The Klepton Parasites (comic story)

The Klepton Parasites
Doctor:	First Doctor
Companion(s):	John, Gillian
Main enemy:	Klepton One
Main setting:	England, 20th century; The Thain's planet, 30th century
Key crew
Writer:	Neville Main
Artist:	Neville Main
Release details
Number of parts:	10
Printed in:	TV Comic 674-683
Release date:	9 November 1964 - 11 January 1965
Reprinted in:	DWCC 2
Format:	Comic
TVC comic stories
Next →	The Therovian Quest

The Klepton Parasites was the first TV Comic story, as well as the first Doctor Who strip of all time.

It featured the First Doctor and introduced two new companions for the comic, his grandchildren, John and Gillian Who.

Summary

Two schoolchildren, John and Gillian meet their grandfather Dr Who for the first time, with John accidently activating the old man's time travelling machine, to traverse the barriers of time and space. On an alien world in the 30th century, the peaceful Thains have been invaded by the warlike Kleptons, who wish to destroy the Thains city and enslave them, using a ever spreading plant, whose propelling stems can rip down buildings. Dr Who and his grandchildren thereafter find themselves in a battle for survival as they bring down enemy ships, fly one to the Kleptons secret underwater base, and thwart their plans by using their equipment against them.   

Plot

Part One

In the far distant future, the Thains have lived happily and peacefully for many years, but one day, strange, menacing creatures hover above the city, in their glass pod like flying ships, threatening to take over their cities and their lands, and to enslave their race. The invaders have huge eyes, snouts and large finlike ears, and are known as Kleptons. Three of their flying ships then swoop down in formation, capturing many of the Thain people in a gravity lift that picks them up off the ground as if they were mere toys, to imprison them as hostages. Minutes later, the Kleptons unleash an ever spreading plant based life form whose root mass and appendages, grow at a fantastic speed, crushing the buildings of Thain City and bringing them crashing down. Having no weapons and no way to stop the Kleptons, the Thains fear they are doomed.

Across time and space, on a peaceful road in England, on 20th century Earth, two children named John and Gillian search through the darkened night for the home of their grandfather, a man who they've never before met. All they know is he lives on this road at number sixteen, and that he is an inventor. Realising number sixteen is not a house, but an empty yard, they wander in and discover a blue police telephone box, the type that was so often found on street corners. Its door was open, and John and Gillian went in. In a room that defied its exterior in terms of size, a white haired old man stood by a six sided control console, as the children told him, they were looking for their grandfather, Dr Who. "You must be John and Gillian", came the man's reply, before he began to explain that they were inside his time travelling machine, and that they could journey to any year in the past, or the future. With a child's curiosity, John then pressed a button on the console and with a sudden gust of wind, the police box revolves, then disappears, as the Doctor confirms they are rushing headlong into the 29th century. On, into the mysterious future they travel, until they come to a stop, land, and open the door, where they are greeted by the gun of a Klepton Podship, and orders that confirm they are about to be captured.

Part Two

Having traversed the barriers of time and space beyond that of the 29th century on into the 30th, the Doctor and his grandchildren, have two of the Klepton's flying machine's pointing their guns directly at them, as the twisted, curling plant life, that were known as creepers, continued to rip their way through the ground, and the Thains ran in fear of their lives. The Kleptons wanted hostages, they wanted these new visitors captured, and thereafter used the gravity lift to elevate this schoolchild Gillian upwards toward one of their podship's in an attempt to kidnap her. This said, John was quick to act and amid the propelling stems that surrounded him, he found a brick, a brick that had once been part of a dwelling the creepers had demolished, but a brick he now turned into a weapon to fight the Kleptons with. Throwing it with all his strength, the boy, not only managed to hit the ship that was kidnapping his sister, but also to shatter its glass dome, which in turn caused it to plunge out of control, to release Gillian, and to crash into the planet's surface below. It also had the knock on effect of the Kleptons making a tactical withdrawal, as they realised that the strangers had wrecked their plans, and that they must return to their base to report their loss to the Klepton leader.

The Doctor, meanwhile, is thanked by Valda, the leader of the Thains, for saving his people, and the Doctor assures him that he and his grandchildren will help if they can. He tries to discover who the Kleptons are and why they are attacking, but Valda doesn't know who they are or indeed where they come from, and is only able to reiterate that the invaders are determined to destroy Thain city and make his people slaves. Valda fears that the Kleptons will crush the Thains as they have lived in peace for centuries, and have no weapons. However, the Doctor manages to give them hope by reminding them that something as simple as John's brick had already sent the Kleptons flying, and they can, and must defeat these monsters. The old man encourages the planet's inhabitants to use heat ray guns found in their museum, which are subsequently repaired just in time for the arrival of ten Klepton Podships, with orders to crush the Thains. The Doctor directs John, Gillian and the Thains to battle stations. 

