Dr. Who's Time Tales (DWM 42 comic story)
The eleventh story in the Dr. Who's Time Tales series was printed in Doctor Who Weekly #42.
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 1962 in Tales of Suspense #35. Edits were made to the text of the narration to make it fit smoothly into Doctor Who continuity; for example, where the Marvel original named Albert Cragg as "the only man on Earth who has conquered Time", the Doctor refers to him as simply "one man on Earth" who has done so (in accordance with the prominence of time travel in Doctor Who) in the Dr. Who's Time Tales version.
Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Fourth Doctor tells the time tale of Albert Cragg, a man who conquered time "to his regret". An inventor from the United States, Cragg builds a time cabinet, intent on carrying out "the most fantastic robbery of the ages". His first test of the machine takes him to another dimension, but he returns without too much trouble and carries on with his work. A few weeks later, a second failed test leaves his existence torn between two eras, his body appearing partially translucent as it half-exists in another time-zone, but again he manages to reverse the damage. After many other failures, Cragg successfully takes his machine back to 17 December 1903, witnessing the Wright brothers' historic landing of their first aeroplane prototype.
Returning to the present, Cragg claims to his colleagues that his test was yet another failure and he is giving up on time travel altogether. He actually intends to keep the secret of time travel to himself and use it for personal profit. Having learned that the Egyptian pharaoh Tut-Am-Tut was buried with an immense treasure that has yet to be found by modern archaeologists, he intends to witness the burial himself and steal the treasure from the past to bring it forward to the present. He takes some items of modern technology in the cabinet and travels back to 9 July, 1368 BC, the day of Tut-Am-Tut's death. After his cabinet materialises in the middle of the bedridden Tut-Am-Tut's chamber, he presents himself as "a wizard from another land" to the king and his attendants. He quickly confesses that his powers are not enough to prevent the king's death, but the king wishes to witness a display of his magic before he dies, much as Cragg hoped. Using a gun, a tape recorder and a camera, Cragg is able to dazzle the Egyptians, and the king asks to be left alone with the magician, dismissing all other courtiers. Eventually, the king falls asleep, leaving Cragg to open the chest by the foot of his bed and find that it is indeed full of rare gems. Cragg pockets a small amount of them, then sneaks out of the king's chamber, intent on hiding in some other room of the palace for the night, and sneaking back to his time machine in the morning.
However, when Cragg emerges the next day, he finds his time cabinet gone. Running into the funeral procession for Tut-Am-Tut, he learns to his anguish that, having been so entertained by the magician's company, the king's last request was to be buried with Cragg's magic cabinet. Cragg is left desperately clawing at the sand at the base of Tut-Am-Tut's pyramid, trying to get to his machine before his theft of the king's gems is discovered.
Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]
Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The Wright brothers landed their first plane at Kitty Hawk
Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]
to be written
Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Albert Cragg builds and uses a time cabinet. (TV: The Talons of Weng-Chiang)
