Vampire Science (novel)

Vampire Science
Doctor:	Eighth Doctor
Companion(s):	Sam
Main enemy:	Slake
Main setting:	San Francisco, 1976 and 1997
Key crew
Publisher:	BBC Books
Writers:	Kate Orman, Jonathan Blum
Cover by:	Black Sheep
Release details
Release number:	2
Release date:	7 July 1997
Format:	Paperback Book; 21 Chapters, 283 Pages
ISBN:	ISBN 0-563-40566-X
BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures
← Previous	The Eight Doctors
Next →	The Bodysnatchers

Vampire Science was the second release in the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures series. It was written by Kate Orman and Jonathan Blum, released 7 July 1997 and featured the Eighth Doctor and Sam Jones.

While the previous novel had introduced Sam Jones, this novel was the first to explore and flesh out the major details of her character, back story and motivations.

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.

Plot

to be added

Characters

• Eighth Doctor
• Sam Jones
• Carolyn McConnell
• Joanna Harris
• Brigadier-General Adrienne Kramer
• Weird Harold
• James Court
• Abner
• Slake
• Jasper and Stewart
• David Shackle
• Mi-Jung Kanaka
• Gregorio
• Chadwick
• Kahnawake
• Smith
• Gordon Pymble
• Daniel Ben-Zvi
• John Seavey
• Shredder
• Reaper
• Rusty
• Elvis
• Spike
• Fang
• Grant Oxwell
• Andrew Chi Hun
• Greg Allinson
• Fortinbras
• Annette
• Selby
• Eva
• Lyn
• Cheryl
• Adam
• Louisa
• Mina
• Fred the Eternal Snail

Worldbuilding

Biology

• The Doctor gets blood fasted with Joanna Harris.

Communications technology

• The Doctor gives Carolyn a hypercube to contact him.

Concepts

• The Doctor and Joanna discuss Mid-Death Crisis.

Culture

• Sam comments to the Doctor, "Old enough to dodge Daleks, too young to go to a nightclub."
• Sam and the Doctor encounter a woman dressed as the embodiment of Death from the Sandman comics.
• Slake calls Sam Buffy the Vampire Slayer after Sam kills Weird Harold.

The Doctor

• The Doctor states, "I'm a Time Lord...From the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous." Then he 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."
• General Kramer describes the Seventh Doctor as "a manipulative little weirdo who was always up to something behind [her] back."
• The Doctor hints when speaking to Joanna Harris that Osiris and the archangel Gabriel were two past identities of his.
• Thanks to their bloodfasting-induced psychic link, 900-years-old Joanna Harris reads the Doctor's memories and instantly comes to realise that he is far older than she is.

Foods and beverages

• The Doctor gives Sam a jelly baby.

Individuals

• Sam Jones is 17 years old. 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.
• Carolyn McConnell meets the Doctor and Sam in 1976 and then again in 1997.
• During their first meeting, Carolyn thinks the Doctor is dressed like Oscar Wilde.
• Joanna Harris was born in Canterbury on the same day that William the Conqueror died in 1087, which would make her around 900.
• Adrienne Kramer met the Seventh Doctor in Washington DC when it was about to disappear up a time rift. She is of the opinion that "chicks dig the time machine".
• Slake was turned into a vampire in the 1950s.
• Slake wanted to turn Anne Rice into a vampire.

Planets

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

Species

• The Doctor tells Carolyn McConnell about a species of intelligent sea serpents who worshipped whales as gods.
• Time Lords can see in the dark better than humans.

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 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.
• There are two bats inside the TARDIS, Jasper and Stewart.

United Nations Intelligence Taskforce

• UNIT only operates a small division within the United States.
• SETSO, or Survivors of Extra-Terrestrial/Supernatural Occurrences, have a program for counselling services.
• 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 is the gene which makes vampires, vampires.
• There are 14 vampires in a coven (one more than a Time Lord's life).

Vehicles

• This is the first appearance of the Doctor's Volkswagen Beetle, which gets parked in the console room.
• Sam has an Altairian driver's licence.

Notes

• The character space that Carolyn McConnell inhabits was originally written for the character Grace Holloway (from the Doctor Who television movie), but clearance couldn't be sought to use the character. The first chapter of an early draft with Grace was published in the charity anthology Perfect Timing.
• There are a variety of references to Time Rift, a fan made film that Jonathan Blum appeared in (as the Seventh Doctor).
• In the 2010 series episode The Eleventh Hour, the Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory encounter a race of space police, called the Atraxi, who travel in crystalline ships. As to whether they and the planet Atraxi 3 are related remains to be answered.

Continuity

• TV: State of Decay first debuted the Vampires. PROSE: Blood Harvest and PROSE: Goth Opera explain how Vampires got to Earth.
• The Doctor and Sam first met in PROSE: 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 TV: The War Games.
• The Doctor works with UNIT (in the UK) also in 1997 in PROSE: The Dying Days.
• There are a few references to the Doctor possibly having a wife and children (explored in PROSE: Cold Fusion and PROSE: The Infinity Doctors).
• The Doctor paraphrases himself (...Keeper of the Legacy of Rassilon...etc) from TV: Remembrance of the Daleks.
• There's a model train set in the TARDIS seen in PROSE: Model Train Set.
• The Doctor states it's been three years since his regeneration in TV: Doctor Who.
• Sam actually meets the Daleks in PROSE: War of the Daleks.
• Sam's comments about becoming a drug addict or joining the Conservative Party come to a reality in PROSE: Unnatural History.
• Prior to this novel, the 3 years the Doctor is having adventures while Sam is at a rally is the point where The Dying Days, the Radio Times comic stories, occur.
• UNIT's activities in the 1990s were wound down, (PROSE: UNIT History: Fighting the unknown) and there existed a division of UNIT in North America. (PROSE: UNIT's New York Operation Expansion)

External links

• Vampire Science at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• The Discontinuity Guide to: Vampire Science at The Whoniverse
• The Cloister Library: Vampire Science