Voyager

"Defender of the faith am I! Keeper of the Flame! The Light at the edge of the World!"

Writer: Steve Parkhouse 

Format: Comic Strip

Released: July-November 1984

Printed in: DWM 90-94

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Frobisher

Synopsis 

In an outback dimension, somewhere between mythology and madness, the Doctor seeks truth and beauty at the edge of the world, where he is haunted by his own dreams.

Verdict 

Voyager was an absolutely brilliant comic strip adventure! After The Shape Shifter kicked off this graphic novel, of which the story at hand is named after, in somewhat skeptical style whilst remaining good, I really was not expecting a comic strip story to be so good! I thought the characterisation of the Sixth Doctor was absolutely spot on. I mean they just nailed it which was magnificent to see. I'm still questioning the whereabouts of Peri and I'm not sure how her absence can be explained. Just because the Doctor regenerated in The Caves of Androzani, he shouldn't just lose his beautiful companion and replace her with a penguin Whifferdill. However, unlike the previous story I wasn't expecting Peri to be in the adventure so her absence didn't disappoint me on this occasion. I thought the story was fantastic and was excellently paced over the five parts. I found it intriguing that the Doctor would be both sleeping and dreaming and I loved that his dream was pretty much a premonition of the adventure he was about to embark upon. The ambiguity in the story was superb and I liked its similarities to Last Christmas in that we were never quite sure if things were reality or all in the Doctor's mind. The legend of the Voyager ship was great and I loved the history behind it. Had the Doctor ever seen a ship so dangerous before? I mean he's faced Daleks on the Mary Celeste in The Chase and encountered the Siren in The Curse of the Black Spot, but never before (or after) has the ship itself been so dangerous. I'm looking forward to finding out what's so important about the star charts. But let's not get too far ahead of myself. I thought the plot was really fascinating and the character of Astrolabus was just outstanding! What an incredible history for a villain debuting in the comic strip format! Not just any ordinary villain, but a fellow Time Lord! I do love it when the Doctor comes face to face with a nemesis from his own race, especially for the viewer (or in this case the reader's) first time. I absolutely love The Time Meddler, Terror of the Autons and The Mark of the Rani for introducing us to three brilliant Time Lord foes in the shape of the Monk, the Master and the Rani. I think it's good that this Time Lord though was given just a singular name. We've seen that many times before with the likes of Omega and Rassilon, arguably the most important Time Lords of them all. The fact he was a time thief was most intriguing and I loved that he had stolen the Book of Old Time from Gallifrey. It was fantastic just how mad this time thief was. Erratic is probably the most adequate word to describe Astrolabus. Considering this was his first post-debut story as companion, Frobisher seemed pretty quiet during most parts of the story but that was okay as we knew the Doctor was still going to go back to him. I liked the penguin's dilemma in the TARDIS. To obey the Doctor's orders or to save the Doctor! Hmm. The Doctor would most likely be angry for having his life saved! I loved the Marco Polo reference and I also liked how Astrolabus's claim of being many things, including Robin Hood and Santa Claus, could potentially still fit in with Robot of Sherwood and Last Christmas respectively. The climax was fantastic and I think that this story will set the pace and theme for the upcoming stories with the truth about Voyager being revealed, as well as the importance of those star charts. Astounding ambiguity and a superb story! 

Rating: 10/10