Stars Fell on Stockbridge

"This could be the chance of a lifetime!"

Writer: Steve Parkhouse 

Format: Comic Strip

Released: September-October 1982

Printed in: DWM 68-69

Featuring: Fifth Doctor

Synopsis 

Maxwell Edison, a normal man from the village of Stockbridge finds himself entering the TARDIS and the Doctor's adventures.

There's no time for questions when Maxwell suddenly finds himself on an alien spaceship and facing the battle of his love to save his village from destruction.

Verdict 

Stars Fell on Stockbridge was another brilliant comic strip story and continued my reading of The Tides of Time graphic novel in great fashion. After a hugely successful opener with the graphic novel title story, which spread over seven epic parts, I was intrigued to see how this story would do to follow on with just two parts. I was pleasantly surprised that the standard continued which was fantastic. Being as much of a fan of Doctor Who as I am, I've obviously heard of Stockbridge but this was actually my first story to explicitly feature the village. We actually learned that segments of the previous story were also see there but this comic strip saw it officially stated. As far as I'm aware (I try not to give myself spoilers), the village obviously features in the next story but after that I believe it plays a part in quite a few audio adventures as well as playing a part in more than one novel. I'm not sure why it has become such a prominent part of the Doctor Who universe but despite the village appearing in the title, it didn't appear much in the story at all which was fine with another lengthy story set to follow in the village. But of what we did see from the village, I didn't like the people within it. Max was a wonderful character and I actually felt a huge amount of sympathy for him because of his reputation in the village. Stockbridge didn't seem like they'd change their opinion on him but the ending really did put a smile on my face. It was clear that Max was quite mad but even if that is the case I think it's very unfair for him to be given a nickname like 'mad Max'. That's pretty sad. How he's able to locate a ship and the TARDIS remained a bit of a mystery but I'm sure this won't be the last time that the Doctor meets him, as he himself stated. I'm looking forward to what that next meeting will bring and I do hope that we get to learn more about Max's ability. He was tracking life with a broken stick for goodness sake! It was very barmy which I very much enjoyed. There'll definitely be something more to it so I look forward to that being revealed. The Fifth Doctor was once again characterised perfectly by Steve Parkhouse and he really has been able to capture Peter Davison's likeness with absolute ease. I must admit, it does seem strange having the Doctor without any recognisable companions and I've never been quite sure why Doctor Who Magazine didn't use the television companions. I like the idea of comic strips exploring there own thing and I've been a huge advocate of that with the Tales from the TARDIS comics in which we've been introduced to the wonderful Gabby and also Alice. The scenes on the spaceship were excellent and I was very interested with the voice that Max was hearing. It instilled him with an immense amount of fear and I loved the revelation that there was no other life form on the ship, or so the Doctor thought. The TARDIS scanner was no match for a stick though! It was quite insane that Max knew there was a life form on the ship despite the TARDIS not registering it. I enjoyed the cliffhanger which was important because in a story that's just two parts I feel that the halfway stage must have some impact and this story delivered with that so that was good. The ending was done well and I love how Max was able to see, and also boast and predict, the moment the stars fell on Stockbridge thanks to the breakup of the ship in the Earth's atmosphere. It was a wonderful little moment and I do hope that we see a change of perception on Max within the village. I look forward to seeing him again and I'm interested to see what comes next for this mysterious village. Overall, another brilliant comic strip! 

Rating: 9/10

The Tides of Time

"The barriers that separate time are breaking down!"

Writer: Steve Parkhouse

Format: Comic Strip

Released: February-August 1982

Printed in: DWM 61-67

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Justin, Shayde

Synopsis 

The demon Malanicus has taken over the Event Synthesiser, a vast organic machine that controls the flow of events in time. On Earth, the effects are felt as the entire planet is hit by time-warps!

Verdict 

The Tides of Time was an absolutely incredible comic strip adventure to truly kick off the graphic novel of the same name. I purchased this graphic novel quite some time ago now for a steal of a price at £2.99 (including postage!) and although I had read Timeslip a few weeks ago from its pages, that never really felt like the beginning of the graphic novel for me. This collection is all about the Fifth Doctor so today's story really got things going for me and I must say I was amazed at how good this story was. It has immediately become one of my all time favourite comic strip adventures! It completes a rare feat in my blogging of having two perfect scores in a row and I'm obviously delighted with that! I don't just go around giving out 10/10 scores for the sake of it. Stories need to earn it and boy did this do that. I loved it from start to finish and although kicking off the run of the Fifth Doctor in the comic strip pages of DWM with a seven-part mammoth story, it absolutely worked. Every part seemed fresh but maintained the overriding story whilst doing so which was really impressive. After reading the epic Prisoners of Time recently, I must say it took a bit of adjusting to return to a black and white comic story but with seven parts to get through I soon was familiar once again. With this being the first comic strip to feature the Fifth Doctor, I was really impressed with Steve Parkhouse's characterisation of the young incarnation. It was absolutely spot on which just again added to the brilliance of the story. I thought the plot was excellent and paced so well over the seven parts which is actually quite a difficult task when you have a lengthy story. I loved the focus on the Event Synthesiser which in itself was a superb concept. Malanicus was a fantastic enemy and I liked how more was learned about him as the story went on, particularly in the sixth part where we learned that he was actually from Althrace long ago. I probably was not in the best position to be reading this story as I haven't actually read any of the Fourth Doctor graphic novels, despite owning The Iron Legion, and it would seem that the previous story was quite important in understanding some elements of this one. Merlin the Wise seemed a great character but I don't know anything about his backstory so I think I'll have to wait to read his first appearance before I judge him. The Doctor getting a glance of Zoe was magnificent and I like how he was still being haunted by the events of The War Games where he lost his faithful companion and she lost her memory. But in this story we said hello and goodbye to an excellent companion in Justin. I thought he was superb and his grasping of time despite coming from long ago in the past was marvellous. The inclusion of the Time Lords, and more prominently Rassilon, was unexpected but it was an incredibly good surprise. Their appearance was more than warranted with the threats that time faced at the hands of Malanicus and I liked how they provided the Doctor with the help of Shayde on his mission to put things right. Despite this being Shayde's first appearance, it was not my first story featuring the companion as I have read the Oblivion graphic novel in which a spectacular return is made. I love the concept of a shadow companion and I think alongside the Fifth Doctor it'll work superbly. I thought pretty much every cliffhanger moment was good which was another positive and I liked that we had continuation from The Invasion of Time with the Doctor still being referred to as president. The climax was done brilliantly with an action-packed finish but I loved the ambiguity surrounding the conclusion with the Doctor wondering if the events of the story actually occurred or were just remnants of the matrix. I liked that. Overall, a simply stunning start to the graphic novel with a quite incredible adventure!

Rating: 10/10

 

The Last

"Maybe you haven't heard, I don't give in easily."

Writer: Gary Hopkins 

Format: Audio

Released: October 2004

Series: Main Range 62

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Charley, C'rizz

Synopsis 

Trapped on a dying world, the Doctor and Charley come face-to-face with those responsible for the war to end all wars, while C'rizz tries to understand what has happened and learns the terrible truth.

Powerful forces are at work on Bortresoye that not even a nuclear holocaust can tame; natural forces that have excited the interest of Excelsior, the self-proclaimed saviour of her people.

With Charley immobilised and C'rizz left to battle against the elements with some of the victims of war, one final, desperate hope of escape presents itself to the travellers. 

But who will be the last to leave the planet? Who will have to stay behind? And will the Doctor, Charley and C'rizz live long enough to find out?

