f Annuals - Fourth Doctor
 
4th Doctor
Doctor Who Annuals
Strips and Stories featuring the Fourth Doctor

 

Comic strips in blue
Short stories in black


Annual 1976
Annual 1976

  • Released: September 1975
    ISBN: 0 7235 0320 6
 A New Life 4th Doctor, Sarah and Harry

The Hospitality on Hankus 4th Doctor, Sarah and Harry

The Psychic Jungle 4th Doctor, Sarah and Harry
The TARDIS lands on an unnamed planet somewhere out in space. Venturing onto the surface of the planet, the Doctor, Sarah and Harry are attacked by a series of monsters that spring up from within the ground and patrol the skies. The Doctor explains they have nothing to fear; the creatures are simply illusions. However, when they are again attacked by a group of giant spiders, they discover not everything is an allusion; the spiders are very much alive. They have crash-landed on the planet but cannot return to their ship to repair it as they face attack from a fleet of giant birds. The Doctor explains that the atmosphere of the planet is a living organism and is conjuring these illusions to confuse and frighten anybody who touches its surface. He manages to get back to the TARDIS and rig up a series of devices which will stop the spiders suffering from hallucinations, giving them time to repair their ship and leave. The TARDIS crew prepare to depart, with the Doctor pondering exactly why it was he took his companions to the planet anyway.

Time Placement: This appears to fit in anywhere with the continuity of the series, either between Robot and Ark In Space or between Revenge of the Cybermen and Terror of the Zygons.

Source: Dominic Smith
The Sinister Sponge 4th Doctor, Sarah and Harry

Neuronic Nightmare 4th Doctor, Sarah and Harry
On a tiny planet in the eye of a cosmic hurricane in Neuronic space, the TARDIS has landed. The Doctor and Sarah are inside, but Harry remains unseen, until he suddenly appears in a shaft of bright light. Before he has time to explain his absence, the TARDIS is upturned and carried away by the natives of the planet. Upon being put down again, the three travellers leave the ship to be confronted by Skizos, one of the native Neuroids, who cultivate humans to use their receptivity unit to help absorb the Neuronic energy waste that is building in their atmosphere. The Neuroids discover that the Doctor’s Receptivity unit is larger than any human’s and attempt to remove it, but Harry saves him. The creatures then turn on Sarah, but the three travellers manage to bypass the machine by joining hands. The machine explodes and they prepare to leave. Harry decides it is time to explain his previous absence from the ship, and reveals himself to be a Neuroid. The real Harry is on the cultivation farm, and as Sarah goes to collect him, the Doctor walks back to the TARDIS and ponders in interest the concept of having to leave the planet with an indicator malfunction…

Time Placement: The idea of Harry not being in the TARDIS during it’s arrival seems to indicate the use of the Time Ring, placing this story between Genesis of the Daleks and Revenge of the Cybermen. However, the presence of the TARDIS contradicts this and it is more likely that Harry’s absence is due to a malfunction in the ship.

Source: Dominic Smith
Avast There! 4th Doctor, Sarah and Harry

The Mission 4th Doctor, Sarah and Harry

 

Comic strips in blue
Short stories in black


Annual 1977
Annual 1977

  • Released: September 1976
    ISBN: 0 7235 0369 9
 War on Aquatica 4th Doctor, Sarah and Harry
The Doctor has been taken prisoner on Aquatica, along with Sarah Jane and Professor Vittorio Levi. The year is 3999 and the Medusians who are holding them are interested in the TARDIS. Medusia is one of three kingdoms on the planet. After various ingenious attempts to escape from their prison have failed Sarah Jane suggests the more direct route of assaulting their guard, which works. After their escape they run up the beach and sleep. They are woken by a Phyllosian, inhabitant of the second kingdom, who takes them to his home. He explains that THE Medusians are starting a war on the third kingdom, Matterdom. The Doctor is a virtual bystander in the war and after the Medusians are defeated he helps to negotiate the peace treaty. After a lengthy and educational stay they return to 1977.
Source: Mark Senior
Cyclone Terror 4th Doctor, Sarah and Harry
The Doctor takes Sarah Jane to Zoto in the galaxy of Zaurus, circa 4000. Their holiday is spoiled by the unhealthy vegetation and absence of inhabitants. A sudden cyclone blows them miles from the TARDIS. The Doctor explains that this is a particularly unusual occurrence. By the time they return to the TARDIS it is surrounded by Zotons. They tell the Doctor that the cyclones are a recent phenomenon and have ruined their crops and homes. The Doctor strides off in the direction and discovers several reptilian Zanons operating a wind machine. The Doctor confronts the Zanons with a sharpened stick and Sarah leaps on the back of another. They flee and the Doctor uses the wind machine to blow them away, pronouncing that any survivors will flee the planet.
Source: Mark Senior
Time Snatch 4th Doctor, Sarah and Harry
In the American desert UNIT have set up a laboratory where the Doctor and Sarah Jane are helping Dr Bhoul investigate a mysterious crystal, Crystal Z. Their work is interrupted when an aged prospector, possessed by aliens, storms the compound and breaks through the wall into the laboratory. The Doctor slips the crystal into his pocket and the prospector is unable to find it, though he claims it belongs to his people. He produces a Time Cube which flings the Doctor, Sarah and Bhoul back in time. They fight off a caveman, but as a mammoth attacks the Doctor discovers the Time Cube in the undergrowth, reverses the controls and sends them back to their own time. They arrive back in the desert near the unconscious prospector, now minus the alien intelligence.
Source: Mark Senior
The Body Snatcher 4th Doctor, Sarah and Harry
While on the Doctor, Sarah and Harry are on their way to Mitra B to discuss the planet’s moral progress, the TARDIS is forced to land on Axa, a moon to the planet Torm. Rascla, the demonic-looking Master of Torm, immediately captures them. Rascla takes over the Doctor’s body with the intention of infiltrating Mitra B and release germs that will drive the Mitrans into a self-destructive frenzy of murderous hate. With the destruction of Mitra B the entire system will be vulnerable to invasion from his Tormian Toadmen. Sarah and Harry are hypnotized to complete the ruse.

