Doctor Who: Survival of the Fittest

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.