A shadowy figure wanders through the halls, looking upon the faces of each companion that he has stolen from the Doctor. The Doctor, he muses, is starting to realize that he is out of his time and that something is different. Prisoners of Time continues with the Fifth Incarnation of the Doctor as he lands to recharge the TARDIS on a random planet. Accompanying the Fifth Doctor are the tempestuous Teegan, curious Adric and Nyssa, his loving companions. Unfortunately, they have landed amidst a thousand year battle between the jelly-fish like Rutan and the talking potato-like Sontarans. Escaping the Rutan, the Doctor and his companions find themselves not much safer with the Sontarans. Sensing that the Sontarans are on a suicide mission, the Doctor attempts to interfere to prevent senseless death, but knows he is combating their very nature as warriors.
Scott and David Tipton bring the modern fan base of Doctor Who into the world of the Fifth Doctor with ease. References to seminal episodes and show cannon liter the comic as the Doctor verbally spars with both the Rutan and Commander Strock of the Sontaran army. The Doctor’s desire to protect the Sontaran troops despite their desire for glorious death in combat is poignant and very much in the nature of both characters.
Phillip Bond again works his magic bringing the cheerful look of the Fifth Doctor and his companions to the disastrous world of a battlefield. It is not an easy thing to draw the anthropomorphic potato army of the Sontaran army and make it look like something frightening. He is able to recreate iconic characters with ease and make them both recognizable and all his own.
The Tiptons and Bond have yet again hit a home run with the Prisoners of Time series. I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of the Doctor’s incarnations as we draw nearer to the 50th Anniversary special.