Changes: Survival of the Fittest (audio story)

Revision as of 19:26, 27 March 2020

Survival of the Fittest

Key crew

Publisher:

Big Finish Productions

Writer:

Jonathan Clements

Director:

John Ainsworth

Post production:

Simon Robinson

Cover by:

Alex Mallinson

Release details

Release number:

131b

Release date:

28 February 2010

Format:

2 CDs, 3 parts

Production code:

7Z/G

ISBN:

ISBN 978-1-84435-434-4

*Main Range*
← Previous	Next →
Klein's Story	The Architects of History

Survival of the Fittest was the following three-part story comprising part of the one hundred and thirty-first release in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Jonathan Clements and featured Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor and Tracey Childs as Elizabeth Klein.

It is the final three-part story in Big Finish's Doctor Who range, bringing the experiment of three and one part stories, beginning in April 2007 with I.D. (three-part) and Urgent Calls (one-part), to a close.

Publisher's summary

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...

Plot

to be added

Cast

References

The Doctor

The Doctor tells Lilly that he has known many beekeepers in his time. He claims that Aristotle never stopped wittering on about bees whereas he was stuck at a tea party with Thomas Jefferson and he spoke about them at least.
Klein tells the Doctor that, with his intelligence, he would have been a great asset to the Nazi Party. The Doctor sarcastically remarks that it was "such a sweet thing to say."

Planets

The Doctor and Klein previously visited the crystal planes of Mendroxia, the floating ocean on Quinbrax Four, and the mercury swamps on Vulcan.

TARDIS

Through the TARDIS' telepathic circuits, Klein hears the Doctor speaking German in "a stuffy Prussian accent."

Notes

The single part audio story Klein's Story was also included on CD 1 of this story. It begins after the events of the audio story A Thousand Tiny Wings.
This audio drama was recorded on 7 and 8 September 2009 at The Moat Studios.
Survival of the Fittest was one of the working titles for the television story Survival.
The story was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra on 25 and 28-29 May 2012, forming a radio season with A Thousand Tiny Wings, Klein's Story and The Architects of History.

Continuity

The Doctor and Klein have recently visited the mercury swamps of Vulcan. (TV: The Power of the Daleks)
There no longer seems to be a spare TARDIS key in the cubbyhole above the "P" outside the TARDIS. (AUDIO: The Architects of History) It would be restored by the time of the Doctor's regeneration into his eighth incarnation. (TV: Doctor Who)

External links

Official Survival of the Fittest page at bigfinish.com
Survival of the Fittest at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
DisContinuity for Survival of the Fittest at Tetrapyriarbus - The DisContinuity Guide

