The Life Bringer!

This early DWM comic strip sees the 4th Doctor and K9 arrive on a desolate sea shore after something goes wrong with the TARDIS console.  There, they find the huge form of Prometheus, the ancient Greek God who created man.  He is chained to a rock.  The Doctor, knowing his Greek myths, recognises him but says Prometheus was chained to a mountain by Zeus.  Prometheus has been here so long, though, the mountain has been eroded to a small rock not much bigger than himself.  The Doctor decides he has been chained long enough and releases him with a quick blast from K9.  Prometheus takes the Doctor to Olympus to meet Zeus and it is clear nobody is particularly pleased to see him.  Apparently his attempts to create man were, according to the other Gods, including Aphrodite, Apollo, Ares and Hermes, a complete disaster.  He is taken away and the Doctor is sent to Asclepius.  Fascinated by this ‘man’, Asclepius (who is growing ‘men’ in his laboratory) plans to dissect the Doctor.

Escaping, the Doctor is able to aid Prometheus’ liberation from the cell Zeus has him locked into and together they steal the life spores Asclepius was cultivating in his laboratory.  Zeus attempts to stop them but they manage to get into the TARDIS and in the depths of space, Prometheus launches himself from the TARDIS and towards an unnamed planet, ready to start life anew.

This is a very odd story as it doesn’t seem to explain who these Greek gods are.  Are they the real thing?  An alien race?  Has the Doctor landed at the dawn of time, on an alien planet, in another universe?  The strip doesn’t want to give clear answers, which is fair enough.  The conclusion has the Doctor wondering whether he was on Earth or whether Prometheus is heading there at the end of the story to start life.

This ambiguity leads to the rather arbitrary placing Lance Parkin has given it in A History; in the very early stages of the universe (around the time of the scene in The Pandorica Opens where the Doctor and Amy visit the oldest planet in the universe).  What I don’t understand is where these ‘failed’ humans are that Zeus is so concerned about.  If this is before the creation of life on Earth, where is ‘man’?  Are we to suppose these gods (their race is never given a name) are contemporaries of the Daemons and their world-meddling, creating and destroying life?  Are they more akin to the Guardians or the Great Old Ones from the universe before ours?

It’s all very intriguing and open to various interpretations.There are some nice touches to link this world with the Greek myths.  Aside from fairly traditional depictions of the various gods, their city is modelled on the Parthenon (and is HUGE) and Aphrodite travels in a clam-shaped flying machine.It’s not a story you can ever imagine seeing on television, but the concept of all powerful, mysterious god-like beings is one the series (in all its various forms) has toyed with on numerous occasions.

Overall it is a fun story but feels inconclusive.  I suppose that’s sort of the point, but it’s slightly frustrating not to know exactly who these Greek gods are.  The Doctor also seems a little too reactive probably because he doesn’t really know what’s happening.  He aids Prometheus without really knowing the full story and hardly interacts with the other gods at all who see him as little more than a lab rat.  I do wonder why Zeus doesn’t consider him more important seeing as he seems to imply there is currently no life in the universe – where does he think the Doctor is from, and why doesn’t he care if he is so concerned about there being no human life in the universe until it can be guaranteed they will be peace-loving and perfect?  It’s all a little strange.  That said, I do like the final frames showing Prometheus flying towards a planet with the Doctor wondering exactly where and when he is.  It does seem quite epic.