Treasure Trail (comic story): Difference between revisions

'''''Treasure Trail''''' was a [[1976]] ''[[TV Comic]]'' story that was published a couple of weeks after the conclusion of the debut of ''[[The Seeds of Doom]]'' on [[television]].  

Like several other ''[[Doctor Who]]'' stories, it was set in [[World War II]]. Unusually, however, it took place late in the war, about a month after the [[Battle of Monte Cassino]], in a [[Borosini|northern Italian village]] whose inhabitants were [[partisan]]s. Of the many glimpses of World War II provided by ''Doctor Who'', ''Treasure Trail'' may be the only one set amongst the Italian resistance. It is almost certainly the only ''Doctor Who'' story in any medium to depict the {{w|Nazi plunder}} of [[Europe]]an art.  

The [[Time Lord]]s send the [[Fourth Doctor]] and [[Sarah Jane Smith|Sarah-Jane]] on another mission without clear instructions. They find themselves under [[Nazi]] aircraft fire almost immediately upon disembarking [[the TARDIS]]. The Doctor's people have dumped them near the northern [[Italy|Italian]] town of [[Borosini]] in [[1944]].

Suspected by the local villagers of being Nazi spies, they are brought before the town's [[priest]], [[Father (title)|Father]] [[Antonio (Treasure Trail)|Antonio]]. The Doctor convinces the priest they are [[English]], using the writing on the TARDIS' [[police box]] exterior as proof. Any doubt about the pair's identity, however, is far less significant than that [[Hermann Goering|Goering]]'s Nazis are entering the village. It seems they are after whatever artistic treasures they can find.

They storm into the church, and Antonio shows them the [[Raphael (Treasure Trail)|Raphael]] hanging in the knave. Impressed, [[Lieutenant]] [[Schuler (Treasure Trail)|Schuler]] spreads word of the painting up the Nazi chain of command. Meanwhile, the villagers fear that the Nazis will just steal their art as they've already done elsewhere in [[Europe]].

[[Giovanni (Treasure Trail)|Giovanni]], a local [[partisan]] who has given the Doctor and Sarah a hard time, confirms that there's a massive shipment of stolen art soon to pass through by [[train|rail]]. The Doctor proposes to blow the line. They do this, retrieve all the stolen art via a [[mule]] trail, and bring it all back to the TARDIS. The Time Lords send the TARDIS to [[1948]], where the Doctor offloads the art. To the Italian press, it seems as though the art has magically reappeared.  One priest in [[Borosini]] knows it's ''not'' magic, but it's a secret he vows to take to his grave.