The Guardians continue their story from the beginnings of time. How the Black Guardian concluded that the unverse could not survive in an unstable balance between order and chaos. That perfect equalibrium was impossible and so began her campaign for universal perfect chaos.
Cited are such things as “The Arc of Infinity” from the episode of the same title. The origins of Rassilon and Omega, Morbius (”The Brain of Morbius”) Saliyavin (”Shada”), The Land of MakeBelieve (”The Mind Robber”) and the Master (Image represents “The Time Monster”)
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Umm, 1st maybe?
Weeeeeee : )
I love how your mind works.
~Luna~
brilliant page once again, I also look forward to an update, Rich you keep out-doing yourself. I do not think there is a limit to your imagination and artistic abilities.
Ah – I hope this is the right place, I couldn’t find an email or ‘how to…’ blurb anyway, but I did a fanart for YAFGC.
*shrug* If you’d like the file or anything, email me, otherwise, enjoy the egoboost?
http://flynn-the-cat.deviantart.com/art/Cadugan-117565082
Rich: You must be a Champion of the White Guardian! You’re bringing order to the chaotic Whoniverse!
Seriously though, you are very, very good at linking disparate stories into a cohesive gestalt. Very clever, entertaining and nicely drawn & written!
So you’re telling me that Davros is the champion of the white guardian, the Master is the black’s, and the Doctor is niether? Very nicely done.
Just when I thought I knew where this story was going…
Lovin’ it!
Nyah-hah-hah-hah-haaaaaaaaaah….
tbdandy – I think that Davros [b]was[/b] the Whites Champion and the Master the Blacks, because the Black assumed that the Doctor was working for teh side of Order.
Then Black realised that White was not in fact using The Doctor (perhaps she actually looked at the pieces on the board : ) ) and so he/she/it abandoned The Master (or at least demoted him) and adopted The Doctor instead. : )
The Doctor a true wildcard .Never working with anyone. Never following authority it seems the doctor may be more powerful than he thinks…
Awesome! Going through each of the incarnations! FANTASTIC!
The Doctor, a wild card if any, maybe hes for order, maybe for chaos, you never know and I love all the references. I also love the mind robber where they introduced a master of sorts, but it was a computer feeding on the imagination of one man. I also love how you make the run in with the master back when he was in his third incarnation the black guardian’s doing.
Interesting look at early Gallifrey! Can’t be much longer until Ten points out a ‘fatal flaw’ in the Guardian’s thinking. I’m looking forward to it.
Morbius, Salyavin, Rassilon, the Master, the Land of Fiction, brilliant!
I really like your take on the Guardians. This is material worthy of the New Adventures Novels.
Lol! The Doctor is his own man, well and truely a wildcard!
I still think this is a sneaky ploy to extend the life of the comic…we’ve only worked our way through 3 Doctors in this brief back-story tale!
I can’t wait until 10 goes off on the Guardians. It’s only a matter of time…if he wins against them is up in the air, but he’s gonna scream at them, I hope!
So the Guardians have been involved with the Doctor from the beginning? FANTASTIC! Well done, Rich, and beautifully drawn.
And there we have it!
The Doctor.
So much more than just another Time Lord.
I have this theory that the white and black guardians didn’t always exist, that they came into being or entered our universe whenever it was that the Omega and Rassilon first made time travel possible, that the time vortex didn’t exist until the first time traveler made his/her first journey from one point in time to another. The white and black guardians of time are simply the polarizing elements at either end of the time vortex who keep the time vortex going, or personifications of those polarizing elements, without which the time vortex would spin out of control like a wild tornado across all physical laws and dimensions… but it’s just a theory.
pretty good theory dave.
OH YESSSS! I was right about the Doctor then, he isn’t Chaos and he isn’t order!
randomness always makes the Universe go round, so it makes sense for The Doctor be a random factor XD hehehe
Instead, he’s just plain old Random! Yay. I love randomness
Ok, now i’ve got my randomness rant over and done with, i shall go
*grins manically* Its this comic that does it – makes me hyper and bouncy XD
This is my first comment, but I wish I’d left one earlier. This is the winningest comic I’ve ever seen. I’ll hate to see the end of it.
