A Thousand Tiny Wings (audio story)

A Thousand Tiny Wings was the one hundred and thirtieth monthly Doctor Who audio story produced by Big Finish Productions. Released in January 2010, it featured the return of Tracey Childs as Elizabeth Klein, a character whom she had previously played in Colditz in 2001. This story began a series of three audio releases featuring Elizabeth Klein travelling with Sylvester McCoy's Seventh Doctor.

Publisher's summary

1950s Kenya. The Mau Mau uprising. A disparate group of women lie low in a remote house in the jungle, waiting for a resolution or for rescue. Among these British imperialists is Elizabeth Klein, a refugee from a timeline that no longer exists... thanks to the Doctor.

Reunited, the Doctor and Klein are forced to set aside their differences by terrifying circumstances. People are dying in this remote place. One by one. And there's something out there, in the jungle, accompanied only by the flutter of a thousand tiny wings...

Plot

to be added

Cast

References

Culture

More than two weeks after the beginning of the Mau Mau Uprising, there is still very little coverage of the conflict on the BBC World Service. Instead, they are playing the music of the American composer Scott Joplin. Klein later sardonically remarks that in the event of a nuclear war wiping out all of humanity, the BBC World Service would still be broadcasting light entertainment to the mutated cockroaches.

The Doctor

The Doctor is wearing his linen suit and is wistful about travelling alone.

Individuals

Mrs Sylvia O'Donnell, who met her husband Heinrich in Munich in 1933, expresses the view that Great Britain had no business entering the Second World War. She blames the Mau Mau Uprising on the Prime Minister Winston Churchill, whom she calls "a senile old man."
When Klein inquires as to the whereabouts of "Miss McShane," the Doctor tells her that Ace has left the TARDIS, but does not go into details.
Klein mentions the German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun.
Mrs O'Donnell tells Klein that her husband Heinrich was a Waffen-SS officer who was stationed near Colditz Castle during the Second World War. They were acquainted with the Mitford sisters in the 1930s.
Klein, whose first doctorate was in physics, re-qualified as a medical doctor during her time in South America. She received her training from one of the many German doctors who escaped to that continent after 1945.
Mrs O'Donnell mentions the architectural achievements of Albert Speer in Berlin during the 1930s.
The Doctor once got into an argument with Frank L. Baum about flying monkeys.

TARDIS

The Doctor refers to the TARDIS' universal translation abilities. However, it cannot translate Esperanto.

Timeline

Klein is fervent that the Doctor destroyed her world and that her timeline is the proper one.
Klein refers to the Allies' victory in the Second World War as being "farcical." In 1945, she escaped to South America as did many other National Socialists including Hans de Flores. Klein claims that, in her timeline, De Flores was "always the Führer's favourite." Klein hopes that he will succeed Hitler as the Führer when the Fourth Reich is established.
Klein tells the Doctor that when the Mau Mau Uprising occurred in her timeline, the Luftwaffe was sent in immediately. On Hitler's orders, they proceeded to carpet-bomb the tribal areas and wipe out most of the native population. Within three years, a virulent plague had broken out in Kenya which killed many German soldiers. In 1957, Hitler placed Klein in command of a team of medical doctors and scientists who attempted to discover the cause of the plague. However, they were unable to do so.

Notes

Although the feather on the cover is yellow, the feathers in the story itself are repeatedly described as being blue and in the interior booklet they are presented as yellow and green.
This audio drama was recorded on 25 and 26 June 2009 at The Moat Studios.
This audio drama was available on BBC Radio 4 Extra from 23 May 2012 to 24 May 2012.

Continuity

Lucy refers to the 1812 Overture by the Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, which commemorated the successful Russian defence against Napoléon Bonaparte's forces in 1812. Both the First Doctor and Iris Wildthyme met Napoléon in Russia at that time (AUDIO: Mother Russia, The Panda Invasion) while the Eighth Doctor and his companions Fitz Kreiner and Trix MacMillan visited Moscow during the French invasion. (PROSE: Emotional Chemistry)
Klein mentions the events of AUDIO: Colditz.
The Doctor recalls meeting the Neo-Nazi Hans de Flores in November 1988. (TV: Silver Nemesis)
The Doctor tells Mrs O'Donnell that he has fond memories of driving vintage cars. (TV: Spearhead from Space, et. al)
Klein's erasure from the timeline in AUDIO: The Architects of History altered the events of this story somewhat. The Klein from the proper timeline briefly mentioned that the Doctor had been in Kenya in 1953. No doubt the outcome of his visit stayed the same despite Klein's absence.

External links

A Thousand Tiny Wings at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
Official A Thousand Tiny Wings page at bigfinish.com
DisContinuity for A Thousand Tiny Wings at Tetrapyriarbus - The DisContinuity Guide

Tardis