Verdict 

The Last was an absolutely sublime audio adventure! I was thoroughly delighted with this story and it was a real pleasure to be able to award my first perfect rating for a Main Range audio since The Chimes of Midnight! It's been far too long without the full marks score but to my surprise this was the only the sixth out of sixty-two stories that I have been able to rate in the 10/10 range. I've been very critical lately of the Eighth Doctor story arc in the Divergent Universe but this story was everything I wanted from it. Finally we had something that felt it didn't belong in our universe with the concept of life on the planet Bortresoye and with that came a superb story. I must have had a smile on my face throughout the audio because I could tell early on that I was going to enjoy what was to come. I was rather sceptical about the length of the story before listening as 2 hours 25 minutes seemed an awfully long time for a four-part story but where I had issues yesterday with Point of Entry, each of the parts didn't seem to be too long at all. All three cliffhangers were outstanding and made me want to listen to the next part right away which I always look for. We had a really strong villain in the shape of Excelsior and I liked how practically insane she was whilst maintaining the facade of normality. That was really impressive. She knew all about the devastation the nuclear bomb had caused but was seeming to simply ignore it. She was ruthless and obsessed and that made her a fantastic enemy. The Doctor admitted to hating her which is an extremely strong word for him to describe somebody as. That should give you an idea of how good she was in the part of the villain. Paul McGann gave another stellar performance as the Eighth Doctor and I think I still take for granted how lucky we are to have Big Finish providing us with performed stories with a Doctor we've only seen on television on two occasions. Of course there are comics and novels but they're not quite the same as performed adventures. I really loved the scene at the beginning of the story with the Kro'ka showing the Doctor memories from his past that he'd much rather forget. The first mention of Katarina immediately put a smile on my face and I loved the references to The Myth Makers and The Daleks' Master Plan that quickly followed. But once Adric was soon mentioned, along with a nice reference to Earthshock, we knew it was all a trick. These moments though foreshadowed events that were to come with the death of companions. Although they finished the story very much alive, both Charley and C'rizz met their end in this audio which was rather incredible. I never bought into the idea of Charley actually being dead but once C'rizz joined her in the afterlife I must admit I did find myself asking questions. I was wrong to of course and the Doctor ended up committing suicide to save them, but had they died in this story I would have been happy to accept the circumstances. I don't think it would have altered the rating at all but the moment the companions were heard alive really did put a smile on my face. I thought this was C'rizz's best story yet as companion which just consolidated that perfect rating. Voss and Tralfinial were quite humorous together which was great but I think the best relationship in the story was that of C'rizz and Requiem. The part two cliffhanger enhanced that and I liked how the latter was quite at home with accepting that he was dead. Landscar was perhaps the most interesting character though as he was filled with mystery throughout and it all became clear why at the climax. He was representing the planet and life could only begin again once the last life had ended. It was a pretty incredible concept and one I thoroughly enjoyed. The advancement of the story arc was really great as well and I think it's obvious that the TARDIS isn't going to be found in any of the Interzones. But Landscar revealing that Bortresoye was the planet on which the zones existed was most intriguing. I'm very interested to see where things go from here which is a good sign! Overall, a simply wonderful audio adventure with great characters, a fantastic plot and sublime cliffhangers!

Rating: 10/10

Point of Entry

"I fell in... into my own reflection."

Writers: Barbara Clegg & Marc Platt

Format: Audio

Released: April 2010

Series: Lost Stories 1.06

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Peri

Synopsis 

The 16th century. Playwright Kit Marlowe is attempting to write Doctor Faustus when a darkness descends on his life, in the candaverous form of a spaniard called Velez. The monstrosity is in search of a stone blade that was brought from South America...

After a near-disastrous collision with an asteroid in space, the TARDIS makes an emergency landing in Elizabethan England. 

These two events are connected. The Omnim are ready. And the point of entry approaches...

Verdict 

Point of Entry was a pretty decent Lost Story audio but I must say I'm not surprised that it didn't get made into its intended television story. I don't know the backstory behind it not getting produced but I would imagine that it was intended to go out in the originally intended Season 23. Of course, a hiatus came and we eventually had The Trial of a Time Lord take up the entire season which is a serial that I love but I must admit given the high quality of the Lost Stories I have done from this debut season thus far, I was disappointed with the audio. I mean, that's not to say I didn't enjoy it but I just thought it could have been better. Earlier in the season, the three stories that I have listened to were tremendous. The Nightmare Fair, Mission to Magnus and Leviathan were all fantastic stories and although I am yet to purchase the two audios in between, it seems the standard has somewhat dropped. Colin Baker gave an excellent performance as the Sixth Doctor, as he rarely fails to do, and I thought the relationship between him and Peri was a real positive of the story. The pair are one of my favourites to have ever occupied the TARDIS so if a story is somewhat lacking, like this was in places, they can always brighten up what's going on. I'm probably making the story out to be worse than I actually thought it was, as is reflected in the rating, but I think in a story that was overly long it needed to be better. I think the Main Range audios work much better than the Lost Stories of this type because four parts works so much better than two. When a story is over two hours long and it's only two parts, it has a tendency to drag and I think that's exactly what happened here. Even if the story was simply split into two more parts I think the rating might have increased. It was difficult to keep absolute concentration, something which is fundamental to an audio story, in a story as long as this that was lacking in action. The plot was actually good and I really liked the mystery surrounding Velez but I was looking for something a little more exciting. There seemed to be extended dialogue in places where it just wasn't needed. However, the lengthy scene between the Doctor and Peri, whilst the latter was possessed by the Omnim, was probably my favourite moment of the entire audio adventure. The atmosphere was captured really well and there was quite a lot of tension felt which was a big positive. The noise of the flies whenever the Omnim were close was interesting and at first it didn't seem to be relevant to the story but once it kept on getting repeated, it was obvious it would count for something so I enjoyed it once that revelation came. The setting of 1590 was a good one and I think Elizabethan England has a lot of potential for a great Doctor Who story but I wasn't overly struck on the focus on Kit Marlowe. I like the idea of a playwright being targeted and the character was pretty good, but something just seemed off for me which was a shame. Peri impersonating the Queen was a little cheesy with the accent but it did inject some humour into what was actually a pretty serious story up to that point. The story surrounding Jack was quite sad and I did like the reference to The Mark of the Rani but with all the Aztec references that were going on, I was actually amazed we didn't get a The Aztecs reference. The climax though was very exciting which was great to listen to. Overall, a decent story but I'm not too disappointed that it didn't get made into a televised story. 

Rating: 7/10

Warriors of the Deep

"Mankind's oldest enemies had awakened once more - and they were poised to attack."

Writer: Terrance Dicks

Format: Novel

Released: August 1984

Series: Target 87

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Tegan, Turlough

Synopsis 

When the TARDIS materialises on Earth in the year 2084, the Doctor meets an old enemy - the Sea Devils. Once the masters of this planet, they are now forced to live in the murky depths of the sea. But their intention is to reclaim their position of domination...

This will entail the infiltration of Earth's defence systems and the provocation of another World War, more terrible than any yet experienced, to bring about the complete annihilation of the human race.

Not only is the first stage of the Sea Devils' attack successful, their associates in this dastardly plan are the sinister Silurians, also known to the Doctor of old. 