Black Guardian certainly has an interesting way of looking at things!
so good so far.I can’t wait to see how they affected the rest of the doctors(4-9)
I’ve said it before.
I’ll say it again.
This comic is made of awesome.
Wowowowowow! Thank you for this page!
This is AWESOME! Are you by any chance a DC Comics fan? This is often how the forces of Order and Chaos are portrayed in DC comics — only there it is perceived as “dangerous” for EITHER Order or Chaos to hold sway and actually the “perfect” state is balance but that doesn’t stop both Order and Chaos from each trying to get the upper hand. But in DC comics agents of Order can be as dangerous as agents of Chaos.
This is so cool! And you included one of my favorite second Doctor episodes, The Mind Robber!
Sheesh. Those Guardians… If the universe can’t survive, then what’s it been doing all this time? How come it hasn’t kicked the bucket yet? Heck, if it weren’t for the Doctor the whole cosmos would’ve died of heat death a long time ago. Any sort of death at this point would be basically overdue! Besides, the Doctor’s seen (or will see) the Universe live to several trillion years old. I don’t think those cosmic beings really know what they’re talking about.
Wheee! Yay for random!Doctor. Somehow I’m now stuck with this picture of the Guardians sitting over their little chessboard and going “who the heck keeps messing up the gameplay?”
Just curious if Ten will let them finish their Order/Chaos rant. Somehow I think he’s already used up his (rather limited) supply of patience.
Order with the chaos and the what now with a bongo?
Hey Rich, I love the plot line with the Guardians, but my memory tells me that the White Guardian was wanting to maintain the balance thus the search for the Key to Time. It was necessary to use the Key to restore the balance before the universe tipped into eternal chaos. I’ll review the beginning of the “Ribos Operation,” but that is what I recall.
Heh. I like the idea of the Doctor as a Wildcard – as the Other. (Lungbarrow ftw!)
That’s a good point The1Russter. I suppose the White Guardian could have simply been lying, or at least misleading. Or maybe he simply wanted to restore balance so that he could proceed with his own plans before things shifted too far in his counterpart’s favor. Not winning, but keeping the game going, as it were. Or who knows, maybe he just changed his mind.
Hi! I’m fairly new to the show, and since I only know “classic” era stuff from this comic and wikipedia (seriously) I was wondering if I could get pronoucers for these words/names/terms:
Turlough
Koschei (Master’s ‘real’ name)
Shada
Thanks a lot!
DAMN this is a good story.
Just thought I’d remind everyone.
Well no wonder the master heard the sound of drums on the vortex when a child it was the bad guardian trying to control him through his madness! I have been aware of similar rants like Tv’s Angel’s jasmine trying to get utopia the oposite of chaos but chaos is just as bad, the derbrain! Sounds like Dalek Tor’s reasoning!
Yay! Salyavin! I knew this comic needed some refererence to good ol’ Professor Chronotis
I have a soft spot for him after just re-reading Dirk Gently’s Detetctive Agency by Douglas Adams… That’s presuming the book has the same Chronotis who appears in Shada. Which does make sense… ish.
slj87: It may be spelled T-U-R-L-O-U-G-H, but it was pronounced “World’s oldest schoolboy”
Tur-low & Shah-dah, (the name ‘Koschei’ was never used on TV, only in non-canon novels, originating in Virgin books, so your guess is as good as any)
Speaking of DC and random,
“We are wholly defined by the randomness of the universe.”
Loved the Yin-Yang background in the first panel
I recognized the eyes of the Time Monster as soon as I saw them! And the Doctor as Balance… love it. This just gets better and better…
Speaking of the Guardians, y’know, I’m not sure they’re right about the Doctor’s needs, either. I’ve often thought that maybe what he’s looking for in all these young female companions isn’t so much a companion, or even “just a mate,” as he would put it, but someone to have to look after and take care of and be adored by. I think all this time, he’s been looking for a grand-daughter.
Looks like the Doctor being an outsider of his own people, who are like living machines with hardly any imagination, makes him an anomaly to even the guardians.
A guy perhaps too well balanced in being “gray” while not meaning to since he doesn’t really go out there to find evil, but goes about as a humble traveler who ends up in other people’s affairs, their messes, which he ends up helping to solve.
