Doctor Who Weekly #2

24 Oct 1979. Cover price 12p.
28 pages. Colour & B&W.
Marvel Comics Ltd.

Edited by Dez Skinn.

Photo cover (uncredited).

Free transfers.

Contents:

 2 SEACON '79 Photographs from the 1979 World Science Fiction convention; photographs by Joyce A. Agee.

 3 Doctor Who and the Iron Legion, part two, w: Pat Mills & John Wagner; a: Dave Gibbons.

 7 A Letter from the Doctor text feature by Dez Skinn (uncredited).

 8 The Cybermen text feature by Gordon Blows; photographs (uncredited).

11 Monster Mix wordsearch; illustration by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

12 Tales from the TARDIS War of the Worlds, part two, w: Chris Claremont, based on the novel by H.G. Wells; p: Yong Montano; i: Dino Castrillo, lettering by Pat Condoy.

r: Marvel Classic Comics (Marvel) #14 (1976).

17 An Unearthly Child text feature compiled by Jeremy Bentham.

21 Crazy Caption 2 competition; photograph (uncredited).

22 Doctor Who Photo-File Patrick Troughton fact-file (uncredited); photograph (uncredited).

23 The Return of the Daleks, part two, w: Steve Moore; p: Paul Neary, i: David Lloyd.

27 Doctor Who and the Turgids advertisement for Doctor Who Radio from Shortman Trading Company Ltd. w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: UNKNOWN (uncredited).

28 Have Fun With the Amazing Mr. Bellamy advertisement for liquorice novelties.

K-9, looking remarkably spiffy, shares a cover with Tom Baker, and there is no hint of any animosity which Baker felt for the useless tin can. Although designed with television in mind it is a photogenic prop, although red blinds over its eyes still makes little to no sense.

The Doctor has fallen foul of the Iron Legion - strange war robots, led by the sinister General Ironicus. He makes a dash for the TARDIS as one of the Legions tanks opens fire!

At the very second the shell explodes, the Doctor has thrown the TARDIS out of dimension!

Caught in a dimensional disturbance, the TARDIS isn't happy at being thrown around. He eventually manages to arrive at the Rome Hyp-Arena, where Maximus Bilious is commentating on events for viewers watching elsewhere. Seized by the Emperor's guards, the Doctor comes to the realisation that he is witnessing events from an alternate Earth where Rome never fell, instead developing a sophisticated technology with which to conquer the entire galaxy.

Alternate realities may be fine for the Marvel superheroes, but... The answer as to the origin of the robots is a bit of a cop-out. It fits perfectly with what we have seen, yet feels as if it hasn't been given enough consideration given the multitude of strange events already seen in the series - it doesn't stretch the parameters of the character to fit the medium, as much as it pastes conventions of comics to the format of the series. The end of this installment is, however, a perfect note to conclude on, though ending every single strip on a physical threat, rather than a puzzle or revelation, might get old if overused.

Not wanting to trust the pigeon post from Ganymede again, I'm sending this letter via Beam-a-Zeat. I did notice they were also sending a batch of smoked klim-bait (a local delicacy) in the same container, so sincerest apologies if this letter pongs a bit.

The Doctor was hanging out with Ace Rimmer back in 1979? This is news which could only be improved if we were to get the revelation he also borrowed Arthur Dent's towel to flick at a Dalek.

The Cybermen does a fairly good job of untangling the (at times confusing) continuity of the characters, though stops short of providing a background to their creation for the show. There have subsequently been a number of publications which have provided more comprehensive information, giving the episode's air-dates and cast, though I'm sure readers were glad to have their memories jogged by such a tight recap of essential details.

Although obviously aimed at younger readers, Monster Mix is a wordsearch which has me thinking - have writers, needing appropriately alien names, used the jumble of letters to form the basis of alien names, species, or worlds? I actually started looking for various names (Saxon isn't present, sadly), but I couldn't remember enough without a reference book handy.

London, November 1963. Under a blanket of thick, swirling fog a policeman pounds his solitary beat amid the high brick walls of the inner metropolis.
   Casting a pale yellow beam, the light of his torch falls upon the large wooden gates of a junkyard, bearing the words: "I.M. FOREMAN, 76 TOTTERS LANE".
   As the policeman walks into the darkness, he fails to notice one of the gates swing open.
   Had he noticed it, he would have been most puzzled by what was inside.
   For, among the debris of the scrapyard was the then-familiar blue shape of a London Police Public Call Box.
   Yet this police box was not what it seemed. For, unlike every other one in the city, this police box hid an awesome secret.
   Just audible to human hearing, it was emitting a humming sound along with a faint vibration coming from within...

The first four episodes of the series are covered by Jeremy Bentham, though there's nothing to indicate a separate pilot was shot prior to broadcast. While the brief recaps are very well written, the lack of detail about the shooting, or other circumstances surrounding the broadcast, leaves this feeling somehow incomplete as an account of the early days of the series. While we are informed that the shooting budget was a mere £2000 per episode, we get no indication of how this was allocated, nor if it was achieved without rewrites. A note on the series reception hints at the praise, though there's no reproduction of the reviews, which would have been a fantastic glimpse into the audience's immediate reactions.

Patrick Troughton remains an enigma, despite the Photo-File's admirable attempt to cover his career, admitting in a disclaimer that the man was so shy he never participated in the usual publicity rigmarole which has become part and parcel of the role. He rarely seems to be properly credited for increasing the scope of the series in a substantial manner, and numerous questions linger regarding his acceptance into the series.

Return of the Daleks opens with Hok Nepo, star of the hologram-movie escaping from the Daleks, who are under the impression that he is their enemy Nor-Din. As the Daleks begin attacking the studio, Glax and Hok manage to escape to a police station, where they inform the officers of events. The police are soon overwhelmed, and decide the situation is best left to the military. Glax, seeing his studio destroyed, decides to head to the Desert of Vash to learn how the Daleks were originally defeated, taking Hok along with him. Kuay, the Daleks' faithful servant, follows them...

You don't need any knowledge of Doctor Who, or the spin-off material, to enjoy the story, which is a great benefit to the story's entertainment value as it increases in scale - still a self-contained piece of storytelling, with no overt call-backs to the Dalek strips of old, there's real tension created by using characters and a setting which haven't been seen before. While we know London isn't going to get destroyed, this hitherto-unseen planet doesn't have the same protection hanging over it.

#01

Doctor Who Weekly

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