The time travellers are greeted warmly by the Mitra B Committee of Moral Affairs when they arrive. Just as Rascla prepares to crush the capsule containing the germs, he freezes. All this time the Doctor has been hiding in Sarah’s sleeping psyche and has returned to reclaim his body. A brutal psychic duel ends with Rascla’s spirit is expelled into nothingness.

Later, the Doctor apologizes to Sarah for travelling in her body. She replies, “Anytime Doctor - but please ask first next time.”

Time-Placement: Between Revenge of the Cybermen and Terror of the Zygons.

Eye-Spiders of Pergross 4th Doctor, Sarah and Harry
The Doctor's journey to the planet of Phenolyadron is interrupted when the TARDIS is mysteriously swept across the galaxy to the planet Pergross in the year 3872. Emerging from the time ship, Sarah Jane, Harry and the Doctor are confronted with huge eyes that can spin webs and soon find themselves inside one of these creatures. There they find that there is a viewing screen which shows the creature's memories. It transpires that the creatures are the crew of a prototype time rocket from Earth, circa 3000, which landed on Pergross, mutating the humans into the Eye-Spiders. They are led by the Doctor's old friend, Xerxes Periopolos. Responding to the Spider's telepathic request the Doctor uses the TARDIS to reverse the mutation and the grateful humans return to their rocket and journey back to Earth.
Source: Mark Senior
Detour to Diamedes 4th Doctor, Sarah and Harry
After a miscalculation the Doctor lands the TARDIS in a tree, high above a steaming swamp on an alien world. When he opens the door three coppery-green creatures enter the TARDIS. Despite the alarm shown by Sarah Jane and Harry the Doctor is content to accompany these creatures through the pathways in the treetops. He speculates that they are on Diamedes and the aliens are the gentle, but dim-witted, Slodes. When a branch snaps Harry and one of the Slodes plunge towards the swamp. They are attacked by a monster but Sarah Jane's scream distracts it long enough for the Doctor to effect a rescue. After hours of walking they arrive at the Slode habitation and enter a house. The Doctor is amazed to see an old man who he recognises as Zyphos, former captain of the Tandrian fleet, who he thought died years earlier. Zyphos explains that his ship crashed on the planet, his crew died in the wreckage, the swamps or of fever and that he only survived thanks to the kindness of the Slodes. Now in his last days he yearns to see his home again and the Doctor agrees to transport him there.
Source: Mark Senior
Double Trouble 4th Doctor, Sarah and Harry
The Doctor and Sarah return to UNIT HQ after a trip to the planet Dumok. Harry is pleased to see them but thinks Sarah looks ill. He later observes her behaving oddly: gazing intently at a young soldier, walking in a jerky and mechanical fashion. He follows her and sees her prepare to send a transmission into space. When he intervenes she knocks him out with a charge of electricity from her hands. He recovers in time to join the Doctor and Brigadier watching Sarah fighting with the young soldier. As they collapse to the floor two shadowy figures rise from their bodies and continue to fight. The Doctor recognises them as creatures from Dumok. The eventual victor introduces himself as Theon. He explains that a murderer from his planet was known to be hiding on Earth and he hitched a ride in Sarah's body to find him. A ship from Dumok soon arrives to take the criminal away.
Source: Mark Senior
Menace on Metalupiter 4th Doctor, Sarah and Harry
The Doctor is taking Sarah and Harry to Metalupiter, a planet rich in minerals and the principle supplier of zutonium for the Psykos solar system, to meet the charming, cat-like Metalupitron robots. But as soon as they arrive they are attacked by the inhabitants.

Returning to the TARDIS the Doctor rigs up a radio transmitter to immobilize the robots. The Doctor and Harry capture a Metalupitron called Puskeet, who explains that an alien race has taken control of Metalupiter and has built reactors to fuse the planet into a giant crystal of Mitheniun, a substance used to build spaceships. A planet size crystal would take an explosion big enough to kill everything in this solar system. Puskeet then tells them to go to the centre, the reaction starts today.

The time travellers go to the center but are caught by the alien invaders. Puskeet comes to their rescue and they quickly shut down the reactors.

Time-Placement: Between Revenge of the Cybermen and Terror of the Zygons.

