Doctor Who: Survival Of The Fittest
Doctor Who: Survival Of The Fittest – Sylvester McCoy, Tracey Childs, Paul McGann, Adrian Bower, Mark Donovan – Written by John Ainsworth, Lee Mansfield & Jonathan Clements – 2xCD / Download (Big Finish Productions) (www.bigfinish.com)
If there was ever a more appropriate title for the first story to feature Klein, the Nazi Physicist from an alternate time-line (in which the Axis powers won the Second World War), as the Doctor’s companion, well, I’d like to hear it. Following the events of ‘A Thousand Tiny Wings’, the change in the companion dynamic was going to have to handled carefully, after all, making a Nazi the Doctor’s companion was anything but straight forward, and I have to admit, I was more than a little curious about how it would all work out, part of me thinking that it could be disastrous, most of me hoping that it wouldn’t be. I mean, there’s very little I find more repugnant or loathsome than fascism in any form, so to make a convert out of me, they (the folks at Big Finish) were going to have to pull something pretty special out of the bag, and with ‘Survival Of The Fittest’ they’ve done just that. The first episode of the story is devoted to Klein, as she tells the Doctor her story, everything that led up to them meeting, and as well as being a cracking little alternate history story that also features Paul McGann as Johann Schmidt (one for the fans), it also humanises Klein, fleshing out her character, allowing the listener to see her as a person, allowing her to develop beyond the limitations of the political system that she was and is caught up in. From that point on, with Klein (thanks to the clever plotting of the first part) firmly ensconced as the new companion, it’s business as usual, as they find themselves battling to save an insect species, the Vrill, from total extermination by a supposed ‘colonial’ advance party. Both Tracey Childs and Sylvester McCoy have already found their feet as far as their pairing is concerned, fitting neatly and smoothly into their parts as antagonistic intellectual equals, a chemistry born from their characters mutual fear and loathing that’s already started to generate a little (it’s still early days folks) warmth. There’s also an interesting slice of role reversal as Klein finds herself siding with the Vrill instead of the ‘Colonists’ who she readily identifies as being ethically similar to the party whose beliefs she seemingly holds so dear, which leads me to suspect that maybe there is some hope for her after all. Only time will tell. Bug eyed monsters and baddies with big guns; it really doesn’t get any better than this. I honestly don’t know what I was worried about….Tim Mass Movement
