November 10th, 2007
The 10 Doctors: Page 58
Romana attempts to organize the companions into some kind of resistance force.
Meanwhile the Rani learns more than she cared to about the Cybermen and makes a deal with them.
Romana attempts to organize the companions into some kind of resistance force.
Meanwhile the Rani learns more than she cared to about the Cybermen and makes a deal with them.
November 10th, 2007 at 11:12 am
Wow, I love the way to draw the Rani’s hair. It makes her look…twice as evil!
This is the most amazing plot in the universe. I mean, come on, striking deals with Cybermen? Daleks running all over the place? Car TARDIS?
I’m in love.
November 10th, 2007 at 11:13 am
* you draw, even.
My apologies. In my defense, I am sicker than a dog and it’s frightfully early.
November 10th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Striking deals with Cybermen? Yikes…
November 10th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
Car TARDIS WINS!!
November 10th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Striking up deals with Cybermen is never a good idea. They do have this nasty tendency toward breaking deals with “primitive biologicals”.
November 10th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
Rani Is Stupid
Cybermen Never Keep A Deal
And Everything That Could Possibly Go Wrong Will Go Wrong
November 10th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
I just found this comic several days ago. I absolutely love it!!! You did a wonderful job in capturing all of the doctors’ crazy and wonderful characteristics. This comic is making me realize my obivious need to catch up on past Doctor Who history.
November 10th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
The CARDIS is awesome.
November 10th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
This is lovely! Thanks for so many updates so close together! Go take-charge!Romana and LOL at Peri’s cleavage. Spot-on characerature there.
November 10th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
love the name pimpmytardis
November 10th, 2007 at 8:42 pm
You know, for a renegade Time Lady, the Rani is kind of a babe!
November 10th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
You make it sound like these events are mutually exclusive.
November 10th, 2007 at 9:46 pm
“…tell me who you are and what skills you have.”
My apologies, people, but that question inadvertently triggered a rant response that’s been building for almost a year. Feel free to skip the rest of the post if you actually like the character of Rose Walker.
What skills do the Companions have? Well, at least in the case of Ms. Rose Walker — abso-bloody-lutely *none*! Rose has to be the most appallingly ignorant, smugly uneducated and witless no-hoper the Doctor has ever added to his entourage. (I’m a British ex-pat and I’m desperately hoping that Rose is not an accurate depiction of young urban English women in the new millenium.)
And then the Doctor *falls* for her? Talk about unconvincing! He’s an eternally curious traveller of time and space and she’s an uncouth, dumb-as-dirt shop-girl who can’t understand why anybody would want to know anything about history (or math or science or the English language…).
*sigh* The sex would have had to have been extraordinary, because the Doctor certainly couldn’t ever have had an intelligent conversation with her!
Rich, please pardon me for hijacking your page for my venting…but I hate that mindless little shrew Rose with all the fire of a thousand exploding Eyes of Harmony.
I now return us to the regularly-scheduled theme of the Comments section:
Rich, your emerging story is ever-more complex and fascinating, drawing in elements (always legitimate!) from all over the Who-niverse and meshing them convincingly and “realistically”. And as for your characterisations (in both art and dialogue): Still spot-on! I’m riveted…. Once again, thank-you so much for sharing this work.
November 10th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
Louise to my understanding, i thought it was Rose Tyler, not “Walker”
anyway…i’ve been reading this for a while…first time i’ve commented…i think o_O but i really love this comic ^_^ i can finally fit in with other Doctor Who fans (aka Whovians)
November 10th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
Impressive characterisation of the Rani, that. I like her as an arrogant and unscrupulous seeker of scientific know-how rather than the second-rate version of the Master she could come across as in the hands of a less competent writer.
Oh, and I’m sure she’s more than capable of handling possible Cyberman treachery. In fact, if anything, they should be watching out for *her*.
November 10th, 2007 at 11:23 pm
Hehehe, Louise, I hear ya’.
Neil, I agree. She was meant to NOT be the Master. But I think the Master was unavailable for “Dimensions in Time” so they had to shove in the other evil Time Lord. *rolls eyes*
Thank you all for the wonderful supporting comments! More to come, I promise!
November 11th, 2007 at 3:34 am
Just remember, The Rani isn’t one for convoluted plans like The Master is. She likes things straightforward and simple.
November 11th, 2007 at 3:48 am
“…beneath the planet’s core…”
Um, what? Do you mean “beneath the planet’s crust?” Because, seriously, even in Doctor Who you can’t possibly be *beneath* the *center* of the planet.
…and if Cybermen have materials that can *survive* at the core, I’m both impressed and terrified.
(Mind you, this is the first serious nitpicky moment I’ve had in an absolutely terrific strip. Carry on!)
