Doctor Who - New Series, new species part 14

Well a few weeks have passed and in general quality the Doctor Who episodes have picked up the pace quite a bit and we've had a strew of pretty decent stories and plots in recent weeks. We've also had some new species introduced, which I will introduce you to now.

Vespiform
















I have to say I do find a creature with the exact properties and image of a wasp yet being somewhat larger a tad unbelievable, but then again this is Doctor Who, which is fun as well as Science Fiction so I think I can let it slide. The name again I found irritating as I'm fairly sure it means "wasp-thing" or something similar - the "form" ending just completely erradicates any hint of originality in the beast's name. But nonetheless it worked well on screen and on script also.

The vespiforms are an advanced race, largely resembling wasps found on Earth only they are the size of your average human being if not a bit bigger. They have the ability to take on the shape of humans and presumably other species too, but they seem to take on more than just the image as in human form one was capable of breeding with a human female. They relied on telepathy and could even store their consciousness's on telepathic devices. This was true of the vespiform born to a woman on earth. It believed itself to be human, but the device was inadvertantly activated and it regained it's human nature and also absorbed Agatha Christie plotlines, which were being read at the time of activation, into it's knowledge of social interaction etc. Thus, rather than gaining the benevolant nature of it's father, it set about a mysterious set of murders, which were solved by Agatha Christie herself. The wasp was drowned and the telepathic link broken. This incident was covered up on Earth, but surely it exposed a weakness in the Vespiforms that they and others may take an interest in - my conjecture only!

Vashta Nerada









This species was pretty cool, but I felt they weren't half as scary as they ought to have been as the episodes had a bit too much else going on to concentrate on how terrifying these creatures ought to have been. I think it was a mistake to have them talk as a feral beast is much more terrifying than a mysterious force and there were various discrepancies I think should have been sorted out, but nonetheless they were still intriguing and a good foe for the doctor.

Vashta Nerada are said to be the reason why most species fear the dark. Micsroscopic swarms of dark creatures that spread like shadows across the ground to hunt their prey. They grow in forests, but hide in dark places even on Earth where their live in small swarms and feed off roadkill or unfortunate lost people. But on their home world and in large numbers they are deadly. Such an incident happened on the artificial world of Library where small swarms hidden in the pulped wood that produced the millions of books on the world escaped in monumental swarms threatening all life on the planet 'causing the computer and transport system there to take drastic action. They still seemed to retain the instincts of hunting in small numbers, hutning in small groups and latching onto shadows rather than swarming outright, but they were nonetheless deadly. The Doctor managed to negotiate a treaty, giving him time to evacuate all on the planet, which was then left for the Vashta Nerada.

And that's it till the finale - hope you enjoyed.