Secret of the Bald Planet 4th Doctor, Sarah and Harry
Japanese scientists discover evidence of a space warp. The TARDIS investigates but is sent out of control and lands on a featureless planet, not unlike a vast billiard ball. As they examine the surface a shaft opens beneath them and the Doctor, Sarah and Harry, along with the TARDIS, float gently down. They are met by some telepathic earwigs who take the trio to their leader. A scientist among them takes the Doctor on one side and explains that this is the planet Paras. The Parads live out sixteen seasons of their life cycle before entering a device called the Rectulator. He says that legend tells that it is a transporter that sends them to the twin planet of Bossgar. However, the day before his turn in the Rectulator a powerful Parad, Gresk, seized control and announced that the Parads were being used as slaves on Bossgar. The Doctor examines the Rectulator  and discovers it is a device that sends the Parads psyches to Bossgar where they live a life of peaceful speculation. It was built long before by the peaceful Xylians to help the warlike Parads. After a mental battle with Gresk the Doctor sends the Leader to Bossgar, informs the rest of the Parads of their ultimate and wonderful fate and takes Harry and Sarah Jane back to the TARDIS, confessing that their own journey home might be difficult as he has no idea where they actually are.
Source: Mark Senior
 

Comic strips in blue
Short stories in black


Annual 1978
Annual 1978

  • Released: September 1977
    ISBN: 0 7235 0412 1
 The Sleeping Beast 4th Doctor and Sarah
The Second Doctor had once befriended Swee, of the race of Guerners. They are a vegetarian species with voracious appetites and poor farming skills. As such they wander nomadically from planet to planet, decimating the vegetation and leaving behind only scrolls that give details of their stay.

Now the Fourth Doctor has landed on a new planet only to discover Swee and other Guerners outside the TARDIS, all of them (uncharacteristically) carrying weapons. On emerging from the TARDIS in what appears to be a space hangar in Houston the Doctor and Sarah are seized. Swee does not recognise the Doctor and declares himself to be called Nass. The Doctor realises that he has landed on board one of the Guerners' vast transport ships.

It transpires that the fleet is being destroyed by a Sto-Cat, fighting for the Kryptolian race. As the fleet, the Sto-Cat and the TARDIS are all that exists on this planet the Guernians assume the Doctor is controlling their attacker, but his calm manner persuades them otherwise. With some subtle psychology he discovers that the Sto-Cat is one of billions, each left on its own on a new planet, ready to subjugate any intelligent race that rises. He deactivates the Sto-Cat which Sarah is horrified to see resembles the Sphynx from Earth and allows his Guerner friends to begin their new life.
Source: Mark Senior
The Sands of Tymus 4th Doctor and Sarah
A party of Spartons land on the desert planet, Tymus, but are ill equipped to deal with the harsh environment. Most of the males are disabled by the cruel heat of the three suns and all the females die. Their scientists are desperately building new bodies for them to inhabit when the Spartrons' servants, Tymus's native inhabitants the Toregs capture the Doctor and Sarah. The Doctor is distraught when Sarah is put into a renewal machine, thinking her body parts are going to be cannibalised, but it transpires that she is merely to be the template for a whole crowd of identical females. The benign Spartrons return the real Sarah to the Doctor while he warns them that if the copies have the original's temper they are in for trouble.
Source: Mark Senior
The Rival Robots 4th Doctor and Sarah
The TARDIS lands on the planet Vona. The Doctor and Sarah step outside, where they are attacked by a gigantic metal insect. It captures Sarah and takes her away.

The Doctor manages to avoid the creature and find his old friend Olak, who explains the planet Vona is in the midst of a war between the two robotic species who inhabit it; the Domos and the Yeng.

Sarah has been captured by one of the Domos, and taken to their base. The Doctor and Olak manage to save her by sneaking into the base via an air vent. However, no sooner is she safe with the Doctor than the Yeng attack the base, claiming the only way to kill the Domos is to detonate their inbuilt neutron bombs.

The Doctor manages to convince them not to, explaining how the rest of the planet would be destroyed as well. The Yeng deactivate themselves and the Domos do the same, leaving the other inhabitants of the planet to begin life again.

Time-Placement: Between The Seeds of Doom and The Masque of Mandragora.