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 {{real world}}
 {{Infobox Story
-|name = Survival of the Fittest
 |image = Survival of the Fittest.jpg
+|range           = Main Range
-|series = [[Big Finish Doctor Who audio stories|Big Finish ''Doctor Who'' audio stories]]
+|number in range = 131b
+|series = ''[[Main Range]]''
 |number = 131b
 |doctor = Seventh Doctor
-|companions = [[Elizabeth Klein]]
+|companions = [[Elizabeth Klein|Klein]]
-|enemy = The Winterlack ([[Steffen]] and [[Jackson (Survival of the Fittest)|Jackson]])
+|enemy = [[Steffen]], [[Jackson (Survival of the Fittest)|Jackson]]
-|setting = A [[Vrill]] colony outside of [[Mutter's Spiral]]
+|setting = [[Vrill nest]], [[Planet (Survival of the Fittest)|unknown planet]]
 |writer = [[Jonathan Clements]]
 |director = [[John Ainsworth]]
@@ Line 17: / Line 18: @@
 |release date = [[28 February (releases)|28 February]] [[2010 (releases)|2010]]
 |format = 2 CDs, 3 parts
-|production code = 7Z/G
+|production code = [[List_of_production_codes#Based_off_TV_story_production_codes|7Z/G]]
 |isbn = ISBN 978-1-84435-434-4
 |prev = Klein's Story (audio story)
 |next = The Architects of History (audio story)
+}}{{audio stub}}
-}}
-'''''{{StoryTitle}}''''' was the one hundred and thirty-first [[Big Finish Doctor Who audio stories|monthly ''Doctor Who'' audio release]] produced by [[Big Finish Productions]]. It is the final 3 part story in Big Finish's ''Doctor Who range'', bringing the experiment of 3 and 1 part stories, beginning in April 2007 with ''[[I.D. (audio story)|I.D.]]'' (3 part) and ''[[Urgent Calls (audio story)|Urgent Calls]]'' (1 part), to a close.
+'''''{{StoryTitle}}''''' was the following three-part story comprising part of the one hundred and thirty-first release in [[Big Finish Productions|Big Finish]]'s [[Main Range|monthly range]]. It was written by [[John Ainsworth|Jonathan Clements]] and featured [[Sylvester McCoy]] as the [[Seventh Doctor]] and [[Tracey Childs]] as [[Elizabeth Klein]].
+It is the final three-part story in Big Finish's ''Doctor Who range'', bringing the experiment of three and one part stories, beginning in April 2007 with ''[[I.D. (audio story)|I.D.]]'' (three-part) and ''[[Urgent Calls (audio story)|Urgent Calls]]'' (one-part), to a close.
 == Publisher's summary ==
@@ Line 44: / Line 47: @@
 * The Doctor tells Lilly that he has known many beekeepers in his time. He claims that [[Aristotle]] never stopped wittering on about [[bee]]s whereas he was stuck at a tea party with [[Thomas Jefferson]] and he spoke about them at least.
 * Klein tells the Doctor that, with his intelligence, he would have been a great asset to the [[Nazi|Nazi Party]]. The Doctor sarcastically remarks that it was "such a sweet thing to say."
-=== Individuals ===
-* Steffen claims that he, Jackson and their deceased colleagues are the advance party of colonists. In actuality, they are raiders seeking the Vrill's super-concentrated nutrients, having almost devastated the colony through the use of the "Spear of Destiny" biological weapon akin to nerve gas.
-=== Organisations ===
-* Steffen mistakes Klein for a representative of the Geopolice, an environmental agency which is charged with selecting and if necessary restricting access to planets across the various neighbouring systems (relative to the Vrill colony) identified for colonisation or exploitation. They are essentially [[Fascism|fascists]]. Steffen regards them as being incorruptible. He disagrees with Geopolice's philosophy as he believes that humans are the master race which should be permitted to treat nature in whichever way it chooses.
 === Planets ===
-* The Doctor and Klein previously visited the crystal plains of [[Mandroxya]], the Folly Ocean of [[Quindrax IV]] and the mercury swamps on [[Vulcan (The Power of the Daleks)|Vulcan]].
+* The Doctor and Klein previously visited the crystal planes of [[Mendroxia]], the floating ocean on [[Quinbrax Four]], and the mercury swamps on [[Vulcan (The Power of the Daleks)|Vulcan]].
-=== Species ===
-* The Vrill are a communal winged insect species where the individual members are organised into a variety of different roles: workers, watchers, warriors, healers and male drones. As is typical of insect species, sentient or otherwise, there is a fertile queen at the top of the hierarchy, whom the Vrill refer to as the Authority. The Vrill do not have individual names but the Doctor gives the two worker Vrill the names "Rose" and "Lilly" due to their smells and the newly hatched warrior Vrill the name "Butterfly" due to its magnificent wings.
