Rest and Re-Creation

"Two Zygons fighting each other!"

Writer: Warwick Gray
Format: Comic Strip
Released: September 1993
Printed in: Doctor Who Yearbook 1994

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Leela

Synopsis

The Fourth Doctor takes Leela to the planet Shontaa for a rest from their recent exploits in the TARDIS. But all is not peaceful as two Zygons are intent on destroying one another. The Doctor is quick to wanting to stop this, but Leela thinks a fight for honour should not be interrupted...

Verdict

Rest and Re-Creation was another decent comic strip adventure to continue my reading of The Clockwise War graphic novel! I was very happy to see that the Zygons returned and they did so in very different circumstances to their previous appearances that I have blogged. Rather than conducting a big scheme on the level of the likes of Terror of the Zygons or The Bodysnatchers, this time there were just two of them doing battle against each other! It was quite unexpected and I would have liked to have had more clarity on whether this was just sport or if there was genuine beef between the pair. It did seem more so the former as there was only one space-cruiser that contained the body prints that both Anktra and Kestral were feeding from. I thought it was good that both Zygons were named as it gave them some personality, and one thing I was very impressed with from this story was the fact that neither Zygon actually had any dialogue. That made the fight seem more real and the accompanying narration was very good. One thing that seemed a little off for me in this story was the characterisation of the Fourth Doctor. He didn't quite seem as bubbly and jolly as is so often renowned with Tom Baker's incarnation which was a big shame, but I did like how the traits of Leela's tribal background were realised when she wanted to make sure that an honourable fight was not to be interfered in. The Doctor left them to it though and cleverly went to their ship rather than trying to talk the Zygons out of fighting. He was actually quite enjoying things which was humorous. I really was hoping for some more interaction between the Doctor and Leela as they can be funny together but instead we just got a line where Leela boringly pointed out that the planet they were on has a lot of rocks. I know she can have a tendency to take things literally and point out the obvious, but that took things a little to the extreme in my opinion. The story was actually a rather simple one and that's absolutely fine given the space it was given. Eight pages is not a lot of room to work but I felt this still did a more than decent job! It was interesting and the pace just worked well and the excitement came from the Zygons being in action. The Doctor, though, simply went to their ship and started freeing the bodies they were using the prints off to shapeshift into and fight. The moment where the Doctor, Leela and an assembly of alien beings confronted the Zygons was certainly the comic strip's highlight! It was very good and it was almost like the Zygons were instantly discredited as enemies and their wrongdoings were highlighted. The Doctor could be stern but I was a little surprised by him leaving the alien assembly with the Zygons - even if they were the only means of flying the spacecraft. Overall though, an interesting and quite exciting little story. Nice to see some different usage out of the Zygons!

Rating: 7/10