The Chameleon Factor

"It's irritating and it's got a heart of stone!"

Writer: Paul Cornell 

Format: Comic Strip

Released: June 1991

Printed in: DWM 174

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Ace, Second Doctor, Polly, Ben

Synopsis 

The Seventh Doctor recovers the signet ring that he wore during his first incarnation, and with it being stuck in the console it's decided to alter the interior chameleon circuit somewhat.

Verdict 

The Chameleon Factor was an absolutely brilliant little comic strip! I was hoping for something great knowing that Paul Cornell was the writer but with just one part and six pages to play with, I wasn't quite sure what he'd be able to produce. However, what we got was simply sublime. I've criticised many Doctor Who Annual comic strip stories due to their short length (often six pages as was the case here) but with this story Paul Cornell has even eclipsed The Time Sickness in how to do a superb comic strip adventure with the limited length. It is possible to do it and that's what probably annoys me about the usual poor quality of the Doctor Who Annual adventures. The fact that this sort of served as a loose sequel to The Power of the Daleks is just wonderful. The long sought after missing serial is simply divine and I loved how in just a couple of scenes Cornell captured the mystery of Patrick Troughton's that was portrayed on screen so wonderfully well following the first ever regeneration. Although it probably wasn't difficult due to the minimal dialogue, it was lovely to see Polly and Ben once again and great in that they were characterised very well. Was this possibly their comic strip debut? My knowledge on the very early comic strips is extremely limited sadly. Oh how I'd yearn to discover the comic strip adventures of the first two Doctors in particular. Speaking of characterisation, the depiction of Sylvester McCoy's Seventh Doctor was once again brilliant, as it consistently has been throughout my reading of this graphic novel. I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what the title story has to offer as that's what's next going through the pages. In what is surely unprecedented prior to this point, we had a debut of a brand new TARDIS interior in a comic strip story! I suppose with Doctor Who having been off the air for four years, there was little chance of it coming back anytime soon so the writers behind Doctor Who Magazine had free reign on what they wanted to do and the direction they wanted to take the adventures of the Seventh Doctor and Ace. The companion that I really do not like wasn't bad at all in this story to be fair. In saying that, it's probably down to the fact that she had barely anything to do so we didn't see much of her. I know I'm sounding really harsh, and from interviews that I've seen Sophie Aldred is absolutely lovely, but I just can't get to liking her character at all. To me, she's just not a good companion at all. I much prefer the Seventh Doctor when he's travelling with Mel or Bernice, or even a trio that involves Ace isn't too bad at all. Just look at how I enjoyed my recent listening of The Dark Flame. The plot of this little story was very good and simple but highly effect. I liked the reference to The Tenth Planet and the throwback nod to William Hartnell's First Doctor with the return of the ring to the Doctor's hand. Just some six incarnations later! The whole adventure technically taking place entirely inside the TARDIS was clever and I thought it was brilliant the way the new interior tied in with the story. Overall, short, sweet and just sensational! This is how you do a comic strip with only six pages to play with. 

Rating: 10/10