The Tides of Time by: Steve Parkhouse with art by: Dave Gibbons

 

The Tides of Time is written by Steve Parkhouse with art by Dave Gibbons.  It was released in Doctor Who Monthly issues 61-67 (January-July 1982) and is reprinted in its original form in Doctor Who: The Tides of Time by Panini Books.

 

With the coming of the Fifth Doctor to television and the comic strip, writer Steve Parkhouse decided it was time to shift things into a new direction.  For a new Doctor, it was decided to present a debut story which could only be described as epic, with an issue length that hadn’t been seen since Mills and Wagner’s final story, Doctor Who and the Dogs of Doom, and a story that would take the Fifth Doctor throughout time and space to stop an evil alien demon from taking over the universe.  The premise of The Tides of Time is one that involves the timeline collapsing due in part to the machinations of Catavolcus in The Neutron Knights, summoning the demon Melanicus who has managed to take over the Event Synthesizer, a science fiction style organ that is responsible for the flowthrough of time, and is first shown playing the chord progression for the Doctor Who theme.  The Doctor is called upon by Rassilon, yes that Rassilon, after at a game of cricket a grenade from just before World War II nearly blows up the pitch.  A medieval knight, Sir Justin of Wells, finds his way to 1982 and teams up with the Doctor to defeat the demon, travel to Gallifrey, and ensure that the timelines are saved.  This is a story that is incredibly ambitious, more so than any of the longer stories by Mills and Wagner.  Mills and Wagner would usually take a fairly simple premise and just allow it to tell itself over eight issues, while Parkhouse’s plot is far more complex and reliant on a core cast of characters with their own motivations.

 

Melanicus is perhaps the least developed as a central villain who simply wants to take over the universe with a plan that doesn’t actually get explained very well.  He brings time together to destroy it and create a white hole, which is meant to be the opposite of a black hole, and somehow that will take down the Time Lords.  His design is excellent, making some interesting little twists on a traditional demonic design, and the illusions he uses during the middle of the story also helps with the trippy nature of bringing all of time together.  Rassilon makes his first appearance in all of Doctor Who here, essentially being portrayed as a godlike guardian living inside the Matrix where the rest of the dead Time Lords’ consciousness goes, another interesting idea which originates here, but would eventually be used in the show itself, most obviously in The Name of the Doctor.  While there will be some excellent explorations of Rassilon and his less than stellar record on morality and manipulation in the Doctor’s life, here he is essentially a revered religious figure who is there to guide the Doctor through the adventure.

 

Like the introduction of Sharon Davies as a companion for the Fourth Doctor, Parkhouse gives the Fifth Doctor comic original companions here to flesh out his adventures.  First is Sir Justin of Wells, a knight who essentially represents the ideals of chivalry and actually makes a very good foil to the Fifth Doctor.  The Fifth Doctor, until David Tennant took over the role in 2005, was perhaps the most human Doctor and Sir Justin creates a very human companion to create a very nice and smooth dynamic.  This isn’t say the abrasive relationship from Tegan or the student/teacher relationship of Nyssa, but the Doctor taking someone who shares his ideals and trusts to do the right thing on a noble quest to save the universe.  The other companion is Shayde, a being constructed to help the Doctor in the defeat of Melanicus as his existence is expendable while the Doctor is not, setting up what could have been a touching sacrifice, however the entire ending of this story is one that hinges on the plan just blowing itself up because of how unstable it is.  This does mean that the climax is perhaps too much of an anti-climax, but this TARDIS team was one that clearly could have had staying power, with Shayde reappearing in future comics though Sir Justin never reappeared after this story.  Still, with seven issues a seven month run is not a bad one for a companion, even if that comprises only one story.  Parkhouse truly makes an epic, and Dave Gibbons’ art, while criticized by Peter Davison for not capturing his license, is once again a delight.  This is also the first story where any color art was done when printed in Doctor Who Monthly, establishing this as a truly epic event as the magazine was still printed in black and white until 2001, nearly 20 years after this story was published.  The colorist for the two page spread opening the sixth issue of The Tides of Time is not known, but it is an evocative image and makes things just pop out as a special story.

 

Overall, The Tides of Time is a truly epic story which needed an extended issue count to really tell and ushered in the new Doctor for the magazine incredibly well, characterizing him incredibly close to how Davison would play the character even if this story started releasing just after Castrovalva aired to debut the Fifth Doctor.  This may have a very odd ending, and one that doesn’t exactly work, but it’s still very close to perfection, bringing in a new, connected era for the Doctor Who Monthly range and really starting the story arc of the Fifth Doctor comics.  9/10.