Doctor Who: The Clockwise War by Scott Gray

Doctor Who: The Clockwise War Reviews

• 
  Joel Kirk

  I previously read Land of the Blind, which was enjoyable overall.
  
  
  
  The Age of Chaos was passable; it could have been better.
  
  
  
  Unfortunately, The Clockwise War was just a collection of bad writing, terrible.
  
  Here's a quick rundown:
  
  The Clockwise War
  The first story, with the Twelfth Doctor, involves a previous character named Fay Truscott-Sade whom he left (as the War Doctor) behind on a dying world; an instance where he had to save himself or die, or Sade, and they both die.
  
  So Sade returns with revenge on her mind. First, without explanation, she is gunning for companion Bill Potts, but then that is dropped without explanation.
  
  Second, a time lord named General Kennosium returns to get help from US Marshal Bass Reeves and a Native American named Totika. However, both individuals don't affect the plot or story in any way.
  
  Third, The Doctor goes into some unexplained mind thingy where he reads Peter Pan to connect with Sade.
  
  Another villain, Alexander Truscott, a relative of Fay Truscott-Sade, is trying to take over the universe.
  
  It's all a mess.
  
  If you need clarification while reading this summary, you understand my point.
  
  The Cybermen
  The second story is a soulless, boring one based on one of my favorite Who aliens: The Cybermen.
  
  There's not a real story, just a thin plot that follows a group of Cybermen trying to take over the universe by going through an area with Sea Devils and failing.
  
  We then two Earth people are trying to find an artifact only to succumb to issues where one dies, and another becomes a Cybermen.
  
  A Religious Experience
  The third story focuses on the First Doctor and Ian Chesterson, who come across a primitive group that sees them as Gods because they stopped a monster.
  
  Before they leave, they stop a girl's sacrifice to them before departing in the TARDIS, which leads the people to now worship the TARDIS.
  
  The 7th Doctor shows up years (?) later to try to stop another sacrifice of a girl, this time to a god in the shape of the TARDIS.
  
  How many sacrifices had occurred before Doctor #7 showed up?
  
  Rest & Re-Creation
  The fourth story is about the Fourth Doctor (with Leela) vacationing on a planet. The Doctor notices two aliens battling one another, two shape-shifted Zygons.
  
  The Doctor releases other alien beings the Zygons have in captivity since Zygons need people or beings unconscious and hooked up in their alcoves so they, Zygons, can take their form.
  
  It's another abrupt ending, as the Doctor seems nonchalant if the newly freed aliens may or may not have killed the Zygons to have a way off the planet.
  
  The Naked Flame
  The fifth story features the Fourth Doctor again, but with Sarah Jane Smith, meeting up with aliens from the First Doctor tenure, specifically from the episode 'The Web Planet.'
  
  It's another short, abrupt story about one alien that doesn't have wings and how she is discriminated against by others who do.
  
  Blood Invocation
  The sixth story involves the Fifth Doctor with Nyssa, Tegan, and vampires on the planet of Gallifrey. There is no real explanation of where these vampires came from or how they happened on the Time Lord planet.
  
  There are just vampires on the planet.
  
  After a vampire makes his way into the TARDIS and affects Tegan, it's not long until the Doctor him. However, other vampires on Gallifrey create or resurrect another.
  
  And the story ends.
  
  Star Beast II
  The Star Beast II, probably the best of the lot -- and that's not saying much -- is about an alien who masquerades as a 'cute' alien who comes down to Earth to, you guessed it: Take over the universe.
  
  Or actually, in this case: Earth.
  
  The Fourth Doctor is with K-9, although K-9 stays in the TARDIS while the Doctor sees a movie at a theater and runs into the alien mentioned earlier, defeating him (or it) while trapping it in a film the Doctor watches.
  
  Junk-Yard Demon II
  The final 'story' is about the Fourth Doctor encountering the Cybermen.
  
  ****
  
  Overall, this book was a slog to get through. The Land of the Blind had better writing.
  
• 
  Nicholas Whyte

  
  https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/the-clockwise-war-by-scott-gray/
  
  I had bought this in hard copy ages ago, and had not appreciated that the title story, a Twelfth Doctor / Bill Potts adventure, is a direct follow-on from the previous Twelfth Doctor volume, The Phantom Piper, which I have not read yet. The arc also depends quite heavily on continuity from earlier stories in Doctor Who magazine, most of which I had read but long ago.
  
  But I got over it and very much enjoyed the title story and the collection as a whole. There is a whole arc about Cybermen, which comes close to making them interesting. There is a First Doctor story, a couple of Fourth Doctor stories, and a Fifth Doctor story by Paul Cornell. There are some interesting endnotes by the writers and artists, reflecting on what worked and what didn’t, and why. I still wish I had got the previous volume but I don’t regret reading this.
• 
  Alex Wood

  The main story is fantastic, definitely the best in current years. The cybermen origin story is a bit weird, but it is from the 90s, just a pity Spare Parts et al have came along since then. The other doctors mini stories are quite fun, if a bit short.
• 
  Socialite

  This was an impulse borrow from my local library and it turned out to be a great read.
  It's a collection of Dr who stories, some recent and some older, from what I think is the Dr who magazine. I found most of the stories brilliant and none boring. Will be checking these collections in future.
• 
  John Parungao

  An epic finale for the twelfth Doctor comic strip followed by a strip showing the secret history of the Cybermen and comic strips featuring the fifth, fourth , and first Doctors. In general, an enjoyable reading experience.
• 
  Jamieson

  Carrying on from the previous volume (The Phantom Piper), we get a massive finale that delves back into the Time War. Let me back up a bit, the main story consists of comics originally printed in Doctor Who Magazine (DWM) issues 524-530. The Doctor and Bill end up fighting a former companion who was corrupted by the Time War. This story pulls together several characters from DWM's past, mainly Fey Truscott-Sade. I won't go into details here as both the story and behind-the-scenes notes at the end of the book do so I'll leave it to them. Needless to say, Fey was primarily an Eighth Doctor companion. The story is good with good art and a wonderful conclusion to the Twelfth Doctor's run in DWM.
  
  The rest of the stories I skipped over on this read-through. We have a Cybermen story from earlier DWM issues and then two stories each from the 1994, 1995 and 1996 Doctor Who Annuals. Finally, at the back of the book are behind-the-scenes reminisces by the stories authors and sometimes artists. A must if you like the Twelfth Doctor, are interested in seeing a slice of the Time War, or have been following the DWM comics and look forward to major payoffs for longtime readers.