Doctor Who: Survival of the Fittest

Big Finish: Monthly Range #131

by John Ainsworth, Jonathan Clements, Sylvester McCoy (Narrator)

The hive of the Vrill bears the scars of a terrifying cataclysm. Only a handful remain alive, hatched after the holocaust of the mysterious Winterlack. The Vrill seek a new Authority. They find the Doctor, a two-legged creature who can lead them to survival. He must solve the mystery of the Carrion beast that haunts the lower chambers. He must face the Winterlack that still stalk the mountains. And he must find a path that does not lead to extinction...

Plus: Klein's Story
Elizabeth Klein is an anomaly. A renegade from an alternate future in which the Nazis won World War II, In an attempt to get to know his latest companion, the Doctor invites Klein to tell him how exactly she came to be in possession of his TARDIS and of the events that led to her trip into the past to Colditz Castle.

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Audiobook, Time Travel

2 pages, Audio CD

First published February 1, 2010

Reviews

[April Mccaffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Few audios later and I’m loving Elizabeth Klein with the 7th Doctor. She’s a strong character who takes no shit. It’s also great to see her as the main protagonist who started out with extremely problematic views and both are just as devious and manipulative as the other.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Klein’s Story - The events that lead up to Elizabeth Klein’s presence in Doctor Who: Colditz are detailed in a conversation with The Doctor after he’s brought her aboard the TARDIS after the events depicted in Doctor Who: A Thousand Tiny Wings. This is a very unique type of story that tells a very particular sequence of events that needed to happen for the Colditz events to unfold as they needed to, and all handled very nicely. (4/5)

Survival of the Fittest - This is the main bulk of this release. It details the Doctor and Klein, after already traveling to several worlds, arriving on a planet inhabited by large insect-like creatures that are being wiped out by a mysterious thing known only as the Winterlack. This is a brilliant and fascinating story. There are shades of Doctor Who: The Web Planet, obviously, but things get taken in a very different direction. And then, of course, there’s the whole relationship between the Doctor and Elizabeth Klein - the dynamics are … well, it’s fascinating. (4/5)

The Companion Chronicles: The Sacrifice - This is the twelfth chapter in a sprawling serial starring Polly, the Brigadier and Thomas Brewster. It’s an audio-hybrid, meaning that’s it’s both narrated and acted out like a drama, making it neither fully an audiobook nor an audio-drama. And this time, it appears that it just might be the conclusion.

[sabisteb aka callisto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nach dem Kenia Abenteuer bleibt dem Doctor nichts anderes übrig, als Dr. Klein zu seiner neuen Reisegefährtin zu machen, denn sie ist und bleibt eine Anomalie, die nur darauf wartet, eine Tardis in ihre Finger zu bekommen, um ihre Zeitlinie wieder herzustellen.
Um sie Menschlichkeit zu lehren, ihr beizubringen, das Faschismus schlecht ist, nimmt der Doctor sie mit auf einen außerirdischen Planeten. Er landet in einem Vrill Nest. Die Vrill sind Insektoide, aber die Tardis übersetzt ja auch Sprachen, die über Duft funktionieren.
Nur noch wenige der Vrill sind am Leben, weil ein oder die mysteriösen Winterlack sie angegriffen haben.
Parallel dazu erfährt man in diesem Hörspiel auch Dr. Elizabeth Kleins Geschichte und Vergangenheit und was zu ihrer Reise nach Colditz Castle führte (was sich wohl auf eine frühere Episode bezieht).

Dieses Hörspiel schließt nahtlos an Folge 130 an und endet mit einem Cliffhanger, der direkt zu 132 überführt. Folge 131 ist somit nicht in sich abgeschlossen, auch wenn das Abenteuer an sich in sich geschlossen ist.
Die Botschaft ist ein wenig platt und vorhersehbar. Der Gutmensch Dr. Who will Dr. Klein bekehren, nachdem er eigentlich Schuld daran ist, dass ihre Zeitlinie zerstört wurde. Wie naiv muss man sein, dass ein Trip in ein Insektennest die Weltsicht verändert?

