The Tragical History Tour Part 1

"They're who my past selves have all been running from."

Writer: Alex Paknadel
Format: Comic Strip
Released: 22nd February 2018
Printed in: DWC: Tales from the TARDIS 21

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Alice

Synopsis

The Doctor and Alice were attacked by a rogue Silent - the Scream - whose aim was to steal the Doctor's vast swathe of memories in order to finally be remembered... The Scream captured a Sapling, a creature whose purpose is to wipe out planets and replace with new a new form of life - a power the Scream wanted to exploit, to plant himself in the memories of an entire species. Luckily, the Doctor and Alice were able to foil the plan and escape, thanks to the timely intervention of their old friend Jones. But there's just one snag - they now have a Sapling child aboard the TARDIS, and... while they can remember that an entity known as The Scream is after them, they can't... quite... remember what it looks like...

Verdict

The Tragical History Tour kicked off in a good way with this great opening part of the story! The third year of adventures for the Eleventh Doctor and Alice has started off interestingly and I thought this was a very decent continuation. I thought the characterisation of the Doctor was superb in this story and while the content from Doctor Who Comic has perhaps not been the best in terms of capturing the feel of the Eleventh Doctor era, Matt Smith's likeness was outstanding here and that really helped capture the essence of 2010-2013. Alice was good too and I liked how put off she was by everything that was the Sapling. The concept of a being that had half of Alice's and half of the Doctor's memories is superb and while its origin story could have been improved, I am looking forward to seeing how his presence changes the dynamic of this TARDIS pairing. Speaking of the TARDIS, I absolutely loved the little snippet of the early outside model and the changing face of the TARDIS getting addressed is actually quite a rarity. It was a terrific little moment and provided me with a smile which was really nice. Alice wanting to go home was not the most surprising thing in the world and she is still having trouble getting over the death of her mother. She had forgotten what her eyes looked like and that was killing her - she needed to see a photo so back they went to the twenty-first century. Kushak was an intriguing character and his arrival into the story really made you realise that things had gotten weird. He wasn't at all freaked out by the presence of the Sapling or the Doctor (the latter is a bit understandable) and Alice was not impressed with that! She wanted to know what was going on. The idea that caused the trouble in this story was pretty fantastic and whilst it's one that is a little difficult to comprehend, space becoming time is just excellent. The Earth was basically a squiggle and that was going to provide its difficulties for the TARDIS. The Sapling stopped the Doctor from losing his old girl forever but the Doctor's intended journey to the swinging sixties to solve things would prove more difficult without his time machine. The Sixty-Eighters were an intriguing bunch and the concept of them going from decade to decade and taking what they pleased was brilliant. I really did like this opening part and it concluded very well as well which was a big positive. Whilst it was a little obvious that Alice going back to get a photo of her mum was going to bring danger as she was separated from the Doctor, the emergence of the Scream and the way that, once turned around, Alice was unaware of the danger was terrific. Overall, a very good start to the story!