The Test of Time (comic story): Difference between revisions

{{Infobox Story SMW

|companions    = [[Susan Foreman|Susan]], [[Barbara Wright|Barbara]], [[Ian Chesterton|Ian]]

|setting        = {{il|Deep space, [[16 August]] [[1963]]|[[Skaro]], "future"|[[Vortis]], "past"|[[The Doctor's TARDIS]]}}

|writer        = Tim Quinn, Dicky Howett

|release date  = 21 May 1987

|reprint        = It's Even Bigger on the Inside

}}

As [[the Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]] is floating in [[deep space]] on [[16 August]] [[1963]], [[Earth]]-time, [[Susan Foreman]] notices a [[hourglass]]-like artefact in the control room which she has never seen before. The [[First Doctor]] is puzzled, as he is equally unfamiliar with the object.

The Father of Time then sends the TARDIS to [[Skaro]] in the "unforeseeable future", explaining that his first test is simply a matter of "escaping the sands of time", though he withholds the name of the planet and of its [[Dalek|inhabitants]] from the Doctor and Susan. As they step out, Susan observes that everything she touches on the planet crumbles to the touch, prompting the Doctor to hypothesise that "[[Thousand Year War|some kind of mighty war]]" must have been waged on this world.

Two of the [[Zone X Dalek|masters of the planet]] call out to Susan and the Doctor, insisting that "no slaves are allowed in [[Zone X]]", but before they can [[extermination|exterminate]] the intruders, the ground fractures beneath them, swallowing the two Daleks. The gloating voice of the Father of Time informs the Doctor and Susan that he did not wish to see them escaping "the creatures of this planet", but rather the planet itself.

Much later, while facing a [[Zarbi]] in the company of [[Ian Chesterton]] and [[Barbara Wright]], the Doctor suddenly hears the voice of the Father of Time announcing that "it is time for the Final Test" and disappears right in front of Ian and Barbara's eyes. He reappears inside a future version of the [[TARDIS control console]] that is unfamiliar to him, watching Time's face through the [[TARDIS scanner|TARDIS screen]]. Time explains that he is inside his own TARDIS alongside five more of his [[incarnation]]s.

Seeing that the bickering Doctors aren't getting anywhere, the First Doctor berates them for forgetting that they needn't rely on machinery, being [[Time Lord]]s. Following his lead, his other selves join hands with him, and, together, calling on their pooled temporal powers, they reverse time itself; pulled back in time, the TARDIS escapes its fate to the congratulations of the Father of Time, who begins to send all of the Doctors back to their own times and places.

As he hurtles back towards his adventure on [[Vortis]], the Doctor catches one last glimpse of Time as his robe falls back to reveal he is wearing [[The Doctor's scarf|a scarf]] and [[the Doctor's recorder|a recorder]]. And he wonders — just [[Aliases of the Doctor#Doctor Who|''WHO'']] is Time?

== Worldbuilding ==

* On [[Skaro]], the [[First Doctor]] and [[Susan Foreman|Susan]] encounter two [[Dalek|creatures]] in unusual spiked [[casing]]s.

* This comic story depicts [[Skaro]]'s final destruction in the "unforeseeable future" as a direct result of the [[Dalek]]s' mistreatment of their own homeworld. A scant few years after this story's release, the televised story ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks (TV story)|Remembrance of the Daleks]]'' would purport to show the destruction of Skaro in quite different circumstances, as it was destroyed by its second sun going [[supernova]] due to the [[Seventh Doctor]] tricking [[Davros]] into activating a booby-trapped [[Hand of Omega]] — though later stories, most notably the novel ''[[War of the Daleks (novel)|War of the Daleks]]'' and the TV stories ''[[Asylum of the Daleks (TV story)|Asylum of the Daleks]]'' and ''[[The Magician's Apprentice (TV story)|The Magician's Apprentice]]'', showed that Skaro either survived those events or was eventually restored.

[[Category:The Doctor Who Fun Book comic stories]]