Timeslip (comic story)

Timeslip
Doctor:	Fourth Doctor
Companion(s):	K9 Mark II
Featuring:	Third Doctor, Second Doctor, First Doctor
Main enemy:	Space amoeba
Main setting:	The TARDIS
Key crew
Publisher:	Marvel Comics
Editor:	Dez Skinn
Writers:	Dez Skinn (plot), Paul Neary (script)
Artist:	Paul Neary
Release details
Printed in:	Doctor Who Weekly 17-18
Release date:	6 February - 13 February 1980
Format:	Comic - 2 parts (8 pages)
DWM comic stories
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Next →	Doctor Who and the Star Beast
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Next →	Doctor Who and the Star Beast

Timeslip is a Doctor Who Weekly comic story featuring the Fourth Doctor and K9 Mark II. It is notable for introducing the concept of retro-regeneration, depicting the first time a Time Lord has reverted back to their previous incarnations, and the first instance the Doctor ever retro-regenerated.

Summary

The Doctor and K9 drift into contact with a deep space entity which feeds on time itself. As time begins to move backwards, K9 reverts to the components from which he was made and eventually to a pool of metal. Meanwhile, the Doctor moves back through his third, second and finally his first incarnation at the point where the Doctor first threw the switch to bring life to his TARDIS.

As the power reversal switches the power off, the entity weakens and time moves forward enough to throw the switch on, then back off, then on and so on. Each time the switch is changed, the entity experiences indigestion and eventually weakens. As time rolls forward once again, all that is left of the entity is a puddle on the TARDIS floor.

Plot

to be added

Characters

• Fourth Doctor
• First Doctor
• K9 Mark II
• Space amoeba

References

• The Doctor expresses a wish that he could contact Romana II.
• When the Doctor is regressed backwards in time, he has visions of past adversaries, including Cybermen, Daleks, the Master, Movellans, Ogrons and Zygons.

Notes

• This story was announced in the previous issue of Doctor Who Weekly as Time Trap.
• This is the first DWM comic strip story to feature an incarnation of the Doctor other than the then-current fourth incarnation, and the first appearance in the comic strip of K9.
• This marked the first DWM appearance of the First Doctor, Second Doctor and Third Doctor. While the First and Fourth Doctors drive the story, the Second and Third appear only transitionally.
• This was the first multi-Doctor story in any medium since the television story The Three Doctors in 1973.
• The full-page regression of the Doctor (which relied heavily on photo-reference of stock photos) through his earlier selves was also used as the basis of a colouring competition in DWM 24.
• The images of the various Doctors (and enemies) appear to have been based on promotional images that were around at the time.

Original print details

Publication with page count and closing captions

1. DWM 17 (4 pages) Next Week: Bid Time Return
2. DWM 18 (4 pages) Next Week: The Star Beast

Reprints

1. DWMS Summer 1981
2. DW84 18 Reprinted in colour.
3. DWCC 27 Reprinted in colour.
4. The Tides of Time Reprinted in black and white, with closing captions.
5. DWC 4 Reprinted in colour.
6. Doctor Who Classics Volume 1 Reprinted in colour from DWC 4.
7. Doctor Who Classics Omnibus Volume 1 Reprinted in colour from DWC 4.

Continuity

to be added