The Whispering Gallery (comic story)
Promotional summary
The TARDIS has landed in a maze-like gallery filled with thousands of talking pictures, and the Doctor and his companion Martha discover they've come across a planet where showing emotion has been outlawed. The inhabitants have good reason for their suppression, but it wouldn't be like the Doctor to leave them in fear of truly living.
Summary
When Martha complains that they're out of milk, the Tenth Doctor aims the TARDIS for a grocery shop, but instead it lands at the Whispering Gallery on Grått. The gallery is filled with pictures of the deceased, and each picture contains a small fragment of the dead person's consciousness, specifically their final thoughts before death.
The Doctor recalls having once met a young female Gråttite named Grayla, and having briefly travelled with her, giving her a taste of the universe beyond her home planet, where any display of emotion is outlawed. The Doctor is saddened to find Grayla's picture among the displays, with her final thought being a warning to the Doctor about displaying emotion on Grått. The Doctor leaves the gallery in search of Grayla's grave, leaving Martha alone in the gallery.
The Doctor soon learns the monsterous secret behind the Gråttites' lack of emotion, and of the consequences of having taken Grayla on her single jouney in the TARDIS. Martha, meanwhile, finds herself compelled to rearrange the gallery to fulfil the last wishes of some of its exhibits.
Characters
- The Doctor
- Martha Jones
- Empathivore
- Grayla (flashback)
- Brief companion of the Doctor between TV: The Runaway Bride and TV: Smith and Jones.
References
- Crab Nebula
- Horsehead Nebula
- The Doctor tried to decide which nebula it was that he had taken Grayla to on her travels.
Notes
- Published with three variant covers.
- Reprinted as part of the graphic novel Through Time and Space.
Cover Gallery
Cover A
Cover B
Cover RI
Continuity
- At the beginning of the story, Martha appears to be looking into the TARDIS' refrigerator, one of the few occasions since the revival began that a creature comfort of this sort has been seen. The fact she refers to the refrigerator and not the food machine (featured in the early First Doctor serials) implies the machine might no longer be in use or, at least, that it isn't used for liquid refreshment.
- When the Doctor leaves to find Grayla's grave, he carries a multi-coloured umbrella similar to the one carried by the Sixth Doctor.
- The concept of the Whispering Gallery is similar to that of the "data ghosting" seen in TV: Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead.
