The Singer Not the Song Part 1

"Smokey is a song on the wind, and I wish I could listen to him forever. But no song lasts forever."

Writer: Nick Abadzis 

Format: Comic Strip

Released: 10th March 2016

Printed in: DWC: Tales from the TARDIS 04

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Gabby

Synopsis 

Looking for rest and relaxation, the Tenth Doctor and Gabby take a trip to Earth Station Presley, a mining platform around an enormous gas giant - and home to one of the most spectacular sensory experiences in the universe! 

The gas giant is a perfect example of human colonists living in harmony with indigenous life - in this case, the Shan'tee: conceptual brings perceived by humans as hauntingly beautiful music!

But the Doctor and Gabby are walking straight into a war. 

Something has corrupted the song of the Shan'tee - a mysterious signal of unknown origin - and now the human colonists are trapped in a fight for their lives! 

Can the Doctor, Gabby and a synesthetic scientist uncover the truth and bring the war to an end without further bloodshed... or will the song consume them all?

And... why does Gabby feel like the alien foes she's been facing are starting to rhyme? Is there something less random and more sinister at work?   

Verdict 

The Singer Not the Song kicked off in style with this excellent opening part! Not only did this start a brand new story for the Tenth Doctor and Gabby, which actually seems quite a while after the epic The Fountains of Forever/Spiral Staircase/Sins of the Father seems quite a while since we had one, but it also saw us open up the second year of adventures! When I was reading this it definitely had a feeling of separation from the first year of adventures and although I'm not entirely sure how that was achieved, it must be a good thing! I like how after last year's finale, Gabby continues to write in her journal for Cindy but after the events of the previous story, she is now going to believe everything that she reads from Gabby instead of dismissing the idea of the events that occurred in The Arts in Space and The Weeping Angels of Mons. I think she'll desperately want to join the Doctor and Gabby on their travels and it honestly wouldn't surprise me if she gets a trip or two in the TARDIS. The Doctor wouldn't be too thrilled about that I wouldn't have thought, but Gabby will persuade him. This story itself started off with such a positive note and it had such a good feeling. Gabby was overwhelmed by the beauty she was seeing and despite the fact that may have been down to the increased oxygen levels, she once again just seemed so grateful for the opportunity the Doctor was giving her to show her the universe first hand. It was a wonderful moment and with the way my run of the Eighth Doctor audios are going at the minute, I'm inclined to now say that Gabby is my favourite companion created outside of the television series. Previously, I think Charley would have that honour but Gabby is just so likeable and I love seeing how appreciative she is of the Doctor for showing her the stars. The artistic theme she brings to nearly all of her stories just adds to her likeableness and I do hope she is here to stay past the second year's conclusion. The setting of Wutpaki was superb and I loved the musical theme (no, not a musical in the theatre terms) of the story that came with it. The artwork on the planet was superb and as I always say when I mention something like the artwork, it must have been really good if I mention it as it's not something I usually mention in my blog entries of comic strip stories. The Shan'tee were brilliant their concept was excellent. There wasn't an ounce of evil in them and the Doctor seemed so thrilled to be showing Gabby that there were examples of humans living in peaceful harmony with other species as was the case here. However, something terrible was happening and the Doctor was soon called into action. He was genuinely horrified by the virus that he witnessed claim the life of a Shan'tee. The jacket quickly came off and he went straight into action by heading for the source of the virus that, quite incredibly, was coming from a song! I loved how the remixes were used as the update for the virus and the Bovodrines were heading straight for the Doctor and co. The virus causing the Shan'tee to become Nocturnes was quite disturbing and their appearance was so distorted. And the danger just increased with the cliffhanger as D'Angelo was infected and the virus was jumping species. The Doctor and Gabby were separated and it seems the second part is going to be full of action! I look forward to it greatly.