Ein nettes, vorhersehbares, unterhaltsames Hörspiel mit top Sprechern vor allem wird der siebte Doctor auch von Sylvester McCoy, dem Schauspieler des siebten Doctors gesprochen. Warum Dr. Klein als Nazi und wohl als deutsche Muttersprachlerin keinen deutschen Akzent hat? Als wenn es nicht genug deutsch Sprecher für diese Rolle gegeben hätte. Einige der Sprecher scheinen zumindest echte Deutsche zu sein, oder bekommen des Akzent zumindest deutlich besser hin wie Paul McGann.
Ich verstehe die Besessenheit der Engländer mit der Nazizeit einfach nicht.

Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Tracey Childs (Elizabeth Klein), Rupert Wickham (Faber), Adrian Bower (Steffen), Hannah Smith (Rose), Evie Dawnay (Lilly), Mark Donovan (Jackson), Alex Mallinson (The Carrion), Paul McGann (Johann Schmidt)

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half of this, Klein's story, was very good. I particularly liked Klein and Paul McGann's doctor in the alternate timeline. All a bit confussing but still very interesting. "Handsome in a gothic sort of way" was a pretty great line. As was Klein saying she didn't like the redecorating.

I did also like the second adventure. The Vrill were nice insectoid aliens. I did wonder how they'd manage to get Klein to turn around. But this was handled quite well.

[Debra Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Doctor takes Klein in his tardis and learns how Klein got a hold of the Tardis and ended up at Colditz. Afterward they end up on a planet that has insects that are being wiped out by humans for the gel they use to reproduce. Can the Doctor stop the genocide. Will Klein get a hold of the tardis to change the timeline? Find out.

[Josh · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was hard to get through. A Thousand Tiny Wings and Kleins Story were great but Survival of the Fittest is just so bland of a story. Klein is interesting still

[Finlay O'Riordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again, the dynamic between Seven and Klein is amazing following from A Thousand Tiny Wings. She shows hints of her food nature here too, but not enough to completely change or rewrite her entire character. A great balance and some strong writing.

This release also includes Klein's Story, which shows us the alternate Eighth Doctor in the original timeline manipulating events so that Ace can be saved in Colditz. One of my biggest problems with Colditz was how that whole thing happening off-screen meant the problem was dealt with before the story had even started, so it was nice to finally see it explored properly here.

[Chrissy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t like this one quite as much as the last Klein audio, but it was entertaining enough. I did appreciate the addition of Klein’s backstory and how she came to be in this version of history. That was helpful.

[A room full of books~ :) · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Rating only for "Klein's Story.")

[Charles Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and entertaining.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple different stories, and altogether I feel like I didn’t vibe with them as much as I was expecting.

[Tabitha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started out a bit slow but ramped up quickly. Had some good one off lines.

[Jamie Revell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second of three stories pairing the Seventh Doctor with Nazi scientist Elizabeth Klein is set on a distant planet in the far future. The Doctor and Klein arrive in the aftermath of a disaster, interacting with a particularly alien race. That the majority of the guest characters are giant insects inevitably invites comparisons with the early TV story The Web Planet, although, here, the absence of visuals probably helps.

There are some great ideas in the story, particularly in the way that the insects communicate through scent, and how the TARDIS copes with translating that. There's also a great moment where Klein is delighted to discover that there are still fascists in the future, and that her ideology never entirely dies out. The struggle between the rigidly hierarchical alien society and the expansionist human colonists isn't quite as effective as the '50s colonialism of the previous story at highlighting Klein's philosophy, although the intent is clearly similar.

For that matter, the story relies a little too much on just wandering around, and the mad insect that acts as the antagonist for the early sections does seem a little pointless. The cliffhanger ending is also one that's starting to feel a little over-used. Such weaknesses are, however, readily overshadowed by the first half-hour of the play, which consists of a flashback explaining Klein's past, and filling in some of the gaps in her first story, the 2001 Big Finish release Colditz. It's a great little alternate history tale, not just in the historical sense, but also in showing us an alternative version of the Eighth Doctor, following a regeneration that's strikingly reminiscent of that in the TV movie.

Together with the presentation of the Vrill, that's enough to push this up to four stars.

[Silvia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only listened to "Klein's Story".