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“DANCE TILL YOU DROP: A TRIPPY BUT SHALLOW COMIC DETOUR”

Dance Till You Drop is a six-page Doctor Who Magazine comic strip featuring a solo Fifteenth Doctor adventure set in 1970s New York. Accompanied by a talking, hypnotising cat, the Doctor must outdance a group of one-eyed, yellow, dance-inducing giant potato aliens in order to save the world. If that premise sounds bizarre, that’s because it absolutely is.

The story’s main gimmick is that both the cat and the aliens were designed by children as part of a magazine contest. While this is a fun idea in principle, it results in characters that feel incredibly one-note, with little in the way of depth or development. The short format doesn’t help, leaving no room to explore them beyond their initial quirks.

A TALKING CAT AND MINION-LIKE ALIENS

Doctor Who has had its fair share of memorable talking animals—Frobisher the shape-shifting penguin being one of the most beloved—but this hypnotic cat fails to reach the same heights. It feels like a weaker version of the Cheshire Cat, all self-confidence and smug remarks but without much else to make it stand out. Meanwhile, the potato-like aliens are an odd mix of goofy and unsettling, coming across as off-putting rather than entertaining. Their design evokes comparisons to the Minions, but without the same level of charm.

A TRIPPY BUT DISJOINTED EXPERIENCE

The story itself is as wild as its premise suggests, but it doesn’t quite come together. The art is serviceable, capturing the psychedelic, disco-infused setting well enough, but the dialogue is stilted and doesn’t quite capture the essence of Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor. His usual energy and charm don’t translate well onto the page, making his characterisation feel slightly off. The New York setting is also largely wasted, serving as little more than a vague backdrop rather than a fully realised environment.

📝VERDICT: 4/10

While Dance Till You Drop is an amusingly surreal concept, it ultimately feels too shallow and disjointed to be truly memorable. The characters lack depth, the story never fully embraces its potential, and the Doctor himself doesn’t quite feel like himself. A fun but forgettable detour in Doctor Who Magazine’s comic lineup.