Source: Dominic Smith
A New Life 4th Doctor and Sarah
The doctor and Sarah find they have landed in a world that was destroyed by what seems to be a chemical attack. The plants are growing back over charred remains, the buildings are blackened ruins and skeletons abound. The doctor thinks the dead were all going one way as if to escape the destruction. This leads to a manhole and the travellers climb down a ladder to a fast flowing underground river. They find a boat and the current sweeps them through a dark tunnel until they reach a section lit by blazing torches. These come in handy when they have to snatch torches to ward off an attack by savage silver creatures in the water. However, they are about to be overcome when a party of humanoids spear the creatures to death but take the couple prisoner. They are taken to the survivors' leaders, the twins Matahn and Jometh. These are old men who refuse to believe that the world above ground is springing back to life. They accuse the Doctor of being a spy for a rival clan and he and Sarah are chained up in the water to be eaten by the silver creatures. They are rescued by Barda, one of their original captors, who believed their story. They return with him to the surface while he tells of the poisonous yellow cloud that drove his ancestors underground. As he marvels at the light and space and fresh air they return to the TARDIS.
Source: Mark Senior
The Traitor 4th Doctor and Sarah
The Doctor takes Sarah to the Sigimund galaxy to watch the Aurora Arctialisis, a light display caused by three suns. They see a spaceship crash into a nearby planet but as they land to help they find other people dragging the survivors to safety. The wreckage is destroyed by Lokan robots. A survivor tells the Doctor that he and his comrades are marooned after an attack by Lokan ships. He says a ship arrives every three moons to service the Lokan robot guards. The Doctor agrees to help capture the ship. The scientists draw the robo-guards off and the Doctor penetrates the base and immobilises them. Two days later a maintenance unit lands and the scientists overpower them. The Doctor is just about to leave when one of the maintenance men wakes up. He informs the Doctor that the 'scientists' are in fact psychotic killers. The space ships are crashed and destroyed deliberately to prevent escape. When Sarah points out that the psychotics were pleasant and gentle she is told that it is the effect of the three suns and away from their influence they will return to their former ways. Before any harm can be done the Doctor calls the escaping 'scientists' back with a distress signal which they are only too happy to respond to. They are very upset to find that he lied to them and they are prisoners once more. He tries to console them by saying that they will find true freedom through their scientific work but he leaves stricken by doubt.
Source: Mark Senior
The Sea of Faces 4th Doctor and Sarah
The TARDIS lands among a crowd of millions of humanoids, all standing in silence. As Sarah walks through them she can only hear their breathing but the Doctor can hear their thoughts: extravagant and beautiful fantasies that the dreamers do not wish to end. Suddenly a huge spaceship sweeps mere inches over the heads of the crowd. From among the silent horde a group of small children flee, telepathically warning the Doctor of 'gases. The ship vents gas and Sarah falls under its spell in her own dream of flight while the Doctor leaps onto the back of the ship. He clings on as it rises into the atmosphere and is fortunate to only weaken and drop off as it enters a vast mother ship with dozens of similar craft. The mother ship flies to the planet's moon where he finds a base containing only skeletons. From their records he finds that these people were Kendorians. As overpopulation took destructive hold over their planets the government fled to the moon and set up a fleet of gas delivery ships that would put the people into a delighted trance. An accident wiped out the moon base, leaving the automated ships to deliver the dream gas in perpetuity. The Doctor busies himself reprogramming the ships not to deliver the gas so that the Kendorians will awaken again and have some choice what to do with their own lives (though he suspects that many will wish to return to the trance). He returns to the planet on the same ship he left by, spots Sarah in the crowd and drags her to the TARDIS to revive her, all the while worrying that this is actually his own perfect fantasy.
Source: Mark Senior
 