Verdict 

Warriors of the Deep was a brilliant novelisation and a fine example of when a Doctor Who story works much better in the prose format from rather than on television. I know the televised format gets quite a kicking when it comes to being critical about it and it never ranks highly in the story polls, but I've always liked it even if I thought some of the set design and costumes were pretty poor. However, with this novelisation those factors don't come into play and instead we can see just what a superb little story this is. I wasn't sure what to expect prior to reading because it has been quite some time since I watched this serial and because I liked it against public opinion, I was optimistic about what was ahead but I wasn't holding my breath. Maybe that played a factor in me enjoying it so much. I thought Terrance Dicks did a stellar job of setting the tone for the adventure by not wasting any time in revealing that the Silurians were present and intent on taking back their planet once more. The synopsis on the rear of the novel is a little misleading in my opinion as it indicates that the Sea Devils are the main enemies but the book itself clearly places the Silurians as the superior of the two dormant races which have now awaken. The setting of the sea base was magnificent and worked fantastically well for a story that involved a lot of action but also tactical manoeuvres. There were detailed recaps of both Doctor Who and the Silurians and The Sea Devils which I thought was brilliant and would help any readers who were unfamiliar of the Doctor's past encounters with the two races. The 2084 setting was an interesting one and reading over thirty years since the novel's release might have some impact on this thought, but I think the year was a bit soon for what was being depicted. It just didn't seem right that in seventy years the entire human race is going to be divided into two beliefs on either an east or west block. The premise worked well for the story with Doctor Solow and Nilson working as enemy agents, but the year may just be a tad premature in my opinion. I thought Icthar was an excellent villain and the idea that he was one of the Triad from the Doctor's first encounter with the Silurians was wonderful as it really connected the stories together which I liked. Vorshak was another very good character and I liked how committed he was to following orders and doing what was best for preserving the secrecy of the sea base's location. It did almost get him killed on more than one occasion though. Bulic was a great character also and he was actually rather unique in that he survived! The amount of death in this novel was actually quite astounding with nearly every named character not surviving until the end. Even poor Maddox didn't get to live after all he was put through with the synch-op. The dynamic between the TARDIS trio was particularly interesting in the story as I don't think there has ever been less of a connection between the main characters. It was highlighted perfectly in this story just how irritating the Doctor can find Tegan which I actually thought was quite humorous. And after recent events in the Black Guardian trilogy of adventures, the Doctor still wasn't sure whether he could trust Turlough. As for the companions themselves, they had their differences on more than one instant. I'm not sure it's a great dynamic to have but somehow it still works. The characterisation of Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor was nothing short of sublime and I think that absolutely helped in getting the story a very high rating. It was perfect for this incarnation really as the Doctor soon felt extremely guilty for all of the death that occurred. His being there though ensured that the human race survived. It must have been a good consolation, but the Doctor could only think of the people who died. Overall, a brilliant novel with a great plot, excellent enemies and a fantastic setting! 

Rating: 9/10

The Time Warrior

"A straight line may be the shortest distance between two points, but it is by no means the most interesting."

Writer: Robert Holmes 

Format: TV

Broadcast: 15th December 1973 - 5th January 1974

Season: 11.01

Featuring: Third Doctor, Sarah

Synopsis 

The Doctor is called in by UNIT to investigate when a number of scientists go missing from a top security institute. Following the kidnappings back in time to the Middle Ages, he is unaware that investigative journalist Sarah Jane has stowed aboard the TARDIS.

As events unfold, the Doctor discovers a sinister alien, intent on alerting the future of mankind.

Verdict 

The Time Warrior is a simply wonderful television story. It certainly ranks as one of my all time favourites and it holds a special place in my heart as it was actually my first ever story with Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor. I loved it then and I love it just as much now. It seems like such a long time ago now that I was going around the shops and buying Classic stories on DVD and although I haven't got around to completing the collection (I certainly aim to get there gradually!), I have seen every television story that there has been. This one is a story filled with milestones and with it comes a brilliant story. This story introduces us to Sarah Jane Smith as the new companion and I think she's tremendous in her first story. She immediately catches the interest of the Doctor by pretending to be someone she's not and then she ends up becoming a stowaway on the TARDIS! It's quite an eventful episode for Sarah because at firs she thinks the Doctor is the person responsible for bringing the scientists to Linx. That was far from the truth of course. The second milestone that occurred in this serial was the introduction of the Sontarans. They are one of my all time favourite enemies and I love how their debut is actually just one member of the race. It's actually not until The Invasion of Time that we see more than one of them together which I think goes to show how successful the Sontarans really are if just one of them can make an impact that warrants a return. It's interesting that the Doctor has met them before encountering Linx here but I can't wait for the Early Adventures audio, wonderfully and simply called The Sontarans, in which that previous meeting will be depicted. I really can't wait for that one as it has all the makings of a classic. Finally, the third milestone in this story is the Doctor finally naming his home planet as Gallifrey. It's quite amazing that it takes until the eleventh season for us to know exactly where the Doctor comes from but it is what it is. There were opportunities in The War Games and The Three Doctors but they didn't come and that kept a little bit more of a mystery about the Doctor. The story that accompanied these milestones is also magnificent and after rewatching here I do feel I should also try and order the Target as I think I'll love the novelisation just as much as I enjoyed the televised format. Irongron was a brilliant character and I think the setting of a medieval castle works tremendously well. It's such a simple but brilliant setting as it provides the historical element but also a lot of room for action which we got. Rubeish provided a lot of humour with the Doctor and you could tell that the latter was having his patience tested. He did catch on to the comment about the one weakness a Sontaran has though which was marvellous. Bloodaxe, a name I really like, was also a fantastic character. I thought the cliffhangers were strong which always helps a story and I felt each one made me want to watch the next part right away which is something I always look for. Linx's tampering with time was very good and I liked how the plot that unfolded meant we had a really exciting climax. Linx didn't get away alive after a well placed arrow to the probic vent but the great explosion meant human evolution would continue on its natural course. Overall, simply wonderful! A new companion, brilliant debut for the Sontarans and an excellent story!

Rating: 10/10

Faith Stealer

"As he neglects, so shall he dislodge." 

Writer: Graham Duff 

Format: Audio

Released: September 2004

Series: Main Range 61

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Charley, C'rizz

Synopsis 

When the Doctor, Charley and C'rizz find their journey through the Interzone interrupted by a nightmarish vision, they are surprised to find the Kro'ka offering the perfect solution.

The Multihaven, a vast array of religions and faiths housed in one harmonious community, appears to offer the perfect sanctuary in which to convalesce. But under the guidance of the charismatic Laan Carder, one religion seems to be gathering disciples at an alarming rate.

With the Doctor and Charley catching glimpses of an old friend and C'rizz on the receiving end of some unorthodox religious practices, their belief, hope and faith are about to be tested to the limit.

Verdict 

Faith Stealer was a pretty decent audio adventure and saw a pretty quick return to the Divergent Universe story arc involving the Eighth Doctor, Charley and C'rizz. I'm still not sure what to make of the run of stories so far as I just don't think the writers are making enough of use of having a story arc in a completely different universe! Scherzo tackled that problem very well but since then it has just felt like any old planet in the normal universe that we're used to and I really was expecting something different from the stories. C'rizz has failed to make a huge impact as companion but that's not the character nor actor's fault as it just seems that in most stories the Doctor and Charley are plenty. I'm enjoying the dynamic of having him as companion but even the Doctor and Charley themselves pointed out that we don't know much about him at all. I thought that was going to get further explored with the dream flashbacks to The Creed of the Kromon, but that wasn't to be. In saying that, it was completely fine because it held a central role in the plot of the story. C'rizz having to relive the moment he killed his wife must have an awful experience and it's only natural that he feels guilty about it. But as the Doctor tried to reassure him, he did the right thing by killing her out of compassion. I've mentioned in previous blogs that concern stories about religion that I'm an atheist so the story title didn't take to my fancy much at all. I'm a firm non-believer in any religion because there is just absolutely no evidence of any god. I think it's laughable and it sickens me how much death has been caused by religion. It's a disgrace. Religion is just a great big story and if people question that then they should try and prove to me that it's not. They can't. So I don't need to prove that a God doesn't exist. Anyway, enough about ranting on religion. I'm here to talk about a Doctor Who story. The plot was decent enough but I found it lacking an oomph factor. There wasn't really anything exciting going on which meant that we just had a solid story. There's nothing wrong with that and I know not every story is going to be great but if you threw in a major enemy or villain to this story then I think it had the capabilities to be superb. Laan Carder served as a good enough enemy but he was just lacking in aggression. I did enjoy the concept of the Miraculite to accompany Carder though that has to be said. I really thought this story was going to provide great things after the incredible cliffhanger at the end of The Twilight Kingdom but it wasn't even bloody mentioned! That's just absurd to me. The Doctor explicitly stated that he hoped, or rather expected, to find Rassilon in this universe at the end of that mini-season. So in kicking off the second mini-season in the Divergent Universe I thought that was going to be the focal point. Instead, it was the same old search for the TARDIS through the Interzones. It's getting rather tedious now I must admit. Something good better happen in the next story in this arc or I'm going to get very critical! I do hope things come good because individually the stories, excluding The Natural History of Fear, have been good so far and it's just the arc that I have major problems with. The Bordinan was a good character and she was one of the standouts alongside Jebdal in my opinion. I particularly loved the religion about serendipity and those scenes injected a much needed use of humour. The cliffhanger to part one was nothing short of outstanding but I thought the story didn't push on from there as it should have. Paul McGann gave another assured performance as the Eighth Doctor and I must mention how brilliant is that Big Finish continued the story of this fantastic incarnation of the Doctor through the audio format. It would've been a travesty if The Movie was his only contribution to Doctor Who prior to The Night of the Doctor. Overall though, a decent enough story but it was lacking some action. However, it was poor in terms of advancing the story arc. 

