Old Girl: Primeval

"What's the point of companions 'f you don't let 'em see the sights...?"

Writer: Nick Abadzis
Format: Comic Strip
Released: 27th April 2017
Printed in: DWC: Tales from the TARDIS 17

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Gabby, Cindy

Synopsis

The Doctor, Gabby and Cindy face a difficult choice, as Anubis's ticking clock strikes the alarm, and the ancient Osiran's patience finally runs out! But they've dealt with the Son of Sutekh before... Now, armed with a year's worth of adventures and experience, can the TARDIS triumvirate rewrite the rules of a cosmic game of life and death?!

Verdict

Old Girl continued in excellent style with Primeval! It served as a stunning second part of the story and I really was intrigued throughout its duration. To me, that is a very positive sign and as per usual with a new addition to a comic adventure, it just seemed to fly by! That is never the case when rereading earlier segments of the story and that was the case with my familiarising of Aftermath. This part of the story though went in a very different direction to what I was expecting and instead of seeing the Doctor and Cindy on Amenthes we saw something far better. At least, I believe it is far better! Not only had the temporal map changed for the TARDIS, but we saw the Tenth Doctor step foot on Gallifrey. That in itself is quite amazing but I just loved how it was in its ancient days. This was Gallifrey before it was even Gallifrey. Before Rassilon and the Time Lords and time travel. That concept is magnificent and to see the Untempered Schism was also a wonderful sight. That is even when what purpose it was serving was rather horrific. Cindy realised what was going on without a lot of explanation and I liked how she couldn't quite understand why the Doctor didn't want to put a stop to the events. Any change in history at this point on Gallifrey could have been crucial to the future and even the very life of the Doctor. The Time Sentinels were really intriguing and I thought their blank appearance was actually very good. They didn't look too dissimilar to the Handbots from The Girl Who Waited. Their mention of protecting the time lock was intriguing and I also liked how once Cindy referred to the Doctor as just that, they knew all about him. Even now on the primordial days of Gallifrey, the Doctor was known to these emotionless bots as both a renegade and a war hero. The brief images of the Doctor's past incarnations was good and something I always enjoy seeing but I really did love how he scoffed at the idea of him being thought of as a war hero. I really am surprised by how much reference has been made to the Time War in DWC since its existence and despite any information about it being great, I don't think this will come close to the Big Finish audios. The way Cindy piloted the TARDIS through the familiar emergency hologram was terrific and I loved how delighted she was to hear her name mentioned after it initially seemed like the Doctor had only programmed the TARDIS to recognise Gabby as his companion. She soon came to the Doctor's rescue as he was having a bit of trouble with the Sentinels and that provided an action packed finish to the conclusion of that aspect of the story. Where that fits in the long run I'm not sure but I look forward to finding out. Back in the garden and Dorothy and Gabby were intrigued by the actions, or rather calm inactions, of Anubis. He was disturbed and the answer was soon revealed to us. It appears that, rather unsurprisingly, Sutekh has returned. That in itself is rather momentous but it has been obvious for over a year now. There was just no way we'd have a year build of a story involving Sutekh's son and not have the infamous villain return! It was a good reveal though and I am interested to see where the story goes from here. It's shaping up to be a very good year end finale!