They Think It’s All Over!

They Think It’s All Over is an IDW comic.  I managed to get hold of digital copies of these comics due to the recent Humble Bundle offer which was a ridiculously good deal (and the only way I was likely to get my grubby mitts on this part of the expanded universe).  And I’m glad I did because, on the strength of this short strip, I think I’m going to find much to enjoy (that said, I have already read The Forgotten, and that was rather good, so I should have known).

The Doctor, Amy and Rory are on their way to the 1966 World Cup, but end up about 1000 years too early and become embroiled in an attempt by a Viking, Henghist, to take control of the area from the Anglo-Saxons.  Henghist murders his more peaceful father, witnessed by Rory, and attempts to blame the Anglo-Saxons to incite war between the two groups.  The Doctor manages to challenge Henghist instead, to a football match and, with some little tricks and the help of Rory, manages to defeat Henghist and turn his own men against him when the truth of his actions is revealed.

I hate football.  Always have, always will.  In the same way as Doctor Who stories about Westerns give me a little sinking feeling, so to do ones revolving around football.  I like The Lodger, but I can do without the football bits.  I really didn’t enjoy the 8th Doctor comic strip The Nightmare Game.  Fortunately, Doctor Who writers tend to steer clear of the sport as well.  Cricket is far more common and I should imagine some of that stems from the fact that the sort of people writing Doctor Who nowadays (the geeks as it were) are probably of a similar opinion to me when it comes to football (although that said, I don’t particularly like cricket either).  Of course, this is a gross generalisation and I’m sure there are plenty of Doctor Who fans who are also fans of the beautiful game. I quite enjoyed the football scenes in this strip though.  I think it’s maybe because it revolves more around the dirty tricks each team tries to play to distract the other team.

The characterisation of the regulars in this story is good, although I think Rory has been better written in the  DWM comic strips.  Amy comes across well and the Doctor feels like Matt Smith’s portrayal.  The guest cast don’t have a huge amount of time to develop but the noble king and queen (who accept the Doctor very quickly) are fine and the two main Vikings are suitably fierce.

Historically, Wemba Lea, the area the TARDIS materialises is, indeed, the Old English name for the area which would become Wembley.  I cannot find an online reference to the Saxon Lord Wemba, and his wife, Frida (although they mention Alfred the Great).  The two Vikings, Ragnar and Henghist are referenced in some works and Ragnar is apparently a character in the online series Vikings, although I can’t be sure if they are real historical figures or not (I’m guessing possibly not, as Ragnar is murdered by Henghist and unless there was some ambiguity surrounding Ragnar’s death and the situation surrounding it, it would be difficult to include it in the story as a major plot point without contradicting historical fact quite a lot).

This was a fun story which uses its short length well.

This is a solid enough entry in the IDW Doctor Who comic strips. It's essentially what I imagine a pure historical new series Doctor Who story would be without a monster or a villain from another time