Rating: 7/10

Medicinal Purposes

"His death is his destiny."

Writer: Robert Ross

Format: Audio

Released: August 2004

Series: Main Range 60

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Evelyn

Synopsis 

Edinburgh, 1827.

The infamous body snatchers William Burke and William Hare are at large. The local prostitutes dull their fear with cheap whisky. The graveyard owls are hooting. Business is good. 

When accidental tourists the Doctor and Evelyn Smythe stumble upon one of Britain's most lurid, illuminating chapters in history, a simple case of interest in the work of dedicated man of science Doctor Robert Knox, quickly turns sour. 

Just what is that time-bending Scots mist? Whatever it is may put the very fabric of the universe under threat...

As always.

Verdict 

Medicinal Purposes was an excellent little audio adventure! It got me back into the Main Range of the Big Finish audio stories which was good as it does seem quite a while now since I listened to my last story from the range in The Roof of the World. If I'm ever to catch up then I need to try and keep ahead of things! It's going to take a lot of time (and money!) to catch up but I am confident I will get there at some point. I'm not sure it'll be anytime soon because I blog a decent variety of stories from all formats and different series and seasons within each one but I'll bloody get there! Anyway, back to this story and I thought it was very good. I enjoyed the setting of Edinburg in 1828 and it was an intriguing depiction of Doctor Who's take on the infamous bodysnatchings of William Burke and Billy Hare. I must admit this wasn't a historical topic I knew much, if anything, about at all. I've covered the time period in a little depth during A-levels but the focus was solely on Wales and England. I'm not sure if Doctor Robert Knox was an actual historical figure so I'll have to research, but I thought his story was superb. He really was an enigma and I liked how he was trying to toy with the Doctor. He'd get away with it for a little while but in the end the Doctor would of course come out on top. Colin Baker gives another brilliant performance as the Sixth Doctor and in the audios this incarnation of the Doctor is thriving. I mean, I loved him just as much during his television run but the public opinion seems to be that he was the worst Doctor and I think that's absolutely unfair. Alongside Evelyn, a companion I have fully grown to, his softer side is more than prevalent now and it's wonderful to hear. When Evelyn arrived in the TARDIS after The Marian Conspiracy I was a bit sceptical about having an older women as a companion. I must admit it has taken me some time but I really am enjoying her now alongside the Sixth Doctor. They really do suit each other very well and it makes for an interesting dynamic between the regular characters which is always a good thing to have. David Tennant appearing in the audio as Daft Jamie was marvellous but I must admit that I didn't he played the role until I checked the cast list after listening! He really did play it well. He was such a loveable character and I liked how because of him the Doctor reminisced about his former companion of the same name. That was a really nice moment. I also found the Doctor's comment about companions in general very interesting with him referring to the fact that it was inevitable that they all left him at some point. At least he had the TARDIS there as the one constant in his life. The Last Drop public house as the dominant setting was great and a pub atmosphere was created pretty well which was nice to hear. I liked Mary's character and her flirting with the Doctor but I was surprised by how much sexual innuendo and references there was. I have absolutely no problem with it but I can imagine there will be some who are critical. The plot was pretty well paced which is always good and although I thought the cliffhangers could have been better, the story advancement was done well. I liked how it all boiled down to money with Knox and the fact he had a TARDIS, and a Type-70 at that, made his character very interesting to me. I have no doubt that we'll see him again in the future because there are just too many unanswered questions. Was there more than just money on his agenda? He was amusing time travel and history and the Doctor would need to put a stop to that, but with him just leaving on the Doctor's order, he'll show up again. I have no doubts about that. I thought the mist could have been more prominent in the story as the concept was really good but it didn't feature enough as it should have. Knox using a virus that was remedied by alcohol in Scotland was quite ironic! Jamie loving his fame in early 1829 was really sweet and although the Doctor's plan worked, the daft ol' guy would become famous for a sad reason. He was left close to Burke and Hare to take his place in the history books. I was frankly amazed by the Doctor's acceptance of murder in the grand scheme of history as that is just something I never thought I would hear! I mean, it made sense but Evelyn was appalled and I can't say I blame her! The ending was done well and leaves things open for a Knox return which I liked. Overall, a really good audio but it was perhaps longer than it needed to be.

Rating: 8/10

Only Human

"Grief and sorrow boiled away, till they're just old mad words."

Writer: Gareth Roberts 

Format: Novel

Released: September 2005

Series: NSA 05

Featuring: Ninth Doctor, Rose, Captain Jack

Synopsis 

Somebody's interfering with time. The Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack arrive on modern-day Earth to find the culprit - and discover a Neanderthal Man, twenty-eight thousand years after his race became extinct. Only a trip back to the primeval dawn of humanity can solve the mystery. 

Who are the mysterious humans from the distant future now living in that distant past? What hideous monsters are trying to escape from behind the Grey Door? Is Rose going to end up married to a caveman?

Caught between three very different types of human being - past, present and future - the Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack must learn the truth behind the Osterberg experiment before the monstrous Hy-Bractors escape to change humanity's history forever...

Verdict 

Only Human was a fantastic novel which I thoroughly enjoyed reading! It was a welcomed relief to get back to doing an original novel because it has been some time since my last and it was also great to be doing something other than a comic strip after thirteen consecutive stories in that format. I probably haven't helped myself by buying Tales from the TARDIS but I'm never going to stop collecting that but I think I'll definitely be blogging a few more things yet before returning to the comic format. It was actually nice to be doing a single story that actually took a long time to complete and had an abundance of depth. That's one thing where the comics fall short and that's absolutely fine but I just needed something longer today and I thoroughly enjoyed doing a novel. I was rather reluctant to actually read this particular book because it now means that I've only got one novel left with the Ninth Doctor! I like to have options available so I think it'll actually be a long time before I get to this incarnation's final book. But before I do, let me talk about how brilliant this was! The characterisation of all three members of the TARDIS team was excelled but I must say the likeness of Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor was captured with absolute ease by Gareth Roberts. I was really impressed with that and I think it was the best characterisation this Doctor has had in his relatively short novel run. I know that books featuring the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors are being published later this year so I do hope that a Ninth Doctor quickly follows because stories with this incarnation are rather limited! I don't have many left across every format so I do hope we get some more. Titan Comics should see to that in due course. The premise of this story was really good and I loved the idea of a Neanderthal turning up in the early twenty-first century. It was a humorous start for Das in the nightclub and hospital with him unknowingly causing a fight and then bringing armed men to a hospital. Jack's distraction to get the Doctor and Rose to the mysterious Neanderthal was perfectly in line with his character which was both funny and good. The Doctor was superb in this story at acting as if he owned the place and demonstrated how well that works on more than one occasion. Rose was learning but it was clear that she had seen it many times before on her travels with the Doctor up to this point. She had quite an adventure in this novel it's got to be said! She actually ended up marrying a man from the primeval age and then had her head separated from her body. I think it's fair to say Rose had rather an eventful trip. Tillun was really taken with her and on first sight Rose really liked what she saw but she initially refused to marry him. Once lives were at stake though she was more than willing to be hit in the face by the Great Fish of Matrimony. Talk about traditions, eh? Captain Jack and Das staying in the twenty-first century was a good sidetrack from the aftermath of events that took the Neanderthal to Rose's time and I did enjoy the humour in the updates that came at the end of some of the latter chapters. Das was such a simpleton and that made him loveable. His grasping of the concepts of humour and lying was excellent! It must have been quite challenging for Jack to break that barrier but he finally did. He was more interested in the larger girls of today which seemed strange and his disliking of thin girls as being sexy didn't make much sense to me, but who am I to judge? Beauty exists in the eye of the beholder. That's something I firmly believe. Chantal was a really intriguing character and I thought she made a fantastic villain. The time where she came from, over 400,000 years into the future, has learned how to deal with feelings and even completely mapped out the body which meant they could detach and then reattach pretty much every limb. It was a strange thing but we saw it demonstrated with Chantal taking one of the Doctor's hearts out of his chest and then Rose having her head separated from her body! It was rather eventful it has to be said. Chantal's idea of recreating the human race from the primeval age in the form of the Hy-Bractors was really strange I must say. They didn't seem very human at all and they just wanted to devour every human in sight! There were some excellent story references in the novel with Rose, The End of the World, The Unquiet Dead and The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances all getting a nice mention. The plot was well paced and some of the guest characters were really good with Quilley, Jacob and Lene all standing out. The Doctor finally working out the way to overcome Chantal was excellent and it involved a momentary change in human evolution! Overall, a really good novel. Great characters, a fantastic plot and superb characterisation! 

