TV Terrors (TVC 709 comic story)

TV Terrors (TVC 709 comic story)
Main character(s):	Monica, Buttons, Cuthbert
Main setting:	Present day, Dr. Who's TARDIS, Stone Age
Key crew
Publisher:	Polystyle Publications, Ltd.
Release details
Printed in:	TVC 709
Cover date:	17 July 1965

A TV Terrors comic story was published in TV Comic 709.

In the usual tradition of TV Terrors, it saw the protagonists attempt to visit the stars of their favourite television series, and getting into mischief. In this case, the kids tried to visit Dr. Who after seeing him on TV. This was perhaps one of the very first instances of a story showing the Doctor Who franchise existing in-universe, something that would become more prevalent over time. However, the comic is not explicit about what show the Doctor had appeared in, just that they saw him on TV.

The story, notably, is not a Doctor Who parody, as no element of the series is lampooned. The illustrations of the TARDIS are consistent with the unique design used by Neville Main in the mainline TV Comic stories, although the front door is erroneously illustrated opening in one large piece.

Plot

After watching the "smashing" Dr. Who on television, Monica, Buttons, and Cuthbert decide to visit the studio to receive his autograph.

Arriving at the studio, the guard tries to chase them out, but they take refuge inside Dr. Who's TARDIS, Buttons believing that Dr. Who must have parked it there. After he presses a button, the trio of kids find themselves in the Stone Age. Exploring, they find a Stone Age TV Studio, and a caveman chases them back to the TARDIS as they weren't supposed to enter the studio.

Returning to the 20th century, and after exiting the TARDIS, the guard once again chases them.

Characters

• Monica
• Buttons
• Cuthbert
• Guard
• Caveman

References

• Monica has a bow in her hair.
• The children watch Doctor Who.

Notes

The erroneous TARDIS door.

• Perhaps a mistake, there is only one door on the TARDIS, opening from the the left, instead of the usual double doors seen virtually everywhere else. It also opens outwards, not inwards.
• For some reason, the children's dog Spot was absent in the story.
• The story seems to imply, that unlike most other stories concerning the Doctor Who franchise in-universe, that the television series are records of Dr. Who's adventures directly, akin to the portrayal of the franchise in Extracts from the Doctor's 500 Year Diary.

Continuity

• Doctor Who is a television programme in the 1960s. (PROSE: Stop, Thief!, TV: Remembrance of the Daleks, et al.)
• The Doctor's TARDIS had previously travelled back the the age of cavemen in TV: An Unearthly Child.