November 11th, 2007 at 6:50 am
The Rani and the Cyber-Leader come to blows. I’m just wondering who will double-cross who first.
November 11th, 2007 at 8:58 am
I’m with you, Louise. Perhaps not as vehemently - Rose does have her moments - but on the whole I found her whiny and vapid. I know Rich started this comic a couple of weeks before Season 3 began, which is a pity in a way - it would have been interesting to see Rose’s reaction to Martha. *evil grin*
Speaking of whiny, I can just hear Peri’s annoying whine in that first panel - Rich, you captured the tone beautifully once more.
November 11th, 2007 at 9:01 am
EML - Um, what? Do you mean “beneath the planet’s crust?” Because, seriously, even in Doctor Who you can’t possibly be *beneath* the *center* of the planet.
Rich - ARGH! You’re right. My goof. That’s what I meant.
But then, we’re talking about a show that has the Daleks taking over the Earth because it is the “only planet with a magnetic core” and they plan to blow it up and turn it into a big motor so they can pilot the ENTIRE planet around.
Mestor plans to blow up a planet by moving it into another planet’s orbit and thus simply scatter its eggs around the universe.
The Doctor spells Megavolts with two g’s.
And everyone seems to identify their home planet by what CONSTELLATION it’s in.
I think that even with that horrible scientific mistake I’m still nice and consistant with the series.
November 11th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
*whimper*
Um.
I like Rose.
I like Rose a lot. And I almost never like female lead/co-leads.
But if I start on that, then heaven knows where this will stop, and no part of any fandom makes me feel quite as upset as The Great Debate of the Merits of Rose Tyler. But I think you’re being a bit unfair and painting a rather bleak picture.
November 11th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
I rather fancy Rose, too.
Admittedly, I’m a US fan and Rose and Nine were my first taste of Who-ness, so perhaps I am a bit biased because of my “firsts”. However, upon looking back into the Classic series, there were a lot of Companions who were better (and a better romantic match for The Doctor, if that’s so necessary), but there were also a lot WORSE companions, and I think sometimes people forget that in their anti-Rose movements.
Personally, I am not at all a fan of Martha. I found her sudden and unexplained unrequieted love quite disgusting. At least the Rose/Doctor connection seemed to be built up more slowly and with some actual bases to it.
However, all that said…
I’m looking forward to Romana’s cry of “You are ALL WORTHLESS!” or something there-of in strips to come. =P Romana was, in my opinon, the only Companion that was more an actual assistant than just a TARDIS hitchhiker.
- Kat
P.S:: Sorry, Rich, for taking up comment space with banter! =(
November 11th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
On the Rose and Doctor romance front, I always feel Girl in the Fireplace rather blows the theory they had any romace apart. The speed the Doctor forms an attachment with Madam de Pompidor, a proper romantic one at that, means and as I can’t see the Doctor cheating on Rose and while she is jealous but not angry and hurt on as if she was being cheated on. So any relationship would have to start after that point and I don’t just see any hints in the relationship after that indicating the change in relationship. I’ve always thought the Doctor’s loss at the end of Doomsday was due to the loss of the first person he had cared since the destruction of Galifrey and the one who bought him of the sucidal slump he had been since then
November 11th, 2007 at 6:03 pm
Please, Kat, banter! We love reading this stuff. It makes the comic all the more fun to do!
My take on the Rose thing is that, while I did enjoy her as a companion for the MOST part, (she had no more or less reason to BE one than any other companion he’s ever had) the whole romance thing really ticked me off.
As I’ve said countless times before, one of the things I always really liked about the show was that it didn’t waste any screentime on developing a soppy romance. The Doctor is alien. He’s beyond that sort of thing. Period. To see it all fall back into that trap really annoyed me. Then to have her a jealous and hypocritical little bitch (see her get annoyed when the Doctor ‘flirts’ with someone else. See her turn the tables happily and pick up her own boys-on-the-side, including Jack and that nerd with the trapdoor in his head. See her leave Mickey high and dry in the cold, then string him along and get mad at him when he tries to give up on her), just made me long to see her sweet ass turfed off the ship entirely. We could have been watching more cool alien stuff or spaceships in that time, thank you very much.
Then comes Martha. Who takes all of Rose’s bad qualities and makes them worse.
Time for someone who doesn’t want to bed him. Please. It’s just sick to think of this 1000 year old guy (don’t get me started on the whole 900 yr old thing) to diddle around with a barely-out-of-her-teens girl. Turns our cosmic sage into just a dirty old man.