Rating: 9/10

Witch Hunt Part 3

"This superstition thing is fun! I'm going to make some more come true..."

Writer: Jacqueline Rayner 

Format: Comic Strip

Released: 28th April 2016

Printed in: DWM 499

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Clara

Synopsis 

The Twelfth Doctor and Clara are stuck in a spot of bother in the seventeenth century as they are the subjects of a double execution! Renowned General Witchfinder Matthew Hopkins has ordered them returned to Satan, and it seems like nobody is able to stop him...

Verdict 

Witch Hunt concluded in tremendous style with this terrific third and final part. After twelve consecutive days of reading Prisoners of Time, you may think that I'm rather sick of the comic strip format and to be honest I rather am but I didn't let that have any bearing on the quality of the story. It was superb stuff from the wonderful Jacqueline Rayner. However, after nearly two straight weeks of blogging comics I can say with absolute confidence that tomorrow's blogging will not be of a comic strip! It might involve reading if time allows but no more speech bubbles! Not until I delve into Tales from the TARDIS or The Tides of Time in at least a week or so. Anyway, back to the comic strip story itself in a bit and although it's been well over a week since I purchased DWM on its release date, I'm still going to talk about the magazine as has become the norm for my monthly blogging of the comic strip content from its pages. I must say I absolutely adore the cover with it taking on the artwork from the Genesis of the Daleks Target novelisation which is of course getting a reprint in the coming days. The coverage that the reprints are getting is tremendous but I already own half of them and I think I can get the others on eBay for a fraction of the retail price, which is still reasonable, so I think I'll hold back on buying them anytime soon because of the sheer content of unread novels that I have. I will conquer them all eventually, I can assure you of that. I've actually read a lot of the magazine up to this point and I can say that it has been another tremendous issue! Relative Dimensions was brilliant as always but I think the highlight of the issue has been the celebration of Target artwork that particularly appeared on the earlier novelisations. I own a great number of them now and I must say they really are tremendous. Some of the latter stories with the Sixth and Seventh Doctors don't have such an appealing cover but even they deserve to be celebrated. It was nice to hear how unexpected an impact the artwork for these novels has had on the lives of the artists and you can forgive them for thinking that! But the covers really are spectacular and just make a Target's place in a collection that little more special. The feature talking about immortality in Doctor Who was absolutely superb I must say! It must have been incredibly researched and involved an incredible attention to detail because I never realised just how many stories the concept played a major role in. Countless people have craved but very few have actually achieved it, and even then that is debatable. I must admit that if I was offered immortality I would jump at the chance and take it but the thoughts provided on it here were very interesting. I'm yet to read the Clare Higgings interview but I'm sure that will be great and I'm looking forward to seeing her theory on how Ohila could be the Doctor's mother. The Fact of Fiction feature on The Night of the Doctor was short but sweet and I wasn't surprised to learn that The Day of the Doctor will be the feature's subject in the landmark 500th issue later this month. It's bound to be good. I'm not so struck on the Doctor Who weddings feature but I guess I'll give it a read and I think I'll even get reading Fact of Fiction for what will be the first proper time. I think I should start reading it to further broaden my knowledge. Now, back to the comic strip itself and I thought it concluded excellently. Miss Chief was just as barmy as she was in the first half and despite her actually saving the Doctor and Clara from execution I was glad that continued. One thing I've been let down by from the Twelfth Doctor comic strip run so far is the lack of story arc. It seems to have been an ever present for nearly every Doctor in the pages of the magazine but I was really glad that a return for Miss Chief was hinted at. I now expect her return at some point in the near future and when it comes I really will be pleased. The characterisation of both the Twelfth Doctor and Clara was superb and even though I'm not a fan of Danny it was nice to see Clara get the little memorial she wanted along with a nice reference to Dark Water/Death in Heaven. The climax was very good and I just adored the Doctor's move with Mini Mischief. Genius. Overall, an excellent conclusion to what has been another tremendous story from Jacqueline Rayner. She really is one of my favourites. 

Rating: 9/10 

Endgame

"Did you really think we would just let you steal away our friends and go on about our lives as if nothing had happened?"

Writers: Scott and David Tipton 

Format: Comic Strip

Released: November 2013

Series: Prisoners of Time 12

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Clara, Amy, Rory, Tenth Doctor, Donna, Martha, Mickey, Jack, Ninth Doctor, Rose, Eighth Doctor, Grace, Seventh Doctor, Ace, Mel, Sixth Doctor, Peri, Frobisher, Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan, Adric, Turlough, Kamelion, Fourth Doctor, Romana II, K9, Leela, Harry, Third Doctor, Sarah, Liz, Jo, Brigadier, Second Doctor, Jamie, Zoe, Victoria, Polly, Ben, First Doctor, Ian, Barbara, Susan, Vicki, Sara, Steven

Synopsis 

Our yearlong celebration of Doctor Who's 50th anniversary concludes! All eleven Doctors must team up if there's any hope of defeating his latest and most surprising adversary! Everything has been leading up to this epic conclusion! 

