Raxacoricofallapatorius (short story)
Raxacoricofallapatorius was the fifth Russell T Davies story in Monsters and Villains, later retitled The Slitheen when it was reprinted in The Ultimate Monster Guide. Presented as an entry in Jane's Book of Planets, it gave a history of the Slitheen family.
Summary
Raxacoricofallapatorius is predominantly a peaceful planet populated by the strictly ordered and intellectual society of Raxacoricofallapatorians. However, every paradise has its serpent, and here it is the Family Slitheen. The family grew its criminal empire over centuries, slowly infiltrating the plantery government to control distribution of the spice Offich. Exposed in the Great Purge of Yon:556, the entire family, numbering over 550 members, were arrested and many fled offworld to escape the painful executions mandated by Raxacoricofallapatorian law.
The Slitheen are now penniless and scattered across the off-world archipelagos, making desperate attempts at gaining money. Early involvement in drug-running, arms-dealing, and chizzle-waxing was policed by the Wrarth Warriors, the local star-system's police. Someday, the Slitheen are determined to return home.
Characters
Worldbuilding
- Raxacoricofallapatorius has poppito trees, cinnamon wind, marble temples on sapphire and chalk cliffs, burgundy oceans, and ice-caves at each of the four poles.
- Raxacoricofallapatorian children are educated in poetry, mathematics, and democracy from the day they're hatched.
- The Slitheen are descended from the original Huspick Degenerate, cousins to the Blathereen and Rackateen, and were born on the Islands of Hisp.
- During executions at the Palace of Enforced Atonement, a crowd of thousands watches from an open air amphitheatre and chants the Dawn Prayer "Oh Deliver Us Weeping and Shamed". During the fifteen seconds in which an executed Slitheen was still alive as melted soup, they are drunk by the priests and ministers of Raxas Prime.
Notes
- The Blathereen family also appeared in The Monsters Inside, which was released on the same day as this story.
- Much of the backstory revealed here would be referenced in later televisual Raxacoricofallapatorian stories, including Revenge of the Slitheen, The Gift, and Monster File: Slitheen. Additionally, details of Raxacoricofallapatorius seen here are referenced in the educational game Plant and Animal Habitats.
Continuity
- Raxacoricofallapatorius has poppito trees. (PROSE: The Monsters Inside)
- The Raxacoricofallapatorians are an elegant species who have mastered the technology of slipstream compression. (TV: World War Three)
- The Slitheen are cousins with the Blathereen family. (PROSE: The Monsters Inside)
- After the Purge, the Slitheen remain scattered across space. (TV: Boom Town, PROSE: The Monsters Inside)
- Some Slitheen turned to chizzle-waxing to survive. (PROSE: The Monsters Inside)
- Any Slitheen who returns home will be taken to the Palace of Enforced Atonement to be lowered into an acid cauldron and slowly turned into soup. (TV: Boom Town)
- Raxacoricofallapatorius' star system is patrolled by the Wrarth Warriors. (COMIC: Doctor Who and the Star Beast)
- The Slitheen now take desperate measures to gain money. (TV: Aliens of London, World War Three)
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