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“THE WHOLE THING’S BANANAS: WAR DOCTOR GOES FRUITY IN A TIME WAR TEASE”

The Whole Thing’s Bananas is an intriguing but ultimately underwhelming comic that tackles a small, curious piece of Doctor Who lore – the War Doctor’s transformation of the Villengard weapon factories into a banana farm, as referenced cheekily by Nine in The Doctor Dances. It’s the kind of obscure callback that fans love, but instead of fleshing out the action-packed operation that must have brought such a change about, the comic merely hints at it – and skips right past the juicy bits.

WHO ORDERED DORIUM?

One of the stranger choices is the inclusion of Dorium Maldovar, the blue-faced black marketeer from the Eleventh Doctor’s era. The comic teases his involvement as important, but fails to clarify why he’s even there. He follows the Doctor around, asks repeatedly what he’s doing there (same, Dorium, same), and never actually contributes to the resolution. For a story that pitches itself as a key mission in the Time War, it’s baffling how little any of the characters actually do.

A DOCTOR OUT OF CHARACTER

What really jars is how light-hearted the War Doctor feels here. This comic places itself “at the very end of the Time War,” yet he behaves more like the Ninth or Tenth Doctor – dropping banana gags and waxing poetic about fruit. While John Hurt’s War Doctor could certainly be sardonic and sly, his darker, heavier tone is largely absent here. It feels off. This is a man haunted by atrocities, yet he spends most of the story making fruity quips and being whimsical. The tonal mismatch is hard to ignore.

VILLENGARD GETS THE SHORT STICK

The comic’s title and setup seem to promise a thrilling operation in which the Doctor infiltrates Villengard and disables its weapons factories – possibly even a stealth mission, sabotage, or a dramatic last stand. But that’s not what we get. We get the lead-up. We see Dalek ships turning up after the fact. The whole transformation is glossed over. There’s no clever twist, no satisfying payoff, just a strange sense of anti-climax.

📝VERDICT: 6/10

The Whole Thing’s Bananas is a missed opportunity. The idea of revisiting Villengard during the Time War is ripe for exploration, but instead of a gritty, characterful adventure, we get a tonally off, lighthearted detour that skips over all the good bits. Dorium is pointless, the War Doctor doesn’t feel like himself, and the comic feels more like a footnote than a story. A fun concept, but the whole thing really is bananas – just not in the way you'd want.

Great cyberpunky timewar atmosphere, very detailed drawings, cute lore references, actually very charming story. Just that the plot makes no sense, like at all. You know what I’m going to say, I’ve said it before a few times already. No le rhyme no le reason for things le hap’nin’.
Oh the colours I’m mentioning those now each time, not gonna stop now. They’re very good, can be dark and fiery. Often deep, highlights the details in the illustrations very well. Lovely work on that.