The Hunters (comic story)

The Hunters / Cliffhanger
Doctor:	[[doctor::Tenth Doctor]]
Companion(s):	Kara McGravy
Main enemy:	the Untra
Main setting:	Hondran
Key crew
Publisher:	[[publisher::BBC Magazines]]
Editor:	Moray Laing
Writer:	Trevor Baxendale
Artist:	John Ross
Colourist:	Adrian Salmon
Letterer:	Paul Vyse
Release details
Printed in:	Doctor Who Adventures 20 - 21
Release date:	January 2007
Format:	Comic - 2 parter (12 pages)
DWA comic stories
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The Hunters is a Doctor Who Adventures comic story featuring the Tenth Doctor.

Summary

The Hunters (Part One)

Shortly after landing on a jungle planet without Rose to accompany him, the Tenth Doctor finds himself clinging onto a vine when the cliff edge collapses and the TARDIS plummets down the side of a cliff. He is rescued by Kara McGravy a female botanist studying the planet's carnivorous flora and fauna.

No sooner is the Doctor back on solid ground, than Kara and he are running for their lives from the Untra, human-hunters from Untralo IV. The Untra hunt by scent and the Doctor and Kara shake them off by crossing a swamp, narrowly avoiding being caught in quicksand. Yet the Doctor knows the Untra will soon pick up their scent again and as he runs through the jungle he is caught by a giant, man-eating plant…

Cliffhanger (Part Two)

As the Doctor struggles in the mouth of the Marorda plant, Kara explains that the meat-eating plant is intelligent and loves to talk. The Marorda plant spits the Doctor out when he tries to start a conversation with it, giving the excuse that there was not enough meat on him. The Untra arrive and shoot the Marorda. While the Untra are busy with the Doctor, Kara escapes and comes across another of the planet's plant life. Halitosis Mushrooms so called because of their foul smell.

Gathering up a few handfuls of the mushrooms, Kara returns to the Doctor where she overpowers the Untra’s sense of smell. The Doctor and Kara make their escape down a cliff edge by climbing down the vines.

The vines however are another carnivorous plant form and as the Untra climb down after them, the vine comes alive with snake-like heads, razor sharp teeth snapping at their heels. The Doctor ties the vines' long-necked heads in knots after they have eaten all the Untras bar the Untra Leader, who is chewed up a bit by a Marorda plant, before being allowed to leave.

Characters

• Tenth Doctor
• Kara McGravy

References

• The TARDIS landing on an unsecure cliff edge is attributed to a fault in the 'subsidence scanners'.

Notes

• The Doctor Who Adventures comic strip adventures were aimed at a younger audience and the artwork and colours were bold and bright, reflecting the tone of the magazine.
• Self contained, one part stories were the norm in the early issues, later being expanded to two-parters.

Original print details

Publication with page count and closing captions

1. DWA 20 (6 pages) WILL THE DOCTOR ESCAPE? FIND OUT NEXT ISSUE!
2. DWA 21 (6 pages) THE END! A BRAND-NEW ADVENTURE FOR THE DOCTOR BEGINS NEXT ISSUE!

Continuity

• The Doctor makes an absent-minded comment to Rose to take in the view, before realising she isn't with him. There is no explanation given for her departure but her travelling days with the Doctor on television had (apparently) come to an end.
• The Maroda plants response to not eating the Doctor, echoes Donna Noble's view of the Tenth Doctor being too skinny.

External links

• The official BBC Magazine site with cover gallery and news of the latest available issue
• Doctor Who Reference Guide - synopsis for The Hunters / Cliffhanger