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 By Rob McCow |
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What’s the story called? Party Animals The Collector Party Animals appeared in issue #173 of Doctor Who Magazine. The party took place in May of 1991. The World Shapers Script – Gary Russell Pencils – Mike Collins Inks – Steve Pini Letters – Glib Editor – John Freeman Fellow Travellers Ace is back in her bomber jacket, black stockings and Doctor Marten boots. She’s got a baseball bat and isn’t afraid to use it. Also accompanying the Doctor is Ria, a girl with long dark hair, fancy jacket and a broad-rimmed hat. She might be ‘sassy’ but she only gets a few lines of dialogue so it’s hard to tell. The Deal The Doctor and Ace finally arrive at Maruthea, a space station at the centre of the Space-Time Vortex. They arrive just as the Doctor is leaving. The Doctor greets his old friend Bonjaxx, a Daemon and gives him a patterned sock as a present. Bonjaxx puts it in his huge pile of patterned socks. Bonjaxx runs a bar that is filled with characters that the Doctor has met at some time or another, as well as other assorted aliens.
A balding man in a smart jacket and bowtie greets the Doctor and they start chatting. The man has a friend with him, who introduces herself as Ria. Beep the Meep starts a fight and everyone pitches in apart from the Doctor and the balding man. As the fight between the aliens rages, the Doctor, Ace, Ria and the man decide to leave.
The man is a future version of the Doctor. He leaves with his companion Ria who complains that ‘It’s gone downhill since then?’ Conversely, Ace sarcastically quips to the seventh Doctor ‘So it gets better then?’ As the two Doctors leave the space station, the Doctor arrives, asking for Brighton Pavilion. TV Action The Doctor has met his past selves (from the viewers point of view) on TV before, but he’s never met a future version of himself. There are many friends and foes from the TV series making cameo appearances. For a full list see ‘Follow That TARDIS!’ below. The space station Maruthea is located at the centre of the Space-Time Vortex. This is quite different from the space station Terminus, located at the centre of the physical Universe. The tenth Doctor attends Jackie Tyler’s birthday party in ‘Rise of The Cybermen’. A scene was filmed for Stones of Blood where the fourth Doctor celebrated his own birthday, but this was cut. Bonjaxx bears a striking resemblance to Azal from The Dæmons. The giveaway is that he looks exactly the same. 4-Dimensional Vistas Party Animals is an exercise in visual cramming. Fortunately, Mike Collins gives the detailed crowd scenes sufficient depth to make Maruthea look like the lively, vibrant impossibility that it’s supposed to be. He also does well at capturing the vast range of characters in their different styles. I don’t know whether he’s drawing in the style of Dave Gibbons for characters such as Beep The Meep and the Freefall Warriors or copying him directly, but they’re spot on renditions. The ninth Doctor as played by Nicholas Briggs is superbly drawn. His companion Ria is very distinctive too, with an awesome hat. Sadly, Ace and the seventh Doctor don’t come off so well. The seventh Doctor’s question-mark pullover has vanished, which is no bad thing, but neither he nor Ace are convincingly drawn. The fight sequences are confused and hectic, but in this story that’s exactly how they should be.
End of The Line It was inevitable after the heavyweight pretension of Mark of Mandragora that there would be a light and frothy follow-up. Party Animals is a story where the Doctor turns up at a bar, exchanges a dozen words with his future self as a fight breaks out and then they all leave. It’s amusing to see so many familiar faces and the twist reveal of the Nicholas Briggs Doctor is good fun. Overall though, it’s fairly disappointing. The Doctor was banging on about going to Maruthea for years, but he only stays there for about ten minutes!
Follow That TARDIS! Appearing in this comic strip are: A Star Trek Federation Starship; Big Cat’s Ship from the Freefall Warriors; Thunderbird 3; The Sixth Doctor; Frobisher’s penguin ‘family’; Bonjaxx the Dæmon; A female Silurian; A Draconian in an Inspiral Carpets t-shirt; A Dog of Doom; A Sontaran; Bart Simpson; Absolom Daak; Sapphire and Steel; Captain Britain; A Wrath Warrior; The Freefall Warriors; Shayde; Lieutenant Worf from Star Trek, arm wrestling an Ogron (?); Two Daleks in love; A Melkur; Doctor Ivan Asimoff; The Bus Conductor from Greatest Show In the Galaxy; A Ferengi from Star Trek; Deaths Head, yes?; Melanicus; A Quark; The Silver Surfer; Lion-O (?); Catweazle; A Vervoid; A Kalik (May be a Zarbi?); Beep the Meep; An Ice Warrior; The Destroyer from Battlefield; A Chainsaw Zombie from comic strip End of The Line; Flotsam; A Neutron Knight; The Prisoner(?); Roger Delgado’s Master; An unidentified cat-thing with corks hanging from it’s hat and a big gun; The Morbius Monster; The Ship’s Guardian from comic strip Polly The Glot; The Mekon (silhouette); Alpha Centauri; Vesuvius the Robot from The Iron Legion comic strip; The Knights of Pendragon; A Cybercontroller (Tomb of The Cybermen style); The Kandyman; The K-1 Robot; A White Robot from The Mind Robber; A Chumblie; The Guardian of The Gateway from the comic strip The Time Witch; A Wirrn; Steed and Mrs Peel from The Avengers; and The Fourth Doctor. There may be more. This version of the Ninth Doctor would reappear in DWM issue 265. Derek Hicks of Harwood, Bolton declared in issue #177 of DWM: ‘Nice to see the Doctor finally make it to Maruthea in the comic strip Party Animals. However, I’m surprised he recognised the place – after all, when he landed on Earth 1992 at the time of the Gantac Invasion (Issue 148-150) he said "This doesn’t look much like the planet of Maruthea, either. Not nearly enough swamps, for one thing." Now, perhaps there are different atmosphere controlled swamps on board the satellite, but even a pre-blue crystal induced Tommy couldn’t mistake a space station for a planet! ‘Then again, what was that about "none too serious?"’
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