The main range of Doctor Who audios gears up for a marathon run of Seventh Doctor stories, starting with a return to the Doctor-Ace-Mel combo that has so far been… well, pretty poor. Is this an improvement?! Well, it’s certainly an improvement over “The Silurian Candidate”, but talk about damning with faint praise! Seriously though, Red Planets is a good story with some fun ideas, but never really kicks into second gear. Let’s take a closer look at any rate…
Eye of the Scorpion introduces us to Erimem, the should-be Pharaoh who ends up travelling with The Doctor and Peri (yes, the Fifth Doctor and Peri, which is a rare combo nowadays!) It’s also very nearly a pure historical, though the run of Doctor/Peri/Erimem has several actual pure historicals, so if anything it having a sci-fi element in its plot is more note worthy… Anyway, let’s have a look at Eye of the Scorpion then, shall we?
Thomas Brewster is an odd companion, in that his two stints in the TARDIS are less Doctor-Companion and more “person forcing himself on The Doctor for a while”. It’s an interesting concept, but Brewster can be on the obnoxious side… As for his debut story? It’s good, full of atmosphere and some fun characters, though the music lets in down, especially when it’s played by itself for 20 seconds… Anyway, let’s take a look!
The Audio/Comic companion debut marathon arrives at the only new companion for the Fourth Doctor (currently, a new one is set to debut for Big Finish next year!) in the form of Sharon, who also has the distinction of being the first black companion full stop. Plus as a bonus, we have Timeslip, which… well, is a short story that doesn’t do much, but I try to double up the comic strips to avoid over-cluttering the Doctor pages! Let’s have a look at these slices of 70s comic Who!
Kicking off the “Audio and comic companion debut marathon” is the only black and white era new companion to be introduced (unless you include the very old comics from TV Action, but I don’t have access to that stuff, so… sorry!), that being Oliver Harper. Creating a new companion for the First Doctor was met with wide raising of eyebrows, but it’s pulled off well in this trilogy (the other two parts of which I’ll get to down the line…) So let’s have a look at The Perpetual Bond, not only the first in this marathon, but the first Companion Chronicle I’ve reviewed!
We end our run through the DWM graphic novel “Land of the Blind” with the titular story, as well as a single chapter bonus story (with Victoria and Daleks!), both from the 2nd Doctor era. Normally have two stories from two different TARDIS teams in one article would annoy me, but there will be so few Second Doctor DWM stories to list, it’s not going to hurt… Much. Anyway, how are the stories I hear you say? Well…
Change of Mind is two things, firstly it’s a Third Doctor comic, which is great as I love the era and this story has some nice artwork to go along with a good story, and secondly it takes place in between seasons 7 and 8 and featuring a post-UNIT Liz Shaw, which is a unique setting. Let’s see if… well, I’ve already said it’s a good story with nice artwork, but let’s take a closer look anyway!
Now here’s a rare thing: a First Doctor comic! Yes, I can’t imagine many more of these going up on the blog to be honest, he’s cameo’d and guest appeared in plenty, but very rarely had his own (apart from the TV Action! Comics from the 60s, but I don’t see them getting a physical release…) Anyway, Food For Thought is also an extremely early Nicholas Briggs script, though so early it doesn’t really have any of his hallmarks (good or bad) and instead is just a harmless little story. Let’s take a closer look.
Sinister cows on the moon! That’s about all you need to know about “The Lunar Strangers”, the next story from Doctor Who Magazine included in the “Land of the Blind” graphic novel. I mean that literally as well, once that core concept has been established, there isn’t really anything else to say about the story… Let’s have a look anyway!
Time to start a look through the latest Doctor Who Magazine collected stories release, Land of the Blind, starting with this Fourth Doctor story! Yes, unlike previous DWM releases, this was during the “dark days” when Doctor Who had been off the air for so long that they switched to a rotating Doctors format instead of continuing with the Seventh Doctor exclusively. ANYWAY, Victims is a … well, it’s alright. The art is a bit weird… Let’s take a look so I can stop rambling!
Hogan Reviews 