November 11th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
Ah, well, I’m a bit of a soppy romantic (and a bit of a girly-girl sometimes), so I like my sci-fi with a bit of romance flavoring it (ie: Wash/Zoe, Han/Leia). One of the things I kind of liked about the Doctor and Rose was it wasn’t exactly soppy romance in that there were no(t many) mushy wet moments, and it was more about the relationship than the romance. Rose may’ve been jealous and hypocritical, but then, Nine all but growled and went “Mine!” every time any other man looked at Rose.
“On the Rose and Doctor romance front, I always feel Girl in the Fireplace rather blows the theory they had any romace apart.”
I don’t know. I don’t think that even in the off-camera moments that they would ever have actually acknowledged the romance, snogged, and gone to bed, but I think they were definately in love with each other. Just more of a…I don’t know, a “Pushing Daisies” sort of love. But I do think that it was much more there with Nine and Rose (since Nine was much more possessive, while Ten was all “Hey, guy-I-previously-couldn’t-stand-because-you-shagged-my-girl, wanna come for a ride on the TARDIS?”). Could have something to do with Ten having the attention span of a mayfly on crack. But they still had something. Maybe it got more platonic, but if I remember psychology class, romantic relationships are supposed to move into platonic (not exclusively so) if they’re going to last, because romantic love doesn’t usually have staying power.
Eh, I’m biased, though. “Dalek” was the first episode I ever saw, and it was the relationship (and Nine’s freak-out psycho moment) that made me start watching. I just stuck around for the coolest ship since the Falcon and the wacky aliens. But it never occured to me that the 900-year-old alien wouldn’t be beyond romance.
As far as useless goes, I can’t see Rose as that at all. And uneducated certainly doesn’t bother me. My favorite companion (next to Rose) was Jamie. It’s hard to expect a Highlander from the 1700’s to really be up there with the sci-fi, but he was smart and adaptable, like Rose
…I have no self control….
I, too, am definately looking forward to Romana getting pissy with everyone.
November 11th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
“But it never occured to me that the 900-year-old alien wouldn’t be beyond romance.”
*would, not wouldn’t.
November 11th, 2007 at 6:33 pm
Well, at least Martha learned her lesson. She is to be in a new relationship when she comes back in Series 4. And Donna CERTAINLY doesn’t want to bed with the Doctor. If anything, she is there to be funny.
November 11th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
Well maybe Donna will be that breath of freash air. I still have hopes for her. You can never go wrong with a redhead. I never did like Rose. Even if Billie Piper can sing, her only breakout moments happened when Rose was blubbering. To be honest, the Tylers just seemed like the Brit’s answer to white trash.
In my opinion, the Doctor’s only true intillectual equals, as far as companions go, were Nyssa, Adric, Zoe, and Romana (Susan never impressed me, especialy for a Gallifreyan. And Ace was just streetwise).
Be interesting to see if Martha changes at all, on Torchwood…And if she becomes bi-sexual, like everyone else on it.
As far as the Rani…Well, I agree that she’s pretty hot in this. Nothing like the older Kate O’Mara from the show. Could this be a regeneration before, or after her on-screen time?
Any chance the old Cybermen would run into the Alternate Earth ones?
November 11th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
What I want to see is The Master get kicked in the bollocks by The Rani again. I laughed so hard I was nearly sick!
November 11th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Laura - No, you’re right. The idiocy wasn’t all Rose-sided. The 9th Doctor did develop a creepy sexual posessive streak. I could have happily done without that too, because otherwise he was probably my second favorite Doctor (and I’ve been a fan for a looong looong time).
Sean - Yeah, here’s hoping.
Shade - It’s definately the Rani AFTER her screen appearances. But I have trouble drawing accurate age on characters.
November 11th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
I think she looks fine Rich.
November 11th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
Hi there, been enjoying this for a long time. This is my first post, and I apologize for posting a nitpick and thereby immediately showing myself to be an enormous nerd:
I believe “The Invasion” — if that was the episode you were referring to — was actually meant to take place in the 70s. It was meant to be in the “near future” (what with its crazy ideas of portable transistor radios with earplugs and the like), and take place a few years after “The Web of Fear” which was supposed to take place around 1975. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIT_dating_controversy
But… you could circumvent the issue by simply changing the line of dialogue to “invasion attempt a few decades ago” or “invasion attempt in the late 20th century” or some such.
I point it out merely because if you finish this, possibly bigger nerds than I will berate you for the issue. And you don’t want that to happen, now do you?
But this is a truly awesome comic, and I look forward especially to seeing more stuff with the companions. I can already hear Tegan answering Romana, “Don’t ask me, I’m just a mouth on legs…”
November 11th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
Hey DQ.
You’re probably right about the bigger nerds. But on the other hand, I have no intention of going back at this point and changing anything. What’s done is done, mistakes and all, and if I look back too much, I’ll stop going foreward.
I submit the errors as fodder for discussion and laughter, as much of TV show errors are.
