The 14th Doctor's Adventures Begin This Week in DWM

[Rich Watson]

DWM had been hinting that their next issue would feature something unprecedented in the history of the series. And here it is!

So I'm guessing a twelve-part story to fill the year collected as a trade paperback just in time for the TV episodes.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

This reeks of RTD! Remember when he was wistful and willing to feature the newly regenerated Ninth Doctor in DWM back in the day?

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Agreed. RTD was always gunning to have his show EVERYWHERE in multimedia. The BBC was reticent to continue in more recent years (and arguably Chris Chibnall wasn't one to be a face of the franchise the way Davies or Moffatt were), but I hope this startsto generate hype in the long Doctorless year ahead.

Mark

 

[Samurai8472]

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I'll wait for the trade paperback.

 

[The Wormhole]

I guess this is an indication RTD does have more pull this time around than he did last time? IIRC, DWM originally wanted to show the Eighth Doctor regenerate to Ninth in the comic, then do a story or two with the Ninth and the Eighth's comic companions. RTD was initially supportive of this idea, but BBC ultimately overruled them saying they didn't want the Ninth introduced having adventures in the comics before he was introduced in the show and that he could only have adventures in the comics with Rose and any other companions that may be introduced in the show.

If the Fourteenth Doctor is having comic adventures now, with presumably a new companion who won't be on the show, RTD must have more sway this time around.

 

[Rich Watson]

Russell tells the full story is in the collected version of the final 8th Doctor comics but it was him who made the decision after trying different ideas, including having the Doctor stuck mid-regeneration looking like Dormammu from Doctor Strange.

I think the difference now is that this time the "new" Doctor's first episode doesn't pick up where the last one ended. I can imagine the champagne corks popping at Big Finish when they heard the news!

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Russell tells the full story is in the collected version of the final 8th Doctor comics but it was him who made the decision after trying different ideas, including having the Doctor stuck mid-regeneration looking like Dormammu from Doctor Strange.

I think the difference now is that this time the "new" Doctor's first episode doesn't pick up where the last one ended. I can imagine the champagne corks popping at Big Finish when they heard the news!

"Coming 2024 from Big Finish Productions: Born Again Again, starring David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor"

 

[Rich Watson]

So as per the magazine and Russell the story is officially canon (if you care about that sort of validation), thirteen parts long but will all take place over the course of the first hour post-regeneration.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

It feels so refreshing to go from someone who didn't give a solitary frak about canon beyond TV to one who embraces all forms of expanded media as such. Bless you, RTD!

Also, I have a funny feelng that the Comic Adaptations line of BF's will revive at one point. No reason for this speculation, none at all...

 

[kirk55555]

So the first thing they're doing with the new Doctor is making a comic strip in an obscure magazine (and yes its obscure, at least in the US) canon? I honestly doubt it will actually matter, anything important will be almost certainly recapped in the episode(s). It is kind of shitty to stick his first moments behind an extra paywall, assuming the first episode doesn't just overwrite it anyway, regardless of what RTD said.

Stuff like this is a decent example of why maybe canon should only be stuff shown on screen (which is all I consider canon for Doctor Who anyway, to be fair).

 

[Brendan Moody]

I love the idea that the show’s decades-old official magazine is “obscure” because some fans outside the show’s primary market might not be familiar with it.

It’s a short comic book story to tide fans over in a year without Doctor Who on TV. They’re invoking the C-word to make it a little more exciting. It’s not something to get worked up over.

 

[DigificWriter]

It feels so refreshing to go from someone who didn't give a solitary frak about canon beyond TV to one who embraces all forms of expanded media as such

Doctor Who has no canon.

RTD choosing to embrace or utilize things that go beyond the televised has no actual bearing whatsoever with regards to any other eras of the series and the legitimacy or supremecy of his tenures with the show versus other producers/showrunners' tenures.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Are you actually for real?

 

[The Wormhole]

So as per the magazine and Russell the story is officially canon (if you care about that sort of validation), thirteen parts long but will all take place over the course of the first hour post-regeneration.

It feels so refreshing to go from someone who didn't give a solitary frak about canon beyond TV to one who embraces all forms of expanded media as such. Bless you, RTD!

So the first thing they're doing with the new Doctor is making a comic strip in an obscure magazine (and yes its obscure, at least in the US) canon? I honestly doubt it will actually matter, anything important will be almost certainly recapped in the episode(s). It is kind of shitty to stick his first moments behind an extra paywall, assuming the first episode doesn't just overwrite it anyway, regardless of what RTD said.

Stuff like this is a decent example of why maybe canon should only be stuff shown on screen (which is all I consider canon for Doctor Who anyway, to be fair).

I'm quite sure this is a non-issue. RTD knows the audience for tie-in material is only 1% of a show's fanbase, so there's no way he's going to make understanding his show contingent on a story which only 1% of the audience will even know anything about. At most, there might be an easter egg in the episode which refers to the comic, minor enough that those familiar with it will go "oh, hey, that's that thing!" while those who aren't won't even realize it's there. Indeed, RTD already did similar easter eggs to the tie-in novels back during his first term as showrunner.

 

[Rich Watson]

I'm quite sure this is a non-issue. RTD knows the audience for tie-in material is only 1% of a show's fanbase, so there's no way he's going to make understanding his show contingent on a story which only 1% of the audience will even know anything about.

It's a surprisingly ordinary story. No post-regeneration trauma, no wondering why he looks the way he does, just straight into a new adventure.

 

[Nightowl1701]

He'll be feeling it by part 6 or so - looking for tea or fish fingers, having random moments of saying other Doctors' lines, desperately trying to stave off the inevitable post-regeneration blackout long enough to save the day.

 

[Tuskin38]

Are you actually for real?

Don't bother.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

The notion of allowing the DWM strip to step into this
gap came from showrunner Russell T Davies himself.
“From day one, I wanted to increase ties between the
show and the magazine,” he tells us the day after The
Power of the Doctor airs. “I love it when we’re in sync!”

 

[somebuddyX]

Fantastic.