The Discontinuity Guide
The Eighth Doctor Adventures

ED02 Vampire Science

July 1997

Authors: Jonathan Blum and Kate Orman

Editor: Stephen Cole

Roots: The Vampire genre. Despite appearances, the book was written before either author saw any of the TV series version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Goofs: On page 49, it talks about Carolyn looking down at some folders, when it clearly means Sam.

Joanna is said to have been born shortly before the end of the 1st millennium and on the day WIlliam the Conquerer died - which was the best part of a century later than that.

Technobabble: Chronoynclastic retroactive continuity.

Dialogue Disasters:

Dialogue Triumphs: The Doctor: 'Yes, I'm not human, and yes, that was a vampire, and yes, you really have wandered into an ancient feud between my people and theirs, and now you can either stay here and tell people stories they'll never believe, or come with us and help us stop her from killing people. Excuse me.'

Sam: 'He's the Doctor. Deal with it.'

Kramer on the seventh Doctor: 'He's a manipulative little wierdo who was always up to something behind my back.'

The scene where the Doctor and Sam pose as health inspectors asking about Vampires.

The Doctor: 'If this is your idea of eternal life, you're welcome to it...'

Joanna: 'You expect me to buy that you're some kind of mythical creature?'
The Doctor: 'Joanna, you're a vampire.'

Sam: 'So this really is your real plan'
The Doctor: 'Mm-hm'
Sam: 'You've got it all under control.'
The Doctor: 'Exactly.'
Sam: 'We're screwed, aren't we?'

The Doctor: 'No sentient being should have to endure law school for that long.'

Joanna: 'You just used how many words trying to convince me you're not all talk?'

Continuity: Sam is 17, but can just about pass for 20. She thinks that there is no way on Earth that the Doctor might be her boyfriend. She's still just a beginner compared to the Doctor. Her room was last used by another teenaged companion, and now 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. She's gone through 3 pairs of trainers since joining the TARDIS crew, thanks to a lot of running. Her friend Annette was a goth and was good at puncturing people with attitude problems. She hasn't been hurt before in her time with the Doctor.

The Doctor has the stake from a croquet set and the sonic screwdriver in his pocket. UNIT (or at least UNIT US) have no knowledge of this incarnation. The TARDIS has room which contains a hill and a massive number of butterflies. When challenged about a birthday card in the TARDIS addressed to Grandfather, he says that he hardly has any dealings with them [grandchildren or past companions?]. He claims that this incarnation is three, and he is 1012.

Kramer has kids - including a teenaged daughter - and the Doctor knows that she handled a Brieri scouting party very well. Her nephew is a stage magician, and has taught her a few conjuring tricks. Her branch of UNIT has SE-4 standard issue anti-vampire kits. It also has a SETSO program (Survivors of Extra-Terrestrial/Supernatural Occurrences).

Different strains of vampires have different abilities and weaknesses. The Time Lords' enemies had incredibly strong circulatory systems, allowing them to heal almost any wound. This is overcome by the stake through the heart. The traditional number of vampires in a coven is 14 - 1 more "life" than a Time Lord. They have a ritual known as bloodfasting. The participants exhange blood and then feel each others' pain. Joanna's strain can be seen in mirrors, but are still vulnerable to staking and sunlight. Turning someone into a vampire requires the victim to take in some of the vampire's blood.

On the 4th planet of a star visible from Earth, there is a race of intelligent sea-serpents who worship whales as gods, believing that the whales are so enlightened that they don't need intelligence.

Links: The Doctor mentions the Time Lord feud with the Vampires (State of Decay, Blood Harvest, Goth Opera, The Eight Doctors), Gallifrey, and the Daleks. He gives Carolyn a device to contact him that is identical to the one seen in The War Games. General Kramer met the seventh Doctor and Ace in Jon Blum's fan-produced video Time Rift. She mentions the Doctor's long involvement with UNIT.

Joanna glimpses some of the Doctor's memories, including Metebelis (Planet of the Spiders), Androzani (The Caves of Androzani), and Yemaya (SLEEPY). Carolyn comes across a birthday card to the Doctor from Susan which we saw in Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible. Paletti's opera was previously mentioned in Transit

Location: San Francisco, 1976 and 1997.

Future History: In a few decades time, Paletti will write an opera called The Fourth Sister. Part of this piece will be the rebirth aria.

Unrecorded Adventures: The Doctor points to several different stars as places where he has had adventures. On one of them, a frozen world, he was stranded by an old enemy. He had to build a fire to keep warm until he could be rescued, and threw one of his favourite ties on the fire. On another, a 6-handed shopkeeper kept him waiting one and a half hours for a chocolate milkshake. A pharmacist on Lacaille 8760 once gave him a half-hour lecture on lipids. The Doctor met Adam (presumably Kramer's son) at his university last year. He helped Sam get an Altairian driver's licence. Sam mentions that the Doctor once dropped her off at a rally and popped off in the TARDIS for [what he told her was] a year.

The Bottom Line: 'I've never had to deal with a vampire before' Vampire science is a tour-de-force. It's a cracking vampire story with a strong, character-driven plot. The Eighth Doctor is characterised exactly like his one on-screen appearance, Sam is very well drawn and likable, General Kramer, Carolyn, and Joanna Harris are brilliant characters. The writing and dialogue never fails to sparkle, and there are far too many excellent scenes to list.