That there’s nothing special about him compared to other timelords except for his way of thinking and the choices that come from it where he ends up in the right place at the right time or the wrong place at the wrong time depending on one’s perception.
It’s like the Black Guardian said, the Doctor has been his/her greatest tool, while at the same time getting in his/her way.
Congratulations on yet more brilliant artwork – particularly liking the last four panels, especially your depiction of the Land of Fiction. The first four panels are impressive also, but flashbacks always give me a thrill.
wow, a very continuity-heavy page Rich!!
@ Joe England: Y’Know, I think you’re right. In exchange for that, he takes them all on grand adventures through time and space. Nice theory.
I don’t quite know where this is going, but I like it! Keep up the good work!
(Just a guess, but “Koschei” is similar to the name of a character in a Russian fairytale. I think it would be pronounced Kawsh-shey – or Kawshchay, with the “ch” very soft, almost an “sh” sound.)
Given that the extrauniversal beings include Fenric, the Gods of Ragnarok, the Animus, Great Intelligence and the Nestene Consciousness, you’d think the Black Guardian would have had enough help in her quest to foster chaos.
So, Rich– did you choose the Guardians’ current look as a sort of anthropomorphization of the yin-yang symbol? The contrasting faces do provide the spot of opposing color in each entity…
The fatal flaw in the Guardian’s argument is that life cannot exist where there is total order or total chaos, only on the boundary between the two. He doesn’t fight for good or evil but for the right of life to exist. All the Doctor’s wandering is to see “a whole universe teeming with life”.
As the Guardian’s didn’t create life in the universe, what right do they have to wipe it out?
This is impressive stuff Rich, and chimes with a feeling I’ve had for a long time now… the Doctor as the ultimate Zen master, able to see beyond the artificial duality of good/evil and order/chaos.
Yeah, OK, here’s where I admit I love “Kinda” and “Snakedance” (apart from Martin Clunes in a skirt!)
Joe England,
I think you’re right. In fact I’ve always see the Seven/Ace dynamic as Seven finding a sort of grandaughter in Ace. I usually say it like it always comes across to me like Seven would adopt Ace if he could. Three and Jo could have been that way also.
I always felt that 2 sort of adopted Jamie, Zoe and Victoria. You can see it in the way he talks to them and treats them like they were his kids or grandchildren. Even with 4 and 5 with Adric. He was treated like a son or grandson as well. I guess the younger companions have a special place in his hearts.
I kinda like how this is essentially the 10th Doctor dealing with a classic Doctor’s sort of existential problem.
I’ll be honest, this sort of exposition filled mystic mumbo jumbo is what bugs me the most about Classic Who, and makes it hard to get into. But I think you make it work really well, especially since it is the 10th Doctor dealing with it.
I bet the next page will be the White Guardian going on about how a balanced universe cannot survive and the only answer is pure order – but the Doctor keeps frustrating her plans!
The Key to Time bit may have been the White Guardian attempting to bring the Doctor permanently over to her side (the possibility of which scared the Black Guardian so much she tried to kill him) or, as a previous poster suggested, a desperate attempt to prevent Black from winning and just keep the game going (which annoyed Black so much she tried to kill him).
That shot of the Master in the last panel looks more like Ainley than Delgado, am I right?
Excellent page, I like how you integrated the Black and White Gaurdians!
This is crazy, insane, I can’t believe it! It all fits, so incredibly well.
With all this intelligence, how do you SLEEP at night? Or are all your nights spent trying to figure it all out? Or does it all come…naturally? *Dramatic gasp*
Whatever you do to achieve such perfection, I love the result (Not “Whatever it takes.” Don’t go all ‘Anakin’ on us. o.O).
“…The impossible can become possible, if. You’re. AWESOME!” -Bolt quote
And you are.
