Planet Bollywood! (comic story)

Planet Bollywood
Doctor:	Eleventh Doctor
Companion(s):	Amy Pond
Main enemy:	Shasarak
Main setting:	Unnamed planet
Key crew
Publisher:	Panini Comics
Editor:	Tom Spilsbury, Scott Gray
Writer:	Jonathan Morris
Artist:	Roger Langridge
Colourist:	James Offredi
Release details
Printed in:	Doctor Who Magazine 424
Release date:	22 July 2010
Format:	Comic - 1 part
DWM comic stories
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Summary

The Doctor and Amy arrive on a planet where everyone, including themselves, acts like they are in a musical...

Plot

A deep-space battle between members of an elephant-like race and the Shasarak leads to a ship crashing down into the planet below. When the Eleventh Doctor and Amy arrive on the planet they spontaneously burst into song. They are then attacked by the Shasarak. Amy escapes but the Doctor is caught. Amy gets to a nearby village, where she is greeted by a huge dance routine. A man named Rajiv shows her the Muse, a blue-skinned woman who has the ability to make people burst into song and dance. Meanwhile, the Shasarak leader tells the Doctor that they are trying to capture the Muse. The Shasarak burst into a dance routine and the Doctor escapes. The Muse explains to Amy and Rajiv she is an android who was used as an amusement for the Maharani, but when the Shasarak figured out her powers could be used for evil, they hunted her down. She was damaged from the crash landing. Just as she finishes, the Doctor turns up and begins inspecting the Muse. He comes to the conclusion that she could recharge from a nearby power source, and devises a brilliant plan. When the Shasarak arrive in the village a dance routine starts. Their leader follows the Doctor into one of the houses, while Amy, Rajiv and the Muse sneak into the Shasarak ship, where she recalibrates herself. The Doctor is about to be shot by the angry leader when the Shasarak start dancing due to the Muse being at full power, and are left dancing for hours. While the authorities are on the way, Rajiv and the Muse embrace their love and the Doctor and Amy leave.

Characters

• Eleventh Doctor
• Amy Pond
• The Muse
• Shasarak
• Rajiv
• The Maharani

References

• The Doctor says his first model train set was a Hornby, Double-O.
• The Doctor mentions Farah Khan.
• Amy mentions Fiddler on the Roof.

Notes

• References to Indian culture include the elephant-like race (who wear Indian-style uniforms and resemble Ganesha), the Shasarak (who wear Indian-style armour and whose name is an anagram of Rakshasa), the villagers (who dress in traditional Indian style and one of whom has the traditional Indian name Rajiv), the Muse (who has the blue skin and outfit of a Hindu goddess), and the Maharani (who is named after the title of a female Hindi monarch or royal, and lives in an Indian-style palace).
• It is reasonable to assume that the comic has been written to invite the potential of a musical episode of Doctor Who, in the tradition of the musical episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Xena: Warrior Princess and Scrubs.
• The third edition of aHistory arbitrarily dates this story to 2397, as it seems to be set in the future when Bollywood culture has spread from Earth into space (but admits the possibility that Bollywood culture originated in space).

Continuity

• Another humanoid-elephant species appeared in COMIC: Where Nobody Knows Your Name.