A Month of... Board Games! Day 9: Doctor, doctor, can't you see I'm burning, burning

Among the most beautiful of "board games" from UK comics are the early Doctor Who annuals — yes, back when they were even calling him "Dr. Who" in the story texts. And there was only one Doctor! You kids and your need to have a dozen or so Doctors. Why, in my day, we have four or five, and we managed to do just fine, a rubber monster and a wobbling cardboard spaceship or two aside.

But oh, this is gorgeously drawn and designed, isn't it? Compared to our modern-day photo art and computer designed Doctor Who annuals (not that I won't feature at least one of those games), this is Fine Art, with a capital F.A. What? What? Why are all you British readers giggling?)

"Escape from Planet X" in Doctor Who Annual 1967 (World Distributors, Manchester, 1966)
(Click picture to Planet of Giants-size)
Lovely, isn't it? For best result, the instructions "meet robots — go back to start" really should be read in the voice of Dr. Zoidberg.

Here's some more uncredited art from that Doctor Who Annual. Remember that classic episode where the Doctor went to a Galactic Pig Roast?


And years (about 1200 of them) before the Thirteenth Twelfth Doctor was stuck in a incredible shrinking TARDIS in the episode "Flatline," the First Doctor, a master-mind capable of spanning all spatial infinity and all temporal entity with his incredible knowledge of science, mathematics, and reversing the polarity, already had. Parse that sentence, Strunk and White!


In conclusion, Doctor Who itself may have gotten more technically proficient, but Doctor Who Annuals can never recapture the beauty and charm of their early days. Set the TARDIS controls for the heart of the sun!