~CoZ
Well regarding all the scientific mimbojimbo, I think that is what the current
series is lacking for the most part. I’d like a weebit o’ sci-fi with a bit of actual science in it to help the story along and all that. But don’t get me wrong and drowned us in it. Just give us a few things to actually think about ya know. Throw me some cutting edge science n some real hi-tech, or I should just stick to Buffy n Charmed….or they should just do more of
the fantasy stories and stick to Earth and deal with Unit n Torchwood…..n more of the same characters over n over n…well u get the idea…
Doctor Who has always been about “hi-tech” ideas and how to use them to better others and solve impossible situations…like “reversing the polarity” heehee & that crap you can explain to the others who you get to watch the show with…
The White Guardian, at this point of The History in Flashbacks, still believes in the Perfect Balance.
The Master is supposed to look like Roger Delgado, but I didn’t have any reference on hand. I went purely by memory.
Turlough is pronounced TUR-low (rhymes with slow).
Shada is pronounced SHAH-dah (rhymes with dada, or blah)
I didn’t think about the Yin-Yang symbol when I created the Guardians for the comic. I really was just thinking young women in colour-coded robes. But if you think that symbol works too, go for it!
Sorry I don’t have time to reply to all your comments! There’s just too many of you, but I make a point to read them all when I can!
Come on guys I know you all play the Doctor Who game…lol
I didn’t until I had few friends comeover and caught me watchin u know like a guilty pleasure n all that but that was the classic series. As far as the new series is concerned I was the one who asked this time around “u wanna watch some NEW Doctor Who?” The usual answer and response is a roll of the eyes and oh come on if we must….but then that is when the majic happened. We didn’t just watch one you gotta see a couple more mkay…and after that they didn’t mind watching it and even asked when new episodes were coming on and who certain characters were and it just been fun….BUT THIS….This comic is a blast! “WHAT?! WHAT?!” Come on you know you can hear his voice too…When is the Doctor gonna give them a piece of his mind? Right now he’s just digesting what they’re telling him and he’s so ready I can feel it.
Oh, fabulous! I love the way this is working out!
I’ve just read the entire collection here in one sitting and it is fanTAStic!
I LOVE IT!
Cannot wait for the next page.
Whoa snap. I’m get back on the computer after 4 days and the plot takes a major twist…cool.
I sense on of the Doctors universally famous ‘I’ll give them a piece of my mind” moments coming up.
Fantastic work Rich!
The Doctor is the annoying little brother that keeps jumping in front of the TV screen when you and your friends are trying to play a video game.
Okay, I’m sorry, I’ve read this page four or five times and I still feel like I’m missing something.
Panel 4: Who are “They?” The Black Guardian’s champions, or the Time Lords?
Panel 5: ” … I knew I had to look beyond Rassilon’s order-worshipping Time Lords.” What? Was the BG expecting the Time Lords to plunge the Universe into perfect chaos?
I think ‘they’ is referring to the Black Guardian’s champions.
Rassilon and Omega….. is it just me or Omega looks like the Master? And the Master does look like Ainley.
But seriously, I think the “Dangerous Balance” the Black Guardian is is talking about Bull$, no really, in a place of Chaos there can’t be life, or civilization, it’s an endless creation and destruction without purpose (a little WoD philosophy there, sorry); of course a place of Order is just as bad, as the Guardian said: ideas and inspiration are born from Chaos, none is truly bad or truly good, nice gray (I think that’s what atracts me towards Werewolf, the heroes defend the Chaos from the Evil and insanity of Order, I really need to find me a group)
Okay, so the two guys in panel 3 are Omega and Rassilon .. and Omega and Rassilon were champions of the Black and White Guardians, respectively?
That makes a bit more sense, I guess.
In my opinion, the black guardian doesn’t care if anything can live in her universe of perfect chaos. So long as the universe itself continues to exist.
Why won’t this page load?? T_T I’ve tried about 8 times so far, and the best I’ve managed is 75%! It will load everything but the comic, and that’s the part that’s so slow it always gives up before it gets done!
This is really unusual.
Oooooo!
*grabs a handful of popcorn*
Munch! Munch!
Just A Wanderer: Yes, “they” in panel 4, refers to the champions. And yes, in panel 5, the BG is annoyed because the Time Lords won’t sacrifice themselves to plunge the universe into chaos.
Maki P: As Elliee Vaness pointed out, the BG doesn’t give a hoot if anything can survive in total chaos. That’s what she needs for the universe to continue into eternity. So she believes.
