The Tides of Time (comic story)

The Tides of Time
Doctor:	Fifth Doctor
Companion(s):	Sir Justin, Shayde
Featuring:	‎Merlin
Main enemy:	Melanicus
Main setting:	Stockbridge, 1982; Panopticon and the Matrix; Melanicus' realm
Key crew
Publisher:	Marvel Comics
Editor:	Alan McKenzie
Writer:	Steve Parkhouse
Artist:	Dave Gibbons
Release details
Number of parts:	7
Printed in:	DWM 61-67
Release date:	14 January - 8 July 1982
Reprinted in:	DW84 15, DW84 16, DW84 17, DW84 18, DW CC 10, DW CC 11, DWCS2 5, DWCS2 6
Traded in:	The Tides of Time
Format:	Comic
DWM comic stories
← Previous	The Neutron Knights
Next →	Stars Fell on Stockbridge

The Tides of Time was the first Fifth Doctor comic story published in Doctor Who Monthly.

Summary

The Universe is falling apart. A demon from another universe has left a hole in time and space.

The Doctor teams up with Sir Justin to prevent the demon from destroying the entire universe. But first, they must battle creatures of nightmares to find the lost matrix....

Plot

to be added

Characters

• Fifth Doctor
• Sir Justin
• Melanicus
• Shayde
• Catavolcus
• Higher Evolutionaries
  • Dakon Theka
  • Thane of Kordar
  • Merlin the Wise
• Time Lords
  • Rassilon
  • Morvane
  • Bedevere
• Mysterious woman with the appearance of Zoe Heriot

References

Fashion and clothing

• The Doctor wears cricket pads when playing cricket.

Individuals

• A young woman with dark hair appears as an illusion in the Maelstrom generated by Melanicus. The Doctor notes that he "knows her from somewhere" but can't quite recall who she is.

Notes

A mysterious woman

• This story afforded the first splash of interior colour in the history of DWM comics. Part six opened with a double-page full-colour spread. Oddly, the colourist wasn't credited.
• The Doctor's sees an illusion of a girl he knows but it is not revealed who it was. Although she is often interpreted to be Zoe with The Wheel in Space's garments, author Lance Parkin stated in the reference book AHistory highlighted that he based the physical description of Patience's first incarnation from the novel Cold Fusion's flashback on her.
• Actor Peter Davison was somewhat displeased with artist Dave Gibbons' likeness of him in the earliest parts of the story. Consequently, he submitted to a vigorous and highly detailed photoshoot for the artist. These photos allowed Gibbons to draw the Fifth Doctor more accurately and to avoid duplicating poses seen in widely-circulated publicity shots. Careful examination of the parts of this story show a steady improvement in Gibbons' ability to evoke Peter Davison, while placing the Fifth Doctor in completely original panel compositions. (DOC: Stripped for Action)
• The story begins and ends with the Doctor playing cricket in Stockbridge. Thus the comic debut of the Fifth Doctor gives stronger rationale for this incarnation's signature "cricket uniform" than does his televised introduction.
• The name "Stockbridge" does not actually appear in this story. Readers only retroactively knew the village name because this story named Wells Wood. It was only in the next story that Wells Wood was identified as being on the outskirts of a village named Stockbridge.
• The Doctor's near-death encounter with a grenade while cricketing echoes a similar sequence from The Prisoner's "The Girl Who Was Death". Both stories feature surrealist imagery perpetuated by a malevolent trickster-like figure. Melanicus for the Doctor and Death for Number 6.
• The first words spoken by the Fifth Doctor in his comic book tenure are; "Hard luck, Skipper! Shouldn't have put yourself in so soon!"

 Original print details

(Publication with page count and closing captions)

1. DWM 61 (8 pages) Next Issue: The Maelstrom!
2. DWM 62 (8 pages) Next: Journey to the Edge of Forever!
3. DWM 63 (8 pages) Next Issue: Dream Wars!
4. DWM 64 (8 pages) No closing caption
5. DWM 65 (8 pages) No closing caption
6. DWM 66 (8 pages) Next: To Slay a Demon!
7. DWM 67 (9 pages) The End.

Reprints

1. DW84 15-18 (Doctor Who (1984) colourised reprint)
2. DWCC 10-11 (Doctor Who Classic Comics colourised reprint)
3. The Tides of Time
4. DWCS2 5-7 (IDW colourised reprint)
5. Doctor Who Classics Volume 4 (IDW colourised reprint)
6. Doctor Who Classics Omnibus Volume 2 (IDW colourised reprint)

Continuity

• Thanks to the privileges of his presidency, the Fourth Doctor expressed knowledge of Rassilon's mind existing within the Matrix during the Sontaran invasion of Gallifrey. (TV: The Invasion of Time) The Fifth Doctor would later encounter Rassilon again during the events of COMIC: The Stockbridge Horror and TV: The Five Doctors.
• The Fourth Doctor, although unaware at the time, was involved in a battle in the Millennium Wars in COMIC: The Deal.
• Catavolcus's continuing battle against Arthur and his the Neutron Knights in Earth's far future comes as a result of Melanicus's escape from the Althrace system. As noted here, it was the intervention of the Fourth Doctor and Merlin the Wise that halted Catavolcus's advance. (COMIC: The Neutron Knights)
• Merlin briefly projected himself as a ghostly figure again to farewell the Doctor in COMIC: The Neutron Knights'.
• The Seventh Doctor will discover the aftermath of another of Merlin's dealings in TV: Battlefield.
• Rassilon refers to the Matrix as the "home of the Celestial Intervention Agency." (TV: The Deadly Assassin, et al.)