Revolutions of Terror (comic story)

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Revolutions of Terror was the three-part premiere story of Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor comic book series published in 2014. It introduced the Tenth Doctor's new companion, Gabriella "Gabby" Gonzalez, as well as her friend Cindy Wu, who would become a companion later.

Summary

Gabriella Gonzalez is stuck in a dead-end job in her family's New York Laundromat, dreaming of college and bigger, better and brighter things.

So when a strange man with an even stranger big blue box barges into her life on the eve of the Day of the Dead celebrations - talking about an infestation of psychic aliens - she seizes her chance for adventure with both hands.

After Donna's tragic exit, the Doctor thought he was done with new companions. But Gabby Gonzalez is going to prove him wrong... if she survives the night!

Plot

Part one

The day before Halloween, and the eve of Day of the Dead celebration by Mexicans, Gabby is working at her father's laundromat together with her friend, Cindy, when the machines go haywire. Gabby sees a sort of monster-like shadow coming out of the machines, but it evaporates just as Hector walks in stunned by the sight of wet clothes and water everywhere.

Later that day, while Gabby is having an argument with her family and Hector, her sister's fiancé, in the kitchen of their restaurant, "The Castillo Mexicano". At the same time, the Doctor orders some food from her sister. Before he can eat it, he dashes out of the restaurant after receiving a signal on a device of his. Shortly afterwards, Gabby's grandmother claims to have seen her deceased husband's soul writhing in agony in a photograph of him. Hector also sees it for a moment and later, in the laundromat, is accosted by a monstrous figure he describes as "the Devil".

In the city, while following the signal, the Doctor sees people running away screaming in horror for no apparent reason. He sees a baby become suddenly disfigured in front of his mother and her friends, before abruptly reverting to normal when the Doctor's device registers a strong signal. The Doctor advises the mother to lock herself and the baby in their apartment for several days.

As the Gonzalez family watches an interview with the local councillor Ricardo Mendoza on NY1 news, the man himself walks into their restaurant and implores them to attend the celebration of the eve of Day of the Dead tomorrow at the Green-Wood Cemetery. He is worried of the low attendance of the first event celebrating Mexican culture, which he worked so hard to organise.

Having found Hector, back from the laundromat and cowering in the corner in horror, Gabby's father, Miguel Gonzalez goes to check if Hector locked the doors while Gabby takes the subway to her boring night accountancy class.

When taking the subway back from the class near midnight, she hears an ominous announcement. Other passengers run past her screaming, and a monstrous creature walks into the car. It sees Gabby and turns into a horror version of her. Now Gabby is running herself and shouts to attract attention of a seemingly oblivious passenger reading a newspaper. It is the Doctor, who takes her hand and pulls out his sonic screwdriver.

Part two

The sonic has no effect on the monster, and as the train approaches a station, the Doctor and Gabby run along the train until they reach its end. Another passenger is already standing there. As the monster approaches, the passenger jumps off the train to his death despite the Doctor's pleading. The Doctor locks the outer door of the 3 train with the sonic screwdriver right in front of the monster's face, asks Gabby's name and tells her to jump onto the platform not waiting for the train to stop completely. The monster follows them onto the platform when the regular doors open and chases them up the stairs to the turnstile exit from the station. The turnstile is jammed, and the emergency exit is nowhere to be seen. As the Doctor busies himself with his device and the sonic screwdriver, instructing Gabby not to look at the monster, she pulls out a mirror and shows the monster its own reflection. This shorts out the psychic field. The monster turns back into the guard of the train, who falls down unconscious but breathing. In addition, the turnstile is not jammed anymore and the emergency exist is clearly visible. The Doctor explains that a perceptual filter prevented them from seeing it before. They leave the 45th Street station before anyone can question them. Gabby is intrigued by who the Doctor is, however he leaves for his TARDIS, telling her to lock herself at home for a couple of days and to forget about him.

