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JBB: An Artblog!
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Origami Around
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September 1970: Levitation Published in TV Comic Annual 1971 TARDIS Data Core entry
The Doctor discovers that levitating himself is actually pretty simple, and he plays around with it long enough to catch a spy. Enjoy it while you can, because you won't see it again until Castrovalva, I think.
September 1970: Castaway Published in TV Comic Annual 1971 TARDIS Data Core entry
Now this is more like it! Doctor Who comics haven't looked this good since the days of The Dalek Chronicles back in '65. Not much of a plot, but between getting The Doctor and The Brigadier relaxing out on a yacht, and a villain who is basically "evil Aquaman", this is a low-key classic.
September 1970: Dr Who Annual 1971 TARDIS Data Core entry
Don't get me wrong, readers. This annual is a noticeable improvement over the last three. But I still don't understand why the good people at World Distributors kept hiring such shitty artists for this project based on a prominent and beloved show. It's kind of embarrassing.
September 5 - October 24, 1970 - Doctor Who and the Robot Published in TV Comic 977-984 TARDIS Data Core entry
Scientist invents robot, scientist bans dog from lab, robot goes berserk because it loves the laboratory dog that much. True story.
July 18 - August 29, 1970 - Doctor Who and the Rocks from Venus Published in TV Comic 970-976 TARDIS Data Core entry
The Brigadier asks The Doctor to confirm that some newly discovered rocks from the planet Venus actually contain the components necessary to sustain life! The Doctor takes the rocks back to Liz Shaw, and she confirms that they do in fact have all the promised elements. The Doctor reveals that he already knew that the rocks were fake and not from Venus at all!
There's almost a "Scooby-Doo" feel to this one, which eventually boils down to a corrupt scientist trying to fool the government to keep the funding flowing so he can restore his old family castle. But the pacing is particularly nice, and it keeps the reader guessing.
Sadly, it's time again to say goodbye to Liz Shaw. The comics gave her an extra five weeks of adventure past the last episode of Inferno, but this is her last story in the strips.
July 1970: Undercover Published in TV Comic Holiday 1970 TARDIS Data Core entry
The Brigadier asks for The Doctor's help in getting back "a small device of the utmost importance" from an embassy in London, but UNIT can't be seen to be involved. So naturally, The Doctor dresses like an old woman and brings along a vial of "obedience spray."
Naturally.
As silly as this all sounds (and yes, it is very silly), this strip is the second time in 1970 that TV Comic has managed to predict something from the future of the television show. The Third Doctor does dress in drag in 1973's story The Green Death.
July 1970: Assassin from Space Published in TV Comic Holiday 1970 TARDIS Data Core entry
The Doctor is just walking through the park minding his own business when he gets attacked by an ... ASSASSIN FROM SPACE! Yep, big ol' bug-like thing. Fortunately, The Doctor has a trick cane!
So that helps a lot.
(Maybe it's just me, but the TV Comic version of The Doctor always has a lot more *gadgets* at hand than the actual television version. Like, a LOT more.)
June 13 - July 11, 1970 - The Fishmen of Carpantha Published in TV Comic 965-969 TARDIS Data Core entry
The Doctor takes part in a test for a new depth charge and HEY! IT'S LIZ! She may be finishing up her run on the TV show, but she's just getting started here in the comics. She gets to be involved in more of the adventure than The Brig, and she even conspires with The Doctor to keep the secret of the titular Fishmen from UNIT when the story ends.
Well, that's just nice.
May 9 - June 20, 1970: Inferno TARDIS Data Core entry
Season Seven wraps up with another seven-part epic. The Doctor tries once again to relaunch the TARDIS into the timestream and ends up traveling "sideways in time" to an alternate universe. Here the British government is fascists all the way down, including the bright boys and girls of UNIT (now the RSF, or Republican Security Forces).
This bizarre turn of events gives the Doctor an unexpected advantage ... he sees a possible run of circumstance play out regarding a powerful new drill making its way down to unprecedented depths. The same situation exists on the "original" Earth, but everything is further along in this timeline ... and it's about to reach a boiling climax!
