Episode 9: "My Word, Doesn't He Look Fat and Pompous!" - Classic Doctor Who Comics: The Challenge of the Piper - Patreon Exclusive

COMIC STRIP REVIEW: "The Challenge of the Piper" (June 14 - July 12, 1965) TV Comic, Five Parts Writer/Artist: Neville Main

The First Doctor, John, and Jillian arrive in medieval Hamelin during the legendary Pied Piper crisis. After the townspeople refuse to pay the Piper for ridding them of rats, he lures away their children. The Doctor sympathizes with the wronged musician and undertakes three trials to win the children's freedom, using 1960s technology disguised as "magic" - fire extinguisher, radar, parachute, and tape recorder. When the Mayor still refuses payment, the Doctor threatens to return the children to the Piper unless he honors the debt!

The hosts mourn that both grandchildren function as mere Greek chorus, giving the Doctor someone to talk to beyond himself.

Where/When Are We? - The hosts debate ontological questions: Is this the actual legendary event on Earth's past? An alien world duplicating the tale? A fantasy realm? They conclude it's meant as the origin of the Hamelin legend, but fantasy elements (dragon, invisibility, mesmerizing flute magic) blur the science-fiction/fantasy boundary.

LOOKING AHEAD:

• Next strips: "The Moon Landing" (premiering space race before real 1969 landing!), "Prisoner of the Grittog" (Doctor Who Summer Special), and "The Penta Ray Factor" (Daleks return!)

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