Maybe someday I’ll go back and fix up some things that I didn’t like. Or maybe not. Maybe I’ll be on something different and much cooler.
However, as for the Cyberman attacks taking place in the 70’s… while that is what all the fanstuff and supplimentary ret-con material says. But it’s never stated onscreen exactly when it is. So an argument COULD be made that it’s still in a parallel world 60’s according to the fashions and attitudes (and where in the 2000’s we make official contact with aliens).
That it’s the not-too-distant future is conjecture just because of the super tech displayed onscreen.
“New Adventures” novels notwithstanding because -as I said in earlier entries- I don’t count them since I’ve only read a few and MOST of what I read was unmitigated crap.
November 11th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
Eh, you see creepy, I saw endearing. I dunno, different strokes.
“And Donna CERTAINLY doesn’t want to bed with the Doctor. If anything, she is there to be funny.”
I liked Donna. Found her annoying as all get-out, but hilarious.
I agree about the Doctor needing some good, platonic-style companions. That was my chief complaint with Martha–Rose, but boring and polished. Aside from the wiked-cool Saxon storyline, I never understood why they went with her as a companion if they were trying to make it look like she wasn’t replacement-Rose; seems they could’ve gone in a different direction that “modern girl with a crush on the Doctor.” Frankly, I’d like some companions not from the 20th/21st century, just to shake things up. I know Davies likes cultural references (and I gotta love ‘em too), but let’s throw in at least one companion from 100+ years one way or another.
November 11th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
Oh wow, a roll call and skill assessment of the Doctor’s companions, let’s see…
A Time Lady (possibly, likely)…
A mouth on legs…
A survivalist coward…
And… a girl who works in a shop.
Okay, maybe they should just consider surrendering right now.
November 11th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
Oh wow, a roll call and skill assessment of the Doctor’s companions, let’s see…
A Time Girl (possibly, likely… and a bit young for Lady)…
A swordsman…
A human calculator…
A blonde klutz…
Another Time Lady (definently)…
A mouth on legs…
A survivalist coward…
Some eye-candy…
An alleycat with explosives (okay that’s some potential)…
And… a girl who works in a shop.
Okay, maybe they should just consider surrendering right now. Where is ass-kicking Leela and can’t-be-killed-if-you-tried Jack Harkness when you need them most?
November 11th, 2007 at 10:37 pm
Hehehe… well, actually we’ve got:
A young science student from Gallifrey (with mild psychic abilities)
A highland piper with some good fighthing skills
A tech/mathemetician from the future
A bimbo escapologist spy-wannabe who failed her biology class
A Time Lady
An air-hostess wannabe with a big mouth
Turlough ain’t telling, he’s still hush-hush about his origins at this point
A big-mouthed bimbo botany student with titanic breasts
A fearless amateur explosives expert
and An unemployed shop-girl
Not a bad arsenal.
November 11th, 2007 at 11:50 pm
Ah. Jamie’s piping /should/ be listed first like you did, Rich. I haven’t seen much of the Second Doctor (because –weep–there’s not much to see), but I wonder if he ever tried bagpiping his way out of trouble. I love bagpipes as much as the next Celtic-music-enthusiast, but at close range, I’ll bet he could cause some damage to Cyberfolk (or anything with auditory nerves).
November 12th, 2007 at 2:51 am
– Louise to my understanding, i thought it was Rose Tyler, not “Walker” –
aaaAAARRRGGGHHH! NuttyMoo, you’re absolutely right. Rose’s last name *IS* “Tyler”; I got it wrong.
(I’m always doing that…I’ve got a RPG character whose last name is “Walkur”, so apparently I can’t distinguish between two different two-syllable names!)
November 12th, 2007 at 8:20 am
Isn’t Rose Walker a character from the Sandman comics?
That’d be an interesting crossover…
November 12th, 2007 at 9:13 am
All this debate begs the question - who is everyone’s favourite companion, and who’s their least favourite?
Favourite for me is tough. I’ve always loved Sarah Jane, but Leela could seriously kick some arse and while she may have been uneducated she was certainly not dumb (and that super short skirt won her a lot of points with the male viewers, I’m sure). Jamie’s a great companion - hehe, it would have been interesting to see him whip out some bagpipes at some point. Whether Frazer Hines could actually play them or not wouldn’t matter much, since I’m sure it’d be easy enough to mime with bagpipes. There are several other companions I really quite liked as well, but I guess my choice of all-time favourite would have to be between Sarah Jane and Leela (and on a side note, has anyone else been catching the new “Sarah Jane Adventures” - they’re really very good, and a stylistic throwback to the classic Doctor Who in many ways).
As for least favourite, that’s another tossup between the two most useless and whiny companions ever - Peri and Mel. Ooh, and Adric was an annoying little twat as well. I think Peri is the one who always grated on my nerves the most, though.
