Deadly Choice (comic story)

 was a full-colour Third Doctor comic strip story which appeared in the pages of TV Action. It was one of the few stories to depict any incarnation of the Doctor taking an international flight in a standard 20th century commercial jet aeroplane.

Summary
The Third Doctor receives a mysterious invitation to a conference of the world's top scientists. Earth's best minds gather for what turns out to be a massive video conference. The Doctor is suspicious of the whole setup, but his colleagues can't find anything wrong with the event. Once the conference begins, the person controlling the conference, the Abbot of Mai' Sung releases a nerve gas at the sites.

He demands of the authorities that the victims be placed on a plane that he provides. Because of his different Time Lord physiology, the Doctor was less susceptible to the nerve gas; he's the only one awake on the flight to a secret Asian location. He's been given the controls to a bomb hidden on the plane. He scrambles up to the cockpit only to discover there are no pilots.

Panicked that the Abbot is going to fly them all into a mountain, the Doctor is relieved when the cliff face opens at the last moment to reveal a runway. The plane sets down at the Abbot's base, a monastery. The Doctor is greeted by the Abbot, who says he intends to "build a new world" by enslaving the world's top scientists and making them the architects of that new reality. The Doctor pretends to be flattered by the Abbot's offer to join him. He agrees on condition he be made co-leader. The Abbot balks at such a preposterous notion. The Doctor reveals he has a bomb that will destroy the entire base. He takes it as read that the Abbot agrees to his terms. He addresses the assembled monks. They flee after being told that a judgment day is coming to punish them. The Doctor triggers the bomb, giving the Abbot and him mere minutes to board the plane and fly away. As they do, the Abbot's base is destroyed.

Characters

 * The Doctor
 * The Abbot of Mai' Sung

Publication and reprints

 * 1) DWCC 18 Reprinted as original.

Continuity

 * The basic idea of a villain gathering together all the world's top scientists so as to incapacitate them would later be tried by the Slitheen family in DW: Aliens of London.

Timeline

 * Deadly Choice takes place after ST: Countdown to TV Action.
 * Deadly Choice takes place before TVA: Who is the Stranger.