The Lord of Docclare escaped the Palladin Hordes in the CADESAE

Have now read the anniversary issue of DWM, as it is probably safe to do so. And one of its main features is about Anthony Coburn, writer of An Unearthly Child, and his earlier drafts of that first script. Like the early drafts of Star Wars which are now being adapted into comics, they show a familiar but rather different world.

This happens, for one thing.

And it gets weirder from there.

Doctor Who travels in the Change And Dimensional Electronic Selector And Extender. (Cad-e-say? Cade-say?) and it had to have a light on top so he could hypnotise people who got too close.

Oh, and Susan is Suzanne. And is really Princess Findooclare.

They’re on the run from the Palladin Hordes who invaded their home planet, seeking to steal their knowledge of time travel. Sounds like a fine motivation to me, although as a gamer, the evil Paladins are a bit odd.

Later the enemy goes unnamed, and the house of Dooclare becomes Docclare.

And it gives us a strong reason for the Doctor’s wariness:

“By now our enemies will have built other ships like this... I fear the ears in the crowd that are not of their Earth, that listen for the tale of disbelief and wonder that these would tell.”

A lost empire... a secretive cold war among human-looking time travellers across the galaxy... some funny names aside, it all sounds like it would work.