November 12th, 2007 at 11:47 am
My favorite is Jamie. My favorite female is Leela. As a girl, I know I’m supposed to be annoyed by the clear objectification of women, but Leela was a strong woman. Aside from her wardrobe, she was clever, quick, and could hold her own against the Doctor and other enemies. She saved him from several head-bashings and could kick the butt of most every other companion, male or female… with the possible exception of Jamie… and maybe Ace.
November 12th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
Here’s a question, if you haven’t answered it–when all is said and done, when this is finally finished, do you know how many pages it might end up being? I’m just curious if you know.
Speaking of least popular companions, if you listen to the Big Finish Audios, you’ll know that Nicola Bryant and Bonnie Langford were woefully underserved and under utilized by the producers and writers of “Doctor Who” in the ’80s. One of the reason why I love the BFAs so much is because out of all of the companions, the ones who benefit the most are Peri and Mel. They actually become three dimensional characters instead of standing around saying “What is it, Doctor?” (although they still do that, too). I highly recommend giving them a listen sometime. Nicole Bryant and Bonnie Langford’s performances are fantastic.
November 12th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
That it’s the not-too-distant future is conjecture just because of the super tech displayed onscreen.
Actually, it is mentioned onscreen, I believe, in “Web of Fear.”
But it doesn’t matter, ultimately. If you’re choosing not to correct things, I totally understand (though the cringing copy editor in me hopes you are at least correcting your few typos you have). I have a good sense of how time consuming stuff like this is, and I think all your readers would rather see the story finished than niggly things be fixed.
And it actually solves a lot of problems by making it be in the 60s and not the 70s; just wanted you to be aware of the issue, just in case.
Thanks again for an awesome comic.
As to the rest of the conversation, my favorites are Barbara, Leela, Tegan, and Ace. They need to be mouthy, violent, or both.
Well, Babs wasn’t really mouthy, but she was the one to put the old Doctor in his place when it was time.
November 12th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Ron- Here’s a question, if you haven’t answered it–when all is said and done, when this is finally finished, do you know how many pages it might end up being? I’m just curious if you know.
Rich- Oh, not a clue! Not a single clue. I’m kinda making up the details as I go along. I know where the stories ultimately go but that’s all. I scene I figured would only take half a page winds up being a 4 page epic. I really have no idea.
DQ, As for going back to fix typos. *shrug* Maybe. It says so in the “Web of Fear”? Really? Hunh. I’ll have to go back and check that one out again.
Favorite companions: K9. Always liked robots. (Though Kameleon turned out to be a turd) And Ace. Love Ace. But you can probably tell. Romana 2 always appealed to me as well. I’d have loved for her to have a spinoff series of her own. She pretty much was a female Doctor.
November 12th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
oh my gosh……………..
I’m in love……………
November 12th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
Hey Rich, whilst reading your comics again and again, I’ve noticed that all the Doctors keep touching each other. Won’t they have that energy discharge thingy or something that the Brig had?
November 12th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Random comment on a previous comment… someone (I’m not rereading through just figure out who…) mentioned that these are the old cybermen and asked if there was a possibility of them meeting up with the new ones… I absolutely like this comment. If they are the old cybermen as they look to be, what have they been up to all this time and will there newer counterparts show up?
Oh and btw. I am adoring the comic Rich. It’s absolutley amazing.
Hope for tons more in the future. And to answer the other half of the conversation, I have to agree on the K9 front. He is my favorite but if you want a person then Sarah Jane or Romana.
November 12th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
Victor -”Hey Rich, whilst reading your comics again and again, I’ve noticed that all the Doctors keep touching each other. Won’t they have that energy discharge thingy or something that the Brig had?”
Rich - Interesting question, Victor. What you’re referring to is the “Blinovich Limitation Effect” as demonstrated when 1970’s Brigadier touched 1980’s Brigadier in the 5th Doctor’s “Mawdryn Undead”.
Here’s my take on the subject:
The 1st law of time (at least, I’m pretty sure this is the jist of law #1) states to the effect of that no one object (or here, person) can exist in two places at the same time. The problem this seems to have caused in Mawdryn Undead is that there was a sort of “short out” in the time streams between the two Brigadiers and an immense energy discharge occurred that would have wiped out a large part of the universe had the TARDIS not cleverly used the energy to kill off Mawdryn and his pals.
Why doesn’t this work on the Doctor? I think it’s because when he regenerates, his body has altered its molecular structure so completely, he’s no longer really “the same object” as his other incarnations. I mean, sure, the Brig shaved his moustache and aged somewhat.. even changed out of his snappy uniform. But his basic molecular (temporal) structure was the same. The Doctor’s structure is so different, it no longer behaves the same way. He’s totally a new being, physically.