On Halloween, Gabby avoids her work shift and goes exploring, knocks on the TARDIS in the park but backs out. She finds the laundromat is unlocked, and raises a baseball bat. The Doctor emerges from the backroom wearing a headset, as she whacks him on the head. Gabby asks more questions, and he says that he is the Doctor. In the park, he passes Gabby the headset to see the Pranavores, non-corporeal aliens that exists in a interdimensional psychosphere surrounding the earth at various faults[statement unclear] and feed off human empathy. The Cerebravores attack the Pranavores, and the Doctor takes back the headset and grabs a microphone to confront the Cerebravores, telling them the planet is protected under the Shadow Proclamation.

The Cerebravores manifest themselves within a group of city workers, turning them into their worst fears. Gabby theorises that they came through the washing machines, so they head to the laundromat. Suddenly, a Cerebravore attacks Gabby's mind, and she and the Doctor flee from monsters into the laudromat. The Doctor realises that the kinetic movement of the washing machine creates a bridge into their world, and if they increased their power, they would be able to invade the earth from multiple points. The Doctor travels through the portal, only to find murdered Fleshkind hosts of the Cerebravores. Whilst Gabby barricades herself from a possessed version of her friend Cindy, a Cerebravore wraps its tongue around the Doctor.

Part three

The Cerebravore searches through the Doctor's memories, however he is able to defeat the Cerebravore using his sonic screwdriver, freeing a Fleshkind. She was forced to weaponise the Pranavores, removing their benignity and hive mind and turning them into telepathic hunters - who in turn destroyed her own world.

On Earth, Gabby's family is wondering where she is; she is faced with telepathic projections in the laundromat. Singing, she drops more coins into the washing machine to extend the portal. The Doctor talks with the Fleshkind scientist, who gets possessed by a Cerebravore. The Doctor falls through the portal, narrowly avoiding the Cerebravore. Gabby passes the headset to the Doctor, and they run from the laundromat roof back to the TARDIS. In the TARDIS, Gabby asks the Doctor if he is an alien, which he confirms. She asks him what planet he's from, but he avoids the question. He makes adjustments to the headset to use it as an empathetic field amplifier. Trinity Wells warns New York residents to avoid the Brooklyn area, particularly Sunset Park, with public transport and communications shut-off. The Doctor tells Gabby she needs to keep singing.

Evading Cerebravores, they are able to locate her family celebrating the Day of the Dead ceremony in Green-Wood Cemetery. She introduces the Doctor to her family, but the festivities are soon interrupted by the approaching Cerebravores. Creating an orchestra of song, the Cerebravores are contained within the cemetery and by punching the button on the Empathetic Field Amplifier, it amplifies the song, destroying the laundromat and removing the spirits of the Cerebravores across the city. Gabby is scared to face up to her father, however he is proud of her and tells her to follow her dreams. The Doctor speculates that the Pranavores may have made him kinder. Having accepted a meal with the family, Gabby has worked out that the TARDIS can travel through space and wants to travel with him, seeing him as a better teacher than any college. However, the Doctor is wary as "friends of mine have been hurt" recently and they agree to part ways, telling her to have a "brilliant life" and to "keep singing". However, when she says a saying of her grandmother's, "no song should end too soon", resembling Carmen's prophecy, he agrees to one trip.

Characters

Visions

References

Notes

  • Gabby Gonzalez is the Doctor's first companion of Mexican descent. Given the Hispanic origins of her family, a number of Spanish words are used by them, including:
    • Culo - ass
    • ¿Neta? - Oh, really?
    • Mija - daughter, dear
    • Abuelita - granny
    • Madre de dios - Mother of God
    • Tata - nanny
    • La dia de los meurtos - Day of the Dead (misspelled)
    • Mi albondiguita - my little friend
  • This series takes place in the period between Planet of the Dead and The End of Time.[1]

Original print details

to be added

Continuity

Footnotes

  1. http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=58226: Andrew James "He's just rejected Christina De Souza as a potential companion -- so what makes Gabriella Gonzalez from Brooklyn any different?"