Pinball Wizard (comic story)

While dodging the Erewon Armada, the Doctor realises that the TARDIS' Xion crystals have been jolted out of line. The slippage caused the passivator to go into flux and leak coolant into the aethiopathic chamber, leading to the positioning system overheating. What the TARDIS needs is a big jolt.

Luckily, the TARDIS lands inside a giant pinball machine with a strong 1960s American theme (including the Statue of Liberty, fast food mock ups, baseballs, cars and route signs). Ironically, this giant pinball table is being used to punish Gameslaves (people who spend too much time playing computer games) by forcing them to take part in a giant, real-life game by being encapsulated in one of the game's balls. Spectators decide whether the "player" gets to live, based on their game performance.

The Doctor and Rose watch Track R Ball play the game, but Rose mistakenly gets to play the game instead of Joyce Tick. The Doctor, flashing his psychic paper, gets to take control of the game. He manipulate the ball to strike the TARDIS. The ball drops down a hole and the Doctor frees Rose. Both of them make a hasty escape in the TARDIS, which now works properly.

Characters

References

On pinball: the Doctor says that he spent a lot of time playing it back in the 1960s. He was quite a wizard at it.

Notes

The DWA 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

DWA 15 (6 pages split 4/2) MORE ADVENTURES NEXT ISSUE!

Continuity

The TARDIS technobabble has nothing to do with any references made on screen.
The Doctor uses his psychic paper to gain control of the pinball game.

External link

Pinball Wizard at the Doctor Who Reference Guide