Comic strips in blue
Short stories in black


Annual 1979
Annual 1979

  • Released: September 1978
    ISBN: 0 7235 0491 1
 Famine on Planet X 4th Doctor and Leela
After the Doctor has forgotten to refill the Actualising filter with Essence of Vallo the TARDIS crash lands on Planet X. It is a desert world. The Doctor and Leela encounter a group of starving three-legged octopoid children and feed them with melons. They notice that the children communicate by making hieroglyphics with the strands between their horns. Although it is impossible to understand each other the children and the time travellers become friends. Then another group of Octopoids begin shooting at them. The Doctor, Leela and Ogg, the eldest child, escape into the TARDIS. When Leela recognises that one of the symbols Ogg is making is a widely recognised peace symbol the Doctor reaches for a dictionary of signs. A conversation develops and soon the Doctor learns that Ogg and his siblings are the children of Rha, who was a scapegoat for the famine. The children are outcasts and Ogg says that his siblings will have been captured prior to execution. The Doctor's response is to find some quick-flowering seeds from Lars. He tosses a dozen out of the TARDIS and they grow into fruit-bearing plants instantly. The captors outside are too busy consuming the fruit to notice the Doctor freeing the children and taking their guard prisoner in the TARDIS. The Time Lord explains that he will provide many more seeds to feed everyone, but only if the persecution of the Children of Rha stops. After their differences are resolved the natives of Planet X head off to plant their seeds and the Doctor notices that a nearby cosmic storm has reactivated the Actualiser in the TARDIS console. As the TARDIS departs Lela notices that they have planted the seeds in the shape of a huge peace symbol.
Source: Mark Senior
The Planet of Dust 4th Doctor and Leela
The TARDIS responds to a distress signal and lands on a planet of dust and brown mist. The signal seems to originate from a huge skull lying in the dust but no sooner have they approached it than the ground opens around them and they are floating down on an air lift. They find themselves in a vast chamber. Seated at one end is a huge creature who the Doctor recognises as a Larkal, the same species as the skull on the surface. He introduces himself as Beshi and says that he has been on the planet for a year since his ship crashed, killing his colleague. He says that the Doctor is the first to answer his signal He asks for help on a number of points. First he wants to locate his ship, lost beneath the dust. Next he wants the Doctor to help him upgrade the myriad of plants growing in the cavern so that they can walk, talk and think. The Doctor is suspicious, the Larkal on the surface has been dead for much longer than a year. He tacitly agrees to help with some experiments - Beshi wants tissue from a warm-blooded creature - and they are carried to the laboratory. There are two plants in the lab who telepathically tell the Doctor that Beshi wants to create a plantman species that he can eat. After brief questioning the Larkal confesses that he killed and ate his colleague. The Doctor tells him to forget these plans and says he will help Beshi repair his ship so that he can go home. Beshi says he will give the Doctor two days to repair the ship but Leela is to remain as a hostage. The Doctor locates the ship, it was not lost at all, and soon works out that it was sabotaged. Plants growing nearby say that a piece was stolen by the other Larkal in an attempt to kill Beshi after a dispute over a female. They read this in the Larkal's mind but could not transmit the knowledge to the telepathy-resistant giant. With time running out the plants locate the component and the Doctor repairs the ship. Beshi blasts off for home and the Doctor and Leela return to the TARDIS for a cup of tea.
Source: Mark Senior
Terror on Tantalogus 4th Doctor and Leela
On its way to Alca Nortis the TARDIS is drawn off course and materialises on a very beautiful planet where the Doctor and Leela are greeted by a group of benign looking inhabitants. They are told that they are on Tantalogus and are given a guided tour of the largest city. They are impressed by the beauty and tranquillity. Their host, Akhemi, explains that the people are devoutly religious and leaves the Doctor in his house while he takes his family to worship. When Leela trips over a rug she accidentally opens a locked door in Akhemi's house. Inside a chamber they discover representatives of various species, wired up inside containers. Akhemi returns and holds the Doctor at gunpoint while he explains the history of the planet. He says Tantalogus is a living planet that feeds off electrical energy. The people there are not native but the dead bodies of creatures from Manya who continue to move for years after brain death. Rather than face the lumbering bodies of their relatives the Manyans have sent them to Tantalogus for generations. One who arrived, Tantalog, was not dead. After weeks of being pursued by plants and trees he realised that the planet only devoured Manyans as morsels but really needed electrical energy. Once he had built a giant generator and conductor the planet became stable and peaceful and the Tantalogans prospered. Rather than remain dead they began to use the planet's magnetic field to lure passing ships and harvested the brains of their crews. They developed a religion that worshipped death. The Doctor interrupts this monologue by kicking the weapon from Akhemi's hand and using it to destroy the generator/conductor. Instantly the planet reverts to its previous state; catching, killing and devouring Manyans. The time travellers escape into the TARDIS and escape, just in time.
Source: Mark Senior
The Power 4th Doctor and Leela
There are three sentient life forms on Shem. Azula, the princess, is the rightful heir, but at her coronation Orga, ruler of the Monashem and Zig, leader of the Ragashem begin to fight. The winner will snatch the kingdom from Azula and with it The Power - an unseen life force that unites the people. The Doctor, arriving late for the coronation in the TARDIS, distracts Orga, who is killed. In the confusion Azula escapes. Zig claims the crown and immediately puts the Doctor 'on trial'. The Doctor is thrown into a pit with savage beasts and unless he reveals the secret of The Power Leela will be eaten by wild pigs called Porgs. Fortunately the Doctor is wearing an anti-gravity belt he was intending to give to Azula as a coronation present. As he rises from the pit he is attacked by Zig, a winged creature apparently. At this point Azula returns, explaining that the secret of The Power is contained in a book that she intends to share with all of the people. The Doctor uses his anti-gravity belt to knock Zig into the pit where he is killed. The coronation of Azula resumes and the book of the secret of The Power is presented to the people.
Source: Mark Senior
Flashback 4th Doctor and Leela
The Doctor lands the TARDIS on Pendor, inside a laboratory, hoping to catch up with some old friends. He is annoyed to discover that they are in fact on a beacon ship orbiting the planet. Intrigued by the absence of crew the Doctor begins to explore. At the landing bay he sees the three man crew preparing to change over with their replacements who are disembarking from a craft from Pendor. With the newcomers he sees a fourth man, fat with red hair, who he recognises as the criminal Skeeda, a master of subconscious manipulation. The new and old crew are clearly under his control and he commands them to wreak havoc in the busy space lanes around Pendor and to use the weather controls to ravage the planet. The Doctor realises that Skeeda is using a flashing light on a wrist device to hypnotise the men. He uses a light on a control panel and adjusts its pulsing to disrupt the hypnosis on one of the crewmen and shows him the destruction he was about to cause. The same trick awakens the rest of the crew before they annihilate the planet and for a coup de grace the Doctor mesmerises Skeeda and turns him into the crew's servant.
Source: Mark Senior
Emsome’s Castle 4th Doctor and Leela
On Zorka the doctor and Leela are researching the medicinal properties of a rare mountain herb. They are disturbed by a skeleton asking for their help. He is Krass and he tells them his clothes and flesh have disappeared after an encounter with a mystic called Emsone. The Doctor concocts an M-Ray chamber to reverse the process. It seems to be working well when Emsone's powerful servant arrives and knocks the Doctor unconscious before kidnapping Leela. The Doctor and Klass set off in Klass's hover car to retrieve Leela from Emsone's castle. Passing over a swamp it is attacked by a giant beast but as the Doctor swerves to avoid it Klass tells him it is only a psychic illusion. At the castle they find the door open and a barrage of psychic attacks which the Doctor has to fend off before he finds Emsone. The mystic explains that he used Klass and Leela to lure the doctor to him and the illusions to wear him out because he needs to use a Time Lord's brain in a machine that will make him very rich and powerful. The Doctor and Emsone begin a fierce mental duel which causes the castle to crumble. Emsone thinks this an illusion until he is crushed to death by falling masonry. The Doctor, Krass and Leela return to their herbs which they have found make an excellent cup of tea.
Source: Mark Senior
The Crocodiles From the Mist 4th Doctor and Leela
The Doctor decides to go looking for life on the third planet of a binary solar system. The TARDIS lands in marsh country, a low mist covering the ground. The Doctor is attacked by a vicious creature that evades Leela's attempt to protect him but he is saved by some six-legged crocodiles. Their primitive telepathy warns him of danger nearby. He takes one back to the TARDIS and uses his Mental Image Intensifier to communicate. The crocodile warns him of lethal danger coming from a nearby volcanic crater. Upon investigation the Doctor realises the danger is carried in the mist. After fashioning some stilts the Doctor and Leela wade to the crater and find a crashed Areelian space ship. The engines are leaking deadly radiation. The doctor rigs up an explosion that awakens the volcano and destroys the ship before returning to the crocodiles to give them the good news. As the TARDIS departs Leela is still parading around the console on her stilts.
Source: Mark Senior
 

