By Rob McCow

Planet of The Dead

The Collector

The Doctor found himself stuck on the Planet of The Dead from Doctor Who Magazine #141-142, published in October and November 1988.

The World Shapers

Script –

Art – Lee Sullivan

Lettering – Zed

Editor – Richard Starkings

Fellow Travellers

Where to begin? Adric, Peri, Sara Kingdom... they're all here! Adric is a precocious teenager from E-space and Jamie McCrimmon is a Scots Highlander from 1746. Sara Kingdom is a Space Security Agent from the year 4,000, Katarina is a Handmaid from ancient Troy, Peri is a whining American from 1986 and Frobisher is a shape-changing Whifferdill from the planet Xenon.

The Deal

The Doctor is relaxing on the dead planet of Adeki. He is just getting fed up with his fishing when he finds a concealed entrance. He remembers an appointment on Skaro that he really should keep, but decides to investigate anyway. The hatchway slams shut behind him, but he ventures on by torchlight to find a ruined city.

The buildings all seem to be empty and ruined. The Doctor discovers an alien body – suddenly, Adric steps out of the shadows, saying 'They're all dead, Doctor!' The Doctor is horrified, but before he can react Peri arrives. When the Doctor asks how she can be there, because he left her on Thoros Beta, she wails about being lost. Both Adric and Peri demand to be taken home.

Yes Doctor! They ARE all, Doctor, THEM, ALL of them, are DEAD!

A young Jamie arrives and shakes the Doctor's hand, before immediately starting to bicker and fight with Adric. As the two wrestle on the ground, Sara Kingdom and Katarina arrive, threatening to sort them out!

After this incident, Diana Ross sacked Jamie from the Supremes

The Doctor protests that he never wanted anyone to die, but Peri tells him they all died anyway. Sara and the other companions attack Peri, calling her an idiot. Frobisher arrives and tells the Doctor to break up the fight. But when the Doctor tries to split his companions up, they turn into fanged monsters!

The seventh Doctor faces his demons - not for the last time!

Convinced he is dreaming, the Doctor makes a run for it, but he is cornered by Adric. Suddenly, a man in a long scarf appears and deftly punches Adric unconscious. The man tells the Doctor to wake up – it's the 4^th Doctor! The 4^th and 5^th Doctors help the 7^th to his feet. They start to introduce themselves but are interrupted by the 1^st and 6^th Doctors.

Ahhh. I had this wonderful dream I was Tom Baker

The 1^st and 6^th Doctors explain about the Gwanzulum, creatures with metamorphic DNA. They had been impersonating his companions, whom they knew about from reading the 7^th Doctor's mind ('not hard to do', says the 4^th). They head back to the TARDIS so they can be returned to their proper time streams.

On the way, the 7^th Doctor finds some paintings on the walls, which explain how the last of the Gwanzulum landed on Adeki. The sound of an explosion near the TARDIS sends the other Doctors running to investigate, while the 7^th finds something in the paintings that horrifies him.

The 2^nd and 3^rd Doctors have been trying to break into the TARDIS with little success. Suddenly, the seven Doctors are surrounded by Gwanzulum! The 7^th Doctor explains that the Gwanzulum are parasitic energy leeches. The 4^th Doctor says that they're not very bright creatures standing around in the open – a field laser would soon finish them off. The 3^rd says they should retire to discuss the situation in the TARDIS.

The 7^th Doctor explains that the Time Lord defences will only allow one of them to go in at a time. He invites the 1^st Doctor to go in and disarm the defences, but the 1^st says that the 3^rd changed the lock, so the 7^th goes in himself.

Once inside, the Doctor closes the doors and prepares to dematerialise. He has realised that the other Doctors outside are Gwanzulum. The mention of the field laser tipped him off, because he would never have condoned the use of violence. The Doctor escapes, but the Gwanzulum will find a way off the planet eventually. There will be others!

