Pointless Witterings

Starring Tom Baker, Mary Tamm & John Leeson. Written by Bob Baker & Dave Martin. Directed by Michael Hayes. The Key to Time is almost complete. With only one piece still to find, the Doctor, Romana and K-9 arrive on Atrios, a planet in the middle of a terrible war with its twin world Zeos. To restore the balance of the universe for the White Guardian the Doctor must find the sixth segment before the planets destroy each other - but Zeos is deserted, so who is behind the war...? After twenty weeks of storytelling, twenty weeks of the audience following the Doctor, Romana and K9 in their search for the Key to Time, it all comes down to this. One final, six-part story to conclude the arc and tell its own satisfactory story. And, to be honest, The Armageddon Factor does neither of these things to any degree of satisfaction. In its attempt to tell a self contained story, it remains unfocused, cluttered with too many elements that do not enhance the story, but rather contradic...

Starring Patrick Troughton, Frazer Hines & Deborah Watling. Written by David Whitaker. Directed by Barry Letts. The TARDIS lands on an Australian beach in the 21st century. But this is no seaside holiday - within minutes, the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria are under attack. They soon discover that the Doctor bears a startling resemblance to Leader Salamander, a would-be dictator intent on world domination. Before long, the Doctor and his companions are plunged into a dangerous game of espionage, intrigue and deceit as they face off against the enemy of the world... Out of all the stories in Doctor Who's fifth season, The Enemy Of The World is a curious beast. Every other story that season is the tried-and-tested base-under-siege formula: the Doctor and companions must stop a monster or race of monsters from attacking an instillation of some kind, be that a monastery, a gas rig or a space wheel. Tomb Of The Cybermen plays out more like a trip into the monster house, but sti...

Written by John Freeman & Paul Cornell. Art by Gerry Dolan. When the TARDIS takes a wrong turn, the Doctor finds himself on a very strange world. The inhabitants appear to be building a massive staircase, leading into the sky - made from bones. What exactly is going on here? And what will the Doctor find when he reaches the top? Coming hot off the heels of the mammoth Nemesis Of The Daleks, Stairway To Heaven is a slight breather from huge, epic space opera. It is, however, a notable strip for one reason: this is the first cannon Doctor Who story written by Paul Cornell, who would later go onto becoming a mainstay of the Virgin New Adventures and would write for the TV show when it returned in 2005. Sadly, however, Stairway To Heaven shows little of Cornell's future excellence, as, for the most part, it's utterly forgettable, featuring little incident, plot or character to speak of. It ends up just feeling like filler material, and not very interesting filler at that. ...

Starring Peter Davison, Matthew Waterhouse, Sarah Sutton & Janet Fielding. Written by Christopher H. Bidmead. Directed by Fiona Cumming. The Doctor defeats the Master's plans to hold the universe to ransom, but at a high cost to himself - plummeting from the Pharos Project radio telescope, the Doctor regenerates. The time travellers escape the Master's clutches, but the Doctor's regeneration is failing, and Adric goes missing in the depths of the TARDIS. Only Nyssa and Tegan can save the day, steering the timeship towards the city of Castrovalva, renowned for its healing powers. But evil lurks at the heart of this rural paradise...  Up until 1982, regeneration was a little piece of technobabble that allowed Doctor Who to change its lead actor without compromising the narrative of the show. Sure, there would be an address of the change in the first couple of episodes of the new Doctor's first story. After that, however, it would be down to business, and the au...

Written by Simon Furman. Artwork by John Ridgeway. When the Doctor and Frobisher arrive on the paradise planet A-Lux, they expect a relaxing break. What they get instead is a frozen planet, rebellious natives and some of the Doctor's oldest foes. What do the Ice Warriors want with A-Lux? And will the Doctor and Frobisher be able to stop their grand plans? A Cold Day In Hell comes during a very transitional period for the Doctor Who Magazine comic. After the very successful strips for Colin Baker's Sixth Doctor, the comic (like the show) was transitioning into Sylvester McCoy's Seventh Doctor, during a period when both show and magazine were close to cancellation. It was also during this period that regular artist John Ridgeway (who had been responsible for the strip since the dying days of Peter Davison's reign) was preparing to leave, as was the Doctor's penguin-shaped companion Frobisher. And A Cold Day In Hell is a strip that is transitional in a number of w...

Starring Tom Baker & Louise Jameson. Written by Chris Boucher. Directed by Pennant Roberts. When the TARDIS arrives on a jungle planet, the Doctor encounters two warring tribes, the Sevateem and the Tesh. The Sevateem worship a god called Xoanon and the Tesh are supposedly keeping Xoanon prisoner... But why do the Sevateem call the Doctor the Evil One? And what are the invisible creatures in the jungle? The Time Lord, with the help of a girl called Leela, is about to find out. Although little mention has been made of it after the fact, Doctor Who faced a real problem as it entered 1977. With Elisabeth Sladen having left the programme two stories into the show's fourteenth season, producer Philip Hinchcliffe and script editor Robert Holmes were faced with a difficult task: to come up with and introduce her replacement. Even at the time, Sarah Jane was viewed as unassailable by fans, the production team and even Tom Baker himself, and Hinchcliffe and Holmes even seriously ...