Where Nobody Knows Your Name (comic story)

Where Nobody Knows Your Name was an important story in the overall narrative of Doctor Who Magazine's Eighth Doctor comic adventures. It showed the Doctor dealing with Izzy Sinclair's abrupt decision to stop travelling with him in the previous story. It also tied the Eighth Doctor into earlier DWM eras by having him interacting with Frobisher, a companion who hadn't been seen since 1987.

The story's attention to the emotional cost of the loss of a companion was unusual for the traditions of Doctor Who up to that time, but could well be said to have been an influence on the then-upcoming BBC Wales revival. The influence of this comic on later televised Doctor Who — given Russell T Davies avowed fandom of the Eighth Doctor's era in DWM comics — goes even further. It launched the Eighth Doctor into a series of adventures where he was travelling alone, in much the same way that the loss of Donna Noble would later make the Tenth Doctor go on a series of adventures without a steady companion.

Summary
Following the devastating loss of Izzy Sinclair, the Eighth Doctor goes to a bar to drown his sorrows. The apparently human bartender, who introduces himself as "Bish", is in reality Frobisher, the Sixth and Seventh Doctors' shapeshifting travelling companion. Neither person is aware of the other's physical transformation, so they chat with the freedom of two strangers. In the process of the conversation, both work out some personal issues. The Doctor leaves, newly energised and ready to return to his life of adventuring and helping others. The two former companions part company, neither aware of whom the other truly was.

Characters

 * Eighth Doctor
 * Frobisher
 * Caralla
 * Renaldo
 * Zalda
 * Creeby
 * Jokk

Species

 * The Doctor says that the last time he properly laughed was when he was threatened by an Ice Warrior who had a lisp.
 * Many of the bar patrons resemble Earth animals. Creeby resembles a fly, Jokk an ape and an unnamed character resembles an elephant.

Continuity

 * Frobisher is an ex-companion of the Doctor. He left to live on the planet A-Lux in COMIC: A Cold Day in Hell. He uses the alias Bish whilst in a more humanoid form.
 * Despite carrying on a lengthy conversation and cooperatively solving a problem, Frobisher and the Doctor failed to recognise one another on this occasion. Frobisher had adopted a modified name, the Doctor didn't introduce himself, and they'd both had different bodies when last they met.