From Doctor Who Monthly #68-69; Reprinted (coloured) in Doctor Who Classic Comics #18
Keeping up the Pace by Tim Roll-Pickering 10/10/98
Unlike most writers, Steve Parkhouse’s first post-Tides of Time story does not act as an aftermath (other than the opening panel which mentions that things are back to normal) but instead sets out to story does not act as an aftermath (other than the opening panel which mentions that things are back to normal) but instead begins preparing the ground for the next epic story, The Stockbridge Horror. This is essential, given events in that story, and it is welcome to see the Doctor not solving every mystery immediately, but instead being more fallible and human.
The main guest character in this story is Maxwell Edison, known as ‘Mad Max’, who is every bit the clichéd paranormal freak, but this is over a decade before The X-Files. Armed with diving rod and his ‘bio-kinetic energising ray’ (which, when opened, turns out to be ‘an empty box with a few loose wires’), he is something a rarity in the Doctor Who world--a character who is more recognisable today than at the time of the story’s original printing. On this occasion, however, he does discover something--the Doctor. And this leads to the one minor plot hole in this story. It seems strange that the Doctor, who has been residing in Stockbridge for some time, and Max, an amateur investigator, are not aware of each other so far. However, this can be avoided as the TARDIS heads for the mysterious spaceship, and into a plot that could easily fit into an episode of the The X-Files. Max’s strong assertions that there is a presence on the ship, and the Doctor’s attempts to prove him wrong are well-handled, and the reader is left asking for more as the Doctor and Max are forced to leave due to the ship breaking up in the Earth’s atmosphere, thus neatly leading into the next story.
Dave Gibbons’ artwork is as good as ever on this, his last contribution to the strip (apart from drawing the covers for the American Doctor Who comic when the material was reprinted). It is a pity to see him depart at a time when the comic strip was at an all-time high, but at least his final work is amongst his best.
All in all, a good story both in it’s own right and as part of the great odyssey of this golden age for the strip. 8/10
A Review by Finn Clark 20/9/04
Famously, The Stars Fell on Stockbridge was Dave Gibbons's last Doctor Who story. He'd finally nailed Davison and he was at the top of his game. As last hurrahs go, this one's pretty damn respectable; this eerie ghost tale might not seem like an artist's story, but you'd be surprised. Bad art can ruin this kind of slow-building mood more completely than anything else. Dave Gibbons might not be one's first thought for "Doctor Who's most atmospheric artist to date" (as opposed to, say, John Ridgway), but if you look at tales like this and End of the Line (DWM 54-55) you'll see that Gibbons was no slouch in that department.
Just like The Tides of Time part seven, this tale showcases Steve Parkhouse's fluid storytelling. He starts by creating what you'd expect to be comedy gold in one of the DWM strip's daftest characters: "Mad" Maxwell Edison. "Of all the rotten tricks to play on a chap. I've a good mind to go back to train spotting!" The man's a goofball UFO nerd. If you studied his bones you'd find 'comic relief' running through them like Blackpool Rock and indeed Parkhouse does give him some goofy lines to lighten the first episode.
But then we go into space and it becomes a ghost story... and not just any old ghost story, but a good one. That's one of the most delicate genres to get right. It undoubtedly helped that Parkhouse was laying the ground for another epic, The Stockbridge Horror, but you don't need to know that to respond to this story's melancholy. Max proves to be a genuine sensitive and the dying spaceship is as spooky as anything I can think of in Who, not just from the comic strip.
The village from The Tides of Time (and probably The Iron Legion) is revisited and given a name for the first time. It's Stockbridge, in Gloucestershire. Unfortunately Timewyrm: Revelation (p74) would later claim that it's in Norfolk (near Wrexham and Cheldon Bonniface) but what the hell.
This isn't a long story, but it's atmospheric and charming. I particularly enjoyed the Doctor's scenes with Max, which are note-perfect for Davison's Doctor and show patient respect for a lunatic that one can't quite imagine from most of the others. The ending is lovely too. Steve Parkhouse spent a few years working in eight-month cycles at DWM, writing a quickie story as the lead-in to a longer sequel... this story's sequel is The Stockbridge Horror, but for my money the prequel is a better story. It's self-contained, it never hits a false note and it's drawn by Dave Gibbons! Elegant and elegaic.