Dr. Who's Time Tales (DWM 41 comic story)
The eleventh story in the Dr. Who's Time Tales series was printed in Doctor Who Weekly #41.
It followed the format of the series: short tales depicting strange events in the Doctor Who universe, narrated by the Fourth Doctor himself, similar to DWM backup comic stories, created by adding the Fourth Doctor framing device to a preexisting Marvel comic story, in this case Forever Is A Long Long Time!!, first published in 1960 in Journey into Mystery #74.
Plot[[edit] | edit source]
The Fourth Doctor tells the time tale of Luther Kane, a man who came closer to immortality than most humans — but not in the way he'd have hoped for. Luther Kane is a lifelong greedy, selfish trickster, who became one of the richest men in Europe through deceit and an utter lack of care for the welfare of others. One day, having achieved every other ambition, he jokes to himself that all he's missing is immortality. A month later, however, he spots a press article about an American scientist, Professor Jonathan Weems, who claims to have built a "ray machine" which can make a man live as long as a redwood tree.
Becoming consumed with a new desire, Kane hurries to Europe, where he drops in on the Professor at his laboratory and offers him lavish sums of money for the machine. Weems insists that Kane won't want it, complaining that sensationalist press blew his discovery out of proportions, but is forced to admit when asked point-blank that his machine does work. Growing impatient, Kane threatens him with a gun and gets Weems to give him the machine. Weems insists on also giving him the antidote ray machine, warning him that he'll be wanting to use it soon enough. Back home, having given his entire household staff the day off, Kane locks himself in his cellar, where no-one ever comes, and installs the ray machine, setting the antidote machine to the side.
However, as Kane lies down on a slab and begins to take in the redwood rays, he feels his limbs stiffening, and realises with horror what the Professor was trying to explain: the machine theoretically makes humans immortal by slowing down all their metabolic processes but for their consciousness, making them live at the same rate as redwood trees; it would take years for him to lift a single finger — and the antidote ray machine is out of his reach unless he gets up. The Fourth Doctor sardonically reassures his audience that Kane has every chance of being freed eventually; all it would take would be someone breaking down the cellar door, realising what has happened and switching on the antidote ray machine. The sequence of events is likely to eventually happen, because "after all, a lot can happen in a thousand years".
Characters[[edit] | edit source]
Worldbuilding[[edit] | edit source]
- Jonathan Weems's ray machine's ray is made of "energy generated from the sap of redwood trees", known for living for centuries.
Notes[[edit] | edit source]
- Luther Kane's nationality is never specified, although he is seen wearing stereotypical Germanic garb in the flashback to his childhood, making it likely he is intended to be Swiss, German or Austrian.
Continuity[[edit] | edit source]
to be written