-* At the centre of the colony, there is a hatching yard where the Authority has laid thousands of eggs in a geothermal pool of hormonal fluids which cure the eggs and the resulting pupae become warriors, workers or male drones. Without fertilisation, the eggs hatch in their default warrior state. It is possible to create a new Authority by releasing certain nutrients into an egg but only an existing Authority possesses this ability.
-* The scent which the Vrill use to represent their human attackers is translated by the TARDIS' telepathic circuits as "the Winterlack." They killed the vast majority of the Vrill, which they refer to as xenomorphs, using weapons grade nerve gases.
 === TARDIS ===
 * Through the TARDIS' telepathic circuits, Klein hears the Doctor speaking [[German language|German]] in "a stuffy Prussian accent."
-* The TARDIS' telepathic circuits can translate scent used by the Vrill into speech that can be understood by the Doctor and the humans.
 == Notes ==
-* The single part [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Klein's Story (audio story)|Klein's Story]]'' was also included on CD 1 of this story. It begins after the events of [[AUDIO]]: ''[[A Thousand Tiny Wings (audio story)|A Thousand Tiny Wings]]''.
+* The single part audio story ''[[Klein's Story (audio story)|Klein's Story]]'' was also included on CD 1 of this story. It begins after the events of the audio story ''[[A Thousand Tiny Wings (audio story)|A Thousand Tiny Wings]]''.
 * This audio drama was recorded on [[7 September (production)|7]] and [[8 September (production)|8 September]] 2009 at [[The Moat Studios]].
-* ''Survival of the Fittest ''was one of the working titles for [[TV]]: ''[[Survival (TV story)|Survival]]''.
+* ''Survival of the Fittest ''was one of the working titles for the television story ''[[Survival (TV story)|Survival]]''.
 * The story was broadcast on {{w|BBC Radio 4 Extra}} on [[25 March (releases)|25]] and [[28 May (releases)|28]]-[[29 May (releases)|29 May]] [[2012 (releases)|2012]], forming a radio season with ''[[A Thousand Tiny Wings (audio story)|A Thousand Tiny Wings]], [[Klein's Story (audio story)|Klein's Story]] ''and ''[[The Architects of History (audio story)|The Architects of History]]''.
 == Continuity ==
 * The Doctor and Klein have recently visited the mercury swamps of [[Vulcan (The Power of the Daleks)|Vulcan]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Power of the Daleks (TV story)|The Power of the Daleks]]'')
-* There no longer seems to be a spare [[TARDIS key]] in the cubbyhole above the "P" outside the TARDIS. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Architects of History (audio story)|The Architects of History]]'') It would be restored by the time of the Doctor's [[regeneration]] into his [[Eighth Doctor|eighth incarnation]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Doctor Who (1996)|Doctor Who]]'')
+* There no longer seems to be a spare [[TARDIS key]] in the cubbyhole above the "P" outside the TARDIS. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Architects of History (audio story)|The Architects of History]]'') It would be restored by the time of the Doctor's [[regeneration]] into his [[Eighth Doctor|eighth incarnation]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Doctor Who (TV story)|Doctor Who]]'')
-* The removal of Klein from the timeline in [[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Architects of History (audio story)|The Architects of History]]'' probably resulted in the events of this story being either changed significantly or prevented entirely. The Doctor may have visited the Vrill homeworld alone or with another companion, but his/their adventure would certainly have ended quite differently.
 == External links ==
-* {{bigfinish|releases/v/survival-of-the-fittest-297|Survival of the Fittest}}
+{{bigfinish|releases/v/survival-of-the-fittest-297|Survival of the Fittest}}
-* {{dwrefguide|who_bf131.htm|Survival of the Fittest}}
+{{dwrefguide|who_bf131.htm|Survival of the Fittest}}
 * {{tetrap|7/survivalofthefittest.html|Survival of the Fittest}}
 {{BFA monthly}}
 {{TitleSort}}
-[[Category:Seventh Doctor audio stories]]
+[[Category:Seventh Doctor Main Range audio stories]]
-[[Category:2010 audio stories]]
+[[Category:2010 Main Range audio stories]]
-[[Category:Doctor Who monthly audio stories]]
 [[Category:Audio stories that use the Keff McCulloch theme]]

Tardis