Gallifrey to Trenzalore #13: Operation Proteus by Gareth Roberts

Doctor Who Magazine #231-233
Operation Proteus
Written by Gareth Roberts
Art by Martin Geraghty
Published: 28th September 1995
Read: 18th February 2016

Part One

One of the great ironies throughout the whole history of Doctor Who is that while it is a program about an alien who can travel across the entirety of time and space, he has longed to live a normal life, settled in one place and one time. Indeed, the Tenth Doctor said as much to Rose in "Doomsday" and similar thoughts have been shared before and after.

However, it's easy to forget that the Doctor did live on Earth for an extended period during the early 1960s. Considering we quickly left the period by the end of the very first episode, perhaps it is easy to see why this was forgotten. Indeed, few stories in the expanded universe have explored this era of the Doctor's life in depth: the Telos novella Time and Relative, the Hunters of Earth audio (which will be covered shortly) and Operation Proteus.

Operation Proteus is very quick to plunge us back into the look and feel of what we left behind at the end of "An Unearthly Child". The dark and foggy London of that earlier story is evoked and fully fleshed out to take us to various locales across the city from Soho to King's Cross Station to the murky depths of the bunkers near the London Underground.

Not only is the atmosphere of "An Unearthly Child" evoked in this episode as Susan is brought back to her roots before all the screaming and crying. The "unearthly child" in Susan is once again dug out as we see her wandering the streets of London at night, visiting bars in Soho as "the lives of young people in London are fascinating".

The Doctor isn't quite as abrasive as he was in his earliest appearance, yet the best version of the First Doctor is used. The inquisitive and resourceful Doctor who is keen to solve a mystery and save humanity, yet is still protective of his granddaughter. One thing I did enjoy is that there is a hint that the Doctor has been up to no good in London what with a working knowledge of the Underground as well as his possession of a skeleton key for the entire city which is never explained.

Looking at the main storyline of Operation Proteus and there is certainly enough to keep us guessing for the next two parts. A young man turning into a monster in front of Susan's eyes, a group of students gathering underground, a government minister patched into some kind of alien technology, a scary butler and a creepy alien in the basement who seems to know the Doctor.

Where will it all lead? And what is Operation Proteus?

Part Two

While Part One of Operation Proteus seemed to evoke the atmosphere and spirit of "An Unearthly Child" for me, the second part does an absolute gear shift and turns into an episode of The X-Files. A comparison I wouldn't have made a month ago, but the arrival of the new series in the UK, coupled with watching the First Season on AmazonPrime, I couldn't help but see the resemblance. Considering the story was written in 1995, two years after The X-Files premiered, perhaps it's an accurate comparison.

All of the elements of a typical X-Files episode are there: the government, having "rescued" an alien from a downed spaceship, then put that alien to work in advancing humanity genetically to become superior to "the other side" (presumably the Communist Bloc) and group of students being convinced to become test cases for a measly £500 to pay off their student loans. Of course, the government has failed to mention that they risk mutating into an alien creature, but still, £500!!!

Taking the X-Files analogy to the next level and we have to paint the Doctor and Susan into the roles of David Duchovny's Fox Mulder and Gillian Anderson's Dana Scully. On the surface at least, that analogy works well, the Doctor as Mulder putting himself at the centre of the web of intrigue and facing off with the alien, Raldonn, so he can learn of his dastardly scheme. Meanwhile, it is up to Susan's Scully to wonder around the darkened underground tunnels and prepare to extract Mulder from whatever mess he's bungled himself into.

Examining the motives of the British government, it certainly sends a shiver down the spine. They want to advance humans to the next stage in evolution to become better than "the other side". One cannot help but think of a certain race of beings we encountered a couple of weeks ago in this marathon on the planet Skaro. To think that Earth could have had it's very own Davros is enough to give me nightmares.

However, in a twist which I have yet encountered in any X-Files episode, the alien Raldonn has actually been playing the British government for decades. Instead of genetically manipulating humanity to the next level, he's been working on adapting some humans to mutate into his species so that he can have a co-pilot so he can return to his home planet. Naturally, things haven't gone to plan with the test subjects like the one Susan encountered at the beginning of Part One, so he's decided to mutate a larger percentage of the public starting with the city of London.

Will Raldonn succeed in mutating the population of London? Who was talking to Susan in the London Underground tunnels? Is the truth out there?

Part Three

Throughout its three episodes Operation Proteus has moved from evoking "An Unearthly Child" to The X-Files, and now we're moving on to an homage to Doctor Who itself, most notably the monster invasion of Earth stories from the late Troughton and early Pertwee years. Indeed, it's really not much of a stretch to re-imagine this story as a Pertwee story with really very little tweaks. However, seeing that this issue was released on Doctor Who's 32nd Birthday, perhaps this explains it.

The opening panel of the comic strip is probably the strongest tip of the hat as we see a milkman strolling down those famous steps near St. Paul's Cathedral: an iconic shot from The Invasion which has been called back to on numerous occasions, most notably in Series 8's two-part finale "Dark Water" and "Death in Heaven". Following on from that we're treated to various scenes across London of people slowly mutating and running amok, scenes which evoke memories of the Auton attacks in Spearhead from Space and "Rose" as well as many other episodes. The supernatural being rooted in the mundane has always been Doctor Who's bread and butter, and it's no less effective here.

Below the surface and Raldonn can only despair as his plan to create a co-pilot is going spectacularly wrong. Despite his dastardly and monstrous scheme, I can't help but feel sympathetic toward Raldonn. He's a lonely alien cut off from his own world and is attempting to "grow" a new co-pilot so he can get back. It's unfortunate that we don't get to see Raldonn redeem himself as he is set upon and killed by his own mutated butler.

Naturally, it is the Doctor and Susan that save the day, and humanity, once again. Using all of the advanced equipment that Raldonn had assembled over the years, they are able to create an airborne stabilising device and release it along the Underground tunnels and up into the city above. It's all wrapped up into a neat little package really: Raldonn is defeated, the surviving students walk free, Londoners have little memory of the outbreak and are fed guff about a poisonous fog and the Doctor gets to have a go at a government minister. Still, no time to clean up, as the Doctor says to Susan "today is a school day and you're late."

I usually read comics at such a breakneck speed that I hardly take the time to appreciate the story, dialogue and often beautiful artwork that goes with it. However, reading and analysing Operation Proteus has really given me a greater appreciation for all the work that goes into the medium and I can't wait to visit more comic-based adventures as this marathon moves forward.

Looking at Operation Proteus itself, and for Gareth Roberts first of many appearances in the marathon, I'd say he's done rather well. Creating a story set before An Unearthly Child when the Doctor and Susan are living on Earth is a mammoth task as there is only so many directions that you can go with it, even less than the Pertwee years as they are attempting to keep a low profile. Roberts' route was to have the otherworldly visit Earth and have our heroes working to put a stop too it.

With few pages in which to craft a story it's difficult to take the time to flesh characters and locations out, but the joy with setting a story in London is that half the work is done for you. As I stated earlier, Raldonn is a sympathetic villain, a well-realized character that unfortunately is given short-shrift in the final part as I would have loved to have seen him assist the Doctor in undoing the harm he'd done. Some of the other characters don't come off as well, most notably the students, who I felt nothing for even when some of them starting mutating.

An enjoyable story and I look forward to experiencing more stories by Gareth Roberts.

Next Story

"Losing the Audience"

Continuity Corner

• Raldonn states that he sensed the Doctor and Susan's arrival in London "four months earlier". Interestingly, Raldonn is convinced that it could only be the Doctor arriving with no reference to other time and space travellers.