I think the BLE would probably work if say, the 5th Doctor from “Mawdryn Undead” blundered into the 5th Doctor from “The Caves of Androzani”. Both the same Doctor. Slightly different clothes, but similar enough to cause the “time short out” and blow up the universe.
How’s that sound?
Kitti Kat - Random comment on a previous comment… someone (I’m not rereading through just figure out who…) mentioned that these are the old cybermen and asked if there was a possibility of them meeting up with the new ones… I absolutely like this comment. If they are the old cybermen as they look to be, what have they been up to all this time and will there newer counterparts show up?
Rich - Well, as for the “old” cybermen (as these guys are), they set up an attack force in the sewers and made an alliance with some wealthy wackjob in “The Invasion” sometime in the 1960’s or 70’s, (right, DQ?
) They got defeated, but certainly it was likely that SOME of them survived down there in the far reaches of the underground base. During that time they rebuilt, captured the homeless or some solitary workers down there and built their numbers up. Then in the 1980’s, they dropped an invasion force into the Arctic (or Antarctic…I forget) in “The Tenth Planet” (1st Doctor’s last episode). It is fun to assume that they contacted their stray unit and maybe offered some supplies. There was another attack on the moonbase in the 1990’s (2nd Doctor’s “The Moonbase”) where there could yet have been more contact and exchange of info and technology. Then again, in the 80’s more cybermen dropped by in a time machine and helped update their Earth dwelling bretheren in th 6th Doctor’s “Attack of the Cybermen”, but they were once again abandoned and stranded down there. Finally, there was an invasion force parked just behind the moon (7th Doctor’s “Silver Nemesis”) who dropped a landing party down to try to find the bits they needed to summon Nemesis, a lump of living metal or something that the Doctor launched into orbet millennia ago. No doubt there was more talking and exchanging before the Cyberfleet got all blowed up.
They must be getting fed up of living underground on Earth, so my cybermen here have managed to get a hold of someone on Gallifrey (enjoy speculating on who that might be) and are trying to make arrangements of some kind.
As for whether the new series cybermen will make an appearance… I can’t answer that. You’ll just have to keep on reading.
Thanks for the kind words and for enjoying my comic! It’s so exciting that so many people are keeping up with it and new people are finding it all the time.
Rich
November 12th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
More Peri! I think you should put Peri in every frame from now on.
November 12th, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Aw, you just like her for her boobs.
November 12th, 2007 at 11:21 pm
Not a bad arsenal?! These people couldn’t escape their way out of a paperbag! Nah I kid I’m being purposefully cruel to be funny. I’m sure they’ll manage to make themselves useful. Companions always do.
Your story continue to astound and addict. Seriously, more please. Come on, don’t hold out on me! I need my Ten Doctors fix! At least until Time Crash comes out!
November 12th, 2007 at 11:55 pm
It was me who aske about the Cyber-Meet up. Thanks for the answer…I think.
And I think Peri’s boobs were the only thing she had going for her. I never heard that much whining, till I saw her in that Blackadder Christmas speacial
As for favorite companions…Mine was, is, and always will be Nyssa. Especially in that purple pants suit. Smart, cute, and a nice butt…HUZZAH!!!
November 13th, 2007 at 1:47 am
well i’ve only skipped over most of the comments here, so forgive me if somone has already said so…but grand-daughter… means he had a kid who had a kid, and that kid came from his girlfriend/wife/lover what ever it may have been, so yeah, he’s an alien, but unless he’s a borg, or kryptonian i don’t recall gallifrey manifacturing kids, in a sterile environments
so for me, gallifreyian or time lord, they still gotta find love romance, and enough time for hanky panky to produce the next generation of possible time lords
anyway, that’s just my take on the Doctor, and romance
by the way, i love the look of romana in the first panel, there’s another frame id love to see coloured in
still loving the whole story/art production rich, keep it up
November 13th, 2007 at 4:01 am
Good work, keep it up:)
November 13th, 2007 at 4:45 am
Uh, Gecks, actually according to the Books (I think) Time Lords are supposed to spring, more or less fully grown, from these cloning/DNA mixer-thingies. And Susan and the Doctor aren’t even -exactly- related, but she’s the proper granddaughter of the mysterious “Other” who threw himself into the cloning/DNA mixer and emerged later as the Doctor. Kinda. Sorta.
This was largely disproven by the comment that children on Gallifrey attended the Academy at age Eight (Sound of Drums) but… well the series has been going on a long time, best not dwell on things from long long ago too much. So I’m inclined to agree with your theory, give or take.
November 13th, 2007 at 5:03 am
Yeah, nothing about the whole cloning Loom thing has ever been seen, heard of or even remotely supported by anything on the TV series at all.