Comic strips in blue
Short stories in black


Annual 1980
Annual 1980

  • Released: September 1979
    ISBN: 0 7235 6549 X
X-Rani and the Ugly Mutants 4th Doctor, Romana and K-9

Light Fantastic 4th Doctor, Romana and K-9

Terror on Xaboi 4th Doctor, Romana and K-9
A cosmic storm leaves the TARDIS controls damaged and the Doctor is forced to land the ship on the planet Xaboi for repairs. With heavy snowfall preventing K-9 from going outside the Doctor and Romana wander out to try and find help.

They venture into a nearby cavern, whereupon they discover the remains of a group of locals. With some unease they continue, but are chased by a horrific creature further on into the cave.

They discover a tribe who have yet to develop the power of speech but despite this the Doctor persuades one of them to return with them past the now sleeping beast back to the TARDIS in order to help, but as they do so the primitive panics, attacks the beast and is killed.

The Doctor hurriedly returns to the ship to collect a stun-sensor and goes to deal with the beast but it is no good. The primitives are in danger and the gun, in stun mode, has no effect. He is forced to set the gun to kill and destroy the beast in order to save the locals, before returning to the TARDIS, pondering if he might one day return to see if they have evolved.

Time-Placement: There is no mention in the story of the Key to Time, so it can be assumed that the adventure takes place between The Armageddon factor and Destiny of the Daleks.

Source: Dominic Smith
Reluctant Warriors 4th Doctor, Romana and K-9

The Weapon 4th Doctor, Romana and K-9
The TARDIS lands in what the Doctor presumes to be 20th Century England. He goes off to investigate but when he does so, Romana finds herself captured by a white knight on horseback. No sooner has this happened, than a Black Knight and his warriors attack with some sort of laser weapon that they use to kill the White Knight

The Doctor meanwhile has found a castle and discovers he and his companions are not in the time he thought they were. He is held at lance-point as an intruder but before he has time to explain exactly who he is the remaining warriors of the White Knight return with Romana and K-9.

The Doctor explains that the weapon is an intervention of the forces of evil, and the balance with good must be restored. The Black Knight and his warriors soon attack but their leader is blasted by K9.

As the Doctor and his friends escape back to the TARDIS, a battle erupts which the Time Lord states will not be won by those who are ignorant…

Time-Placement: There is no mention in the story of the Key to Time, so it can be assumed that the adventure takes place between The Armageddon factor and Destiny of the Daleks.

Continuity: It is possible that the two fractions are those of the Black and White Guardians, although it is unclear.

Source: Dominic Smith
Return of the Electrids 4th Doctor, Romana and K-9

The Sleeping Guardians 4th Doctor, Romana and K-9

 

Comic strips in blue
Short stories in black


Annual 1981
Annual 1981

  • Released: September 1980
    ISBN: 0 7235 6594 5
Colony of Death 4th Doctor, Romana II and K-9

Alien Mind Game 4th Doctor, Romana II and K-9
The Doctor, Romana and K9 are in the TARDIS. The Doctor's checking the instrument readings on the central consol.

Something was shaking the TARDIS around and the three travellers were struggling to keep the thing steady. K9 took readings of the TARDIS but things were looking grim. To Romana either one of the crew of the TARDIS itself were going to break-down anytime soon if the ship didn't escape the time turbulence. K9 estimated the limit of unnatural stress at between 6.18 and 9.42 at a 100% probability rating, if conditions didn't improve soon.

The TARDIS was trapped in a cloud of anti-matter and it was slowly breaking thought the protective shielding of the time-craft. Although the TARDIS had been prepared for small anti-matter clouds, this one was a really large one, and the TARDIS was succumbing. The Doctor and Romana carried on trying to keep the TARDIS from breaking up, then, something happened. The TARDIS again jolted around violently, the crew trying to cope with the intense G-Force, K9 predicting imminent destruction. Suddenly, as Romana was pinned against the wall with the Doctor, K9 ceased functioning. The life was being drained from the pair. Then they were dead.

A black void surrounded the Doctor. Air breezed past his ears and he turned his head round and he could see a bright object. Then he could see three pyramids. They told the Doctor he was in anti-space and that they are the lords of all who exist in this universe. Then, complaining of discomfort the Doctor asks for a seat. The Doctor then found himself in the TARDIS, or a TARDIS blanketed in red light. Seated the Doctor begins to ask questions, the Pyramid beings respond. Then the Doctor says that if they were merely attacking his TARDIS, he'd be dead, so they need him for something. The beings say yes and the Doctor comments if they've been reading his mail. The Pyramids say that only Time Lords have time travel when the Doctor gets up and leaves.

