‘NIGHT FLIGHT TO NOWHERE’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
Heathrow Airport and the Master with the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan…Wait!
Yeah! The final story of the 1983 ‘Doctor Who Annual’ is the most bizarre and intriguing entry of all. It features the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan going to Heathrow Airport where they confront the Master and stop his evil plans. That sounds remarkably familiar to the Season 19 finale ‘Time-Flight’.
There is a difference in this story though. The Master doesn’t transport the plane back in time to the prehistoric age. Instead he tries to send the plane into a bright red gash in the sky. The Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan save every passenger by getting them into the TARDIS before getting them off the plane.
The Master also uses androids disguised as stewardesses – one of them happens to be Tegan’s friend Julie Harris. The Master also looks remarkably like Roger Delgado instead of Anthony Ainley in the pictures for the story. I’m not sure why they chose that Master but it was very interesting to see.
The biggest concern of this story is that Tegan returns to Heathrow Airport a second time after audiences have seen her return in ‘Time-Flight’. It’s confused me since I don’t know whether this story takes place before or after ‘Time-Flight’. No clarity gets given regarding the story’s placement.
Mind you, Nyssa did meet Rutans in ‘Prisoners of Time’ before she met them in ‘Castle of Fear’; Tegan met Sontarans in ‘Prisoners of Time’ before meeting them in ‘Heroes of Sontar’ and Nyssa rode a train in ‘Empire of Death’ before she rode one in ‘The Railway of Time’. So I’m going to take a guess this story’s before ‘Time-Flight’ and a retcon occurred.
There is one feature after ‘Night Flight to Nowhere’ in the 1983 ‘Doctor Who Annual’ called ‘Black Holes’.
Overall, the 1983 ‘Doctor Who Annual’ has been an enjoyable and intriguing mixed bag for me. The stories ‘On the Planet Isopterus’ and ‘The Haven’ stand out for me. The continuity’s vague in terms of the stories’ placements. But like any other stories in any medium, they are open to interpretation.
I’m glad I’ve read the 1983 ‘Doctor Who Annual’ with the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan as well as Adric with the three of them in one comic story. It’s not the best collection for me, but I’m glad I braved through the annual. I hope someday the stories’ placements in ‘Doctor Who’ will be clarified. 😀
‘Night Flight to Nowhere’ rating – 7/10
‘Doctor Who Annual 1983’ rating – 7/10
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