isabellarobinson7's review
1.5
Rating: 1.5 stars
I was going to write a brief review, but I half way through writing it I decided I was going to go all in, so enjoy, I guess. If you care, that is. Trigger warning for people who like Chibnall-era Who, spoiler: I don't.
All my critiques with this graphic novel can be traced back to one point: it needed so many more pages than it actually had. First of all, the author decided to chuck seven people in one TARDIS. At the same time. And then tried to maintain some kind of story momentum while keeping up character development.
Because it was so short, people popped in and out of the story all the time and any growth that was there was incredibly stunted. (And this is seven people consistently in the TARDIS, mind you. There was a further two that came and went pretty swiftly, but I will touch on those later.) So there was a total of seven whole people (no half or 3/4 people) traveling in the TARDIS at once, and despite six of them being already established characters, this story did nothing to add to them (well, I could argue that three of the companions have had no more development since the episode on which they were introduced, but that is not a rant we need right now).
So this comic played into a 13th Doctor episode, which would usually have been a terrible decision, basically damning the story from the start, but fortunately they picked one of the only good episodes 13 has had (not written by Chris Chibnall, but that is a given in my book, as all Chibnall episodes are the complete antithesis of "good") which was Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror being the fourth episode of season 12, an otherwise rubbish season (well, The Haunting of Villa Diodati was good as well). But when at last Tesla and Edison brought into the story, they were there for a grand total of 5 pages, in the TARDIS for a few seconds (their reactions fast-tracked), and then gone. The handling of this was very poor, and quite anti-climactic considering the whole point of the story switched to rescuing Tesla and Edison half way through.
(That gif was from Star Trek, but I don’t care. We needed the infamous Double Picard Facepalm too)
Instead of attempting to make up their own, this book does use a Classic Who alien - the Sea Devils - which I greatly appreciated. These go all the way back to the Third Doctor (if I am remembering correctly) but they are utilised poor to mediocre in this comic. They are quickly cut out of the story in favour of a New Who alien (from Chibnall's era, of all things) and is not the best and/or most creative. So you just come to grips that these are the antagonists, and then they are removed.
But we have Rose in this comic. Rose and Ten. That should make up for something, right? Well, their parts were good, but they were the only good parts. She's an alternate universe Rose, which could have been an interesting angle, but she was hurriedly shifted to the back because of the overwhelming amount of characters in the story. So her first TARDIS reaction is also fast-tracked and condensed to one line without any kind of physical reaction beyond that. Then after the two Doctors meet up and there is effectively a small army behind them, you could be forgiven for forgetting she was even there.
Aside from this, the only really enjoyable thing about this comic was the 13th and 10th Doctors meeting. That was good. But because they packed this graphic novel with so much, had such little page time to do it in, that was the only relationship that was even able to develop, even as small as it ended up being developed.
(Again, another Star Trek gif, but this one's DS9, so I switched it up)
And I don't know if you would consider this a spoiler or not, but there's this quote-unquote "bad guy" who for some reason is good because plot needed it to be. They then sacrifice themselves because this "bad guy" has no need to be in the rest of the story. So... because plot...? I hate the reasoning "because plot," because as a plot reader, that's what I'm most focused on. So when something happens to a character because the plot needs that, it sticks out to me like a sore thumb and bothers me immensely.
Going to end this here. It hurts to be giving my favourite franchise one star, but I am critical of my Doctor Who and I don't think that will ever change.
I was going to write a brief review, but I half way through writing it I decided I was going to go all in, so enjoy, I guess. If you care, that is. Trigger warning for people who like Chibnall-era Who, spoiler: I don't.
All my critiques with this graphic novel can be traced back to one point: it needed so many more pages than it actually had. First of all, the author decided to chuck seven people in one TARDIS. At the same time. And then tried to maintain some kind of story momentum while keeping up character development.
Because it was so short, people popped in and out of the story all the time and any growth that was there was incredibly stunted. (And this is seven people consistently in the TARDIS, mind you. There was a further two that came and went pretty swiftly, but I will touch on those later.) So there was a total of seven whole people (no half or 3/4 people) traveling in the TARDIS at once, and despite six of them being already established characters, this story did nothing to add to them (well, I could argue that three of the companions have had no more development since the episode on which they were introduced, but that is not a rant we need right now).
