Doctor Who continues to be a hugely popular character after 50 years out there traveling through time and space. IDW Publishing has made it possible for readers to get into the older stories from Doctor Who Magazine, published back in the 1980’s and 1990’s. The best thing about these books is that they have new covers and are fully colored, compared to the original printings in black and white.
Doctor Who Classics #5 reprints the story “Train Flight” written by Andrew Donkin and Graham S. Brand and originally printed in Doctor Who Magazine #159 – 161 in 1990. This issue takes that original story and adds some classy colors by Charlie Kirchoff and a new cover by Matthew Dow Smith. This story picks up right after the one of the Doctor’s many rejuvenations, a process the time lord goes through after being fatally injured but before he actually dies, giving him a new body and face, thus explaining the many actors who have played him throughout his history.
SPOILERS HERE
The story follows the Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith heading to a jazz concert. An innocuous venue compared to some spectacular planet or a different point in history. Of course, any time the Doctor is involved there is always more to the story. They get on the subway just in time for the whole train to sucked through some sort of wormhole.
Leaving the subway train, the Doctor and Sarah find that they are in some sort of living ship, so they explore. Shortly, they run into a race of giant-ant like beings known as the Kalik. The problem is that these usually peaceful beings are now killing and eating humans. What could have caused this?
The Doctor and his companion find that this group of Kalik are more renegades than anything, refusing the edicts of their race and choosing to do their own thing. Of course, the Doctor runs. The chase ensues throughout the ship until the Doctor realizes that they need to get to the control center of the ship and shut things down.
Rerouting a psychic controller to work on the Kalik’s wavelength, the Doctor shuts them down. The next step is to get the Londoners back home, so a quick tweak to the transport tunnel and everything is back to normal. Except for the ominous end frame of the hatching egg… what can it mean?
This is a great classic Doctor story and the addition of Sarah Jane Smith is a Whovian’s dream. The colors and covers are a great addition. I believe the these are solid books and any Doctor Who fan would enjoy reading the further adventures of the Doctor and his companions.
