Classic Doctor Who Swaps Companion

     I’m not usually one to read Graphic Novels, but I made an exception for this one. This is a collection—the ninth volume—of the graphic stories from Doctor Who Magazine. These particular stories were published in Doctor Who Magazine Numbers    145 to 161 featuring the Seventh Doctor as portrayed by Sylvester McCoy.

McCoy’s run on the show was cut short by the BBC’s misguided, shortsighted, dunderheaded cancellation of Doctor Who back in 1989. I have thought of him as the Doctor for far longer than any other Doctor has held the position by virtue of this fact. In other words, I have a very soft spot in my heart for  Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor.

That alone wouldn’t have been enough to make me purchase the volume. I’ve tried Graphic Novels before, and while I am awed by the talent it takes to produce one, I always get to the end thinking the story would be better with more words. 

What made this one different. For one, my aforementioned love of the Seventh Doctor, combined with the final story in the volume: "Train-Flight," which features classic Doctor Who companion Sarah Jane Smith.

Sarah Jane Smith, as portrayed by Elisabeth Sladen, has always been one of my favorite companions. First coming to the screen as the Third Doctor’s (Jon Pertwee) companion, she remained on the show with the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker). She also appeared later in the 20^th Anniversary Special, The Five Doctors. In my own personal head canon, I always imagined her meeting all of the Doctors, and finding this volume some years ago gave me a look at her meeting with the Seventh Doctor—how could I resist?

The volume has all that you’d expect from Doctor Who—aliens, time travel, dire circumstances, and the Doctor being both clever and lucky. Sarah Jane’s story is the final one in the book, and involves a train from the London Underground. It’s wonderful seeing Sarah Jane and the Doctor together again, even it it’s a Doctor with whom she never appeared on television.

The other stories are just as entertaining. Some take place on Earth, and some on other planets. There’s an alien art exhibit, a place where the incumbent president is named Sinatra, and there’s even a Dalek story for everyone who can’t get enough of the most popular of all Doctor Who aliens. 

I’m glad I gave in to the whim and bought this. The Sarah Jane story alone was worth it, but really, it’s great fun to see Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor running around saving everything again and again.