audios from Big Finish were a long way away yet. However, for readers of the time I imagine the new comic stories from Doctor Who Magazine were very much welcomed and served as an enjoyable part of the magazine. Even though the show was permanently off air, the Doctor's adventures continued in some really quirky surroundings. I thought the characterisation of the Seventh Doctor was pretty good with Sylvester McCoy's likeness being well captured for the adventure and I loved the art theme comment about him escaping which I included as my story quote. That was definitely the highlight of the comic strip for me. Garg Adoniquist was an intriguing character and had we had the time and space to explore his background I feel like the reveal of his creation would have been much more impactful. However, it seemed a bit rushed but I did find the humour in the way that the gathering crowd thought the Doctor was the one that had been created. He was even bloody interviewed about it! It was all quite barmy and rushed but I did enjoy the stairway concept and the Doctor actually had ended up where he intended to be. Now, that doesn't exactly happen very often! I thought the ending was another element of the story that was rushed but I do sympathise in how difficult it must be to put together a story that can work over just seven pages. There have been examples in the past but to get a high rating in that amount of space is very difficult indeed. Overall though, considering the small scale of the comic strip, I thought it made a rather decent effort and served as a good little story.

Rating: 6/10

The Doctor's Wife

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Writer: Neil Gaiman
Format: TV
Broadcast: 14th May 2011
Series: 6.04

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Amy, Rory

Synopsis

The Doctor receives some impossible mail from beyond the Universe. Is there another Time Lord alive? Upon arrival, the disturbing truth is revealed and both the Doctor and the TARDIS are under attack. With Amy and Rory helpless, can the Doctor and the mysterious Idris, who bares some striking knowledge and familiarity, save the TARDIS?

Verdict

The Doctor's Wife was a wonderful episode of Doctor Who and it really does rank right up there with my all time favourite stories, particularly from the modern era of the show. The idea is just simply superb and seeing it come into fruition is even better. The TARDIS. As a woman. Does it get better than that for the Doctor? We know that Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor is quite flirty and out there when it comes to his interest in sexual activity due to what we have seen so far with River Song and even Amy, but Idris allows him to gain all kinds of feelings and joy. Now, I have blogged this episode before, a few years ago, but as my girlfriend has been watching the series from the start of the reboot in 2005 I thought I'd join her in watching this one as it really is one I could never tire of watching. She has never watched any of the Classic era so some of the elements in this story I don't think she appreciated like I did on my first viewing but she still very much enjoyed and it was just lovely for us to watch this great show together. And with most of my time being spent with her now I figured this would be a good opportunity to get a blog done between university work as well! The arrival of the hypercube at the TARDIS doors was a magical moment and as The War Games is my all time favourite story, their return always puts a smile on my face. The Doctor believing that there was another Time Lord alive somewhere was fantastic and I loved his reaction when Amy said that he wanted to be forgiven for the Time War. Who wouldn't want to be? Matt Smith was simply phenomenal in this episode and perfectly displayed why he is my favourite Doctor. He really is just outstanding. The emotion he portrayed once he found out that he had simply been lured to House in the Bubble Universe was excellent and he really was angry, something we don't often see. He had hoped to meet the Corsair and once he arrived he heard more pleas for help from Time Lords long dead. The collection of hypercubes angered him even more and he really was on the war path. However, he had already sent Amy and Rory back to the TARDIS because this concerned Time Lord stuff but they weren't safe there. By now, the matrix of the TARDIS was placed inside Idris and the TARDIS was now in human form. Bonkers and magnificent. The conversation between the Doctor and Idris throughout the episode was incredible and it really does rank as some of my favourite dialogue ever. Idris telling him that she always took him where he was needed was beautiful and I loved the idea of him stealing her rather than the generally assumed alternative. The Doctor building a TARDIS out of a junkyard was magnificent and it really did look terrific. Amy and Rory exploring the interior of the TARDIS was great and I liked how they entered the old control room of the Ninth and Tenth Doctors. The junkyard TARDIS's arrival there disintegrated Nephew and that was another Ood the Doctor failed to save but the way the Doctor and Idris worked together to outsmart House was brilliant. They were nearly left in a dying bubble universe but soon emerged and saved the day, with the matrix returned to the TARDIS. An incredible episode - it really is. This was the time that the Doctor and the TARDIS talked and the emotion behind that is simply sensational. One of the very, very best.

Rating: 10/10