Part Three

Young Thains, some no older than children, are armed with hand held heat guns, with John in charge of the much larger heat cannon. The sky was full of Klepton Podships, the ground and a nearby observation post quite literally crawling with the continuously expanding killer plant formation, and so the battle began. The much more highly advanced and warlike Kleptons versus the inexperienced Thains, who hadn't handled a weapon of any sort in a hundred years. However, the fact the Thains were now armed came as so much of a surprise to Kleptons, that after suffering a couple of direct hits to their vehicles, they decided to retreat, blaming their losses on the strangers giving their foes a new fighting spirit.

Valda thanked the Doctor, saying that he and the children had taught his race how to defeat their enemies, to which the Doctor replied that they had not yet defeated the Kleptons, that they were ruthless, determined, and that they would be back. Despite not knowing where the invaders were from, the Doctor felt the Thains must take the fight to the Kleptons and catch them in their lair, prompting Gillian to suggest there may be some clues as to their origins in one of their not so badly damaged flying machines. Studying the craft, the Doctor comes to the conclusion that the Kleptons cannot survive in the planet's atmosphere without their podships, reminding her that when their transport's globe had previously been pierced the Klepton had crashed, he also wonders if they could repair and fly the alien vessel. Elsewhere, the would be conquerors stand in a court room like chamber, reporting to their leader, Klepton One, telling him that eight of their podships have been smashed up. Angered, he informs them that he will not be defeated, that the Thains must be crushed, that the Kleptons must intensify the creepers, and drag their city to the ground. Suddenly, the plant life that had already been tearing down numerous buildings, multiplied tenfold, ripping itself from the ground, with its tendrils curling and coiling, to wrap itself around anything that got in its way, including John.  

Part Four

John was in the clutches of the terrifying creepers, a living plant species that was spreading at an alarming rate across the Thain City, in an attempt to destroy it, and to help its masters, the Kleptons, enslave the planet's inhabitants. The creepers have tendrils that seem to have an infinite growth capacity, twisting and turning in on itself to maintain its hold on the the boy as its stems shoot high into the air. His sister Gillian watches on helplessly as the plant begins to choke him, and the Doctor tells her that they need to find a weapon, as the branches are too thick and strong for them to tackle. Racing toward the Thains guns, the Doctor believes that a blast from a heat gun should do the trick, and fires off the biggest of the guns in order to "singe that overgrown aspidistra's tentacles." A searing blast hits the creeper, and John jumps free to the ground. The heat gun had saved John, but couldn't tackle all the creepers that were sprouting up around them, and indeed engulfing every last building too. Rather than see the city as a heap of rubble, Valda considers surrendering, but John insisted that the Thains mustn't let the Kleptons enslave them, with the Doctor concluding that, if the Thains are determined to fight, they will beat the "bug eyed monsters."

The Doctor thereafter rallies the Thains to help repair the dome of the Klepton's flying machine, in an attempt to get the podship in the air, and try and find their enemy's base. However, as they worked together, a lone Klepton vessel returns with a stark warning booming out for all to hear, a final and chilling warning from Klepton One, that says, "Surrender or we will utterly destroy your city...". Valda replied on behalf of all his people, saying that the Thains would not give in, that they would fight and they would win. The Klepton ship then took off, as the Doctor, John and Gillian boarded their now repaired podship, in which they intended to give pursuit. This side, their craft was right by a building the creepers were about to pull down right on top of them. The ship starts to rise, the building starts to fall toward them, and amidst the fleeing people, someone yells out that the travellers are doomed.

Part Five

Dr Who believed that the flying bricks would crush him and his grandchildren to the ground, but managed to gain control of the repaired Klepton podship or "bubble" with only inches to spare. He then began his dogged pursuit of the fleeing enemy ship, determined to follow it and find the Kleptons hide out. John points out the other ship has got a big start on them and that they may not be able to catch him. Below however, the Thains make it clear just how much they are depending on the three time travellers. Indeed, Valda, their leader adds that everything rests on Dr Who, John and Gillian winning through, and says if they are captured nothing can stop the Kleptons smashing their city to the ground, and turning them all into slaves. Meanwhile, back in the podship, Gillian fears they have lost their prey, but Dr Who reiterates that he is not turning back and that they must find the Klepton's headquarters. Despite his grandchildren's despondency when they find themselves flying out across a great ocean, Dr Who presses on, as elsewhere, Klepton One is told that despite his message being delivered the Thains refuse to surrender. He tells his subordinates that the Thains will be completely crushed.

