Review by Ian Keogh
Teaming various incarnations of the Doctor through the jiggery-pokery of time travel is always a treat for fans to anticipate, and Time Lord Victorious when originally produced involved the additional attractive complexity of being a story told simultaneously across several platforms. Even more alluring is how it ties into multiple TV episodes featuring numerous incarnations of the Doctor. All of that, though, may make this a little intimidating to the more casual fan. Don’t be concerned. No knowledge of associated projects or complicated history is required.
Jody Houser works from a plot conceived by Doctor Who novelist James Goss beginning with the tenth Doctor, brought to life by David Tennant, experiencing memory loss after awakening in the Tardis and discovering massed Daleks outside. The novelty is that for once extermination isn’t on the agenda and that they actually need the Doctor’s help.
Tennant’s delivery and phrases echo authentically through Houser’s dialogue and a plot that’s surprisingly low key for a cover correctly suggesting Tennant’s Doctor is up front and central. However, it also suggests the involvement of the Doctor’s other incarnations, and the only Doctor who eventually manifests is the Jodie Whitaker version, who’s absent from the cover. Another Doctor is shown, but only in the very final panel, suggesting a connection to the larger tapestry.
The task at hand is to aid the Daleks, who’re being threatened by a race even they fear. It’s a cleverly conceived scenario viably rolled out and greatly benefiting from the sympathetic art of Roberta Ingranata. Her cartoon likenesses of Tennant look drawn rather than shipped in to be modified from video freezes, and they’re expressive in evoking the TV personality. Ingranata supplies spartan surroundings for the world of the Daleks and variations within their familiar form.
The Doctor’s primary interaction is with a single Dalek, referring to themself as the Primary Strategist for the Dalek Empire. Houser concocts a delicate bantering relationship with an undercurrent of suspicion as they attempt to access a cache of forbidden Dalek weapons amusingly labelled as the Vault of Obscenities. The one aspect dipping below the acceptability threshold is the Hond, the race the Daleks so fear. They manifest from nowhere and are equally without adequate explanation dealt with, although in a surprising way. Perhaps their capabilities are defined across associated media, but there needed to be something better than a wave of the sonic screwdriver by way of explanation.
Despite the fudges, Time Lord Victorious: Defender of the Daleks is a sprightly adventure offering very entertaining moments among a well established threat.
