The World Shapers

"The Voord are the Cybermen?"

Writer: Grant Morrison
Format: Comic Strip
Released: August-October 1987
Printed in: DWM

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Peri, Frobisher, Jamie

Synopsis

The Sixth Doctor, Peri and Frobisher follow a distress signal to a watery planet that the Doctor recognises as Marinus. He's been there before, but it wasn't like this. Finding a dying Time Lord, the Doctor sets out on a mission that reunites him with Jamie McCrimmon, but for the last time...

Verdict

The World Shapers was a sublime end to the graphic novel of the same name! After a little bit of a shaky run, I was delighted with how things concluded for the Sixth Doctor in his Doctor Who Magazine run! I thought this was absolutely barmy in the perfect way and the ingredients were just quite spectacular. Taking the Doctor back to Marinus is alone in itself just a wonderful concept, but to then establish that the Voord became the Cybermen and Marinus was the precursor for Monday was just brilliant! It's something I would never have expected but once it was told I couldn't help but admire it. Incredible stuff. Obviously, it has been contradicted in a few different stories across formats but nothing is ever quite concurrent in Doctor Who continuity. I always think of things deviating from the television series and being different interpretations so to speak of what occurred. That's something a Masters in History taught me. It's a good way of looking at things if I do say so. The little flashback to The Keys of Marinus and the Doctor's deja vu was excellent and I loved the calmness with which he stated that he needed to find Jamie. The mention of Planet 14 in The Invasion has always been something of interest for me so I just loved that they tried to address it and provide an answer two decades later. There aren't many other television shows that can do that! It worked tremendously well too. The Doctor immediately recognising the later model TARDIS on Marinus was good and I just adored the idea of two different TARDISes conversing and gossiping! I do wonder what the Doctor's TARDIS would have to say about him. Maxilla and Deedrun previously world shaping Planet 13 was a good little cliffhanger for part one and left me wanting more. Seeing Jamie in his older years was quite emotional as he wasn't accepted in his time anymore when he told the stories of his adventures with the Doctor. I thought the way they got over the Time Lords wiping his memory in The War Games was a little sketchy, but it was at least concurrent with The Two Doctors and it was nice of Peri to recognise him. The Doctor seemed quite saddened by what had happened to Jamie, but I liked how he easily recalled the events of the Cybermen in London and the mentioning of Planet 14. We would then be shown how they were recognised from the planet because it turned out that Marinus was in fact Planet 14. The use of the world shaper device to speed up a planet's time and evolution was excellent and definitely should be brought back in the future, and it was quite stunning for the Doctor to reveal the location now as Mondas. It really does change the entire perspective of the Voord knowing that they would evolve into Cybermen! Imagine seeing one of those in World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls! The conclusion was incredibly sad with Jamie going out fighting and saving the Doctor. To kill off a companion is a big step but it was done in a very good way here. Jamie didn't want to die old and in his bed, he would do so here for a good cause and to save his old friend. It was very emotional and whilst I knew of his fate prior to reading, it didn't change the impact it had on me. Farewell, Jamie McCrimmon. The little Time Lord conversation at the end was a very interesting epilogue of sorts and I do wonder if seeing the fate of the Cybermen becoming pure consciousness was where they got the idea from that we would see in The End of Time? So many possibilities! Overall, a sublime comic strip adventure.

Rating: 10/10