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 By Rob McCow |
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What’s the story called? Claws of the Klathi! The Collector Read all about it! Claws of
the Klathi! was published in Doctor Who Magazine issues #136-#138! May,
June and July of 1988 only! Read all about it! Reprinted in Marvel Bumper
Comic! Extra! Extra! Panini to reprint it in 2009! The World Shapers Script – Mike Collins Art – Kev Hopgood and Dave Hine Lettering – Zed Editor – Richard Starkings Fellow Travellers Top hat, moustache, cane and an enquiring mind – it must be Nathaniel Derridge, gentleman scientist! Every part the Victorian sleuth, Nathaniel is a member of the New Lunar Society (NLS) of London. When it comes to science, he is a jack-of-all-trades with wide interests, but he paticularly enjoys solving puzzling mysteries. He is more open-minded than his fellows at the NLS, which leads him into danger when he meets the Doctor. The local police seem to know him as a bit of a weirdo, so if they find an unconscious, glowing reptilian freak they’ll bring it straight to his house.
Caval is a reptilian freak / biped with a skull-like face and enormous snake’s eyes. He also sports a disastrous pudding bowl haircut. He is loyal to his masters the Klathi, whom he regards as the noble and honourable saviours of his people. He may be skinny, whining servile and an awful dresser, but he’s in charge of a seriously cool robot.
Yaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyrobot!!!!! The Deal A ragged figure runs through the Victorian fog, pursued by a policeman and a top hatted gentleman. The Doctor steps out of the TARDIS only to be accused by the policeman of theft. Fortunately, the top hatted man sees that the Doctor isn't the man they were chasing. He introduces himself as Nathaniel Derridge. Nathaniel takes the Doctor back to his house where they discover a shared love of science; and so Nathaniel invites the Doctor to a meeting of the New Lunar Society.
Caval went on to become the lead singer of The Kaiser Chiefs Meanwhile, Wyndham’s Freaks are in town. A freak named Reptillo has escaped, but Freddie the Showmaster is unconcerned and easily returns Reptillo to his cage. Reptillo communicates psychically with the two creatures in the cage opposite. They are thin and bald, with forked tongues. There is a male named Danq and a female called Yula. Reptillo, who’s real name is Caval, tells them that he successfully stole some equipment for them, which he has hidden with the other scientific items he has purloined. The New Lunar society is a group of scientists who meet every full moon, headed by Morley. They have all been troubled by thefts recently. One of the society describes some murders and from his description, the Doctor realises the men were murdered by a laser. Danq and Yula order Caval to steal the final pieces for their device, which is coming along nicely. As he leaves the fair, the other freaks ask Caval / Reptillo why he steals for those two devils. Caval replies that are kind and that they look after him. The Doctor heads down to the Docklands with Nathaniel, Morley and another scientist. They hear a scream and find a man dying of laser burns. The Doctor suspects aliens, Morley and the scientist think he’s crazy and leave. The Doctor and Nathaniel explore, but are attacked by a large robot - with lasers! The Doctor quickly discovers that the robot won’t venture beyond a certain point. It is defending something. In order to find out what, the Doctor throws mud on its sensors and rushes past, where he finds a crashed spaceship shrouded in the fog. The next day in town, Caval steals an apple and is chased by police officers. A man on the street punches Caval, whose unconscious body starts to glow. At the New Lunar Society, Morley is sceptical about the Doctor and Nathaniel’s claims that there are aliens in London. Morley refuses to listen and dissolves the meeting. Nathaniel and the Doctor head back to Nathaniel’s house, where a policeman has brought the unconscious Caval. The Doctor realises that his glowing is a form of self-healing just as Caval comes round. Caval explains that he is a Joebb who came to Earth with the Klathi – Danq and Yula. The Klathi had transformed his world from a slum to a prosperous place, but the Joebb were ungrateful had overthrew the Klathi. Caval helped the Klathi escape in a spaceship with the help of his robot, Batella. They crashed on Earth after a meteor storm and were rescued from the London mob by Wyndham, who kept them in his freakshow. The Klathi worked on repairing their craft, using parts that they send Caval to steal. The Klathi are planning to energise the powerdrive through a refraction latticework, a vast diamond. Nathaniel realises they plan to use Osler’s Fountain from the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace. The Doctor tells them that activating the powerdrive would cause an explosion that would kill tens of thousands of people.
The Klathi show their claws They head to Crystal Palace by horse and coach, but the traffic impedes their progress. They continue on foot and barge their way into the Exhibition only to find that the Klathi have already connected their powerdrive. Caval refuses to help the Doctor, as he does not believe that the Klathi would hurt people. The Doctor uses Nathaniel’s cane to smash the link to the crystal lattice, which goes SHRAK! as it bursts. Unfortunately, the powerdrive is fully recharged and the Klathi escape with it. The Doctor’s party pursue the Klathi to their ship, where the Doctor fails to make them see reason. The Klathi order Batella to kill the Doctor, but Caval countermands the robot. The robot is confused and starts to smoke. Caval eventually wins out. Batella gets too close to the ship and explodes into an enormous FRAKOOM! London is saved! Caval happily rejoins
Wyndham and his family of freaks. Nathaniel is puzzled as Danq claimed
that the Doctor was from Gallifrey. The Doctor explains it’s a little
further north than Scotland. He says farewell and leaves in the TARDIS.