Verdict 

Endgame was a fantastic conclusion to what has been a simply stunning fiftieth anniversary story in Prisoners of Time! The year leading up to 23rd November 2013 really did provide us with some phenomenal stories and this comic strip epic joins that list with superb quality. Doctor Who Magazine's 50th anniversary comic story, Hunters of the Burning Stone, was completely different to this and I think both comic strip adventures really celebrate not only the fiftieth anniversary but the format itself. We had The Light at the End from the audio format with the Master and the first eight Doctors taking centre stage in a celebration of the Classic era. I'm still yet to listen to the Destiny of the Doctors audios but I will get there one day. Then we had The Night of the Doctor which saw the long awaited regeneration scene of the Eighth Doctor and the incredible The Day of the Doctor which celebrated all things Doctor Who and even introduced us to a brand new Doctor. The War Doctor of course didn't appear here but nothing was contradicted by his lack of appearance. I was kind of hoping that this story was named The Eleven Doctors but sadly that wasn't to be. It did though feature every Doctor that we knew about when the first story was released and even though I've read this over twelve consecutive days, it does seem a long time ago since Unnatural Selection and what has followed in this collection has been nothing short of magnificent. We've seen returns for the Zarbi, Ice Warriors, Judoon, Sontarans, Rutan Host, Autons and even the Dominators and Quarks. The Eleventh Doctor got his battle with the Master and in what was probably the biggest surprise of them all, Adam Mitchell was the main villain! It wasn't a major surprise that he was teaming up with the Master and it was just brilliantly typical that even he had his own agenda when his partner's plan was to get revenge on the Doctor. Surely that's what the Master would want? Well in a way he did but his method meant the end of everything. Not just each incarnation of the Doctor, but the entire universe. The Master was up to his old tricks again and with it the Anthonly Ainley incarnation, I loved it. Adam wasn't so keen though. He wanted his revenge on the Doctor but he didn't want to kill him. He wanted to torture him and cause suffering rather than commit genocide. The main villain of the previous eleven stories would soon become the hero of the concluding comic which was fantastically ironic. Before I get to that though I'd like to mention some of the incredible imagery that was on display in the comic. All eleven Doctors joining together as the TARDISes simultaneously materialised in a merger was magnificent. Not every Doctor got as much dialogue as I would have liked and it really did seem that one part wasn't enough for this epic finale! I still loved it though. I particularly liked Amy questioning who Clara was and I was also rather surprised by the Tenth Doctor not really acknowledging being temporarily reunited with Rose again. It was rather incredible to have a story with every Doctor and nearly every television companion and although not all of the companions that were captured actually featured here, we knew they were somewhere close from glimpses in past stories in this collection. The Eighth Doctor questioning Grace's not wanting to live this life was quite humorous but at the end of the day this final story was all about Adam and that's something I did not expect to be celebrated for the fiftieth anniversary. He's probably more forgettable than Katarina as a companion but he did actually join a very limited club that she's a part of by being one of the very few companions to die. He was heartlessly murdered by the Master but before his wounds became fatal, he ensured the universe would survive. The Ninth Doctor and Rose were at his side for his final breaths which was a nice touch and with a neat reference to Dalek it seemed that the Doctor may have been wrong about him after all and he kindly admitted that. The usual banter between the Doctors wasn't as prevalent as past multi-Doctor stories but it was still very good. Frobisher was extremely humorous with Adam and he even impersonated an Auton! The Master's usual escape was done well but his impact was left with Adam's death. His tombstone was a nice touch but it was actually a sad note to end on despite him being the villain for the eleven stories previous. It's been an incredible adventure but all the Doctors had united to stop their companions from being prisoners of time. Overall, a magnificent end to an epic adventure!

Rating: 10/10

The Choice

"They're my friends - all of them. They make the universe worth saving."

Writers: Scott & David Tipton 

Format: Comic Strip

Released: November 2013

Series: Prisoners of Time 11

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Clara 

Synopsis 

Our yearlong celebration of Doctor Who's 50th anniversary continues! Geronimo! The Eleventh Doctor joins the fray in this issue of a 12-part epic adventure featuring all 11 incarnations of the Doctor. Now that the Doctor has uncovered the true identity of his latest adversary, he must track him through time and space for a final confrontation!

Verdict 

The Choice was a simply stunning penultimate story of the Prisoners of Time epic adventure! It was everything that I could have asked for and more to leas into what is bound to be a sublime finale but I really couldn't find a flaw with this individual comic strip as it really was that good. Unlike the ten stories prior to it, this story actually kicks off with Adam's arrival to capture Clara from the Doctor and add her to his list of imprisoned companions. We actually learned that the companions we have seen taken between Unnatural Selection and Quiet on the Set weren't the only occasions friends of the Doctor had encountered Adam. They were just the moments the Doctor was present. It was quite incredible to see pretty much every companion associated with the television format suspended and isolated. They were helpless, but they might stand some chance now the Doctor had arrived. Leading into the fiftieth anniversary and with this story celebrating that incredible landmark, I think it's only right that what was the current incarnation of the Doctor took centre stage when we got into the nitty gritty details of the overlapping story. It has been quite the adventure and we are from over and this really saw us explore how the Doctor was going to go about saving nearly every companion he has ever travelled with. However, that was not all we got as we finally got a story where the Eleventh Doctor battled the Master! I was thrilled with that because it's something that I desired so much during the Eleventh Doctor's run in any format and although it's taken me until well over two years since Matt Smith departed his role, I'm delighted that we saw this incarnation meet the Master. With it, the beauty of the comic strips were more than realised as it was the Anthonly Ainley incarnation of the Master that met a post-revival era Doctor. That's truly wonderful and just the image of the two of them side by side really did please me. I'm not surprised at all that the writers went with a Classic incarnation of the Master because of the trouble they might have with contradicting The End of Time if they decided to go with John Simm's incarnation. Even they could use his incarnation, I think it's so good to have used the Ainley Master alongside Smith's Doctor because that image just merges the two eras as one and also immediately gives us a reason to celebrate the anniversary (not that we needed one of course!). The arrival of the Master was done in brilliant style and I did love the Doctor's reaction to seeing this incarnation of his arch nemesis. He didn't seem too pleased that was for sure. He'd had a lot of battles with this version of the Master and that prompted quite the speech about the Doctor's thoughts on his greatest enemy. He was absolutely damning about the Master's past and his desires and tried to explain things to Adam but he was far too embroiled in exacting his revenge for what the Doctor had done to him. He'd caused his life to be a living hell and now Adam was going to reverse the roles. The Doctor had excellently found his way to Adam thanks to the time agent that had unwillingly forfeited his vortex manipulator to the man out for revenge and Adam was ready for him. Once he'd revealed the Master as his accomplice, accompanied with a brilliant reference to Cat and Mouse, Adam was keen to show the Doctor what he had assembled. The Doctor had also thrown in a nice reference to The Mark of the Rani but now Adam was challenging him about his companions like nobody ever before. He questioned where the risk of almost dying fighting evil by his side was worth it. But my favourite part about this story was Adam challenging the Doctor on favouritism when it came to his companions. He had mentioned that the Ninth Doctor never much liked him but the Doctor disputed that and said there were no favourites when it came to his friend. Adam was quick to test that theory though as he offered the Doctor a simply impossible choice. Adam declared that every companion would die. Every companion except one. And that one was up to the Doctor. Out of all of his companions past and present, the Doctor could choose one to live. Could he dare give an answer? Surely not. I'm sure the answer would be different in every incarnation but the choice is no choice at all. What happens next will be mightily intriguing and I simply can't wait to see things conclude! I really do think it will be phenomenal. 

Rating: 10/10

Quiet on the Set

"This movie will allow us to turn human beings into a perfect race of slaves."

Writers: Scott and David Tipton

Format: Comic Strip

Released: October 2013

Series: Prisoners of Time 10

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Martha

Synopsis 

Our yearlong celebration of Doctor Who's 50th anniversary continues! Brilliant! The Tenth Doctor takes the spotlight in this issue of a 12-part epic adventure featuring all 11 incarnations of the Doctors. The Doctor brings Martha Jones to 1950s Los Angeles and the Griffith Observatory to give her a glimpse of Gallifrey, but soon encounters a film crew whose members are mysteriously disappearing! 

Verdict 

Quiet on the Set was a simply superb continuation of the quite epic Prisoners of Time adventure! Ten stories into this overlapping comic story and we're still far from done. The journey has been magnificent and there's still so much to cover but I was thrilled by what I read here. It has immediately rivalled Façades for the award of the best story in this collection and it's just the second of the ten comics to receive the perfect rating. In saying that, a lot of the other eight stories have been very close and as a whole this adventure would surely be getting that perfect score had I decided to judge it that way. Some may argue that this is just one story and I can see exactly where they're coming from but for me it's twelve independent stories all interconnected by an umbrella title. I blogged in the same way for Children of Earth and Only the Monstrous so I felt I should continue with that here. I must start by saying the characterisation of David Tennant's Tenth Doctor was simply sublime and I would say was the best capturing of a Doctor's likeness from the ten stories thus far. It really was excellent. And as I've mentioned before, having a good characterisation of the Doctor really makes a huge difference in story quality. It's impacted my ratings on countless novels and comic strips in the past and I think it definitely had some bearing on my score here. Bravo to the writers who have had a rather tough but exciting challenge to write for every Doctor. Despite each incarnation being the same man, every one is different from the last and stands out as being unique. But they got the Tenth Doctor spot on which was wonderful. Martha's characterisation was also very good and I do love this TARDIS pairing, particularly in their run in the novels of which I still have quite a few more to get through yet. Hopefully I can get through a number of those over the summer but first I have two university exams and an exhibition presentation to get through. The Doctor showing Martha Gallifrey was something I did not expect and with that I like to think that this story was set between Gridlock and Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks after Martha learned of the events of the Time War and the Doctor's home planet's destruction. It was quite emotional to see the Doctor not want to look at his home planet though, foreshadowing the events of The Day of the Doctor. The 1950s Los Angeles movie set setting was magnificent and the era really was captured marvellously. However, I did not suspect this setting to be the catalyst for a return of the Dominators! I was thrilled to see them return after such a long time away and the subtly in which their return was done was magnificent. Showing the Quark as just a prop for the movie was really clever and for fans who are yet to discover the gems of the Classic era, they may have just not even noticed it or understood its importance. But I'm quite the fan and I immediately noticed the little robot. And it was nice to see that the Doctor did as well but left things be for a little while. Once he had learned that movie stars were disappearing, he wouldn't hide his knowledge of their presence any longer. He soon stumbled upon the Dominators and was quick to remind them of who he was with a great reference to The Dominators. The idea of the Dominators using a movie to transmit an impulse to the human brain that would make them want to submit to them was wonderful. Their machine to improve the film was humorous but the thing I enjoyed most about this story was the Doctor defeating the Dominators with nothing other than words. That was truly wonderful. Martha almost became an actress and excellently referenced The Shakespeare Code but she would soon be taken elsewhere as Adam returned to swoop Martha from the Doctor. That soon took us to the moment the Tenth Doctor brilliantly contacted Frobisher and with just one more Doctor's story to be told, I can't wait to see what occurs in the closing stages of this epic adventure. We're almost there now, and this was a superb continuation. 

