Vampire Science (novel)

Vampire Science
Doctor:	[[doctor::Eighth Doctor]]
Companion(s):	Sam Jones
Main enemy:	Vampires
Main setting:	Earth, USA, San Francisco, 1976 Earth, USA, San Francisco, 1997
Key crew
Publisher:	[[publisher::BBC Books]]
Writer:	Kate Orman & Jonathan Blum
Release details
Release number:	2
Release date:	July 1997
Format:	Paperback Book, 283 Pages
ISBN:	ISBN 0-563-40566-X

Publisher's Summary

In the days when the Time Lords were young, their war with the Vampires cost trillions of lives on countless worlds. Now the Vampires have been sighted again, in San Francisco Some want to coexist with humans, using genetic engineering in a macabre experiment to find a new source of blood. But some would rather go out in a blaze of glory - and UNIT's attempts to contain them could provoke another devastating war.

The Doctor strikes a dangerous bargain, but even he might not be able to keep the city from getting caught in the crossfire. While he finds himself caught in a web of old feuds and high-tech schemes, his new companion Sam finds just how deadly travelling with the Doctor can be.

Characters

• The Doctor
  • Says that he's 1,012 years old, but prefers to count from when he last regenerated; Three.
  • The Doctor left Sam for a year and went and had adventures while Sam was at a rally.
  • Gets blood fasted with Joanna Harris.
• Sam Jones
  • Is 17 years old.
  • Has very short blond hair and looks a bit butch.
  • Her parents were children of the 1960s and in her opinion her only methods of acting out could have been to become a major drug addict or join the Conservative Party. (Though not revealed here, another version of Sam did become a drug addict.)
  • Gets bit and fed on by Weird Harold.
• Carolyn McConnell
  • Meets the Doctor and Sam in 1976 and then again in 1997 when she send him a hypercube.
  • When she first sees the Doctor and Sam is quite possibly interested in both of them.
• Joanna Harris
  • Born in Canterbury the day William the Conqueror died, which would make her around 900.
  • Is a Vampire
• Brigadier-General Adrienne Kramer
  • A black woman in her 50s.
  • Met the Seventh Doctor in Washington, D.C. when it was about to disappear up a time rift.
  • Is of the opinion that "chicks dig the time machine".
• Weird Harold
  • A Vampire
  • Bites and feeds on Sam
• James Court
  • Carolyn's's boyfriend.
• Abner
  • A vampire and an accountant.
• Slake
  • Turned into a vampire in the 1950s.

References

• The Doctor gives Carolyn a Hypercube to contact him with, he arrives and Sam arrive about a day too early.
• This is the first appearance of the Doctor's Volkswagen Beetle, which gets parked in the console room.
• Sam comments to the Doctor "Old enough to dodge Daleks, too young to go to a nightclub.".
• Sam has an Altairian driver's licence. (a The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference)
• The Doctor states: "I'm a Time Lord...From the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous." (page 101) Then further goes on "I'm a former President of the High Council of the Time Lords, Keeper of the Legacy of Rassilon, Defender of the Laws of Time and Protector of Gallifrey."
• Gives Sam a jelly baby.

Planets

• Joanna glimpses within the Doctor's mind; Metebelis, Androzani and Yemaya.
• The Doctor once had a a half hour conversation with a pharmacist on Lacaille 8760 on lipids.
• The Doctor mentions the giant mosquitoes of Atraxi 3.

The TARDIS

• The TARDIS is parked on the corner of Haight and Ashbury Streets in San Francisco.
• The Doctor has a room in the TARDIS that has a hillside complete with sunshine and butterflies, included with the butterflies is a Flutterwing.
• Sam's room in the TARDIS was last used by another teen aged companion, now it contains a Victorian writing desk, an ergonomic chair from the mid 2050s, a mammoth wardrobe with children's coloured stickers and peeling paint, a 14th century Persian rug, and a 4 poster bed.

UNIT

• UNIT only operates a small division within the United States.
• SETSO or Survivors of Extra-Terrestrial/Supernatural Occurrences have a program for counselling services.
• UNIT or at least General Kramer's UNIT in the US doesn't know of the Eighth Doctor yet.

Vampires

• Great Vampires created the vampires on Earth.
• Vampires have motivation problems, conversion doesn't occur after a bite, you have to exchange blood.
• The V Factor the gene which makes vampires, vampires.
• There are 14 vampires in a coven (one more than a Time Lord's life).

Notes

• The character space that Carolyn McConnell inhabits was originally written as for the character Grace Holloway (from Doctor Who: The TV Movie), however clearance couldn't be sought to use the character.
• There are a variety of references to Time Rift a fan made film that Jonathan Blum appeared in (as the Seventh Doctor).

Continuity

• DW: State of Decay first debuted the Vampires, NA: Blood Harvest and MA: Goth Opera explain how Vampires got to Earth.
• The Doctor and Sam first met in EDA: The Eight Doctors, the Doctor also explains (in referring to dispatching Lord Zarn's followers) why he did so which occurred in that novel.
• The Doctor gives Carolyn a white cube similar to what he he used to contact the Time Lords in DW: The War Games.
• The Doctor also works with UNIT (in the UK) also in 1997 in NA: The Dying Days.
• There are a few references to the Doctor possibly having a wife and children, (explored in MA: Cold Fusion and PDA: The Infinity Doctors).
• The Doctor paraphrases himself (...Keeper of the Legacy of Rassilon...etc) from DW: Remembrance of the Daleks.
• There's a model train set in the TARDIS seen in ST: Model Train Set.
• In DW: Aliens of London the Doctor says he's 900, here he's 1,012.
• Sam actually meets the Daleks in EDA: War of the Daleks.
• One Sam's comments about becoming a drug addict or joining the Conservative Party comes to a reality in EDA: Unnatural History.
• Prior to this novel in the year the Doctor is having adventures while Sam is at a rally is one of the points where The Dying Days, the Eighth Doctor Big Finish Audio Dramas, the Radio Times comic strips and the Eighth Doctor comic strip stories could have occurred.

External Links

• Vampire Science at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• The Discontinuity Guide to: Vampire Science at The Whoniverse
• The Cloister Library - Vampire Science
• Time Rift Home Page