The Doctor walks into a room adjacent to the control room, then asks if they want any tea whilst speaking through the doorway. After a few minutes he comes out with a tea tray with cups and sugar and a teapot. He then places them in a device, muttering to himself about different blends of tea. He shuts the door and then sets it, saying it's a mini-TARDIS that he uses to brew tea in. The Doctor then pressed a button, opened the lid, took out the tray and on it was nothing.

The Pyramids then tell the Doctor that this universe is a mirror to his and then tell him to sit down so he can be tested. Just before he is tested, the Doctor is warned by the aliens what will happen if he fails, but if he passes he and his companions can leave.

The test begins. The alien asks the Doctor "WHAT IS THE SECRET OF TIME?" The Doctor replies by saying they should know if they brought the TARDIS into their domain, but it shrugs the statement off as a rhetorical question and tells him to continue. The Doctor says he can't answer that question yet and suggests to the alien that it give him another one. The pyramids regroup and then probe into the Doctor's mind.

Suddenly the next thing the Time Lord knows is that he's been deposited onto a barren and rocky plain. The Doctor commented on the change of scene but the alien silenced him and then asked what the principal of the TARDIS' operation is. The Doctor gave one of his usual enigmatic answers and then pyramids told him to concentrate.

Then Doctor took a few steps back and said he needed to stretch his legs. The pyramids asked him where he is going, the Doctor says "For a walk", which the pyramids deem forbidden. The Doctor carried on walking whilst the alien, infuriated, tells him to stop. The Doctor taunts the gestalt being saying if it's so powerful why doesn't it stop him? The Doctor then stopped and turned back shouting "Look Out!", which the alien fell for and the Doctor ran off, much to his amusement.

However this was short lived as he stopped abruptly at a ravine, which if you looked down all you could see was a white haze. Then, the image the Doctor saw began to shimmer. The shimmering then stopped after a while and the alien chanted: "DO NOT RESIST!" The Doctor then commented that the alien was a bit limited in its powers and then said that they really do want the secret of the TARDIS. The Doctor then said that this is not a test to see if he knows, because they don't know the answer themselves, so they can not have snatched the TARDIS through the matter/anti-matter barrier and so they're still in normal space and the alien isn't an all powerful ruler.

The pyramids quickly rebutted this saying the Doctor has a vivid imagination. The Doctor asks about the other destroyed Time Lords. The alien says that was because they didn't tell it what it wanted, then saying it may have let them go, it can't remember. The Doctor then comments on the pyramids' memory and then goes on to say no Time Lord has been missing in that part of the universe for years, and that if one had strolled in there they'd have told someone about an all powerful entity. The alien flares up and declares that it is the all powerful, the one. The Doctor replies "Temper, temper!" and goes on to apologise for disturbing its Mindgames, saying it took him a while to realise it was just imagination.

Suddenly, the pyramids spun violently in a blur of shapes and colour. The Doctor then went on walking, the alien behind him pleading for the Time Lord not to go and is cut off in mid speech when the Doctor wakes up and sees Romana looking at him, shaking his shoulders. The Doctor finally woke up and asked if there was an alien around, Romana convinced he's mad. The Doctor asks if they're out of the anti-matter storm, only for K9 to tell him that the flight was smooth and uneventful. Then something dawned on the Doctor, "Ah!". Romana asked the Doctor about "an Alien" and the Doctor guesses that the alien was an observation satellite, which latched into his mind as the TARDIS passed by to continue its explorations. It created a false reality in the Doctor's mind and fooled him for moment.

Soon, after a little discussion, the Doctor decides to bring the satellite inside to take it to an advanced civilisation for it chat to there, hypothesising that the thing was lonely and in want of company. Romana however says to leave it there and that they carry on their original course. Then the Doctor asks K9, K9 saying the machine should be allowed to complete its function. The Doctor agrees and pats the tin-dog on the head.


Time-Placement: Arbitrary set between Shada and The Leisure Hive along the other stories of this annuals.

Source: Chris Gadsby
A Midsummer's Nightmare 4th Doctor, Romana II and K-9

Every Dog Has His Day 4th Doctor, Romana II and K-9
The Doctor tells Romana that he’s decided to visit an old friend of his called Professor Svenson, who lives on the planet Phoenix. The TARDIS materialises inside a huge domed structure and the travellers step out, the Doctor telling Romana that robots outnumber personnel 100 to 1. Romana is uneasy at that fact. The Doctor reassures her that the robots have been programmed not to harm humans and similar.

However the complex seems deserted. The Doctor and Romana look inside a laboratory which seems deserted when the Doctor spots some bodies, one of whom is Svenson; K9 reports him to be dead. Romana looks around and notices that the lab has been smashed up when a warrior robot appears in the doorway. The three travellers flee as the robot fires upon them. The Doctor then sneaks into another room only to find it’s the way out and there are no environmental suits available. The Doctor says to risk it on the surface and to his and Romana’s relief, the air is breathable.

Meanwhile, as Romana, K9 and the Doctor run for cover, they’re being watched by a group of scientists. The two parties then meet up with each other, one of the scientists turns out to be Wooding, Svenson’s assistant. Wooding says that deputy controller Daneman is responsible for the warrior robots; she explains that Daneman has plans to conquer the galaxy with his robots. Just then, another scientist comes up to the Doctor to report that the atmosphere will only sustain life for 48 hours; he says that as he points to two collapsed men.