Rating: 10/10

Mystery Date

"You never even gave me a chance to make amends!"

Writers: Scott & David Tipton 

Format: Comic Strip

Released: September 2013

Series: Prisoners of Time 09

Featuring: Ninth Doctor, Rose

Synopsis 

Our yearlong celebration of Doctor Who's 50th anniversary continues! The Ninth Doctor takes the spotlight in this issue of a 12-part epic adventure featuring all 11 incarnations of the Doctor, with a fan-favourite companion Rose Tyler in tow! Plus: Who has been kidnapping the Doctor's companions? The Doctor's mysterious enemy revealed!

Verdict 

Mystery Date was a superb continuation of the Prisoners of Time adventure and I must say I was not expecting what we got! As we reached the three-quarters mark of this story, I really wasn't expecting the identity of the cloaked figure to be revealed at what is still a rather early stage. We've still got the adventures with the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors to come yet so the figure being revealed as Adam in this story was a major surprise. I had mentioned in my blog entries of some of the previous stories in this collection, most notably Cat and Mouse and The Body Politic, that Adam was one of my suspects for who the cloaked figure might be and even when Rose spoke his name I must admit I couldn't quite believe it. It is such an audacious move but it's one that I am certainly in favour of! I've always expected Adam would make a return of some kind in the future but I did expect it to be in a 50th anniversary story that features what was at the time of release every incarnation of the Doctor! The backstory to how Adam acquired his ability to time travel and learn of the Doctor's past incarnations was touched upon with some neat flashbacks but I'm not entirely sure the full picture has been illustrated. I'm keen to learn about the Master's involvement with Adam and after seeing what the latter has gone through and grown to become that really does seem like a formidable alliance. After all these years, finally one of the Doctor's companions is battling against him. And despite him knowing that every incarnation he has visited to kidnap the companions is the Doctor, he doesn't hate anybody quite as much as the Ninth Doctor for what he did after the events of The Long Game. Adam was left with a great big hole in his head after meddling with future technology that he didn't understand and the Doctor was so annoyed by his actions that he simply dumped him back at home and that was the end of his short stay in the TARDIS. He'd only arrived in Dalek, another story that was nicely referenced, but he used his knowledge from those events to get his revenge. Using the technology from Satellite 5, Adam had quickly become rich thanks to transferring money and he'd soon had Van Statten's vault excavated which I thought was brilliant. Using the head of the Cybermen to lure in a Time Agent and take his vortex manipulator was pretty violent and it just showed how desperate he was to make the Doctor's life as miserable as the Doctor had made his. However, before we got to the incredible revelation we were given an excellent story just as was the case in the previous eight comic strips that make up this epic adventure. It really has been a wild journey blogging this and there's still a long way to go yet! Rose wanting to see something more scenic was a welcomed relief from her constant Earth adventures and she seemed to get more than she bargained for thanks to Drake Ayelbourne. He was an intriguing character and I liked how the Doctor didn't trust him at all. He was right not to of course because he was just another madman not willing to accept death and went as far as bending time to prevent it. The moment the Doctor fixed that and time caught up with Drake was quite a disturbing one. It wasn't too dissimilar to Sara's demise in The Daleks' Master Plan. But after the Doctor had inflicted his usual impact on places he visited (a fantastic line by Adam), the cloaked figure was back. We knew he was coming for Rose and now we knew who he was. Rose was apologetic after hearing about the horrors of his life but the Doctor showed no remorse and it literally got him a kick in the face. I'm now mightily intrigued to see where we go from here with the Tenth and Eleventh Doctor stories but I do look forward to finding out! I'm sure it'll be amazing. Overall, another excellent comic strip with a huge shock!

Rating: 9/10

The Body Politic

"Our relationship with the Overseers has lasted for hundreds of years."

Writers: Scott & David Tipton 

Format: Comic Strip

Released: August 2013

Series: Prisoners of Time 08

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Grace

Synopsis 

Our yearlong celebration of Doctor Who's 50th anniversary continues! The Eighth Doctor takes the spotlight in this issue of a 12-part epic adventure featuring all 11 incarnations of the Doctor! After helping him defeat the Master, the Doctor attempts to convince Grace Holloway to join him on his travels, in this untold tale!

Verdict 

The Body Politic was yet another excellent story to continue along the epic Prisoners of Time adventure! I was intrigued before reading to see what they would do with the Eighth Doctor's instalment in this mass story but it was soon resolved on the first page which was very good. This whole overlapping story arc is about the companions the Doctor has travelled with and the positive influence they have had on his life. Without them, the Doctor isn't the same and that's exactly what the mysterious cloaked figure was out to achieve. We now know from Cat and Mouse that he's in league with the Master and we also know, or at least it was hinted, that he is a future companion of the Doctor. The Eighth Doctor didn't seem to recognise the figure so I can only assume that the identity of the man is either a companion from the post-revival era of Doctor Who or perhaps somebody from the Time War. With this entire story airing prior to The Day of the Doctor and it all starting some time before The Name of the Doctor, I don't think the War Doctor or the Time War will play any part in this story. I'd love it if the cloaked figure turned out to be Captain Jack or Rory and it would just be ludicrous for it to somehow be Adam or Mickey but I'm sure things will become clearer soon with only three more stories before all the Doctors join together in the finale. Before all that occurred with the cloak figure though, we actually had an excellent comic strip story. The artwork was a little too childlike for my liking and seemed more suited for a Doctor Who Adventures comic story but I can let that slide when we have an excellent story on hand, and that's exactly what we got which I was delighted with. Bringing Grace back alongside the Eighth Doctor is definitely the right thing to do for this comic adventure because she's the only real character we can associate as a companion of the Eighth Doctor, despite me refusing to accept that she was one, but in this story she certainly did become his companion, even if it was only on a temporary status. The Doctor wanting to show Grace the wonders of the universe was brilliant and I liked how he kind of showed off too much to try and get her become his companion on a permanent status. It would have been great if this was a catalyst for a series of comic adventures with the Eighth Doctor and Grace but I'm more than okay with her just having the one adventure. The references to The Movie were outstanding with the news bulletin confirming the atomic clock would soon be fully repair and returned to its intended function. Things hadn't quite gone to plan on that fatal New Year's Eve before the turn of the millennium. Grace's reaction to seeing the Doctor again was marvellous and I wasn't surprised to see her accept the one trip offer. She didn't like the travelling very much as it disagreed with her stomach and she quickly needed some solid ground. The unnamed planet looked rather country like which was nice and the Doctor and Grace being greeted by Oren was a good start. The Doctor quickly got an idea of what was going on the planet and learned of its history and he didn't like what was going on. The premise was rather similar to The Krotons with the whole ascension to something they didn't know hardly anything about. It turned out that the Overseers were harvesting organs for themselves from those that had the supposedly great honour to ascend because their own bodies were incredibly weak. Even a simple scratch could kill them as was demonstrated when Grace couldn't let them take Oren. She was also out to save Tessa and went some way to achieving that. Her comment about wanting the Doctor to trust her was magnificent. I enjoyed the ending with the Doctor threatening the Overseers that he would be watching to make sure they don't try another scheme like this again. Overall, another superb comic strip! 

