Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time #4 is a real letdown. Thus far, the entire series has been up and down – sometimes a great read and then a complete mess. Writers Scott and David Tipton obviously love and have great respect for the iconic TV show, but all the love in the world can’t polish a lame story. Prisoners of Time #4 might be a symptom of a larger problem. Completing a twelve-issue story arc where each issue is a single adventure with a new set of characters is not an easy task. The lackluster work on issue #4 might just come from an emptying well of ideas.
Prisoners of Time #4 features the 4th Doctor — my Doctor. The one I was raised watching. Tom Baker portrayed him and still holds the record as the longest Doctor in history. Baker’s outrageously long scarf and mop of hair ran the Tardis from 1974-1981. It was with Baker where many of the greatest Doctor Who traits were established. I was hoping those things would translate into the new story. They don’t. Even with an awesome companion like Leela, this story goes nowhere.
The Doctor and Leela land on the planet Agratis to attend a great feast. Instead of food and excitement, the two find a planet overrun by the Judoon, a military species hired by the Agratis to find the Jewel of Fawton. The Jewel is one of the most beautiful things in the universe and the center of the entire Agratis economic system. Desperate, the Agratis turned to the Judoon, a move the good Doctor sees as a mistake.
Issue #4 fails because there is no story to get invested in. No sooner does the Doctor get involved with the mystery when, suddenly, a female Agratis member confesses she thinks it could be her boyfriend. There’s no backstory given for the boyfriend, instead, we’re quickly whisked away to crystal-like catacombs, where a discovery is made of a race of crystal aliens who used the Jewel as a their hive mentality. When the Agratis removed the jewel, it put the crystal aliens into a comatose state.
So nobody on the planet’s majority race knew the crystal aliens existed? How did this kid find out? None of those questions are answered. The first half of the book shows the Agratis losing it over the fact that their entire system will fall without the Jewel. Once the true history of the jewel is discovered, it suddenly becomes “We’ll all have to find a way to get along.” Really? Doctor Who: Prisoners Of Time #4 is marred with poor pacing and an uninteresting story. By the time the cloaked man appears and steals yet another companion, the issue feels overbearingly long.
Twelve stories featuring the twelve Doctors might have worked if each story was isolated, but connecting them means the Tiptons have to rush to get one story finished in order to connect it to the other. In that rush, the excitement of the individual story can get lost.
Gary Erskine doesn’t help matters with his bland art. Everything here is by the numbers; there is no depth or visual stimulation to it. The only memorable character here is the Doctor, and that’s only because Erskine pencils him so badly. He just can’t get the hair and hat combination right, so the Doctor’s head always looks ill-proportioned. Erskine also lacks any real sense of movement or action. With a story this dull, the art needs to be far superior to really work.
Doctor Who: Prisoners Of Time #4 does not set a good stage for the next seven issues.
(2 Story, 1.5 Art)