Suddenly, the Doctor has an idea as to how the scientists can re-take the complex. The Doctor suggests using K9 as a “wooden horse” to infiltrate the base. K9 agrees and makes his way down and enters the complex, claiming he has information on the humans. K9 meets the central computer and tells it that Daneman will get rid of it once he’s achieved his goal and persuades it to help him defeat the warrior robots. The plan involves re-programming the worker robots, which outnumber the warrior robots 20 to 1. The plan works: the warrior robots are defeated and they turn on their creator, killing him. When the Doctor, Romana and the scientists get back they find that the worker robots have elected K9 their king. The Doctor, K9 and Romana then depart in the TARDIS.

Time-Placement: The Doctor wears his Season 17 outfit. Arbitrary set between Shada and The Leisure Hive.

Source: Chris Gadsby
The Voton Terror 4th Doctor, Romana II and K-9

Sweet Flower of Uthe 4th Doctor, Romana II and K-9
The TARDIS lands on a fertile planet. Out steps the Doctor clad in his usual outfit with sonic screwdriver and bag of jelly babies. He is followed by K9 who the Doctor asks the whereabouts of Romana. K9 says she’ll be down in 26.4 seconds from level 4’s bathroom. She comes down later and K9 is about to explain why Romana was on level 4 when the Doctor says the TARDIS is running a maintenance program on its plumbing system and has chucked the travellers out whilst is performs maintenance work.

Then, the Doctor picks up a stick from the ground and chucks it into the distance. He then tells K9 to fetch it; the robot dog confused but nonetheless agrees. The Doctor adds to his request and tells K9 to fetch an Uthian Scatterbud. Romana asks what an Uthian Scatterbud is, the Doctor explains it’s a red coloured flower found only on Uthe 3, the planet they’ve landed on. The two Time Lords then start walking.

As the Doctor and Romana walk the come across woodlands and flowers. The Doctor then looked around and insisted to keep a bearing on the TARDIS. He spots a plant and tells Romana not to get to close to it but Romana isn’t there. The Doctor calls for Romana saying they’re both too old to plat hide and seek when suddenly he falls into a seemingly bottomless pit.

A few minutes later, the Doctor hit ground again. He then, to his relief, finds Romana again. The two then attempt to leave the pit with no success, the Doctor saying it’s a leftover from the last war to strike the planet. The war that hit the planet destroyed 80% of the world’s surface, bystanders from elsewhere leaving the place alone and turning it into a monument. The original inhabitants are all believed to be dead.

Suddenly, a grate which Romana was pulling at came away and they could both leave the pit. They went down another hole and found themselves in an abandoned corridor, which was still intact. Just then they found a light at the end of another corridor, only to find themselves being captured by a soldier.

The time travellers have found them selves in an underground city, the inhabitants thinking there’s a plague on the surface. The Doctor then meets up with the battle computer who shares the delusion of a devastated surface. The Doctor tries to talk sense into the computer, though the attempts are met with limited success. However K9 comes bursting in with this red flower, an Uthian Scatterbud. The Doctor says things CAN live on the surface and the machine self-destructs.

Later, after being shown a way up to the surface by K9, the Doctor and Romana are back at the TARDIS. The locals thank the Doctor and promise to look after the planet, no more wars. Back in the TARDIS Romana asks the Doctor how he managed to get K9 to come at the appropriate moment. The Doctor pulls out an ultra-sonic dog whistle and the TARDIS fills with laughter as it dematerialises from Uthe 3.

Time-Placement: Arbitrary set between Shada and The Leisure Hive along the other stories of this annuals.

Source: Chris Gadsby
 

Comic strips in blue
Short stories in black


Annual 1982
Annual 1982

  • Released: September 1981
    ISBN: 0 7235 6628 3
Inter-Galactic Cat 4th Doctor, Adric and K-9

Conundrum 4th Doctor, Adric and K-9

Planet of Paradise 4th Doctor, Adric and K-9

Plague World 4th Doctor, Adric and K-9
A man called Auctor arrives at his colony village on the planet Publius, a former frontier colony from the Second Galactic Empire that survive and thrived on its own after the empire collapsed and became a blend of rustic and technological. The Doctor, Adric and K9 arrive to find the colony under the tyrannical rule of Bemar. When a worker called Stylo speaks out against her, Adric defends him. A mob converges on the time travellers. The Doctor is the only one who escapes and meets up with Kidson, musician of the spaceways. Kidson recounts how Bemar disposed of the colony leaders and seized power. He believes that she had outside help. Kidson takes the Doctor to a desolate valley to show him the Druden, an alien race using diseased human flesh as food for their sucklings.

Meanwhile back the village, the plague Auctor brought with him is sweeping the village. Bemar uses a transmitter to summon the Druden, but the Doctor re-activates K9 who destroys the transmitter, preventing the Druden from beaming to the village. Kidson uses his Strato-Cruiser to destroy the Druden once and for all.

The Doctor makes an antidote for the virus then he and his companions leave the colony to prosper again.

Time-Placement: Between The Keeper of Traken and Logopolis. In Divided Loyalties it is revealed that the 4th Doctor and Adric travelled together for some time. We assume that during that time the Doctor constructed a third K-9 and they travelled together until the Doctor gave it away to Sarah Jane Smith as a present as revealed in K-9 & Company.

Just a Small Problem 4th Doctor, Adric and K-9

 

 
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