TV Action The Victorian era has always served the Doctor well on TV, from Evil of the Daleks through to Tooth and Claw. This story is probably more similar to The Talons of Weng-Chiang though, with its pastiche Victoriana and familiar situations. The New Lunar Society may be a secret society that investigates alien mysteries, but they’re as far removed from Torchwood as Bristol is from Cardiff. They’re run entirely by heterosexual men for starters. The fifth Doctor was going to take Tegan and Nyssa to the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace to cheer them up after the death of Adric. Unfortunately they ended up in Time Flight and no one was cheered. Also present at the Great Exhibition was the Kohinoor diamond, which is a useful device for slaying werewolves according to new series episode Tooth and Claw.
A great effort for these three issues from Kev Hopgood and Dave Hine. Caval has a hideous yet sympathetic face, looking sometimes like a sinister Spring-heeled Jack and at others a bit like Baldrick from Blackadder. The robot Batella is very imposing and suits the style of the story by looking a bit clunky and dirty. The Klathi themselves are appropriately named at the freak show as the Satan Twins; they boast bald heads, forked tongues, pointed ears and a fierce visage. They’re slightly vampiric and very skinny. There’s a lot of attention to the Victorian details. The depiction of Crystal Palace at the start of Part 3 is skilfully detailed. The setting also allows a notable difference to be drawn between the rich and the poor of the story. The filth and the scum of the London streets contrast well with the flamboyant decadence of the Great Exhibition. As a side-note, it’s great
to have the seventh Doctor looking like a recognisable Sylvester McCoy for
most of this story. End of The Line Sometimes, especially in the context of the new series, it’s easy to wonder what it is exactly that the fans want from Doctor Who. Do they want action on alien worlds? Do they want family based drama? Do they want to see the moon on the end of a stick? Looking back at the various polls and opinions that have been presented over the years, what the fans seem to like most are gothic-style horror stories with a dash of humour. What the fans want is Claws of The Klathi! This is a story that pushes all the buttons. It’s a murder mystery set in Victorian England, it’s wreathed in fog and there are sinister aliens. Coming in a long run of experimental / awful McCoy adventures, it feels like Doctor Who coming home and a delightful return to form. The setting is poached from Dickens, starting with a quote from Bleak House and developing the idea of alien mysteries hidden in the fog. On atmosphere alone it’s a winner. The story is coherent and straightforward, featuring memorable villains and noble allies for the Doctor. The best thing about it however, is the change that Caval’s character undergoes. He starts the story as servile and trusting, but as events unravel he comes to question his faith in the Klathi, finally causing their destruction. It’s a light bit of character development, but it brings Caval to life better than dozens of other characters from this period of the comic strip. It’s not perfect, but for
an early seventh Doctor comic strip Claws of the Klathi! is outstanding. Follow That TARDIS! The Eighth Doctor visits the Great Exhibition again in the Big Finish Audio story Other Lives, although his companion C’rizz doesn’t have a very good time at the freak show. Although this story is largely clean of references to sci-fi authors, the freak show is called ‘Wyndham’s Freaks’. John Wyndham was responsible for such classics as ‘Day of The Triffids’, ‘The Kraken Wakes’ and ‘The Midwich Cuckoos’. On the other hand, Wyndham is a good a name as any. Justin Thomas of Dumfries in Scotland got a letter into issue 139 of DWM that the team bizarrely entitled ‘Approval Claws’. ‘The artwork illustrating the intriguing story Claws of the Klathi is excellent – much better than in Issues 134 (Redemption) and 135 (Crossroads of Time) both of which were messy, scraggy-looking and looked rushed. It was especially annoying to see the TARDIS console looking so shabby, especially as it resembled its tv counterpart when drawn by John Ridgway. Please keep the talents who brought us Claws of the Klathi and don’t let the strip look like something out of Transformers again.’ Oh dear! Meanwhile, Mark Thompson of 4 Lake Road, Deepcut, Surrey was less forgiving. ‘But "Oh Dear…" what has happened to the comic strip? I know many fans will not consider this a relevant point, but the last strip I can say I truly enjoyed was the spectacular The Tides of Time in Issue 61 to 67 – incredible artwork from Dave Gibbons, and Steve Parkhouse’s script combined to make it unforgettable – particularly Issue 66 with the colour spread… ‘The current Claws of Klathi has many good ideas, but how long will it last? Three episodes? Four episodes?’ Nah – he was right with his first guess. Although not the most celebrated of the articles on display at the Great Exhibition, The Fountain by Messrs. Osler of Birmingham was a beautiful structure. It’s not quite clear if it survives the Doctor’s attentions during The Claws of The Klathi!
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