Time Bomb

"We claim the future."

Writer: Jamie Delano

Format: Comic Strip

Released: July-September 1986

Printed in: DWM 114-116

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Frobisher

Synopsis

After leaving Peri to enjoy a baseball game in the USA, a time cannon hits the TARDIS. The Sixth Doctor and Frobisher find themselves amongst a people who are disrupting time's correct path by getting rid of their waste in the past...

Verdict

Time Bomb was a decent little story to continue my reading through The World Shapers graphic novel! This was a really good adventure and I feel quite disappointed that I am only able to provide it with the rating that I have done below. The first two parts were quite excellent, but I thought the third part was quite an underwhelming ending. I loved the prospect of the Arrow of Righteousness heading for heaven and meeting their creator, and the way that technically came full circle in an ironic way was neat, but I just wanted there to be more of an obvious connection. The explanation that we got was a little unclear and certainly could have benefitted from some elaboration. One thing I notice with these Classic comic strips from the pages of Doctor Who Magazine is that in the multi-part stories, the issue seems to have been resolved by about page two of the final part. That doesn't really work when you have six or so more pages to play with! There's filling out then with flashbacks and explanations and whilst we did get both here, I think there could have been more. The Hedrons were an interesting species and having the setting as the 29th century worked well. The way they celebrated taking over a planet – and that is in every sense of the word – was good, but their fate was unexpected. Their use of a time cannon without even realising that it was time travel was very good and I loved that the Doctor and Frobisher were thrown back into prehistoric Earth. What I didn't like was how Frobisher was able to change his form again from out of nowhere! Just when were his powers returned? I can appreciate that they didn't stay with him for long, but that was a very cheap way out of the situation in my book. I wasn't a fan as I have been very keen for his problems to be expanded upon and to find a solution. I still think that may happen, but for him to temporarily turn into Godzilla takes the biscuit a bit! I'll take my annoyance further and centre it on Frobisher as a companion. I really didn't like him in this story because of how little he cared. Peri's disappearance was a strange one. I've been to see the Dodgers play baseball in Los Angeles and I really don't understand the fuss! It was the most boring three-and-a-half hours of my life. So why Frobisher was more interested in attending a baseball match than actually putting human history back on course was baffling. Why would a companion not care? That's just not right in my opinion. That has really put me off him. The ending with it turning out that the human race had sent their own ship that crashed and wiped out the Hedrons with all of the diseases they had eradicated and cured themselves of was a nice bit of irony, but there needed to be more explanation as to how that solved the issue of the broken timelines. Surely there would still be no normal 1986 to go back to if the Doctor just let things carry out their new course? The alternate 1986 was really interesting though and the idea of an Earth without mankind ever evolving was great and something that could be expanded on for a future story. I'd like to see that. Frobisher initially questioning whether the waste that he and the Doctor were sent back in time with was actually part of the human evolution was good, but I just didn't understand why he didn't gloat or at least mention it when that turned out to be the truth! I was baffled. Ahh, it's a shame that there were so many little flaws in this story as I still really enjoyed it. Overall, a decent if not problematic comic strip.

Rating: 7/10