Timeslip

"!Time in backwards move will we continues this if! Master ,affirmative."

Writers: Dez Skinn & Paul Neary

Format: Comic Strip

Released: 6th-13th February 1980

Printed in: DWM 17-18

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, K9, First Doctor

Synopsis 

The Fourth Doctor and K9 drift into contact with a deep space entity which feeds on time itself. As time begins to move backwards, K9 reverts to the components from which he was made whilst the Doctor experiences retro-regeneration for the first time...

Verdict 

Timeslip was a phenomenally good comic strip adventure! I must say I didn't know what to expect with it being just eight pages split into two parts but I must say I was absolutely overjoyed with what I read! This novel actually kicked off my reading of The Tides of Time graphic novel that I purchased for the steal of a price £2.99 (including postage!) on eBay a few months ago and as I had a brief browse at the story information on the contents page, I noticed that this particular story was included as a bonus strip and after I noticed the DWM issue numbers in which this story was printed I knew it did not feature the Fifth Doctor like the rest of the collection. With that, I thought it made sense to read this first because it featured the Fourth Doctor. I always like to read a graphic novel in chronological order as sometimes the pages aren't presented that way, something I don't really understand. It happened in The Good Soldier and it happened here. It doesn't really matter but I just wish they were printed in release order! The relationship between the Fourth Doctor and K9 was magnificent throughout the robot dog's tenure as companion and when thinking about it and reading this comic strip, my memory of the Australian K9 spinoff series was sparked and after some further investigating I was thrilled to see that I could get the entire series one for less than a tenner including postage over the two DVDs. I'll certainly be purchasing that once I get back to university next week so watch out for some K9 blogging! I have a feeling I'll be critical because the intended audience is 11-15 year olds and I am now 19 now, but I will watch any television spinoff and I'm looking very forward to Class later this year in place of a regular season. K9 constantly besting the Doctor in board games is a wonderful recurring theme and it was realised excellently once again here. The referencing to the Key to Time series was very good with the Doctor mentioning the randomiser being used to evade the Black Guardian. However, things took a quick turn for the worse when the TARDIS encountered an enigmatic space entity. Action soon kicked into gear and we had time reverting backwards! You would think that I'd be able to wrap my head around that concept considering this is a time travel show but it still confuses. Can time really move backwards? I'm not sure. I can see how travelling to the past may be possible but time actually moving backwards? I'm not so sure. K9 reverting back to nuts and bolts was quite a sight but that was nothing compared to the cliffhanger! The Doctor retro-regenerated for the very first time and reverted back to his first incarnation! It was just magical and it actually exceeded the retro-regeneration of the Tenth Doctor back to the Ninth Doctor in The Fountains of Forever/Spiral Staircase/Sins of the Father because we actually had dialogue with the First Doctor which was superb. It was fantastic that we were seeing the First Doctor but he had retained the memories of his future selves. The idea of the entity overeating on time was similar to what Mondas had done in The Tenth Planet and this was not the first time the Doctor had a lucky escape. The scenes between re-regenerations were good with each inbetween incarnation getting a small piece of dialogue. It was just magnificent. The characterisation of Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor was superb and overall this was simply brilliant. A real joy to read and even though this is at the back of the graphic novel, it's started excellently! 

Rating: 10/10