Sad to say, this is the last we will see of Caroline John as Dr Elizabeth Shaw until she makes a somewhat pointless cameo in the 20th anniversary special in 1983.
May 9 - June 6, 1970 - The Metal Eaters Published in TV Comic 960-964 TARDIS Data Core entry
A meteor lands on Earth and releases a flood of intelligent alien iron filings (!!!) that can devour metal and take over people's minds. Once again, this would have made an *amazing* television story.
April 4 - May 2, 1970 - Insect Published in TV Comic 955-959 TARDIS Data Core entry
A man-made fertilizer has an unexpected effect on local bugs, making them grow to enormous size.
Hm.
After years of being a completely different entity from the television programme, it's almost shocking how perfectly the TV Action comic has now lined up with the Pertwee era and its new agenda. Not only is this exactly the sort of thing the TV show might have taken on, it seems like it might have been an inspiration for The Green Death three years later.
March 21 - May 2, 1970: The Ambassadors of Death TARDIS Data Core entry
It cannot be overstated how drastic a reboot of the whole Doctor Who concept Season 7 is. Barry Letts and company pushed HARD to explore entirely new directions, and this is, frankly, a completely different television show than last year.
First off, obviously, is the fact that a traveling TARDIS is the backbone of the whole Doctor Who concept. It's the cabinet of mysteries, the wardrobe that leads to Narnia. And this season it's immobile. The Doctor is stuck working with UNIT because he is physically unable to get out into the universe. He is barely cooperative with the closest equivalent of the "companions" of previous years, being just enough of a team player to be able to get the resources to try and circumvent the Time Lords' punishment and get back out into the cosmos.
So the mysteries and alien boogens just have to make their way to Earth before they show up on UNIT's (and The Doctor's) radar. And once we get past the regeneration episode, Spearhead from Space, the enemies are more morally complicated than we are accustomed to. In The Ambassadors of Death, the titular ambassadors are not evil at all, they are simply used by an evil Earthbound faction.
There is a dedicated team of stuntmen, for heaven sake.
Also, bonus points for making spacesuits terrifying less than a year after the first moon landing (and thirty-eight years before Silence in the Library).
February 28 - March 28, 1970 - The Multi-Mobile Published in TV Comic 950-954 TARDIS Data Core entry
The Brigadier drags a petulant Doctor off to see a demonstration of a big ol' super tank ... which promptly gets hijacked by foreign agents.
Actually, this is the same plot as Car of the Century, but this time it's not The Doctor's fault!
January 31 - March 14, 1970: Doctor Who and the Silurians TARDIS Data Core entry
This story shows a real evolution of the Monster era from Troughton's run. These "monsters" used to run the planet before they went into species-wide hibernation to avoid the effects of an impending catastrophe. But those effects didn't happen -- the rogue planet on collision course with Earth simply entered our orbit and became the moon, so there was now space at the top of the food chain, and humans took it. The Silurians are not monsters, they are old-school Earthlings.
Also, we see what a weird fit it is for The Doctor to work with the military thanks to a very dark ending that leaves our hero quite conflicted (see the linked video).
January 17 - February 21, 1970 - The Arkwood Experiments Published in TV Comic 944-949 TARDIS Data Core entry
Our newly-regenerated Doctor (with Brigadier in tow) is faced with zoo animals acting counter to their expected behavior. But this is just prelude to a class-full of rampaging 10-year-old students, who are the victims of scientific experiments ... performed by Harry flippin' Potter, apparently.
January 3-24, 1970: Spearhead from Space TARDIS Data Core entry
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart finds himself playing host to an unfamiliar man who claims to be his mysterious colleague, The Doctor! The newly-arrived visitor also catches the attention of the interviewee for UNIT's Scientific Advisor position, Dr. Elizabeth Shaw.
And so begins a new era of Doctor Who, surely one of the most radical reinventions in television history. Almost every aspect of the beloved show has been turned on its ear. The Doctor is tall and blonde and working with the establishment, the stories (and the TARDIS itself) are earthbound ... and of course it's all in beautiful colour.
January 3, 1970: Radio Times cover A new face, a new vibe, a new martial art!