From Doctor Who Magazine #118-119
A Review by Finn Clark 19/11/04
Grant Morrison writes Doctor Who! "Wahay," say all the fanboys... but unfortunately it's nothing special. There's nothing wrong with Changes (DWM 118-119), but it's entirely TARDIS-bound and just pits the Doctor and his friends against a bug-eyed monster. Mind you it's a shapeshifter like Frobisher, so it's not just any old monster. Whoopie-doo. Bet you can't guess how this story ends, boys and girls! (That's right, duel of the shapeshifters.) I enjoyed reading this, but at the end of the day it's sixteen pages of the TARDIS crew running around the TARDIS and fighting a monster whose dialogue consists entirely of "Doctor!", "Help!", "Sssss!" and "Grrrshhh!".
One thing saves this story, though: John Ridgway. Sensibly Grant Morrison hardly lets him draw a single roundel, but instead gives him an extraordinary TARDIS interior with virtual landscapes, junk-filled box rooms, an alien zoo and more. It looks great... and more importantly, it looks interesting. Just in the first couple of pages, we discover that the Doctor has collected a Dalek construction kit (only toy-sized, thank goodness), the original draft for an unknown Shakespeare play called "Mischief Night, or As You Please" and a signed drawing of the Doctor by Michelangelo.
Oh, and there's also John Carter's map of Barsoom. Barsoom was Edgar Rice Burroughs's name for Mars in his famous series... eleven books from A Princess of Mars to John Carter of Mars.
One curious detail is that the Kymbra Chimera is: (a) a shapeshifter, and (b) an energy vampire. I don't remember the TV series ever giving us that combination, but DWM's comic strip did it twice in a few years. See also Planet of the Dead (DWM 141-142), which actually states that its Gwanzalum are relatives of both the Whifferdills and the Kymbra Chimera.
The script is fannish. It makes time to discuss temporal grace and eventually takes us to the secondary control room from Season 14, making reference to Mandragora Helix. But if anyone questioned Grant Morrison's fanboy credentials, The World Shapers (DWM 127-129) would have confirmed them beyond all doubt. The Voord, the Cybermen, Marinus, Mondas, Jamie, Time Lords, Planet 14...
This may not be a particularly deep story, but it's sixteen pages of fun. Personally I prefer to see the comic strips aim higher than this, but it's beautifully drawn and keeps you turning the pages. There's also nothing wrong with it, unlike some of the stories DWM had run over the previous year. (The Colin Baker era of the DWM comic strips was certainly strong, but John Ridgway's presence made it seem more consistent than it actually was. It started and ended well, but there's something of a dip in the middle.) Overall, I'd recommend this story. It's a solid seven out of ten. You'll enjoy it... but apart perhaps from its visuals, you won't necessarily remember it for long either.