Death to the Doctor! (comic story)

Death to the Doctor! was a comic story published in Doctor Who Magazine in 2007. Although released during a run of stories featuring the contemporary TARDIS team of the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones, the Doctor and Martha only appear on the final page. Much of this story focuses on defeated foes of the Doctor's first nine incarnations plotting to defeat him together, while later turning on one another when the accidental electrocution of Kraarn of the Kraagaaron leads the other six to incorrectly believe the Doctor is among them. Various incarnations and companions of the Doctor, including DWM companions Frobisher and Izzy Sinclair, also appear in flashbacks.

Summary
Enemies unite to defeat the Doctor.

Plot
On a research base in deep space, a number of enemies have united for the same reason: they were all defeated by the man known as the Doctor. A new member, called Valis, arrives to join and is welcomed by Kraarn of the Kraagaaron. In the meeting, some of the aliens speak of how they were defeated by the Time Lord's various incarnations.

Valis reveals that he was defeated by the Doctor's eighth incarnation, who stopped him using the Crystal of Consciousness. Bolog, a toad-like creature, tells how he was defeated by the Doctor's fourth incarnation, who sent his fleet of ships into the sun using a banana. The piscine Zargath recounts how the Doctor's ninth incarnation had defeated him by making it rain with his sonic screwdriver after he tried to invade the Powell Estate.

Plink, an alien wearing a metal helmet, reveals that he has been defeated by several Doctors including the sixth, and comments on his poor choice of clothes. Kraarn comes up with an idea: they must unite to defeat the Doctor. He starts showing slides, but is blown up. The other villains wonder what caused it and Valis comes up with the only explanation: the Doctor must be on the base.

The aliens then search for the Doctor. Valis talks with one of the villains, called the Mentor (who resembles the Master), and he reveals that he was defeated by the Doctor's third incarnation. In another corridor, Bolog asks Questor, an old humanoid, how he was defeated; Questor tells him how the Doctor's first incarnation defeated him in the Jungle of Tropicalus. The other two aliens reach the room with a Metabolic Interfermometer, which shows only six people in the base. As there are only six aliens, this can only mean that the Doctor is one of them. Not long after, a shot is heard — Bolog has killed Questor because he thought Questor was the Doctor in disguise.

The aliens accuse each other of being the Doctor, and attention switches to Valis, the newest member. He is shot by Zargath, but is revealed to be flammable, and Zargath is caught in the blast — but neither was the Doctor. There are now only three left, and each accuses the others of being the Doctor. They then hear the TARDIS arriving, but too late — they all shoot, killing each other.

Martha Jones comes out of the TARDIS, and is shocked to see the dead aliens. The Doctor examines the station and discovers that the wire which killed Kraarn had an electrical fault. He sees the Interferometre, and discovers that they are the only ones there — leaving him to wonder what caused it. He apologises to Martha, saying that if he had got there sooner, he would have saved them.

Characters

 * Valis
 * Kraarn of the Kraagaaron
 * Bolog
 * Zargath
 * Eighth Doctor
 * Izzy Sinclair
 * The Mentor
 * Questor
 * Plink
 * Fourth Doctor
 * Romana I
 * K9 Mark II
 * Ninth Doctor
 * Rose Tyler
 * Sixth Doctor
 * Frobisher
 * Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
 * Third Doctor
 * Jo Grant
 * First Doctor
 * Dodo Chaplet
 * Steven Taylor
 * Tenth Doctor
 * Martha Jones

Original print details

 * (Publication with page count and closing caption)


 * DWM 390 (9 pages) The End

Continuity

 * In the flashback, the Fourth Doctor says "Bananas are good!", a line used by the Ninth Doctor in TV: The Doctor Dances and Tenth Doctor in The Girl in the Fireplace.
 * Izzy Sinclair and Frobisher's appearances make them the first comic strip companions to appear in the DWM strip since the revival of the TV series and the subsequent switch to TV-only companions.