As Time Goes By (comic story)

As Time Goes By
Doctor:	Eleventh Doctor
Companion(s):	Amy, Rory
Main enemy:	Silurians
Main setting:	Casablanca, 1941
Key crew
Publisher:	IDW Publishing
Editor:	Denton J. Tipton
Writer:	Joshua Hale Fialkov
Artist:	Matthew Dow Smith
Colourist:	Charlie Kirchoff
Letterer:	Shawn Lee
Release details
Printed in:	DW11 13-16
Release date:	11 January - 18 April 2012
Format:	American comic book 4 issues
Doctor Who (2011)
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You may be looking for the song by Herman Hupfeld.

As Time Goes By was a four-issue comic story from the Doctor Who (2011) range, and the final story of that series, as the numbering was restarted with Doctor Who (2012).

Summary

1941. Casablanca. Murder. Sound familiar? It does as well to the Doctor, Amy and Rory, who revel in being in the setting for the classic film. That is until they discover a world-domination plot hatched not by Hitler, but the Silurians!

Plot

to be added

Characters

• Eleventh Doctor
• Amy Pond
• Rory Williams
• Captain
• Silurian scientist
• Resistance leader
• Woman
• Pianist
• Café owner
• Prisoner
• Aroteth
• Michel

Worldbuilding

• The Doctor describes the Nazis as his third least favourite thing in at least two universes.
• The "venomous Sea Devil" is considered a myth by the Silurians.
• A combination of the sonic screwdriver, the TARDIS key and a Silurian communication device is used to remotely open the TARDIS to suck all the water to prevent the flooding.

Notes

• Multiple references and similarities connect the story to the classic film Casablanca:
  • Several unnamed characters in the comic match or closely resemble characters from the film, including
    • Captain as Captain Louis Renault,
    • café owner as Rick Blaine (and accordingly the café as Rick's Café Américain),
    • woman who is a friend of the café owner as Ilsa Lund,
    • Resistance leader as Victor Laszlo,
    • prisoner killed while in custody as Signor Ugarte and
    • pianist as Sam.
  • In the story, the Captain salutes the Eleventh Doctor with the words "Liberté, égalité, fraternité". A coat of arms with these words can be seen on Palais de Justice at the beginning of the film.
  • The police arresting Rory Williams while rounding up people corresponds to the search for the killer of the courier in the film.
  • Nazis enter the café in both stories.
  • The police arrests a man in the café, who later dies in custody at the hand of Silurians masquerading as policemen. In the film, the police arrests Signor Ugarte in Rick's Café Américain, who later dies in custody because of apparent foul play bu the local police.
  • The Eleventh Doctor observes how the café owner hears the pianist playing "As Time Goes By" from behind the doors and storms in to remind him never to play it. In the film, Rick hears Sam playing "As Time Goes By" from behind the doors and storms in to remind him never to play it, only to find Ilsa there.
  • The Doctor helps the woman get into the closed café, where the pianist is playing for the owner. In the film, Ilsa sneaks into the closed café, where Sam is playing "As Time Goes By" for Rick.
  • At the end of the comic story, Silurians make it rain in Casablanca. At the end of the film, it rains in Casablanca.
  • The Doctor asks the Captain to sing "La Marseillaise". In the film, Victor Laszlo leads French nationals in singing "La Marseillaise" to drown a German song by Nazis.
  • The Captain and the café owner see the plane off while a dead Nazi lies nearby. In the film, Captain Renault and Rick see the plane with Victor Laszlo and Ilsa off while the body of Major Strasser lies nearby.
  • One of the last phrases of the comic story, "This is the end of a very terrible vacation" is an homage to the last phrase of the movie, "This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
• However, there are also deviations. For instance, the café owner, the Resistance leader and the woman are shown in the comic walking towards the airport by themselves, while the Captain is still under arrest, whereas in the film Captain Louis Renault waits for them in Rick's café, and all four travel to the airport together. Despite these minor deviations, it is not hard to combine the film and the comic story into one continuous narrative.

Continuity

• The Doctor says that he "reversed the polarity of the neutron flow", a catchphrase his third incarnation used. (TV: The Sea Devils)