The Klepton's scanners then pick up a flying machine but believe all of their podships are in the base. They then switch to the long range viewer to see who their intruders are, and correctly surmise that the strangers who were helping their enemies had repaired one of their ships. Klepton One says that the strangers are a danger to his plans and orders the base's magnetic beams turned on in order to "bring them in". Dr Who then realises he suddenly has no control over the ship and that they are losing height. Hurtling downwards, toward the treacherous waves of the ocean, Gillian begs her Grandfather to pull up, but he is unable to do so, telling her instead that they are caught by some strange power, and that they were in the grip of the Kleptons. The podship violently collides with the icy green water, where a dark, foreboding shape looms through the swirling water. It is a great underwater fortress, and indeed the secret hide out of the Kleptons, that Dr Who has been searching for. Unfortunately, it appears they are about to crash into it.

Part Six

Amid the fish and the coral, lay an undersea city made up of several towering chimney like buildings, buildings Dr Who's repaired podship was about to crash into, as the machine he was flying continued to remain out of his control. However, a hatch in the city then opened, and the travellers found themselves and their craft being carried inside the Kleptons base, and into a huge chamber, where dozens of other craft surrounded them. They surmise that this is where the Kleptons launch their raids on the Thains from, and, after all the water has flooded out of the chamber, that they are in an airlock, where they will be able to breathe outside the bubble machine. John thereafter asks what they should do now, as the odds against them beating the Kleptons were tremendous.   

Next moment the inner door to the airlock swings open, and three Kleptons enter, telling Dr Who, John and Gillian that they are their prisoners and that any attempts to escape will see them blasted to atoms. The captives are then escorted to an encounter with the Klepton leader, Klepton One, who is angered that they have tried to wreck his plans and coldly informs the time travellers that they will not leave his city and that no one will stand in his way. Dr Who asks why the Kleptons are smashing the Thains city and taking people prisoner. Klepton One replied that his race must survive, that their home planet had moved too close to the sun, and had killed millions, that they had escaped their world to build this underwater city, but that they intended to gain control of the Thains lands and enslave its people. A boasting Klepton One then shows Dr Who and his grandchildren, the Kleptons "Great reactor", the power-source behind their flying machines, heat and light, chillingly revealing that when they conquer the Thains it will produce energy for their slave factories, and their "War Machines". Dr Who sees that the already captured Thains, are being used as slave labour within the reactor. Klepton One orders the travellers to be locked up so he can deal with them at his leisure. The menacing guards march their prisoners down a long passage, where they our locked in a cell, plotting escape.   

Part Seven

Dr Who, John and Gillian have time travelled a thousand years into the future, where they have been helping the Thains to overcome an invader and would be conqueror by the name of the Kleptons, an alien race that have huge eyes, snouts and large finlike ears. However in an attempt to penetrate the creatures base, the travellers have become their prisoners, and are destined, as the planet's only hope, to rot away in a cell until the Klepton leader deems otherwise. This said, John had managed to secure one of the Kleptons heat guns, with which the old man and his grandchildren thereafter intended to turn the tables, by blasting a bolt of heat through their cell door. They achieve this, but are greeted by two Klepton guards, whom they have to fight, eventually overcoming them with fisticuffs and a knock over the head with the gun. John suggests they head back to the airlock and get away in a flying machine, but Dr Who favours making for the reactor in order to contact the Thains who are being held there.

Minutes later they reach the prison camp by the giant reactor, which provides the Kleptons power, with Dr Who explaining to the captives, that they have come from Valda, their leader, to help them escape. An unnamed man warns them that the camp has an electric fence going all the way around it, but Dr Who quickly turns it off and enters with his grandchildren. The Thain prisoners agree to hide them in their living quarters, and when a score of Klepton guards then turn up, they lie to protect their new friends, saying that the Kleptons should try the airlock as the escapees would attempt to leave the city. Dr Who intends to talk to all of the prisoners, prepare a plan of escape, and defeat the Kleptons, before they completely overrun the city and turn the remainder of the Thains into slaves.  