So this comic played into a 13th Doctor episode, which would usually have been a terrible decision, basically damning the story from the start, but fortunately they picked one of the only good episodes 13 has had (not written by Chris Chibnall, but that is a given in my book, as all Chibnall episodes are the complete antithesis of "good") which was Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror being the fourth episode of season 12, an otherwise rubbish season (well, The Haunting of Villa Diodati was good as well). But when at last Tesla and Edison brought into the story, they were there for a grand total of 5 pages, in the TARDIS for a few seconds (their reactions fast-tracked), and then gone. The handling of this was very poor, and quite anti-climactic considering the whole point of the story switched to rescuing Tesla and Edison half way through.
(That gif was from Star Trek, but I don’t care. We needed the infamous Double Picard Facepalm too)
Instead of attempting to make up their own, this book does use a Classic Who alien - the Sea Devils - which I greatly appreciated. These go all the way back to the Third Doctor (if I am remembering correctly) but they are utilised poor to mediocre in this comic. They are quickly cut out of the story in favour of a New Who alien (from Chibnall's era, of all things) and is not the best and/or most creative. So you just come to grips that these are the antagonists, and then they are removed.
But we have Rose in this comic. Rose and Ten. That should make up for something, right? Well, their parts were good, but they were the only good parts. She's an alternate universe Rose, which could have been an interesting angle, but she was hurriedly shifted to the back because of the overwhelming amount of characters in the story. So her first TARDIS reaction is also fast-tracked and condensed to one line without any kind of physical reaction beyond that. Then after the two Doctors meet up and there is effectively a small army behind them, you could be forgiven for forgetting she was even there.
Aside from this, the only really enjoyable thing about this comic was the 13th and 10th Doctors meeting. That was good. But because they packed this graphic novel with so much, had such little page time to do it in, that was the only relationship that was even able to develop, even as small as it ended up being developed.
(Again, another Star Trek gif, but this one's DS9, so I switched it up)
And I don't know if you would consider this a spoiler or not, but there's this quote-unquote "bad guy" who for some reason is good because plot needed it to be. They then sacrifice themselves because this "bad guy" has no need to be in the rest of the story. So... because plot...? I hate the reasoning "because plot," because as a plot reader, that's what I'm most focused on. So when something happens to a character because the plot needs that, it sticks out to me like a sore thumb and bothers me immensely.
Going to end this here. It hurts to be giving my favourite franchise one star, but I am critical of my Doctor Who and I don't think that will ever change.
mystikai's review
4.0
I am a huge fan of Dr Who, especially the Tenth and Thirteenth Doctor and this graphic novel did not disappoint me in the least.
I like the way each doctor even though they are technically the same person although regenerated have a totally different persona and you could definitely see this in the graphic novel with their ism’s.
The Tardis on its way gets caught in a paradox and history has been rewritten. The Sea Devils have taken over Earth and now the humans are their slaves. It is up to the Doctor’s and their teams to fix it.
At the beginning of the book there is a little bit about what happened previously, and it also a bit about each character which is helpful if you have not been following the TV Shows and are totally new to Dr Who.
All of the characters have been illustrated really well, I could tell who they were as they were so close the real life.
If you are familiar with Rose and the Tenth Doctors story you will also feel pulled to it, when she doesn’t even know who he is.
The storyline is as I would have expected, aliens, saving the world with the help of their friends and the doctors characters shining out.
Absolutely brilliant!
I like the way each doctor even though they are technically the same person although regenerated have a totally different persona and you could definitely see this in the graphic novel with their ism’s.
The Tardis on its way gets caught in a paradox and history has been rewritten. The Sea Devils have taken over Earth and now the humans are their slaves. It is up to the Doctor’s and their teams to fix it.
At the beginning of the book there is a little bit about what happened previously, and it also a bit about each character which is helpful if you have not been following the TV Shows and are totally new to Dr Who.
All of the characters have been illustrated really well, I could tell who they were as they were so close the real life.
If you are familiar with Rose and the Tenth Doctors story you will also feel pulled to it, when she doesn’t even know who he is.
The storyline is as I would have expected, aliens, saving the world with the help of their friends and the doctors characters shining out.
Absolutely brilliant!
ameliataylor's review
4.0
My two favourite doctors so how could I say anything poor about this, loved it
wynnifer's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
monarchgirl's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
This was a good first volume of the doctor who comics. Really enjoyed another look at the Skithra who we only met in one of thirteenth stories. It was good.
samigo's review
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
ros_lanta's review
3.75
This was an enjoyable read, mainly due to the characters. The plot is not the best if I'm honest, but multi-Doctor storyline are always entertaining especially when companions are also featured. I like the artwork too and it's a shame that it doesn't feature on the cover.
elysareadsitall's review
4.0
I loved seeing 10 and 13 team up, and of course I was thrilled to see Rose Tyler again. This graphic novel is a fun paradox story. I'm interested to see what else is to come in this series.
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