If it feels like forever until the next episode of Doctor Who airs, I’ve got just the prescription.
DOCTOR WHO: TIME MACHINATIONS
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Tony Lee
Artist: Paul Grist
Colorist: Phil Elliot
Letterer: Malaka Studio
Cover: Paul Grist
Summary: London, 1889 and a time-stranded Doctor needs the help of an old friend to fix the TARDIS… but is beset by pursuers sent by Queen Victoria herself! How is this connected to a previous tale of the Sixth Doctor—and a Fourth Doctor adventure that hasn’t happened yet? And what will happen if the Doctor is captured by the Torchwood Institute? Tony Lee and Paul Grist tell this special standalone tale!
Review: I’m a simple girl – I like sci-fi, I read comic books. So what’s a girl to do when one of her favorite sci-fi shows goes on hiatus? Pick up the comic book equivalent of course! IDW has you covered with their “Doctor Who Classics” series, featuring reprints of comic strips about the Fourth Doctor, and “Doctor Who,” featuring new original stories with the current 10th Doctor. What’s great about the “Doctor Who: Time Machinations” one-shot is fans get a little of both and then some!
Tony Lee, having just come off the highly enjoyable “Doctor Who: The Forgotten” miniseries, still has the Doctors voice fresh in his mind and continues to capture his quirks with ease. The story finds the Doctor with a busted TARDIS in 1889. He’s asked for help from an old friend of his – Herbert George Wells. You may know him better as H.G. Wells, the famous science fiction author. Although this tale takes place years before he’s written his famous works, as he continually points out. Wells recruits Jonathan Smith, a local physicist, to aid the Doctor but he never gets the chance when they realize the Institute is out hunting him.
The Institute, which will be known as Torchwood years later, was created by Queen Victoria to stop the Doctor and other unexplainable events after she witnessed a werewolf firsthand. Through dubious means the Institute finally tracks him back to the TARDIS but of course, things and people are not all what they appear to be. As events unfold the Doctor is able to set right/put into motion events that already occurred. Oh, you know how confusing time paradoxes can be. British artist Paul Grist does a good job capturing actor David Tennant (the Doctor) and Wells’ likenesses but loses a lot of details on wider shots. All I kept thinking was, beady little eyes. It’s always enjoyable to see artists’ interpretations of the TARDIS interior though.
“Time Machinations” is an accessible title for fans of sci-fi or time travel stories. Even though there are several references to past adventures with the Doctor, you don’t need to be well versed in the series to enjoy the comic. (Though, might I add as a personal note – watch the show, it’s fantastic!) Hardcore fans will appreciate mentions of the Slitheen, the Library Planet Biblios, Jack Harkness and of course the past Doctors and their companions. Time until the next new Doctor Who episode? Oh god, way too long! Time until you can read an issue of Doctor Who? Hop in your TARDIS and pick it up now!
“Doctor Who: Time Machinations” is in stores now.
May 27th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
This creative team is unreal, heck all of these new Who comics are spectacular. And with talk of a movie and cartoon, it’s a groovy time to be a fan. (I am that guy who always preferred the good Doctor to either ‘Trek or ‘Wars.)
May 29th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
I liked the comic (not so much the art, though), but I’d rather watch the show! I heart Tennant.