A premise that has been done before (*see The Company of Friends: Fitz's Story), but where else are you gonna see the Twelfth Doctor in a DW branded snapback using a sonic selfie stick?

It's just fun, isn't it?

I can't help but feel as well the message of this story is that the Doctor doesn't need to be young and trendy to be popular with kids, despite the fact he was in an older incarnation at this point. Which is a sentiment I completely agree with.

'We love the Doctor, whatever he looks like!'

Decky was the original Belinda??

Half expecting the Doctor to pull out a Vindicator in the next strip to find the co-ordinates to get him home!

I could see this being a minisode in this era, which is probably the highest praise I can give it.

Here’s the story:

Zigma, an artist from the future, has a figure that happens to be 'a vicious, alien killer' trapped in a painting.

So he decides to put it on display for everyone to see, for some reason?

Then the Doctor lets it out, for some reason?

The 2D figure goes on a rampage, and Zigma reveals he encountered it before and got licky by spilling paint on it. Hence why it was stuck in the painting.

The Doctor, Amy and Rory then gear up with spray paint cans and spray it to the wall. The Doctor especially has way too much fun wearing an artist beret and in a gleeful moment utters the words: 'That's it, Ponds! Keep up the attack!'

This, of course, is a deliberate homage to the 2nd Doctor’s 'Die, hideous creature, die!'

The story finishes back where it started with the figure trapped in the wall again. Then, despite it being the Doctor's fault for letting the figure out of the painting, he just leaves now that he’s had his fun and lets ‘some friends in this time period’ deal with sending it home. 

I'm not expecting much from DWA strips but at the very least I expect the Doctor to be recognisable. I guess the real Two-Dimensional killer in this story was this character assassination.

1/10

The idea of waiting to open a Christmas present feeling like an eternity - but it actually being an eternity (well, weeks in this case), is not only inspired but the perfect tale for the audience of this magazine.

This is certainly one of the more memorable DWA strips. As the target age group at the time, this is a one I specifically remember reading in 2011 and the concept capturing my imagination.

Looking back on this as an adult though, it is a shame this isn't longer and stuck in a magazine designed for children. Presented for a different audience this could be a genuinely scary story. An alien feeding off of that moment on Christmas morning as a kid is genius because it's thrilling, but also incredibly vulnerable. Quite often as a kid you can't sleep because it's so exciting!  And because your parents are asleep, you're also alone. It's an isolating moment as a child, actually, one that I think most can identify with. But that moment of isolation is largely forgotten afterwards because it ends - and Christmas Day is amazing! But imagine if that isolated time is drawn out, so that you're alone for weeks? So that your parents never wake up? That's terrifying!

Of course, it doesn't go that deep with it because its a children's magazine strip. The story reaches a head when it turns out inside the present is a big red monster called the Stromini feeding off of anticipation. It is then easily defeated and goes green with the child, Gabriel's, disappointment (you'd think he'd be scared??) of an alien in the present and not what he wanted. There is a nice homage to The Feast of Steven in the last panel though.

Nevertheless, there's a concept here that I think genuinely had potential for something much darker and mature if it was in a different medium. I feel like this is begging to be more mature - the Doctor even says to Gabriel at the end that he lied to make him less scared and that the creature was going to hurt them had it not been stopped. Like many of his DWA strips actually, I admire Robson's imagination for ideas and I wish I could have seen this one explored so much further.

If only this fairy tale was a Grimm's one.

6/10

'You feel that pounding in your heart, that tightness in the pit of your stomach, the blood rushing to your head? Do you know what that is? That's adventure. The thrill and the fear and the joy of stepping into the unknown. That's why we're all here, and that's why we're alive!'

Where it all began!

This story is a lot of fun. It's not perfect, not at all, but it's fun. And compared to more recent Doctor debuts like Ravagers, this really is the start of a new era with promise of more to come.

Something I noticed, compared to more recent Eight releases, is how the Doctor's characterisation is actually very similar to the TV movie. When he does the 'How!' greeting to Charley he seems a little weird but also giddy like the infamous 'These shoes! They fit perfectly!' scene. He also name drops throughout just like in the TV Movie. Likewise he is in awe of the way the the decks of the Triskele ship move around the people exclaiming 'Brilliant, just brilliant! I love it!' with youthful awe, something that seems refreshing in contrast to his later Time War and Stranded characterisations.

I also realised that both Charley and Molly O'Sullivan are introduced in the same way - through a scene where they are writing aloud. Charley's character is also well formed by the end of this story.

I liked how it used the real-life triskelion motif and gave it a sci-fi meaning. However, I do agree episode 3 was the weakest and a little dull. I can't say I care much for the Triskele. I also don't understand how the Lawgiver could tell that the Doctor wasn't human but Engineer Prime couldn't?

Finally it is notable that the Doctor did try to order an evacuation on the airship. It wasn't just Charley he tried to save, he tried to save everyone 'parachutes all round' but nobody listened to him. If they had done, though, the web of time would probably be torn to shreds!

Overall, thoroughly enjoyable. Setting up what's to come, with contagious fun and excitement from McGann and Fisher.

7/10