The Neutron Knights

"What earthly barrier could withstand a man who had already breached the Gates of Hell?"

Writer: Steve Parkhouse
Format: Comic Strip
Released:
Printed in: DWM 60

Featuring: Fourth Doctor

Synopsis

Earth, in the far future: the fearsome Neutron Knights, led by the bloodthirsty warlord Catavolcus, descend on the inner sanctum of the fortress of a king and his few remaining defenders. The wizard summons the Doctor and Earth's final battle ensues...

Verdict

The Neutron Knights was a wonderful comic strip story to conclude my reading of the Dragon's Claw graphic novel! It really did bring the Fourth Doctor's comic strip adventure run in Doctor Who Magazine to an excellent finish and he now becomes the third Doctor for whom I have finished their original run in the magazine's pages in its entirety. Despite my skipping of Junk-Yard Demon in the graphic novel, I did manage to read that story a few years ago so that one has been blogged and rated a few years ago now but I was tempted to reread it given its high quality - I remember it being superb. I was then glad to see that this story followed in a similar way and I was especially pleased with it only being one part long. But it was just terrific from start to finish and I absolutely loved how the Wizard, later revealed to be Merlin, was able to summon the Doctor and the TARDIS by sheer force of will. That was quite an extraordinary feat and I was rather impressed and I loved the Doctor's reaction to the TARDIS setting off on its own. The characterisation of the Fourth Doctor was brilliant in this story which I was delighted by as it was this incarnation's final story in the magazine (at the time he was the Doctor of course) so I'm glad the likeness of Tom Baker was perfectly clear on the page. I thought the setting of the end of the world for Earth was good and the many variations of the planet's demise have all been quite different and this was exactly the case here. However, I very much liked how this was by no means a definitive representation of the planet's end and the moment the Doctor realised that he was with Merlin and being rescued by Arthur was terrific. He couldn't quite believe it! And I must admit that a smile came to my face. It was ridiculous and just impossible and that's something I always seem to enjoy. We were at the end of the world but we had these two figures from history making a final stand against the Neutron Knights to protect the last power source which was a gigantic nuclear fissure that was in the shape of the Dragon! Now there's some imagination for you. Barmy and brilliant. The ambiguous ending regarding whether the Doctor was dreaming or if it had been an illusion or a merger of the past and future was excellent and just perfect for what the story was. Overall, not quite a perfect rating but it was very, very close. A fantastic adventure!

Rating: 9/10