The Doctor weighs in on a long standing debate

[icon_uk]

Quick scene setting: Due to a recent emergency manoeuvre he had to force the TARDIS to make, the 12th Doctor is temporarily stuck in 1972 Britain. The TARDIS is completely out of commission whilst it rests, heals, and forgives the Doctor for forcing it to make the manoeuvre at all. So at present it's internal dimensions now match it's outer dimensions and basically the Doctor is stranded.

Luckily (for him at least) he's stranded with the family of his current travelling companion, Jessica, and this issue is him interacting with the various members of the family as he settles in. They are aware that he's an alien and not exactly... normal, but even houseguests have rules and this rather acerbic version of the Doctor isn't always good with those. But he learns, and he adapts...


And then we have this little scene where he meets Jessica's little brother; (and it has to be said, you hear easily hear this in Peter Capaldi's voice).







Not sure if that's a sly little dig at "Sherlock" or not, but it's fun.

Plus, for all that the 12th Doctor is rather... "empathy deficient" with people a lot of the time, I do like the fact that he gets on well (usually) with children. The Doctor, much like Batman, should never be scary to small children no matter how gruff bad tempered he might appear to be.

And since this is 1972, Maxwell's reference for Batman is most likley to be the 1960's TV show, and Neal Adams was just kicking into high gear and I imagine Maxwell would be picking up the UK reprints.

And Captain America at this point in time was working with the Falcon.

Oh and as noted in the comments below, I should have noted that this is from the UK's Doctor Who Magazine #504

 

Comments

[kates]

Out of curiosity, what issue is this from?

[icon_uk]

Oh good point, should have mentioned that.

It's not from any of the comics, it's the comic strip story in the UK's Doctor Who Magazine #504.

[kates]

Ahhhhh gotcha! I keep up with the current Titan Twelfth Doctor comics and had a sort of "hold on a second" moment on my end.

[zylly]

It's a fun discussion, though I do have to point out that in the early seventies, Batman hadn't even come close to becoming his "can beat anyone" self.

[icon_uk]

As I just ninja'd in the OP, in 1972 Maxwell would most likley know him from the Adam West series, where he does beat everyone, and Neal Adams had started his run on the comics so he'd had a bit of an upgrade.

[zylly]

Explanation... ACCEPTED!

[junipepper]

Confirmed. That kid is actually, literally, my age (+/- 2) and in 1972, my Batman was 100% the TV series. My dad even had some older Batman comics and he made me read them, but it didn't matter - my belief in Adam West was unshakable.

[tigerkaya]

Interesting.

[cygnia]

Wondering if the "Maxwell" Twelve mentioned is Maxwell Edison, who's popped up in DWM comics before throughout several Doctor incarnations

[icon_uk]

The 12th Doctor met Max Edison again as recently as the 500th issue story, so yes, I'd say it was definitely a reference to him. :)

[cygnia]

Neat! Always appreciated DWM's use of continuity. :)

[locuatico]

Something to remember about The Doctor... He started his adventure alongside his grand daughter, who loved him to pieces, and when the doctor tricked her so she could be with the man she loved (because she was too loyal to her grand father to leave him) it broke the his heart.

[icon_uk]

Oh indeed,... (though I'd say it broke his hearts! :) )

I also remember the observation from Amy when summarising the Doctor's approach to "non-interference"

You "never interfere in the affairs of other peoples or planets,"... unless there's children crying.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Pfft, of course he's going to side with the one who's real...

[astrakhan42]

It's worth noting that the Doctor has officially been a part of the Marvel Universe (http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/doctorwh.htm), so he more than likely met Captain America at some point. ("Victory of the Daleks" would have been so much better if Cap and Union Jack had been around, but I digress.)

[cygnia]

Now I want Jack Harkness meeting up with Steve &/or Peggy during WWII...

[lieut_kettch]

Just... "meeting up?"

*waggles eyebrows suggestively*

[icon_uk]

Well... there might have been ANOTHER time traveller around at the time..

[michaelhealy]

Well since Eccleston, Gillan and Tennant are all villains in the MCU she's probably a Hydra sleeper agent in this universe.

[cygnia]

Meanwhile, you have Darvill and Barrowman on opposite sides over in the DCTVUniverse...

[commodus]

This is such a sweet scene!
Isn't it strange how it's not the big, dramatic, action packed moments which often make us love a character - but just the mundanity of them pleasantly chatting with a friend about trivialities?

Like, I find it hard to pay attention to a lot of Dr. Who episodes with all the technobabble and flashy aliens and drama, but whenever there's little character moments like this I'm totally hooked.

Same with characters like Batman, too. I care more about Bruce and Damian bonding as a family than I really do about them fighting The Joker.

[icon_uk]

Oh not strange at all, perfectly natural, and I think you'd find many who agree with that as a preference.

There's a time and place for cosmic spectacle and intricate plots and drama, and that's as it should be, but we usually feel the need to be be able to relate to our heroes as people and it's moments like these that define who the characters are.

Doctor Who tends to be very good at them, and Peter Capaldi is a prime example, from his excoriating speech about the folly of war in "The Zygon Inversion" to his simple and profound summary of how much Clara means to him.

[lieut_kettch]

Wait... the TARDIS has a gorram COMICS ROOM?

I'm imagining endless stacks of longboxes filled with Mylar-bagged singles.

[icon_uk]

Not really surprising, we've seen the 11th Doctor stop off in France to pick up his latest order of BD in one of the recent multiple Doctor stories.

[yvonmukluk]

Of course there's a comics room.

Which Doctor installed it, do you think? I'm guessing Ten, because he did after all build his Zygon detector to download comics from the future as an additional feature.