Part Eight

For hour after hour the Thains toil in their slave camp, working on their Klepton master's reactor, until an announcement is heard over a tanoy that tells them that the workday is over and that they must return to their sleeping quarters immediately. The Kleptons leave only three guards in the compound with all of the others assigned to search for Dr Who, John and Gillian, who unbeknownst to them are being hidden within the camp itself. Dr Who makes a stirring speech to all of the prisoners talking of a mass escape and informing them of their people's fate if the Kleptons have their way. A discussion then follows in which the plan also includes the destruction of the reactor, as it gives the Kleptons the power to run their undersea city and that of their flying machines. Dr Who also feels that they should search the city to find out more about the Kleptons. Meanwhile, blazing with anger, the power mad Klepton leader storms into his operations room demanding that their scanners are used to look in every corner of the city in order to recapture the escaped prisoners, who he still fears could ruin his plans. As the prisoners only have one heat gun between them Dr Who tells them they need to over power the guards and grab their paralyser guns.    

Dr Who, John and two of the prisoners make their way to Dome Two, where they spy the three remaining Klepton guards, with John saying that he will take the monster in the middle using the gun, and the others should go for the ones patrolling the wire around the dome's perimeter. The gun is fired and punches are thrown, with the small group thereafter slipping out of camp, each now armed with a weapon to defend themselves. Down a long passage they then come across an extremely large tank containing several of the giant vine like creepers that had been terrorising the Thains city and ripping down its buildings, hideous creepers, that were not a natural life form, but were literally being created by the Kleptons to bring about destruction and chaos. Not far away, the Kleptons are viewing their scanners and see the three overcome guards and the escaped prisoners, with Klepton One ordering his troops to get them, dead or alive. The Klepton guards burst into production chamber, as Dr Who tells his friends and John to take cover, open fire and fight for their lives.

Part Nine

Dr Who, his grandson John and two of the Thain prisoners took cover behind the glass cased tank that contained the horrifying and deadly, twisting and turning root formation that was being grown by the Kleptons in order to burrow its way through the planet's surface and rip down numerous buildings within the Thains city. The Klepton guards and Dr Who's party then entered into a gun battle, with both sides firing off their paralyser weapons, each determined to survive at all costs, each intent on subduing their enemy. This said, shots were being fired widely, and the tank with the creepers inside was hit several times, as indeed was a control wheel on the machine's outer control panel. Suddenly, glass flew everywhere as long tentacles broke free of the chamber that had been germinating them, and the room began to fill with their potentially life taking expanse. Realising the importance of the control wheel, Dr Who worked out that there was only one thing to do, but that it was a chance in a million it would work. One of the Thains had been hit and it was obvious the three remaining rebels couldn't hold out much longer as they were so heavily outnumbered, with Dr Who stating that the wheel was their only hope.  

Using the control wheel, Dr Who is able to turn the tank around, so that the creepers directly face, and react to the Klepton guards, hurling out their murderous branches to wrap themselves around the Kleptons in a seemingly deadly crush. Dr Who then orders the others to return to camp to free the rest of the prisoners whilst he goes back to the wheel saying to himself that these creepers had nearly destroyed the Thains city, now he'd make them smash the Kleptons evil plans. The more the Klepton leader watched on his video screens the more outraged he became, as a mere three prisoners seemed to have the upper hand against the entirety of his troops. He once again orders their destruction. As the Thains rally their fellow prisoners into the planned escape, Gillian refuses to leave without her grandfather, who despite being attacked by a creeper's ever stretching vines, warns everyone to make for the airlock, as he had directed the creepers to destroy the reactor, and expected the whole city to explode at any moment.

Part Ten

Dr Who, John and Gillian had accidenntly travelled in their time machine from the twentieth century to the thirtieth, where helping the Thains overcome their invaders, they had penetrated the Kleptons underwater base, and freed their slaves. This said, in desperation, Dr Who had been forced to formulate a plan that involved turning the artificial plant life the Kleptons had been growing, on them and on their reactor. This meant, the so called creepers were now spewing out their branches all over the Klepton's city, and that at any moment, the reactor would be destroyed, with the ensuing explosion blowing up the entirety of the Klepton base. The escaped prisoners, Dr Who, John and Gillian had a very few short moments to reach the airlock and fly clear of the blast area in the Kleptons own podships. That said, the Klepton leader, Klepton One still wanted his prisoners found dead or alive, and he had now issued the order to have his guards destroy the creeper, the creature they had genetically produced to destroy the Thain's city, which was now about to destroy their own. At incredible speed the creepers encircled the reactor, pushing down hard on its mass, about to crush it and cause it to explode, as the prisoners began to board the Kleptons flying machines. The Kleptons themselves made it to a closing door, a door that would be locked before water would then flood the room to synchronise with the sea outside. Dr Who told the Thains that as soon as the airlock was completely closed and the room had filled with water, they shouod press the starter buttons on their craft, and they'd be off.