Rating: 9/10

Cat and Mouse

"He'll take advantage of the technology and arcana from a thousand planets if it will help him achieve his nefarious goals."

Writers: Scott and David Tipton 

Format: Comic Strip

Released: July 2013

Series: Prisoners of Time 07

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Ace

Synopsis 

Our yearlong celebration of Doctor Who's 50th anniversary continues! The Seventh Doctor takes the spotlight in this issue of a 12-part epic adventure featuring all 11 incarnations of the Doctor! In a 19th-century Scottish castle, a live-in nurse's concerns about the elderly couple in her care are allayed by a visiting doctor and his curiously modern female companion. 

Verdict 

Cat and Mouse was another excellent comic strip adventure in the epic Prisoners of Time series! It really does feel like I'm getting into deep end of this story now after Façades with the appearance of the Tenth Doctor and Frobisher planting himself on the ship where a number of the Doctor's past companions are being held in what looks to be suspended animation. This story took things further as we learned, not all that surprisingly, that the Master was in cahoots with whoever the cloaked figure is that keeps turning up at the end of each adventure to take the respective companions. I must admit I did expect Bernice to be travelling alongside the Seventh Doctor and Ace in this story because we've had at least two companions taken in each individual comic strip and I really did think that trend would continue. However that was not to be and it was just Ace on her lonesome who was captured at the story's end. But that has become expected now and the most exciting thing that happened in this story, at least in my opinion, was getting a major hint about the identity of the cloaked figure. He's somebody who, in his seventh incarnation, the Doctor hasn't met yet and the Master even suggested that it could be one of the Doctor's future companions. That seems baffling as I'm not sure any companion has any reason to desire revenge on the Doctor on a scale that's being depicted in this story. Every companion, no matter how long or short they stayed, has been shown wondrous things so I do wonder who this could be. I sincerely doubt that it's Captain Jack and the appearance obviously rules out Mickey. Rory perhaps? Or even Adam? I certainly wouldn't rule out a companion we haven't seen before or even a companion of the Valeyard. Maybe I'm taking the whole companion line into too much consideration but whatever it turns out to be, it's got me thinking which is an excellent sign. The story itself here was brilliant and although the name doesn't really seem as relevant to its events as some of the others in this collection, I very much enjoyed. I was mightily intrigued by the Doctor's relationship with Miss Mackenzie and I really liked how there was a hint of romance between the pair on more than one occasion. That's something we never really got in the Classic era, not before The Movie at least. I think it's good that it occurred because we have known all the way back from An Unearthly Child that the Doctor is no stranger to romance and everything that comes with it because he has at least one grandchild we know of. Whoever the Doctor's partner and children might be has never really gotten a mention but on Gallifrey in his first incarnation the Doctor absolutely enjoyed a bit of romance. And why shouldn't he? I'm amazed it took until Rose for him to finally feel something for a companion but he got there in the end. The nineteenth century Scottish setting worked really well and I particularly enjoyed Miss Mackenzie's reactions to Ace and her rather heavy attire. Alan Campbell being disguised as the Master was excellent and I liked how he even admitted that he rather enjoyed playing these games with the Doctor. He does like a good alter ego. The Master is the king of disguise, although some may beg to differ, and although it was pretty obvious from the early stare down who was the villain in this story, the moment where his involvement was confirmed was superb. The Anthony Ainley incarnation of the Master is probably my favourite and to see him battle the Seventh Doctor after the events of Survival was magnificent. Comic strips are the place for truly epic anniversary stories to happen and by being able to have new stories with this incarnation of the Master surely proves that. The Aeroliths were an interesting species and I liked how they represented the great depths the Master went to in trying to lure the Doctor in to his next dastardly scheme. Ace obliterating the Gulwort was a great scene and I must admit I'm really coming around on this TARDIS pairing. I've been very critical of it in the past but I must admit I really am enjoying them lately in the stories I've been doing that feature them. And this was another wonderful one! Overall, an excellent plot, great setting and super overlapping story continuation! 

Rating: 9/10

Façades

"Security now tracking three suspects: one lunatic, one rogue penguin, one female in a parka."

Writers: Scott & David Tipton 

Format: Comic Strip

Released: June 2013

Series: Prisoners of Time 06

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Peri, Frobisher

Synopsis

Our yearlong celebration of Doctor Who's 50th anniversary continues! Mmm, I wonder... aha! It is the Sixth Doctor who takes the spotlight in this issue of a 12-part epic adventure featuring all 11 incarnations of the Doctor! As Peri and Frobisher attempt to free the Doctor from an asylum, not one, but two villains are revealed! 

Verdict 

Façades was an outstanding comic strip to continue the epic adventure that Prisoners of Time is turning out to be! It has immediately dethroned In Their Nature as the best comic strip of the interconnected story arc so far because it just had everything that I wanted! One of my favourite Doctors, one of my favourite companions, two of my all time favourite enemies and it was all done around an excellent and fast paced story. I seemed to absolutely race through it and even though these stories are relatively short on their own at just one part (but much longer than the normal DWM comic strip parts), this one just flew by which is exactly what you want from a story. If it seems to go by quickly then I know I've enjoyed it which is always an excellent sign. I must admit I found it very duties in that Frobisher made an appearance in this story but as well as making an appearance, it seems like the loveable shape shifting penguin is going to play an extremely pivotal role in the way the arc of this story is going to play out. I absolutely loved the references to The Shape Shifter and I imagine much of the American audience who would originally be the primary readers of this collection might not know much about him at all so the explanation as to who he was made things a lot clearer. The setting of Antartica over 5000 years into the future was an interesting one and I liked the depiction of it having became one large city that was thriving. It was full if activity and intrigue and Frobisher loving being amongst the other penguins, despite not actually being a penguin himself, was quite hilarious. Once they had entered the actual confounds of the city rather than the natural penguin habitat, things got very interesting. The robots were interesting in almost immediately going after the Doctor, Peri and Frobisher and we would soon brilliantly learn who was in control here. It was the Master! I was delighted that the evil Time Lord got his run in this epic adventure and whilst I suppose it was inevitable, I was delighted that homage was paid to Terror of the Autons in having the Autons team up with the Master once more! The moment we learned that the Autons were present was sublime. I must also say that I thought the artwork of Anthony Ainley's Master was incredible. It was absolutely superb and I really don't think it could have been any better it was that good. The cameo of the Tenth Doctor was something that I did not expect to see but it has immediately brought the overlapping story to the forefront as he was communicating back to Frobisher on something of vital importance that needed to be done. I knew immediately when Peri referred to the Doctor as 'Doc' that she was actually Frobisher but the reasoning was what pleases me more. The Doctor again recognised the cloaked figure from previous companion kidnappings but now he seemed to have plan, both in present and in the future. But now he had the advantage because through Frobisher he had somebody who could intervene in the figure's affairs. He had somebody on board the ship with the other companions of the first six Doctors. What happens next I'm really not sure but I am eager to find out! I'm now halfway through Prisoners of Time and it's been tremendous to see so many companions, the first six incarnations of the Doctor and numerous past enemies! And this was the best of the lot so far. The characterisation of both Colin Baker's Sixth Doctor and Nicola Bryant's Peri were both magnificent and that always makes a story in this format better. The plot was exciting, fast paced and full of action which I loved. The climax worked very well too. Overall, everything you can ask for in a comic strip!

Rating: 10/10