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wyrmbergmalcolm's review
3.0
Eight stories, so eight mini reviews:
Story Name: Exodus, Revelation! Genesis!
What is it about? The Doctor finds a group of aliens have somehow materialised on board the TARDIS. He follows the signal that caused this to find a nefarious scheme taking place.
Thoughts: What starts out as an interesting space RTA with a group of refugee aliens quickly turns into a more humdrum escapade inside a castle. There is a familiar enemy that pops up, but this didn’t have any staying power.
Score: Boring: Just plain dull
Story Name: Nature Of The Beast
What is it about? The Doctor takes his friends on a picnic on a tranquil planet where nothing can possible go wrong. They’re interrupted by a hunt chasing down a wolf-beast.
Thoughts: This one had an interesting story, even if I saw the twist pretty quickly. Two pages (48 and 49) are printed the wrong way round which took me a little while to work out what was going on.
Score: Worth reading
Story Name: Time Bomb
What is it about? An alien race send their garbage into the past, contaminating prehistoric Earth.
Thoughts: This one was pretty clever with some nice ideas and consequences. The star performance of this collection.
Score: Buy the book for this story
Story Name Salad Daze
What is it about? After Peri puts the Doctor on a salad diet, he reciprocates by sending her on a mind trip to an Alice in Wonderland story where all the characters are vegetables.
Thoughts: Some weird ideas that ultimately aren’t worth the punchline.
Score: Worth reading, I suppose.
Story Name: Changes
What is it about? A shape-changing alien gets on board the TARDIS
Thoughts: I do like stories that feature the extended interior of the TARDIS and this one did not disappoint. That the Doctor has his own shape-changing companion made this a fun read.
Score: Worth reading
Story Name: Profits Of Doom
What is it about? Another story featuring a sleeper ship, but this one gets its sleeping crew stolen.
Thoughts: Another quite compelling adventure that unfortunately sees the companions seriously under-utilised. The Doctor does pick up another one for the story, but there’s no reason for Peri or Frobisher to be there. Apart from that, a fun tale.
Score: Worth reading
Story Name: The Gift
What is it about? A robot sent as a practical joke backfires when it starts using the city around to to replicate itself.
Thoughts: Some aspects of the setting to this story really bugged me, but it’s a pretty fun replicating robots story nonetheless.
Score: Worth reading
Story Name: The World Shapers
What is it about? The Doctor lands on a familiar world where there’s something terribly wrong with time.
Thoughts: This is a follow-up to the 1st Doctor episode The Keys Of Marinus, which I have not seen, nor know anything about. The story, though plays out with some surprising origins and endings of one well-known Doctor Who enemy.
Score: Worth reading
Final Thoughts
A lot of these stories are showing their age in their style and forced “sci-fyness”. As a collected set, this is also let down by being solely in black and white. I understand that cost meant it being printed as such in the magazine, but the addition of colour would have really lifted the stories from the page. For my first Doctor Who graphic novel, this was fairly enjoyable as a whole. Score: Worth reading What’s next? Heroes: Volume Two
Story Name: Exodus, Revelation! Genesis!
What is it about? The Doctor finds a group of aliens have somehow materialised on board the TARDIS. He follows the signal that caused this to find a nefarious scheme taking place.
Thoughts: What starts out as an interesting space RTA with a group of refugee aliens quickly turns into a more humdrum escapade inside a castle. There is a familiar enemy that pops up, but this didn’t have any staying power.
Score: Boring: Just plain dull
Story Name: Nature Of The Beast
What is it about? The Doctor takes his friends on a picnic on a tranquil planet where nothing can possible go wrong. They’re interrupted by a hunt chasing down a wolf-beast.
Thoughts: This one had an interesting story, even if I saw the twist pretty quickly. Two pages (48 and 49) are printed the wrong way round which took me a little while to work out what was going on.
Score: Worth reading
Story Name: Time Bomb
What is it about? An alien race send their garbage into the past, contaminating prehistoric Earth.
Thoughts: This one was pretty clever with some nice ideas and consequences. The star performance of this collection.
Score: Buy the book for this story
Story Name Salad Daze
What is it about? After Peri puts the Doctor on a salad diet, he reciprocates by sending her on a mind trip to an Alice in Wonderland story where all the characters are vegetables.
Thoughts: Some weird ideas that ultimately aren’t worth the punchline.
Score: Worth reading, I suppose.
Story Name: Changes
What is it about? A shape-changing alien gets on board the TARDIS
Thoughts: I do like stories that feature the extended interior of the TARDIS and this one did not disappoint. That the Doctor has his own shape-changing companion made this a fun read.
Score: Worth reading
Story Name: Profits Of Doom
What is it about? Another story featuring a sleeper ship, but this one gets its sleeping crew stolen.
Thoughts: Another quite compelling adventure that unfortunately sees the companions seriously under-utilised. The Doctor does pick up another one for the story, but there’s no reason for Peri or Frobisher to be there. Apart from that, a fun tale.
Score: Worth reading
Story Name: The Gift
What is it about? A robot sent as a practical joke backfires when it starts using the city around to to replicate itself.
Thoughts: Some aspects of the setting to this story really bugged me, but it’s a pretty fun replicating robots story nonetheless.
Score: Worth reading
Story Name: The World Shapers
What is it about? The Doctor lands on a familiar world where there’s something terribly wrong with time.
Thoughts: This is a follow-up to the 1st Doctor episode The Keys Of Marinus, which I have not seen, nor know anything about. The story, though plays out with some surprising origins and endings of one well-known Doctor Who enemy.
Score: Worth reading
Final Thoughts
A lot of these stories are showing their age in their style and forced “sci-fyness”. As a collected set, this is also let down by being solely in black and white. I understand that cost meant it being printed as such in the magazine, but the addition of colour would have really lifted the stories from the page. For my first Doctor Who graphic novel, this was fairly enjoyable as a whole. Score: Worth reading What’s next? Heroes: Volume Two
jjhynes's review
5.0
Grant Morrison writing Who was everything I wanted and more. Insane and creative and, of course, Frobisher.
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