The craft began to rise, to take off and fly upward out of the city and through the deep, deep waters above them, each knowing that although they had escaped the Kleptons, they had not yet got clear of the fireworks they knew was about to happen. The podships eventually zipped clear of the waves, just as the reactor blew and the Kleptons city exploded, ending their evil plan. The escaped prisoners then headed back to the Thains city, where their leader Valda, thanks the time travellers for all they have done and begs them to stay longer, telling them that there is much to be done and that he feels their help and wisdom would be valuable. Dr Who replies that is time for them to continue their journey, and inside the time machine tells his grandchildren that he'd better try and get them back to the twentieth century, with John then saying that he didn't care what century he arrived in, as he was sure they'd have loads of adventures anyway.  

Characters

• First Doctor
• John Who
• Gillian Who
• Valda
• Klepton One
• Kleptons
• Thains

Worldbuilding

• The Doctor says that the TARDIS is travelling to the 29th century before it finally comes to a stop in the 30th.
• The Thain city is on land, while the Klepton city is on the ocean floor.
• The Thains are peaceful, but once made heat guns that are now found only in their museum.
• The Kleptons possess flying machines, giant creepers and paralyser guns.
• Both the Doctor and John call the Kleptons "bug-eyed monsters".
• The Doctor speculates that the Kleptons cannot survive in the Thains' atmosphere.
• The Doctor mockingly calls one creeper an "overgrown aspidistra".
• The Kleptons keep their Thain slaves behind an electrified wire cage.
• The Doctor says he will try to get his grandchildren back to the 20th century.

Notes

The cover to TVC 674, proudly declaring the start to the Doctor Who comic run.

• The origins of "Dr. Who" are not explored in the context of this story, only that he is a white haired old man with two grandchildren, John and Gillian, whom he's never met before, with John having been told that he was an "inventor or something."
• The title of this comic story logically applies to the city-destroying plants harvested by the Kleptons, the Creepers. However, some have taken the title to mean that "Klepton Parasites" is an alternate term for the Klepton race.
• The first issue of this story was printed in TV 674. The cover to said issue advertised the narrative on the cover, stating "Starts today! Doctor Who".
• This was the very first Doctor Who comic strip. It opened with the following narrative: "In the far distant future, the Thains have lived happily and peacefully for many years. But one day, strange, menacing creatures hover over the city..."
• The very first words were spoken not by the Doctor himself but by the villains of the story, the Kleptons: "We are the Kleptons! We will take over your cities and your land! You Thains will be our slaves!"
• The very first words spoken by the First Doctor, who does not appear until the third panel of the second page, were: "You must be John and Gillian! How nice to meet you!"
• John and Gillian's home time is never stated in the comic, as it is just said that they are from the 20th century. It would not be until COMIC: Nostalgia Corner in the It's Bigger on the Inside! activity book that their home time period would identified as 1964.
• John has been told that his and Gillian's grandfather is "an inventor or something", but the reader never learns who gave him this information.
• The word TARDIS is never spoken in this comic, the ship only being referred to as a "time travelling machine", "the Police Box", and "the flying machine." The next story, COMIC: The Therovian Quest, would be the first to use the name TARDIS.
• This story was reprinted in DWCC 2 in colour.

Original print details

(Publication with page count and closing captions)

• TVC 674 (2 pages) [No closing caption]
• TVC 675 (2 pages) [No closing caption]
• TVC 676 (2 pages) [No closing caption]
• TVC 677 (2 pages) [No closing caption]
• TVC 678 (2 pages) [No closing caption]
• TVC 679 (2 pages) [No closing caption]
• TVC 680 (2 pages) [No closing caption]
• TVC 681 (2 pages) [No closing caption]
• TVC 682 (2 pages) [No closing caption]
• TVC 683 (2 pages) [No closing caption]

Continuity

• The yard the Doctor appears in is similar to 76 Totter's Lane in appearance. (TV: An Unearthly Child)