Changes (comic story)
Changes was a Sixth Doctor comic strip published in Doctor Who Magazine. It was significant for showing many parts of the Doctor's TARDIS other than the control room and corridors usually seen on television.
This story also included the appearance of another shapeshifter aboard the TARDIS: the Kymbra Chimera. This Chimera took on the appearance of both the Sixth Doctor and Peri Brown.
Plot
Peri and Frobisher are rummaging through a storage room in the TARDIS. Peri is so taken aback by the cultural treasures she discovers that she doesn't pay attention when the Sixth Doctor reports that there is an intruder aboard the TARDIS. Peri and Frobisher decide to explore the TARDIS some more, while the Doctor investigates the intruder. The Doctor discovers a Swuffle he brought aboard was in fact a shapeshifter, a Kymbra Chimera. The shifter changes to the form of Peri, but Frobisher quickly spots the difference: Peri's clothes and necklace are fused into "her" flesh, as the Chimera is unable to duplicate clothing. The Chimera and Frobisher fight as the Doctor discovers a way to suck the intruder out the TARDIS. He does so in the nick of time.
Characters
References
The Doctor
- The Doctor possesses portraits of himself by Michelangelo and Vincent van Gogh.
Literature
- Peri finds a folio of a play which she surmises may be a lost play by William Shakespeare.
TARDIS
- Other items visible in the TARDIS storage room include a National Geographic Magazine, assorted toys, a globe, a map of Barsoom, a Dalek construction kit and a 78 rpm record by Bill Haley.
- The TARDIS memory vaults are described by Frobisher as a "four-dimensional simulation gallery" where the TARDIS collects imagery of all the places it has been. Among them includes a bizarre toroidal rock formation in the sky, a crystalline beach with tentacled clouds, and an Earth-like jungle (but could just as easily be Kembel or Spiridon).
- When the Doctor and Frobisher walk through the TARDIS interior, Bessie is seen stored in a darkened room.
- There is also a populated TARDIS zoo, which the Doctor describes as a "way station" where he keeps endangered animals, often saving them from extinction.
- The TARDIS' state of temporal grace, which renders weapons useless, does not function when the ship is in "normal space".
Notes
- This story was reprinted in PROSE: The World Shapers.
- It was reprinted in Grant Morrison's Doctor Who 1, colourised by Charlie Kirchoff.
- It was also reprinted in Doctor Who Classics Volume 3 (Grant Morrison's Doctor Who reprint).
- It was also reprinted in Doctor Who Classics Omnibus Volume 1.
Continuity
- This is one of a handful of stories to make an extensive exploration of the interior of the TARDIS. (COMIC: The Stockbridge Horror, Funhouse, Exodus, TV: The Edge of Destruction, The Invasion of Time, Castrovalva, Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS)
- The Doctor believes that the TARDIS itself is getting bigger, which contrasts ironically with a statement made by his second self who believed the console room had begun to shrink in his time. (PROSE: Invasion of the Cat-People)
- The Doctor returns to the secondary control room last seen in TV: The Robots of Death. The room includes what appears to be a tea dispenser installed in the centre console.
- The Doctor mentions the Mandragora Helix, which unbeknownst to him is still active within the TARDIS's systems. (TV: The Masque of Mandragora, COMIC: The Mark of Mandragora)
- The Doctor and Frobisher walk through several rooms and chambers, including a garage, a library and a basement. (COMIC: The Mark of Mandragora, Endgame, TV: The Eleventh Hour)
- The Doctor and Frobisher also walk past some body mannequins wearing the outfits once worn by the Fourth Doctor (TV: Robot, et al.) and Fifth Doctor. (TV: Castrovalva, et al.)
- The Kymbra Chimera is defeated in an identical manner to that of Magog in COMIC: Doctor Who and the Iron Legion.
External links
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