And in fact, we have seen lots of proof of the opposite.
The Master as a child, the Doctor talking about his family on many occasions, even if you ignore the Susan thing, the 2nd Doctor mentions having famiy, the 3rd and 4th often talk about things that happened in their youth, Romana talks briefly about when she was a child, the Doctor explicitely drops the hint that he had a brother…. Yeah some mysterious and strange things were said by the 7th Doctor, but all that proves is that he had mysterious knowledge of times he shouldn’t remember. He may, simply, have traveled back in time on his own homeworld. Since we have to accept the Fox film as canon thanks to his little book o’ memories, he has vivid memories of his life as a child with his parents. And, much as I hate to admit it, until there’s more proof against it… he may just BE half human. We don’t know yet. And there is no reason ever given on screen to think that Susan was NOT his granddaughter. He’s never been referred to as a family member by anyone else.
So… this loom thing? Cute. But the series doesn’t accept it. Neither do I.
I can accept that Time Lords have a concept of love and Romance (The 1st Doctor and Cameca were so cute) and they’re built just like us, to breed sexually (Romana had boobies!). But what I liked about the classic series was that we didn’t deal with it. I can accept that maybe the Doctor had a little thing going on with Romana 2. They certainly had the chemistry for it (reflected by their real life romance at the time), but with a human character? It’d just be so wrong. The culture, the life-span…
Unless, of course, he IS half-human.
November 13th, 2007 at 6:26 am
The Master certainly behaved the way one normaly does when they get kicked in the bollocks. So I assume all the parts work.
Actually, I think old #1 looked more hmmm… umm… petrified than cute. He nearly choked on his cocoa, and I don’t think it was the chillis.
November 13th, 2007 at 7:37 am
True. But later on, when he said goodbye to her… and when he stole back the jewelry she gave him and tucked it in his pocket.
That’s the level of Romance the Doctor needs to keep him alien but just endearingly human enough.
Not the sopping, teary eyed almost-I-love-yous said to too recently pubescent girls with a 15 year old jealous princess complex.
November 13th, 2007 at 9:12 am
well that’s true, human or alien, the show never had need of romance, till the eighth doctor sprung up and kissed grace….. mind you he did say he was half human on his mother’s side,
im just such a die hard fan im willing to look past such things
November 13th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
On the Rose, #9 thing, my GF has an interesting theory. 3 words: the nightingale effect. Where nurses and patent fall for each other. This explains why #9 is so possessive, but #10 seems to have moved on to a more good friend relationship.
But that’s just my way of thinking.
November 14th, 2007 at 3:33 am
Romana is the right age to be his great grand-daughter, you know.
Ick.
But then, I’m a Rose fan. *shrug*
It’s not as though there’s any Timeladies around anymore. (Now, after saying that, Romana will come back just to spite me, watch her.) And I like Rose better.
I’m hoping we get an older Doctor next, one who doesn’t randomly snog people(genetic-transfer-my-hat). Ten just isn’t helping with the young girls thing.
November 15th, 2007 at 8:01 pm
I think Rose has a lot of spunk - the kind of person who’ll go charging into a house on fire if someone up there needs rescuing. She was given gymnastic skills in the first ep, but then then never referred back to it later, tho she was quick to climb the rope she thought was attached to the building to try and save the kid on the roof in Empty Child. Just to point out she’s never been portrayed as the ‘useless companion’ that sometimes the classic companions were supposed to be (Vicky, almost all the time)
I didnt mind that there was no open romance in the old series, that was fine, but sometimes there was subtler romance going on - Peter and Tegan always treated each other as boyfriend girlfriend, tho there was never so much as an onstage kiss, they acted that way towards each other, constantly having lover’s quarrels and worries and Tegan had her share of jealous fits. Lalla and Tom - well, less hidden, more natural response to each other, holding hands and such, and when Adric came on board, they were instant parents to this young man that reminded Tom of how he was a young galafreyan that probably was very good in math but managing to get in trouble all the time
The romance on the new series, and with the 8th Doctor, just showed how it was a more open now, not the sort of the thing you had to hide from kids going ‘ewwwe’ after anyone kissed on a screen, ala Princess Bride
A lot of companions reguarded the Doctor as a Father figure, one Grandfather figure, and some didnt .. it didnt bother me because I dont expect each relationship to be the same or that each companion was somehow a replacement for the companion before. Each had their own kind of relationship with the Doctor.. 9 and 10 were in love with Rose, is all, and she gave them the first kind of attachment he had after he lost the TimeLords forever (or so he thought)
But… I am hijacking the thread here and apologize.