Okay, all of a sudden it’s all falling apart. One key feature of the White Guardian was respect and compassion for life.
Man, they’re just complete idiots, aren’t they? >.<#
okay!!
i have to say that i am know going to consider this complete canon. this IS what happened, your fandom is so great it is cannon now.
you have made a great contribution to my life and i thank you for it Rich.
when i don’t have good fanfic to read and my friends get sick of me talking about doctor who i turn to this comic.
you are a genius, a great writer and a drawer and that is no understatement,
and i have to say that Hilary, i wish one day to have your amazing powers over computers as i am doing IT.
you are both wonderful.
NOW, down to business.
i have to wonder when the other 4 guardians come in? It will be interesting to see how the BG and the WG behave towards them and how they feel about them. There relationship with each other seems quite cordial, but with that sisterly/brotherly/cosmic beingly competition.
also i am wondering if the G’s had anything to do with the destruction on Gallifrey. Both the Time War one and the one that happened about 4 pages ago (WHO BLEW UP GALLIFREY!!!??)
that is all,
Who says the attitudes and goals of the Guardians have stayed the same? Peoples perceptions shift slowly over time. The White Guardan could also have faked these attributes to win the Doctor’s allaiance, and stop him sympathising w the B Guardian.
Since everyone now knows I’m a Discworld fan, I might as well say this.
Hints 1 and 2: Auditors vs Elves, Fate vs Lady Luck.
Hint 3: Cheating’s part of the rules, and gods (or whatever) always cheat, right up to the end.
Hint 3b: Chess is only the popular representation of the game (cue offscreen(cue Quantum Weather Butterfly(aren’t brackets fun?)))
HInt 4: The Lady has a soft spot for the underdog, and never sacrifices a pawn. On the other hand, she quickly loses interest, and Fate never forgets.
Leafa, the answer to your question is mostly yes.
Adams raided his DW scripts for the Dirk Gently stories, or so it is said.
Rich, I predict a few more panels of the Guardians trying to explain their POV and how the other one is just wrong. And then, Ten will get all shouty. But after that, who know?
Well, the first Dirk Gently is a combination of City of Death and Shada, no question of it.
In fact lines of dialogue are identical between Shada and Dirk Gently in places. I guess as it wasn’t broadcast Douglas Adams never thought it mattered and then the BBC released the video with dialogue for the missing bits and much later also an audio Paul McGann version. (The idea being the time scoop in the five Doctors made the Doctor forget why he was in Cambridge as the 4th Doctor and he later remembered as the 8th, picked Romana up from Galifrey and then they went and had the adventure, it worked quite well.)
If you ever need a reference Rich, I can always pull a screenshot from my collection.
Like the one in my “Gravatar”.
BTW, I noticed your Pertwee’s profile is similar to the soon to be 11th Doctor’s “Matt Smith”. Just a bit older with curly white hair. Maybe I’m missing something, but I bet that is why “they” think he looks older and has a “familiar face”.
Double Post:
I just wanted to say in panel 7 that is a Fan-TAS-tic rendering of Troughton.
Thanks Serosis!
I have plenty of reference around, I just didn’t have any on hand when I drew the page (I have no computer access at the studio)
This is a follow-up to my earlier posting on this page. I imagine most of you have moved on to the succeeding pages, but here it is. I have reviewed the beginning of the “Ribos Operation,” and the White Guardian did want the Key to Time to restore the balance before the universe tipped into eternal chaos.
You can watch the clip on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lCrV4s7Avc
Therefore, Rich I’m sorry to contradict your wonderful plot, but the White Guardian is wanting to maintain the balance between chaos and order, and not in just Order itself. And you did say you are following the canon established by the series.
I apologize for being a nitpicker, but maybe you picked up on some tidbit I have overlooked. I look forward to the rest of your comic.
Waitamoment- Shada looks like the Shadow Proclamation from “Stolen Earth”! Did you base it off that, or might the resembelance be a hint for future revelations?
Cleverest Name:
I based the drawing on what I remember of the appearance of Shada, the prison planet of the Time Lords from the unaired episode of the same name. I have the video with what footage they did make linked with narration by Tom Baker.