TV Action

Although quite a lot of this story is dialogue based, Planet of The Dead would have been impossible to stage on TV. The first two Doctors, Hartnell and Troughton, had already passed on. Tom Baker would have been unlikely to return to playing the Doctor, even for such a short appearance as this. Colin Baker would probably have felt similarly alienated by the part in 1988, having been controversially sacked two years earlier. So the only place that seven Doctors could have possibly got together was in the comic strip. Also, it's difficult to imagine how they could have achieved the shape-changing effects of the Gwanzulum on TV.

Previous multi-Doctor stories on TV had been The Three Doctors (1973), The Five Doctors (1983) and The Two Doctors (1985).

4-Dimensional Vistas

A story like this depends on good likenesses of the main characters. So it's a relief to find that they are all spot on, except perhaps for Troughton and (guess what!) McCoy. Peri suffers too, mostly because her teeth look very odd. The Doctors are generally better drawn than the companions, with the 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th coming across particularly well. It's clear that Lee Sullivan copied Dave Gibbons' style for the 4^th and 5^th Doctors, who look very similar to their comic strip appearances from that era.

So who is it... Doctor Crusty? Doctor Robert? Doc Beaky? Doctor Teeth? Doctor Oil of Ulay? Doctor Sausage? or Doc'aye the Noo?

The dead planet provides an atmospheric backdrop with it's blasted trees and desolate landscape. The ruined city has an interesting design, with huge chimney-like buildings.

The Gwanzulum are nasty looking furry critters with big eyes and sharp teeth. The permanent grin and pointed eyebrows give them a malevolent but mischievous look.

End of The Line

While not exactly groundbreaking, Planet of The Dead is an easy story to fall in love with. Multi-Doctor stories always have a head start, but this one pulls off the brilliant conceit of not actually having any real returning characters in it!

The first part threatens to be quite heavy, with the Doctor confronting his guilt over his companions that have died in his company over the years. It's quite dark, especially as they all behave so oddly and start fighting amongst themselves. This is all swept away in the hugely enjoyable second half though, as the Doctor's past incarnations turn up in droves.

The characterisations of the Doctors and their companions are wonderfully spot on. Most of them only have one or two lines but there's enough there to convey a sense of who they were and to give the reader a hearty glow of nostalgia.

I don't know how easy it would be to guess what's really happening on a first reading of the story. There are certainly plenty of clues as things progress but the final revelation still comes as a surprise. The Doctor's escape is also quite clever and I especially enjoyed his goading of the first Doctor via the scanner screen.

The comic strip was the perfect place for a multi-Doctor reunion in 1988. It's a crowded story, but everyone gets a moment to shine. It was a great celebration of the 25^th Anniversary for the magazine.

Follow That TARDIS!

Katarina was flushed out of an airlock and Sara Kingdom was aged to death in The Daleks Masterplan in 1966. Adric was on board a freighter that crashed into Earth in Earthshock in 1984. Peri apparently died through having her brain removed in The Trial Of A Timelord / Mindwarp, but she had recovered by the end of the 1986 season. Jamie McCrimmon died fighting Cybermen in the 1987 comic strip, The World Shapers. Frobisher was left behind on the paradise world of A-Lux in 1987, in the comic strip A Cold Day In Hell.

Clothes: Most of the companions and Doctors are dressed pretty much as they appeared on TV. Peri wears her outfit from the Two Doctors. The 4^th Doctor is wearing his season 18 scarf and coat. The 3^rd Doctor is dressed as he was in The Three Doctors.

The Gwanzulum are a hand-me-down from Combat Colin, the comedy skit that appeared on the back page of Transformers' Comic in the 80's, where they caused havoc for Colin and his sidekick, Semi-Automatic Steve.

The Gwanzulum are the oldest shape-changing race, predating the Whifferdills and the Kymbra Chimera. They were heavily involved in the 'Shaper Wars' that wiped out most of Frobisher's race.

Planet of The Dead was well received in DWM. Angela Smith of Southsea in Hants said "After Pat Troughton’s sad death in March, 1987 the Beeb will never again do a story featuring all the Doctors. So it was a great joy to see them all together in the comic strip." And D. Mayhew of London added "I thought the first Doctor’s script was exactly right! ‘Pipsqueak!’"