Annual Information

Release - Number 3

Publisher - World Distributions

Released - September 1967

Format - Hardback - 96 Pages

Priced - 10s 6d

ISBN - None

 

Cover By - Unknown

Stories and Features - K. McGarry, J. L. Morrissey, J. H. Pavey, M. Broadley, J. W. Elliot, Colin Newstead

Internal Illustrations - Walter Howarth, David Brian, Susan Aspey, Peter Limbert

 

Contents

 

The Sour Note

• The Sour Note was the first illustrate short story in the 1968 Doctor Who Annual and featured the Second Doctor, Ben and Polly.
  
  After landing on a strange planet, Ben gets an almost irresistible urge to go running, claiming that he's failing to get proper exercise in the TARDIS. The Doctor opens the doors and soon Ben is out of the nervous view of Polly. The Doctor suggests he and Polly should get some exercise, too, so they walk briskly after their companion. Soon, however, they encounter a giant, towering, metal grasshopper.
  
  One interesting fact in this story is Ben's need to get out of the TARDIS so he can run and exercise seems at odds with later notions of the almost infinite amount of space in the TARDIS. (The Invasion of Time, Castrovalva and others) However, at this time in the program's history, it had not been established that the TARDIS had a vast interior — merely that it was 'bigger on the inside'.

 

The Dream Masters

• The Dream Masters was the second illustrated short story in the Doctor Who Annual.  This story featured the Second Doctor , Ben and Polly who arrive on the planet Dorada. The native Dorada have been enslaved by the Masters of Dorada, an advanced long-lived race who were once humanoid but over many generations became giant disembodied brains with four tentacles.  The native Doradans are forced to work in underground factories.  When the Doctor and his companions arrive on the planet, the Master enslave them as well and force them to work in the factories.

 

The Word of Asiries

• The Doctor arrives on a planet where it is raining hard. He ventures out into the muck and discovers a couple of hooded figures, who mysteriously say they've been waiting for him. They've mistaken him for Asiries, the representative of the Raymah, the galactic leader. They explain that they are to take him immediately to Qar, the planetary leader. On the trip to the capitol, the Doctor and his party encounter some Tryods, a species of vaguely lupine animals. His travelling companions have little regard for the sanctity of Tryod life, but the Doctor notes some kind of sapience when he watches the way two of them battle each other.

 

Only a Matter Of Time

• Onboard the TARDIS, Ben becomes alarmed when he spots an oncoming fleet of ships, which the Second Doctor tells him are on their way to invade Earth. An interesting note about this story is that this story refers to the recent transformation from the First Doctor, calling the process both 'rejuvenation' and 'reincarnation' but not 'regeneration'.

 

Planet of Bones

• The Second Doctor, Ben and Polly land on what appears to be an idyllic world. So peaceful does it seem that Polly immediately dubs it 'Heaven'. After some exploration, Ben discovers the world is inhabited. The TARDIS crew go to meet the locals, humanoids dressed in what resemble Greek clothing. They speak musically and stop the Doctor and his companions from bickering with each other. This world, it turns out, is actually named 'Harmony', and they wish to ensure the name is accurate.
  
  At first, the TARDIS crew are amazed at the sumptuous treatment they're accorded. But as the Doctor begins to ask questions about the word, he encounters some nonsensical answers. Their hosts claim not to have either animals or farms. While his companions are sleeping, the Doctor determines to figure out how the locals derive their nutrition. What he discovers is a rather gruesome room filled with heads.
  
  When his presence is detected by Alba and Sandor, they tell him that their world once did have animals, but they died out long ago. Now they wait for people to come to their planet, so they can harvest them.

 

When Starlight Grows Cold

• This short story featured the Second Doctor, Ben and Polly and was notable for being the first time the vast emptiness between galaxies had been used as a setting in a piece of authorised Doctor Who fiction, and the first time that the TARDIS performed a controlled 'short hop' between two close points in space.
  
  The TARDIS materialises in nothingness. It is pitch black in every direction, according to the scanner. The Doctor at first waxes lyrical about where they are, before finally telling Ben and Polly that they are actually in the vast, empty space between galaxies. He sends out some probes to check for any biological life-forms nearby, not really believing he'll possibly find any.
  
  Excited by being in such an unusual location, the Doctor entreats Ben to join him for a bit of a space walk. They exit the TARDIS in space suits, leaving Polly behind in the console room to monitor the readings from the probe. While the boys perform their extra-vehicular activity, Polly shouts down an intercom that the probes are beginning to transmit signs of nearby life.

 

H.M.S. TARDIS

• The Doctor, Ben and Polly land on the HMS Victory during the Battle of Trafalgar. In the lull immediately before the fight with the Redoubtable, they must prove to Flag Captain Hardy they are not spies or deserters. This is one of the few stories in which Ben plays a dominant role, and in which his naval background is significant to the plot. Ben is in his element here, certainly than in any televised story.

 

The King Of Golden Death

• Ben exits the TARDIS into a darkened world. He beckons for Polly and the Second Doctor to join him. Gradually, as light is literally thrown onto their environs, the Doctor deduces they are in the tomb of Pharaoh Tut-Ankh-Amen, the boy king whose rich tomb survived unmolested into the 20th century. The two companions marvel at the riches around them. Polly suggests that they take some of the gold-plated excess back with them in the TARDIS. Ben agrees, but the Doctor most forcefully counters their suggestions of theft. As they argue, they hear actual grave robbers entering the tomb. This story is interesting as its theme was one that would occasionally feature in Doctor Who fiction. It asked whether time travellers have the right to take things from one time period which they know will be valuable in another.

Comic Strip Stories

 

The Tests of Trefus

• The Doctor, Polly and Ben visit a planet where the fair-haired people are the slaves of the black-haired people. To gain their freedom, they must pass the tests of Trefus, which no one has yet succeeded in doing.

 

World Without Night

• The Doctor, Ben and Polly arrive on the Planet Of Light.  The Planet Of Light has three sons orbiting around it.  One interesting fact is that This comic seems to have been written with William Hartnell in mind for the Doctor. The Doctor (with the likeness of Patrick Troughton) calls Ben and Polly 'children' and is mistaken for an 'elder'.

 

Puzzles 

§  Travels of the Tardis

§  Test from Tardis

§  Lost...Dr. Who

§  Back to the Tardis

§  All set for Take Off?

 

Features 

§  Aiming of the Moon

§  The Phoenix in the TARDIS

§  Space Dictionary

§  Men who made History

§  Peephole at Space-Target One

§  A Skyful of Saucers

§  The Sky at Night

§  The Solar System

§  The Lost Continent of Atlantis

§  Time and Time again

§  Star Facts

 

 

 

 

Click the picture above to take you to the Full Annual for you to read.