Polystyle Holiday Special: Difference between revisions

'''Polystyle Holiday Special''' is an invented name for a loose "series" of three [[1970s]] releases by [[Polystyle]] — the [[Doctor Who Holiday Special 1973|''Doctor Who Holiday Specials'' 1973]] and [[Doctor Who Holiday Special 1974|1974]] and the [[Doctor Who Winter Special 1977|''Doctor Who Winter Special'' 1977]].

The [[Doctor Who Holiday Special 1973|1973]] and [[Doctor Who Holiday Special 1974|1974]] editions feature the [[Third Doctor]]. They contain a mixture of original short stories and comic strips. They have the feel of a [[Doctor Who annual|''Doctor Who'' annual]], without the children's games and puzzles that are usually present in such books. These editions contain some interesting and rare Polystyle usage of televised characters.

Published in the waning years of the [[Polystyle]] licence, the [[Doctor Who Winter Special 1977|1977]] edition couldn't be more different. It is reprint-heavy, as reflects the state of the ''[[TV Comic]]'' strip of the late [[1970s]], and its [[The Living Wax (short story)|one original story]] confuses televised continuity entirely.

[[File:DWH73.jpg|right|thumb|[[Doctor Who Holiday Special 1973]]]]

The [[Doctor Who Holiday Special 1973|1973]] volume is quite faithful to ''Doctor Who'' as it was then being televised. It makes thorough and in-character use of [[UNIT]], [[the Brigadier]] and {{Delgado}}. It contains both a [[Fogbound (comic story)|comic story]] and a [[Smash Hit (short story)|short story]] using the Master. That alone is unusual — most non-televised stories with the Delgado Master being published in the [[1990s]] — but the fact that these came while [[Roger Delgado]] was still alive makes them quite extraordinary.

As an example of the effort this volume makes to be faithful to television, [[Secret of the Tower (comic story)|one story]] even mentions [[Mike Yates]]. He didn't actually appear, but it was the only time that the character ever got a namecheck in comics published contemporaneously with the Pertwee era.

{| {{prettytable}}

! style="width:50%" |Stories original to this volume

! style="width:50%" |Reprints

|[[COMIC]]: ''[[Fogbound (comic story)|Fogbound]]''||[[COMIC]]: ''[[Duel of the Daleks (comic story)|Duel of the Daleks]]''<br />reprinted as ''Dalek Duel''

|[[PROSE]]: ''[[Smash Hit (short story)|Smash Hit]]''|| rowspan="2" |

|[[COMIC]]: ''[[Secret of the Tower (comic story)|Secret of the Tower]]''

===1974===

The [[Doctor Who Holiday Special 1974|1974 special]] actually does earn the word ''special''. It's where [[Sarah Jane Smith]] — or as [[Polystyle]] preferred, Sarah-Jane Smith — makes her comics debut. Until the publication of ''[[In With the Tide (comic story)|In With the Tide]]'' in 2013, it was also the only appearance Sarah-Jane made alongside the [[Third Doctor]] in ''[[Doctor Who]]'' comics.

[[File:DWH74.jpg|thumb|left|[[Doctor Who Holiday Special 1974]]]]

As with the previous year's special, [[UNIT]] and [[the Brigadier]] are back, this time with [[Sergeant Benton]] appearing in [[Doomcloud (comic story)|one story]]. Moreover, the notion of [[parallel universe]]s is explored in ''[[Who's Who? (comic story)|Who's Who?]]'', which — as an occasional theme of the [[Third Doctor]]'s televised era — further makes this volume feel like a more faithful representation of Pertwee's time in [[the TARDIS]] than is typical for the ongoing Polystyle comic strip.

It is also interesting for having been released during the initial broadcast of ''[[Planet of the Spiders (TV story)|Planet of the Spiders]]''. It's thus a kind of "last hurrah" for the [[Third Doctor]] which would have been experienced by many contemporary readers after they knew [[Fourth Doctor|a new Doctor]] was on his way. Still, just as with the [[Second Doctor]], Polystyle would stretch out the Third Doctor's comic era for months after the televised [[regeneration]]. The [[Third Doctor]] still had more than six months of life in the pages of ''[[TV Comic]]'' after the publication of this volume.

{| {{prettytable}}

! style="width:50%" |Stories original to this volume

! style="width:50%" |Reprints

|[[COMIC]]: ''[[Doomcloud (comic story)|Doomcloud]]''||[[COMIC]]: ''[[Power Play (comic story)|Power Play]]''<br />reprinted as ''The Daleks''

|[[COMIC]]: ''[[Perils of Paris (comic story)|Perils of Paris]]''|| rowspan="2" |

|[[COMIC]]: ''[[Who's Who? (comic story)|Who's Who?]]''

===1977===

[[File:DWH77.jpg|thumb|right|[[Doctor Who Winter Special 1977]]]]

The [[Doctor Who Winter Special 1977|1977]] edition stars the [[Fourth Doctor]] and is far poorer in terms of its original offerings. It has no original comics, instead preferring to reprint a number of stories that had originally starred the [[Third Doctor]]. As is common to the final years of the [[Polystyle]] comic licence, a (usually poor) attempt at [[Tom Baker]]'s likeness is merely dropped into the part of the frames previously occupied by [[Jon Pertwee]]. Its one contribution to the body of ''[[Doctor Who]]'' fiction is [[The Living Wax (short story)|a short story]] featuring the Fourth Doctor and [[Leela]] in [[Victorian era|Victorian]] [[England]]. Its illustrations are merely photos from ''[[The Talons of Weng-Chiang (TV story)|The Talons of Weng-Chiang]]'', meaning that there aren't even original ''illustrations'' in the 1977 edition, much less comics.

{| {{prettytable}}

! style="width:50%" |Stories original to this volume

! style="width:50%" |Reprints

| [[PROSE]]: ''[[The Living Wax (short story)|The Living Wax]]''||[[COMIC]]: ''[[The Labyrinth (comic story)|The Labyrinth]]''

| rowspan="3" | ||[[COMIC]]: ''[[The Threat from Beneath (comic story)|The Threat from Beneath]]'' <br />reprinted as ''Invasion''

|[[COMIC]]: ''[[The Spoilers (comic story)|The Spoilers]]''

|[[COMIC]]: ''[[Who is the Stranger (comic story)|Who is the Stranger]]''

==Why "Polystyle Holiday Special"?==

The somewhat artificial name is necessary because the three editions weren't really a part of ''any'' ongoing publication — despite the claim on the 1977 issue's cover that there was some sort of connection to ''(Mighty) [[TV Comic]]''. Thus, "Polystyle Holiday Special" serves to clearly distinguish between these publications and others that are called "Holiday Specials", such as the ''TV Action Holiday Specials'' of [[1970]] and [[1971]], and the [[DWMS Holiday 1992|1992 Holiday]] special edition of ''[[Doctor Who Magazine (special issues)|Doctor Who Magazine]]''.

In addition, these three volumes are sometimes mistaken for ''[[TV Comic]]'' or ''[[TV Action]]'' ''annuals'', but they aren't. In the first place, their publication schedule didn't match that of a {{w|Annual publication#British annual|British annual}}. Not only were they not published for the [[Christmas]] market — "holiday" specials being published for summer — but they weren't all published at the same time of year. Moreover, both ''TV Comic'' and ''TV Action'' had their own, proper annuals — quite separate publications, which contained bits from the full range of properties for whom Polystyle then had a comic strip licence.

Thus, these specials were all standalone publications, and weren't actually part of ''any'' series.