You’re doing a great job with the companions - I just didnt like to see so many of them put down because some fans felt some companions couldt fulfill the roles that other companions did - I think the roles should change as the series grows and changes, or it wouldnt be as much fun
November 25th, 2007 at 2:09 am
Rich says: “My take on the Rose thing is that, while I did enjoy her as a companion for the MOST part, (she had no more or less reason to BE one than any other companion he’s ever had) the whole romance thing really ticked me off.”
Agreeden…
Rich says: “The Doctor is alien. He’s beyond that sort of thing. Period.”
I have a slightly different take on it at this point. It always felt to me as if the Doctor’s pasengers were more of a family than anything else. They were in his charge, and he was responsible for their safety. Therefore, anything beyond a platonic relationship seems almost incestuous to me.
Meanwhile, his dalliances with anyone *not* already travelling with him, those didn’t bother me. Snogging Madam de Pompadour or romancing Joan Redfern, no problem. It doesn’t feel wrong. The gratuitous kisses between the Doc and Rose, and later between the Doc and Martha — in her very first appearance, even! — made me cringe.
Rich says: “Then comes Martha. Who takes all of Rose’s bad qualities and makes them worse.”
While I also found Martha’s puppy-dog crush to be just as annoying as Rose’s clinginess, this time around was different, in that with Rose, the Doctor returned that affection, even if it was vague and mostly non-committal… with Martha, he seemed more aloof, and largely unaware of her crush. I’m happy that that aspect ended with the closing scene of The Last of the Time Lords, but I also feel that it should never have been an aspect in the first place…
December 1st, 2007 at 11:29 pm
About new series Doctor/COmpanion romances. (cue long rant)
Firstly. What no one else seems to have noticed. From a Gallifreyan perspective, THE DOCTOR’S NOT THAT OLD. Continuity is a bit conflictive in this area but the general impression I got was that each Time Lord incarnation could last for about six hundred years. Times thirteen lives, that’s 7800. The Doc’s only 1,036. In human years that’s not very old. So romance is not out of the question. I think the main problem is that you’re old skool DW fans and maybe don’t realize that DW has a bit of a different audience these days, including hormonal young people who require a bit of romance so they can more deeply empathize with the Doctor and his companions.
Rose: Well, she’s just the absolute Mary-Sue, isn’t she? Spunky, uneducated, teenage slacker who wears way too much makeup and is the OMG soulmate!!! of the Doctor. ‘Nuff said. I ship Nine/Rose but Ten/Rose should be friends only. (Yeah, I know, opposite of most people. Happens a lot.)
Martha: Smart. Brave. Her unrequited love makes us see a new side of the Doctor, one that isn’t entirely pleasant. (Rather like the abandoning Jack thing.) Martha herself says the Doctor made her feel like second best. This is not the effect the Doctor is supposed to have on companions. Yet I think she’d be a much better match for the Doctor, seeing as she’s older, smarter, braver more motivated than Rose. ‘Takes all of Rose’s bad qualities and makes them worse’??? Excuse me, just what bad qualities are you talking about here? Rose and Martha have practically nothing in common.
Oh, and for people who deplore Piper leaving the show, think: would most of the episodes of the third season have WORKED with Rose? Can you see Rose working as a maid for three months all out of love for the Doctor? (Make her work as a dinner lady for two DAYS and she whines, the slacker.) Can you see the Doc facing down the Master with Rose offering moral support? (The whole point of the Doctor/Master thing was that the Doc felt even more lonely with Rose gone, and felt the loss of his people more keenly.) Can you see Rose traveling the world out of love for her captured Time Lord? Um, no! The Time Vortex thing was pure, dumb luck and Rose had absolutely no idea what she was doing.
Ugh. Yeah. Feels good to get that rant off my chest.
Probably no one’s even going to read this. Fantastic.
December 1st, 2007 at 11:30 pm
In fact, on human years the Doctor’s in his twenties.
December 30th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
I know I’m coming into this rather late, but can I just pick you up on one thing? Despite your comment on 11 Nov, Rich, The Dalek Invasion Of Earth doesn’t say that Earth is the only planet with a magnetic core. That’s a fan myth.
In one scene, one character speculates that the Daleks might be after something that only Earth possesses. We never learn that his speculation is right. And there’s nothing to suggest that it is right. Then in another scene, the Daleks (who weren’t even present in the earlier scene, and know nothing of what was said there) say they want to remove the Earth’s magnetic core. There is nothing to connect the different statements made by different characters in different scenes.
Sorry to be so pedantic. But I enjoy it so much….
And I’m also enjoying the comic so much. Great work.
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:34 pm
thanks for your first comment, laura:)
~levanta (quick name change:))
April 17th, 2008 at 9:10 am
EXCELLENT! Cybercontroller is very cool. Makes me want to watch Attack Of The Cybermen again.